How-to Guide for Trading In a Car
Ready to buy? Learn how the vehicle trade-in process works and get started on the buying process today.
Trade-In Basics
When you trade in a car at a dealership, its value is subtracted from the price of the vehicle you’re purchasing. You can trade in a car that you’ve completely paid off or a vehicle that you still owe money on. When you trade in a car with a loan, technically, the dealer takes over the loan and pays it off. The dealer also handles the transfer of title.What you’ll need to bring to a dealership when you trade a car with a loan:
- Loan information such as your account number and payoff amount to date (you’ll get this information from your lender)
- Vehicle registration
- Proof of insurance
- Trade-in value
Your trade-in will fall into one of two categories:
You have positive equity: if your vehicle is worth more than the amount you owe toward the full payment of your loan, you have positive equity. In this case, you’ll have money to apply toward the purchase of a new vehicle. You have negative equity: if your car is worth less than what you still owe, you have a negative equity car. This is commonly known as being “upside-down” or “underwater” in your car loan. If you trade-in a car with negative equity, you have to pay the difference between the loan balance and the trade-in value. You can pay it with cash, another loan or rolling what you owe into a new car loan. Once you’ve finalized your deal, take home your new vehicle and enjoy!Want more information? If you’re interested in purchasing a vehicle at Krietz Auto, we’ll walk you through your trade-in process and help in any way we can. Get started today! Take a look at our current inventory of vehicles for sale.