I'm planning to purchase a 03' explorer sports trac, and want to trade in my 02' Mits Montero sports, this is the first time I do trade in, what should I know and do when I talk to the dealer? Any one has some good suggestions and experience.

 

Deals get wierd when you trade - you'll always come out way ahead if you sell it privately then go buy your new vehicle for a low negotiated price. They know you want it gone (the trade) so be prepared to get hosed. It is nice to drive in with the old and drive out with the new but your going to pay big for the convenience, especially in your case given the Ford dealer will likely want to wholesale your Mits which means he's not going to give you anything for it and you'll pay full boat on the truck too if you aren't careful but they'll massage the financing so it feels like you did OK payment wise. WUB (watch your butt) My 2¢ FWIW

 

FWIW ski......
If you wanna have the SHOCK at home, instead of at a dealership, go to www.kbb.com (there ARE others too) and follow the links to see how much the dealer will approx. offer you.

Your sphincter "pucker-factor" is about to go up BIG TIME!

If you are still paying on your car, you're in for the funnest treat of all, when they tell you ya get to actually PAY them to take your car!

 

Trade-in vs. selling it outright is like hiring a contractor vs. doing it yourself. DIY always costs you less, but you have to put up with the hassles and aggravations. The contractor absorbs the hassles, but for a price. Same with the vehicles.
If you HAVE to trade it in, try to find a mega-dealership that has both Ford and Mitsubishi franchises. That way, the Ford store will send it over to the Mitsu outlet, where they'll get more money for it. I would expect them to share some of that extra money with you. It's no guarantee, but you'll probably do better there than most other Ford dealerships.

 

Thank you guys for the info. i'm still paying my 02 Mits, if I go and talk to the dealer, will they ask for my monthly payment or what should I tell them about my old one? Thanks

 

Ski
This is way I went truck shopping with a trade. The first thing I did was try to get the new truck at invoice. Whether I trade or not I still know what I can buy the new truck for. Then we negotiate on the trade, and you have to keep in mind that they will only give you wholesale price at best. They usually have a few wholesalers that they can call and flip the truck right away so they won't get burned. If they have a buyer looking for that particular type of vehicle or its in high demand you may get a little more. It also seems easier to compare dealer to dealer because it all comes down to the trade value, and like they said above you better hope the trade is worth more than you owe on it. But if worse comes to worse sell the trade outright and you still have a deal made on the new one.

 

Thanks Mike.

Anybody has more tips?

 

Call your bank for your "cash payoff" on your Mitsu loan, then when you check KBB for dealer trade-in value, you'll know what you'll be putting down on the new truck after they pay off your loan. Remeber that you'll be saving on sales tax if you trade in. If your trade is worth $15,000, and the new truck is $25,000, you'll only owe taxes on the difference of $10,000. At least that's how it was explained to me when they were ripping me off (kidding). I bought a new truck each year for the past 5 years from the same dealership, so they usually hook me up without all the negotiating. Good luck.

 

BINGO!! Give that man a cigar! Mike, you definitely grasp the concept. Couldn't have said it better myself.

 

CASH PAYOFF? How does that work? I still have about 20,000 loan on my Mitsu, and the KBB shows the trade in value is 9600.
Thanks

 

You are officially "upside down" - you will need to come up with $10,000 cash to go along with your trade in order to buy the new truck at whatever price you negotiate. In other words, whatever truck you are looking at add $10,000 to the price. To make this work (unless you are rich) get the Mits detailed, looking good, sell to private party, pay your current lender the diff between what you owe and what you sell it for (unless you get more than you owe - that would be great). Then go negotiate a great price on the Ford and get a competitive loan. You can't trade, you'll get creamed.

 

Be careful if the dealer just starts throwing payments at you if you owe that much on your trade. A monthly payment may sound like a good deal but if its for 72 or 84 months its probably not. You don't want to end up owning a $50,000 F150. Some time you have to bite the bullet and pay down your current car first. You can always be the first on your block with a 2005.

 

9600? 20000? are you joking? In fact I think you are joking, in fact I think this whole thread is a joke. 10000 upside down? On a Mitsubishi?, Jeez did you finance the taxes, get the undercoating, paint sealer, fuzzy dice, prepaid manintenece plan, 25% APR or what?

 

Agreed - hurts just thinking about it. Even my wife's 99 Camry XLE has $9600 trade value . . . ouch!

 

That's too bad. I think I'd drive the $20,000 Mitsu for a while and forget about the whole trade-in thing. OTHG_MIKE is right - you don't want to drive a $50,000 F-150.