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Hello everyone! I'm looking for advice on trading in a vehicle/putting a down payment on a car and getting a loan. Full disclosure I have almost no knowledge of what I'm doing here(aside from skimming the sticky at the top of this forum on how to shop for an auto loan).
The situation is that DW has a 2016 Mini that's paid off and she doesn't want it anymore. She's looking to trade it in to get a new Subaru Crosstrek(at least for the time being that's the target car but anything in that price range is on the table). I don't think the loan will be for more than 10-15k(after trade-in and down payment). The issue is she has a late payment from three years ago bringing her score down. Our respective FICO 8s are as follows:
DW 8/21 Experian three report scores(likely won't fluctuate much as account activity is pretty stable)
EX 683 3 inquiries
EQ694 3 inquiries
TU 701 0 inquiries
AAoA 5y4m
Late is 3y7m ago
Me 9/10 Experian three report scores(will go up and down a bit with utilization but all will be PIF)
EX 769 4 inquiries
EQ 752 3 inquiries
TU 767 1 inquiry
AAoA 1y
Considering the size of the loan, will it be a pretty insignificant difference in total paid even with a higher APR? Let me know if any more information would be helpful here and thanks for any help!
Thanks so much for the help with this. Makes it a lot easier to go into a dealership with the right mindset.
@Anonymous wrote:
Y’know, people always say “don’t tell them about your trade until the end of the deal,” but I personally get that out of the way first.
Know the value of your trade - most dealers are going to go by Blackbook which is dealer exclusive - I can provide you values if need be. A good free source is NADA and I would ask and not budge from Clean Trade.
I can’t stress this enough: know what your vehicle is worth. Dealers are always trying to steal good trades. Always.
Good info. Several years ago I called a dealer to get a price on a new car. Mine was in service. Asked that they value my car as a trade and get back to me with a number. The proposed deal would be cash minus the trade. Salesman called with the info. We went in the next day to do paperwork and delivery. Numbers changed, significantly.
I said that's not what you quoted yesterday. He said there is a problem with the trade. I told him no problem. Take the trade out and I'll substitute with cash for the trade allowance. He got all foolish saying that's not the way it works. We left.
We bought the identical car from a different dealer cash no trade for a lower price than originally agreed with first dealer. Sold the trade privately. The trade was a late model, low milage very clean car, same make as the new car.
No loan on that proposed trade. They just changed the numbers I guess. As we walked away the salesman put his head out of his cube loudly saying are you going to lose this deal for X dollars? I said no you are and kept walking.
Sometimes a deal just doesn't work for whatever reason. Once there is an agreement even verbal I expect the parties to honor that. If one decides not to it's finished. Too many cars and too many car dealers to fool with one who is shaky from the jump.
I may be just a stickler in that regard. If one dealer doesn't want the money another will happily accept it. Dear old dad often said cash will take you anyplace you want to go.