Tips on Buying Cars: Upgrade?, cadillac cts, loan balance

Question
I have a'05 monte carlo. I want an '04 or '05 cadillac Cts. I still have 4 years left to pay on it. I want to trade in and pay about $50 more a month. Will they payoff my car, to where it's almost like swapping, but they of course get a little bit more. can this happen?

Answer
It all depends on how much you still owe on the Monte Carlo, versus what the Monte is actually worth.  First, you need to call your bank and get your loan closeout (not the loan balance, but the closeout- they're two different figures, and only the closeout figure is of any use to you or a dealer looking to take your car in trade).  Once you have that, go to Edmunds.com and look up your cars current trade-in value.  There are other sites that will offer numbers, but Edmunds is the most accurate.  If the trade-in value is at least as high as your loan closeout, then what you want to accomplish may be possible.  BUT- if you owe more than the trade-in value, then the payment on the Cadillac will be a lot higher than where you'd like to be.

For about 90-95% of the people that ask this question, they owe far more than their car is worth, unless they've paid at least 1/2-2/3 of the original loan amount.