Overhaulin'

when is it better to buy a new car? Should you wait until the old loan is paid or not?

i have till feb 08 to finish my car loan. the car i have has 87000 miles on it and i would like to trade it in. i just am not sure if it is better to wait till it's paid or do it now.

Public Comments

1. Umm it's May, what do you mean you have until Feb 08? Also it's best if you own the car since all of the money towards the new car will go to you and not just the difference of what is owed to the bank.
2. makes no difference if it is paid for or not. the closer you get to that magic 100K mileage the more your car is going to lose in value. if you trade it in, the dealer will pay it off for you. go to kbb.com and use trade in to get an idea of your car's value before going to the dealer. also, get your payoff so you know where you stand.
3. The longer you wait and the more miles you put on it, the less your going to get out of it. I traded mine in and ask them to pay it off, and they did. I got a little over $10.000.00 for it! What was good about it I also had combined my loans for furniture I had bought, and an air conditioner.
4. If the car has a higher trade in value then what you owe on the loan, it should be OK to trade it in on another vehicle. The dealer will handle all the paperwork. What you want to make sure to NOT do is get upside down on a car. If your new car is bought with little down, or you are stretching out the loan payments for more then 4 years, you may quickly owe more on it then it's worth. When that happens, you are trapped, regardless of whether you continue to like the car or wreck it and can't pay off the loan with insurance money. My rule of thumb is, if you can't pay 20% down, and pay the rest off in 4 years or less, you have no business buying that car.
5. It is never a good idea to buy a new car. As soon as you drive it off the lot your car loses about 10% to 15% of the value, but you probably still owe more that that. It loses another 20% or more in the first year, and you're probably still upside down.
6. You should always wait till one debt is paid off before getting into another. Also, wait until around a major holiday, that's when they have a lot of rebates and sales.
7. Trading a car in is a ripoff. They will pay off your car and give you chump change. Wait a year and sell it on ebay or in the paper, then buy a car You'll want to check these guys out..... http://www.123thebest.info/go.php?link=auto All the best to you.