I've had my Lancer OZ since late July, and up to this point it's been a fine car, and has met my needs when I financially needed it to. I am, however, very very interested in trading up to the US Evo once it has arrived, and I am have some questions about that. To preface these questions, it should be noted that I purchased via the 0-0-0 promotion, and my payments start in August '03.

The Questions:

1) So as to not commit financial suicide on this deal, about how much of the car should I have paid off prior to trading up?

2) Would it be wiser to sell the US Lancer independently and take that money to apply toward the US Evo or should I simply trade the US Lancer in on the Evo?

Your answers are greatly appreciated. Thanks.

 

ahh the question we have all asked... if you have the 0-0-0 deal its pretty much a done deal...your gonna get raped by a well hung monkey if you try to trade in you car with no payments made. that deal cant be without some exceptions...
just a thought
Lacy

 

how bad would it hit you if you leased the car?

 

Here's a bit of advice:

First of all, your payoff is probably in the neighborhood of about $18,000...assuming that you did not pay taxes and fees up front.

At the Mitsu dealer where I work, we have an '02 O.Z. Rally on our used lot for $12,995 which means that we own it for $11,000 to $11,500.

That puts you about $7,000 in the negative. (check out kbb.com because values may be different in your part of the country)

If you plan on trading the car in, go in with at least that much to put down...keeping in mind that the dealer will not dare to lose profit on the Evo to help bury your negative equity, he'll just send you along and wait for the next guy to come in with his checkbook in hand and a trade-in that is paid off.

As far as selling the car independently:

Right now, NOBODY is going to buy a used '02 for anything near what you owe. Remember, they can go to the local dealer to buy a new one AND get low interest financing all in one place. If they buy from you, they have to obtain their own financing at the bank which can take days to get sorted out.

Not to mention the hassel of trying to sell a car privately. It can become very time consuming, it involves the invitation of strangers to your home or work, and you may find yourself being "stroked" by tire-kickers.

I've been selling new and used Mitsu's for three years now and I can say from experience that the best thing to do is drive your O.Z. for at least 2 years after your begin to make payments before you trade it in.

If you absolutely cannot wait that long, prepare to "roll in" a substantial amount of negative equity in the Evo. Even this may require money down because MMCA has a "cap" on how much they will finance over MSRP.

I hope this info is helpful to you.

 

Ooh.. ooh.. I know!! Buy the evo under the 0-0-0 promo.. It'd be nice if mitsu did that for us.. =P

 

Somehow, I doubt that the Evo will be included in the 0-0-0.

 

Ok here is one...I owe nothing on my lancer I had it since Jan. and I owe NO money whatsoever on it.

What can I expect.

btw im not worried about losing face value since I didnt even pay for it. : )

 

In my neck of the woods used car prices have dropped like a rock in the last 6 weeks. 02' ES Lancers that we were buying in late October can now be had for up to $1,500 less at auction than what we paid. I think the market will come back in January though. I'm guessing if one were to try and trade an OZ with say, 15k miles on it at our store right now it might get bid for around $10k, based on how the market is at the moment.

It's not a great time to trade.

For those who currently have Lancer's and want an EVO though, as long as you can swing it financially my recommendation would be to keep the Lancer. The EVO is not going to be a comfortable car for daily driving.