i have a car loan for 16,000ish, if i want to 'trade' in my car, whats the process? and what do i lose?

Don't trade in a car - that gives the salesman 2 ways to take advantage of you. Sell your car privately - that way you'll know how much you are really getting. If it's "upside down" (you owe more on the car than you can sell it for) then you're stuck. If you get more than you still owe - then you have profit. Once you have cash - then you can bargain for the new car without the smokescreen of "trade in price" being offset by them giving no discount off the price for the new car. If the car is "upside down" but it would be more cost efficient to have a newer, more gas efficient less costly car - you can always decide to pay off the difference from what you sell the old one for and the payoff price. Just remember that you can always tell when a salesman is lying to you - his lips are moving.

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It depends on how much the car you want to buy costs. If you trade in your car and get 16000 for it, and by are car that costs the same, your payment will only change by a few dollars a month. However, if you only get 14000 or 15000, you may still have to pay off the rest on the old loan, or you can maybe transfer it to the new loan amount.

Find out what the pay off is on the loan that you have now before you negotiate a deal on the new car. And yes if your car is worth more that the other car, the balance can be forward as a down payment on the other car. But you need to call your bank and find out what the pay off is on your old loan first.

I hope that you see red danger lights flashing on this post.

If you take a car that you owe 16K on and you try to buy another car, you are going to get screwed!

This is how the process works: You take your car to the dealer and he says your car is worth only $10K, or less. He will then say not to worry because we can just roll the balance into the new note. He then sells you a car for whatever cost + the remaining $6K. He will probably try to get you to buy an extended warranty for another several thousand dollars. You walked in owing $16K You drive out owing more. Is this what you want?

Keep driving what you have until it is paid for. Then drive it some more. Or, sell the car privately, take out a loan for the difference, buy a clunker and drive it until the loan is paid off. Either way, you owe the money.

The first question is: what is your present car worth? (Go to kbb.com or nada.com to find out.) If it is less than $16,000, the thing is said to be "under water", and you must pay off the difference to the lender if you dispose of the car. If it is worth more, you are much better off; you can apply the difference toward the down payment on a new car. In either case, what you pay or get depends on what the dealer or buyer thinks the car is worth -- not what the web site thinks.