trade in

A shoot from the hip idea...it may be worth more in ranch/farm/truck country...OK, TX, etc.

Doubtfull there as a 1/2 ton. Might try selling it outright and may make a bit more that way but those are hard sells today and it will only get worse. You have to ask yourself do you keep it or take the loss on a trade in for something cheaper to drive because there is no easy escape here. You will lose money selling it and loose money keeping it because it will keep depreciaiting as you pay for it and it will take another dump in value when 07's are out. Either keep it a long time or cut further looses and dump it now. The choice is yours.

----------------- The SnoMan

Selling it privately for at least what you owe on it? Is that not likely to sell - anyone?

MW

Sounds like s/he is upside-down already, assuming trade-in is $22,000 and "the rest" $9,700 is the balance on the note. Not likely to sell it for $31,700. I may have misunderstood. In any case, there is no way to get ahead - or break even - unless you can find a real sucker.

When you get yourself into this mess, you will usually find the real sucker in the mirror. I'm the son of a car dealer and a retired car dealer myself. You have two choices in getting out of it. You trade down and take your hickey and consider it a lesson well learned, and hopefully never forget it. Or, you can trade your way down. What you do is place an ad offerring to trade down just a year or maybe even to just a cheaper model. And you keep doing that until you're even. It takes a little time, but it can be done. There is always another sucker and if you make his trading up look attractive he will usually take the bait. Of course you have to have the co-operation of the lending agency or agencies.

I have always found that people come out way ahead by trading down and out. Trade down for whatever old junker you can get that will get you completely out of your vehicle. Drive the junker for awhile and save up the RECOMMENDED

20% down and start over. Just remember, 20% down and no more than 40 months on the financing will usually keep you out of the "upside down" position. Of course you've got to buy right too and that means no more than $300.00 over invoice and DON'T TRADE IN YOUR CAR! The dealer usually makes a minimum of $2500.00 on your trade(you can too!), $2000.00 on your financing, $500.00 on Mop & Glow and undercoat, and 3% of the window sticker price if you buy right at invoice.

If I was advising young people today on transportation I would advise them to assume the attitude that they are going to be making car payments for the rest of their lives. So, instead of getting screwed up in deals that you don't know what you are doing, just go lease a car, KNOWING THE MILEAGE LIMITATIONS AND THE WEAR AND TEAR LIMITATIONS AND THE INSURANCE REQUIREMENTS. Then, you get a new car every year, 2 years, 3 years or whatever you chose but the smart thing is to just lease for whatever the new car warranty period is. That way, you've always got a new car under warranty. BUT READ AND UNDERSTAND THE LEASE AGREEMENT BEFORE YOU ACT. IF YOU HAVE QUESTIONS, ASK. And, here's a little trick. Dealers like to lease because, in most states, they do not have to disclose the sales price the lease is based on. But, they must disclose the sales tax. So, simply divide the dollar amount of the sales tax by the tax rate and you'll get the sales price they base the lease on and if it's more than $300.00 over invoice, tell them to kiss off. For instance, in Texas $20,000.00 vehicle, sales tax is .0625%. The dollar amount of the sales tax would be $1250.00. Divide $1250.00 by .0625 and you get $20,000.00.

That's your car lesson for the day. Print it out and keep it.

A car dealer is entitled to make a profit and he must to stay in business, but you are entitled to know as much about the deal as the dealer does.

or just keep it and buy gas with the money saved old john

Not sure what you would save long term though because you will bleed either way and if you drive alot you will bleed less if you get something that is truly more economical to drive as fuel prices will only go higher in future.

----------------- The SnoMan

Now's a bad time for trucks/SUV's, the demand is down because of fuel costs.

Quite honestly it may be a good time in that if fuel prices go higher (and they will the only question is when) they will be even harder to sell and the value of it will be lower still. I look for the SUV market to basically colapse in the next few years like the large car market did in the early 80's. If you drive one of those things a few thousand miles a month at today fuel prices you can easily be making a combined 1000 buck fuel and SUV payment and that has some people rethinking them.

----------------- The SnoMan

Gas has still got room to run, and it'll definitely go on up until people start conserving. I see a lot of little cars on the road, but I'm still almost never out of site of a Suburban. Most people wouldn't use more than

1000 gallons of gas in a year, so at current prices that's only $3000 a year per driver. It could go up a lot higher before it starts really hurting.

So, OP, it's unlikely that the current price of gas is really hurting you anywhere near how bad this trade is going to hurt. If you double your gas mileage, you'll save (do the math) $1500 a year? That's not going to buy anybody a car.

They plan to make a big profit on your trade, whether gas is high or not. You might do better with an outright sale. In the final analysis, though, if the $22,000 is not enough to justify getting rid of it, you'll just have to keep it.

The over looked, and oft times unasked question, can I save enough in gas to justify a car payment if the gas guzzler is paid for?

Whitelightning