After spending a few decades in the car business, I believe this is the #1 request that I hear on a regular basis.

"My payment now is $xxx/month

I just want to trade my car in and buy (or lease) a new one for the same payment, or, hopefully, less, with no money out of my pocket."

People, if that was possible I would have an arrow at the freeway off-ramp directing traffic to the dealership and 80% of the cars going by would pull in.

Get a brand new car, same payment as your old car, no money down? HAHahahahahaha, American dreamers.

Everyone would do it once a year or more if it was possible. People just do not understand the concept of depreciating assets.

Then again, even professional bankers evidently did not understand that concept either, especially ones in the mortgage business...

Of course, if they had some equity in their trade-in (say its nearly paid for and worth $15K), I suppose it would be theoretically possible.

But I am gonna guess that if someone is looking at monthly payment, it might be a marker that they are upside-down on their trade-in already.

Can I trade in my paid for 7 y.o. truck on a 2009 for no money down and the same payment that I make now?

Yep. Just don't let the cops catch you.

Yup, especially when they financed it for 72 months, put only tax and license down, and try to get out of it in 18 months...or less.

had one the other day that was 6 months into a loan on a Hemi....$25k negative equity.

Stoopid, stoopid people. How do you maintain your sanity Troop?

Combine Stoopid People with shady finance (autos/houses, etc) people, and look what we have. Disgusting.

Where I come from, those are called 'liabilities,' and they go on the other side of your balance sheet.

Aw C'mon Troop, those are the ones that guys in the car biz sit around and laugh about at the bar after work. At least we used to.

Names like Stooooooopid, Clueless, etc., don't even come close to describing some people's lack of knowledge about how financial matters work. Amazing.

And, when you walk into a dealer and say "how much for the car" they don't really know what to tell you.

They will always ask - how much do you want to pay per month?

And I will say - whatever it takes to get what I want.

And they will get a confused look.

It cuts both ways. Car dealers only want buyers to think monthly payment - because then they can hide all the profit, for the customers to worry about later.

Indy...you are 100%. Plus car dealers WANT you to take the payment method as they make a lot of $$$ that. They will sell you a car for cash, but it is not preferred.

But I agree...I buy cars/boats on price, I am smart enough to figure out my payment on my own.

^^^^^^^^^

Yes, it is a proven FACT that most cash buyers pay much less than folks that finance.

Sure, there is always ma and pa Kettle that stash cash away under their mattress to save up for a car and then walk in and just lay down at the first pencil shown them, but they are few and far between.

Yep, salesmen LOVE payment buyers...

And the source of your FACT is?????

I doubt this is true for a variety of reasons but I'll withhold my comments for now.

So true Indy.
I was going to mention the same thing but you beat me to the punch.

I can count on my fingers how many times we have been at a dealer shopping – not often.
But almost every sales person brings up "what can you afford for a payment" or "what are you looking for a month".
If we get past that, good. When they mention it again - goodbye.

I won't paint all car salesmen with a broad brush, but my opinion isn't high.

Car salesmen ALWAYS ask about payments, but primarily to keep from wasting their time. I can't tell you how many times the first words out of a customer's mouth are "discount", invoice", "kelly blue book", etc.

Then when all of that stuff gets hammered out to a nothing deal, and you show the customer the payment at $598 a month and watch the color leave their face as they say "I can't afford anything over $350/month, you realize what you are dealing with.

Most people have a monthly budget, and if you can't stay within it, they will not buy a car regardless of how much you give for the trade or how little you sell the car for.

Huge waste of time for all parties involved...

BTW, is there a BETTER system to buy a car? We hate it more than you do, but it's the customer who insists on negotiating.

Apparently not. All the "no haggle" places seem to change back. And Saturn deals now too.

I feel for you Troop. I'm one of those guys that hates it when the first thing a salesman says after "hello, what are you interested in?" is "what payment are you looking for?" But I do realize you get a specific answer to that question from a majority of the people you talk to every day. Keep the faith man!