I have a 06 scion tc i bought for $18,000 and i want to trade it in for a $18000 honda s2000 how does it work?

This may not be what you want to hear...But I will tell you how it works...(I own a used car dealership) You buy a car on monday - getting a good price - you pay Retail price for it. You decide on Thursday (same week) that you didn't get the car you really wanted. You talk to the dealer and guess what?? You can now trade that car in, but only for trade in value. See you have only had it 4 days, but its doesn't matter how long you have had the car, dealers wont pay "Retail" for a car, when they can go to the auction and pay rock bottom prices. This is why its never a good idea to trade in a car to the dealer. The dealer is the only one that will come out on top. So if you paid $18k for scion a year ago, my guess without knowing mileage and all the options on the car, which make a difference...I bet you get offered $12,500 for your Scion, at most.

Try and sell your TC first! You will get much more money that way! a dealer will only give you what your car books for and less. sure you will have to do alittle work to sell it, like wash it, take calls and lots of questions (people want to know they are getting a good car!) but in the end, when you have several thousand more dollars in your pocket it will definately be worth it! try places like craigslist.org for your city, its free, or try ebay! (try looking at both of those for a used Honda s2000 too!) lots of good deals to be made right now!

the mathematics of depreciation and second hand language are a bit complicated for me too, but i think i'd advise you to make sure that this is the car you want for a longer time (if you have a lot of money to spare don't think about the math) but if you don't.... then think really really hard that this is what you want. and with how the economy is doing, plus factor in your age, credit score, blah blah ..... i think you'd end up paying a lot ..... for the fame of having owned a couple of cars in so short a time