Is it possible to trade-in a used car for a lease and is it a good idea?

DH is thinking about it. I have never heard of it before. Anyone has any experience with this?

Re: Is it possible to trade-in a used car for a lease and is it a good idea?

DH's car is paid for. The dealership agreed to buy the car because it's in excellent shape and an extremelly low mileage. He is looking into a lease and they worked out a deal. He will get fair market value for the car. They are essentially buying DH's car and cut him a check. Then DH will do a lease. The car sale is not valued into the lease.

Re: Is it possible to trade-in a used car for a lease and is it a good idea?

We did that w my car a few yrs ago. They took the trade and applied the value of the car toward putting money down which helped keep our monthly payments lower.

Re: Is it possible to trade-in a used car for a lease and is it a good idea?

It's possible and we looked into it with DH's car a few months ago. BUT, they definitely low-ball you. They offered DH a certain amount, we went on craigs list and found someone to buy it for $1000 more the next day. So, needless to say, we turned down the dealership's offer. It's good to use the dealership if you don't want to deal with the hassle of selling it yourself, but we thought $1000 was worth the 30 minutes it took to sell.

Re: Is it possible to trade-in a used car for a lease and is it a good idea?

it can work out to lower the payment but be aware that you also could loose the money

if you lease and the car is stolen or totaled then you are out that money - the insurance company just covers the remaining lease buyout - that is why they recomend not putting any or much down at all

if you do it - negotiate the lease payment first - knowing the interest rate( remember Interest Rate = Money Factor x 2400), sale price, and residual value, and number of miles per year/month

then negotiate the sale of the car and if not a substantial amount then have them apply to lower the amount of the sale price and therefore payment amount

Re: Is it possible to trade-in a used car for a lease and is it a good idea?

We leased with Wantagh Mazda last summer, and they took my car as the downpayment (which otherwise I think would've been around $2k).

I was happy to have them take it off my hands. (2003 Ford Focus) It was already paid off and it was breaking down left and right. In fact, the battery died in front of the dealership the day we went to pick up our new car.

Personally, DH and I just did not want to deal with the aggravation of selling privately.

On a related note, you may not necessarily need to put down anything with a lease depending on your credit. I know many people advise against it anyways if you can avoid it because if you get in an accident, you're out that $$$$.

This also may tie into how high your payments are too.

Re: Is it possible to trade-in a used car for a lease and is it a good idea?

1-Negotiate your lease first based on price of the car. Do not tell them about any trade until you are ready to do the deal.
2-Tell them you have a car to trade in. Even if they ask you up front about the trade, don't tell them about it. I know, not honest but it's my money and I want the best deal and I ALWAYS get the deal I want using this strategy.
3-If you are not happy with th deal, walk out. Go somewhere else and get the deal you want.

Of course you have to be reasonable but find out what the car is worth ahead and check out Edmunds.com to get some prices.

Great calcuators on there too.

Good luck.

Re: Is it possible to trade-in a used car for a lease and is it a good idea?

Thank you so much, girls!!! We are going tomorrow to the Nissan dealership just to check things out. NO transaction will be taking place for sure, but I am still a little nervous: I have NEVER been to a dealership before and only know of horror stories of people getting duped unless they go to someone they know... Well, it will only be a visit to check things out. I just have to keep saying that to myself.

Re: Is it possible to trade-in a used car for a lease and is it a good idea?

Going on a Saturday is good. They'll hopefully have more customers than they can handle so won't pull out all the stops...

Re: Is it possible to trade-in a used car for a lease and is it a good idea?

I also want to emphasize not telling them about the trade-in just yet. One of the "tricks" they pull which happened to us several years ago at Atlantic, was they took our keys to go "check out" our car and left us there for what seemed like hours with a newborn!

Then they tried to really push us into a sale, for a different car when we realized we didn't like the #s for the other car we wanted.

I swore right then and there I'd never do business with this dealership again, nor disclose what we had on the table until we were ready to seal the deal.

Re: Is it possible to trade-in a used car for a lease and is it a good idea?

We did it with a ten year old Honda Accord and ended up with a great deal on a CR-V lease. We did tell them about the trade in at the beginning (unfortunately, didnt know the PP's great advice...which I will definitely be heeding in the future) but DH refused every trade in offer on the accord and kept making them go back until we got what we wanted. We feel good about the $ we are paying for our lease.
and I agree, dealerships are intimidating!