Tips on Buying Cars: trading in, jeep grand cheroke, toyota rav 4

Question
Hi Brad, I want to know what you think.  I currently have a 200 jeep grand cheroke that I bought from someone.  I am still paying on it and it has 106,000 miles.  Because gas prices aren't getting any lower, I was thinking of downsizing to a toyota rav 4.  A dealership is just going to give me what I owe on it but I am not sure what I should do.  What would be your suggestion?

Answer
N,

I noticed that your Jeep also has 106000 miles on it so that means as time progresses it will need more work. Now a dealership is not going to necessarily give you what you owe on it. They may give you more or they may give you less. The best way for getting the trade value would be to go to kbb.om and look up the trade-in value for your exact Jeep in the area your in. Another option that would bring you more for your Jeep would be to sale it on your own. That way you will get even more than the dealership would give you for it and you could buy the RAV4 on your own without the trade.

As far as what you should do I can not answer that question for you but I can give you some guidance on how you can answer it for yourself. First the question is can you afford a new payment? If so how much? Now to determine this you will also need to know exactly what your credit is like. I always recommend checking all three of your reports every six months at least. After you know what your credit is like you can judge the interest rate you would get more easily. Now would also be the time to know what your trade was worth if we traded or if we sold it out right. After gathering this information you can figure out if you can afford a new payment and how much.

If you see you can afford it then move forward with your purchase. Be a smart consumer and shop for the car you want. Get multiple quotes and shop for a loan as well. Do your research and be thorough in the process. If you have any more questions feel free to ask me!

Brad
http://www.buyingacar101.com