Royal

I was thinking of buying a new car at the end of this year. I hear you can save alot of money that way. But I wanted to know if you pay the full down payment out of pocket with a trade in, I wouldn't still have to go through a bank would I? I want a new S Class so would this make my payment smaller. Or should I just keep my cash and use the bank?

JBRhee

Well, the way it works is, the more you put down initially, the lower your payments will be. So, if you're not going to paying the full amount at the time of purchase, you will have to go through a bank to finance the difference. That's how I did it. I bought a slk 55 amg with $30000 down (including trade-in), and my monthly finance payments are roughly $800.

Whatever you do, please don't lease a car if you're gonna trade your old car in.

LeaseCompare

I think what you meant to say is don't use your trade-in as a downpayment. When leasing you should have the dealer refund any equity in the trade as cash.

Stiggs

Why is this? I was thinking of leasing a CLS55 and trading my CLK55 to the dealer for it. I have over 10K in equity in the CLK55. Why should I get that in cash first? Isn't it all going to the cap cost reduction anyways?

LeaseCompare

Here is a real life example of why not to do it:
Cap Cost Lost