Trading "Down" a Vehicle

I haven't sold mine yet and it's not brand new, got it in 2009, but the dealer told me for a trade in they will pay it off plus maybe a little ( but I'd doubt it would be any really over ) and another dealer told me they would take it on a trade if the other dealer said they would ( they are a different make of car dealer ). I don't know if this works if you buy less, and my car is a car sought after right now so maybe why they are more willing to do that. It's worth talking with a dealer about at least. I wouldn't buy a used car that is not paid off first.

Put it on Craigslist - sell it for the blue book value. Sell it for cash. Pay off your loan - call the bank - I'm sure they could talk you through the details. Transfer the title. People do this all.the.time.

Buy the other car.

If you have a loan on your current van, you probably won't get any money out of it if you try to trade it in only four months after buying it. That's because cars depreciate the instant you drive it off the lot (because it's suddenly 'used' not 'new). Depending on the car, it can depreciate anywhere between 10% and 20% immediately... so if you paid $28,000 for a new van four months ago, it's only worth between $22,400 and $25,200 now. If you owe less than that, you might get money back by trading it back to a dealer.

And yes - you can almost always get more from a private party sale. A lot of people, though, won't put up the money unless you can show them the title. Can you afford to pay the bank off and then resell it privately? If not, your best bet is probably a dealer.

I think it's a bad, bad idea to try to get rid of the van right now, and you WILL lose lots of money, no matter how you sell it, especially because you just bought it, effectively negating any savings you'd have by downgrading. You are losing money on the van every day that you drive it, and you'd be losing the cash down payment. No one ever makes money in these situations. I think it will be challenging to sell it privately, as there are more hoops to jump through. A dealer will rip you off. I just don't think it makes good financial sense to trade down, as you call it.

These are the reasons why I won't finance a car again. But, if I were in your situation, personally, I would keep the van & pay it off.

ETA - Yeah, a home equity loan to pay for all of these things is no good, IMO. Now, you are in debt the amount of the home equity loan, PLUS the van loan.

Chances are you will make more if you sell it privately. I'm not exactly sure how you deal with the title since it is owned by the bank. Why not call the bank and ask them if there is a way to transfer the title in person. If your loan is with a local bank, you could talk to someone at the bank and see if you could arrange for that if and when you sell the car.

It's very difficult to privately sell a car that you don't own outright.

"I'm sure we won't get exactly what we paid for it". I don't understand that comment. Of course you're not going to get what you paid for it, now anywhere close to it. You paid a retail price, your trading it in for a wholesale price. You also need to consider the depreciation.

You should take it to a dealership, but not the one you purchased it from and see how much they would give you for the car.

Wow you are an optimist! Even on used cars you can expect a 20% loss.

The thing that concerns me is you have no actual money of your own to bring into this. You are pretty much hoping to fit it all in one loan.

Anyway, more than likely your best course is to take any extra loan proceeds from the home equity and pay down the car loan. Sure it won't pay it off but it will cut the term down considerably. You may not be down to one long now but in the near future. That way you don't have to take a loss on the van you already own.

You lost me at "Home Equity Loan" and "don't have to make payments on" ????!!!!

Um....not Good idea to put a vehicle in a home equity loan.

I admit I'm not good at math but this doesn't make sense to me. You bought a used van 4 months ago from a dealer, $2000 less than they were asking. You say its worth more than you paid for it, but I find that hard to believe since dealers are usually TWICE the amount KBB says its worth. I just went thru this with BOTH our cars. We decided to sell my 2006 Scion xB that I paid cash for back in the day. It held its value VERY well. We sold my 2008 van for what we owed on it. We took the money we got from the xB and bought a 2001 mini van and a 2004 small suv. We paid cash for both. Granted, they both had repairs that needed to be done (the van MAJOR repairs, but thats another story). However, our van payment was smacking us as we got hit with a large interest rate so we didn't want that huge payment for another FOUR years. So we decided to go cash only and sacrafice having older cars for now so we could pay off back taxes we owe. So I don't know how old of a van you are looking for if you have $2000 to spend on one. I guess you can go back to the dealer to see what they would give you for it and start there. Then maybe list it on craigslist for KBB and see if anyone is interested. But also look to see what used ones are going for. Good luck!

Well, you're kinda in a pickle. If you take it into any dealership they're going to give you trade in value which will be way less than what you owe on it. You will get more for a private sale but with the price of vehicles nowadays they'd probably need to get a loan from the bank and then deal with getting the lien from your bank. By the time the transaction takes place the 2005 van could be sold. Why not take the cash that you have and put it toward the van you just bought? And then maybe refinance with a credit union or something. IDK, that's why I hate car payments and haven't had one in 15 years. Good luck!