When is it considered a good time to trade in?

[Loren]

Given your situation, I think you should keep the Yaris forever. Why would you bother trading in a car that you only drive 5k miles per year as long as that car is reliable and meets your needs?

But, to answer your question, you simply should never sell a car for less than you owe on it, or if you don't owe anything on it, you shouldn't sell it for less than it's worth. Trading = selling the car to a dealer. So, if you bought your car a year ago, you probably got a loan on it and you owe money on it. How much do you owe? How much is the car worth?

I can answer those questions on my car for an example. I owe less than $7k on it and I could probably get at least $8k in trade on it (low mileage 2007's are selling for anywhere between $9k and $12k around here). So, even though I've had it for only a year, if I wanted to, I could justify trading it.

Of course, if I look at it from a different perspective, I'd definitely be losing money to let it go for $8k, even though the loan would be paid off. I put $2k cash down on the car, and I've made $3600 in payments on the car. That's $5600 that I have invested in the car and I'd only see about $1000 of that if I sold it for $8k.

Best bet: Never trade in a car. Ever. Sell your car on the open market, that way YOU make money on the sale, not the dealer. (and while you're at it... never buy a NEW car, but a low mileage used car that's been well cared for)

But, whatever you do, you only have to answer to yourself. If you're comfortable with the deal and can afford it... have fun. Personally, my pet peeves are paying interest and getting a decent value for my money. I try to get the shortest and smallest loan possible to get the job done with minimal interest. My current car loan was $10,000 for 3 years at $301/mo... it's costing me right about $500 total in interest, and I'm okay with that. I paid $10,300 for my Yaris with 5k miles on it when new ones were going for almost exactly $2k more, I was okay with that, too.

Tom was in the typical "new car" situation. When you buy a new car (or pay too much for a used one from a dealer), the car depreciates immediately and isn't worth what you owe on it. With typical 5-year car loans, that situation usually does not equalize until the loan has been paid on for about 2 years.

[1NZYaris1]

that really depends on the current eco conditions , ie i paid $14,990.
driveaway for my yaris 2008 and it reatailed at $19,990+ taxes at the time
they are now retailing at $20,990+taxes for the 2009 3dr L/B 1.3ltr
2006 models 1.3 5spd 60,000km selling at $14,500 - $16,000
don't figure.

i was offered a straight swap 3 weeks ago for a 2009 1.3 5spd
but i was not allowed to remove my mod's so said no.

[tomato]

Originally Posted by Loren

Given your situation, I think you should keep the Yaris forever. Why would you bother trading in a car that you only drive 5k miles per year as long as that car is reliable and meets your needs?

Thank you very much for your detailed answer, Loren. I'm relatively new to the world of trading cars (Yaris was my first acquisition through a dealer) and reading about people's experiences helps a great deal to understand the process.

To answer your question honestly (hold your flames everybody ): because while I think the Yaris is a good little car overall (wouldn't have bought it otherwise), I think in the long term I'd feel more comfortable with a car that has just a tiny little bit more power under the hood.

Not that I'm drag racing or driving like a jack rabbit or anything, but in certain driving situations (like trying to merge in and out of a busy freeway or change lanes when @$$holes in far more powerful cars won't let you, or trying to get out of the way FAST if you have to for whatever reason) the Yaris lacks the acceleration necessary to do it and it makes me feel somewhat vulnerable on the road.

If I still lived out in a rural area, I wouldn't even think about another car right now because in my opinion, the Yaris is ideal for driving on backroads, but for this area with crazy freeways with merging lanes and all that other city driving non-sense, I don't know, I sometimes feel that the Yaris is a little borderline

So anyway, that's why I'm keeping an open mind about trading for other similar cars that may show up on the market.

I've always purchased used cars long out of manuf. warranty in the past, and was looking for a 2 to 5 year old car to replace my old 1987 Honda CRX HF, 5 speed, because she was starting to show her age and demand more costly repairs; but in this economy, people are hanging on to their good used cars so I ended up including dealerships in my search.

There are not very many hatchback, subcompact, manual transmissions out there, and that is the style I really love. I test drove the FIT (which was probably a better car for me) but the Yaris costs less and, I don't know, I had a connection when I saw her on the lot, I don't know how to explain it, probably visual appeal, so...

I paid off the Yaris right away because financing was too expensive at the time of my purchase so I don't owe anything on it. I'm a little jaleous of the people who can take advantage of the 0% financing they have right now, to be honest ;)

Trading in has one advantage: you get an immediate release of liability. The dealership gave me $500 for my CRX (I almost walked out the door when they offered me $100 so they upped the price a bit.) I may have gotten maybe $700 on Craigslist for the CRX but not much more, so no enormous loss, I guess.

I sometimes wonder if I should have gotten the Matrix or the Fit instead.

[nemelek]

Originally Posted by tomato

I think in the long term I'd feel more comfortable with a car that has just a tiny little bit more power under the hood.
:

There are people in this forum that with mods have gotten more power.