Is the ram air hood made out of fiberglass or steel?

How can I trade my car in even though the one I have isn't paid off?

• I had a 03 pontiac grand am ram air gt a few months ago, i traded it in for a 09 pontiac g5 that i am still paying off. however after buying this car, i had noticed a few flaws and a couple of things went wrong, first off there is no cruise control, second, my heating/ac had to get fixed bcos it was making a click noise, when i first bought it i noticed on the front of the car the hood was overlapping the bumper somewhat and i guess the user before must have gotten into a wreck, the bumper is pushed back and doesn't look right whatsoever. When i took into my salesman who sold it to me, he said it looked normal and blah blah blah and we went to look at a few other g5's to make sure it was actually normal which it wasnt but he still said oh it looks fine. UGH! this idiot is blind! Luckily I have three years warranty on the car still and they are fixing everything for free. But i mean whats next? I have decided I want to trade it in for something else, I am furious and don't like this car anymore. Is this possible even though it's still not paid off? I have made like 4-5 payments already but I'm sure how much I owe still.

• Answer:

  You can trade it if you want but you're looking at losing a lot of money in the process. Cars depreciate at a rapid rate, much faster than you can pay down the loan (plus the interest). If you get a great deal on the car that helps but the key to making any trade deal work is determining the difference between what you owe on the car and what it's worth. This is what you need to do. Call the lender and get the loan payoff amount. This is the amount of money you would have to pay the bank if you wanted to close the loan today. Then you need to determine the wholesale/trade value of your car. This is the amount of money the dealer would offer you on a trade in. The difference between these two figures will determine your next move. If the amount you owe is less than the value of the car you can trade it or sell it and get into another car with no problem at all. The reality is that you probably owe more on the loan then the car is worth. Any amount of negative equity represents cash out of your pocket. Money you will lose if you go forward with the deal. If that is the case then you need to figure out how you are going to cover that difference. If the amount is small you may be able to just pay cash or you may be able roll the negative equity into the new car loan. If the amount is too large you may not be able to get past that negative equity and that means keeping your car for awhile longer and paying down the debt.