John_74

Hi. I have a 2004 TSX and while I thoroughly enjoy it and think its a great car, I've been longing for the TL for a few months now and after almost a year of driving the TSX I'm thinking about trading in my 2004 TSX for the 2005 TL (I hear from a reliable source that the 2005 models will be in the showroom in mid-September). I'm currently doing balloon financing on my 2004 TSX - will this hinder me in being able to trade in/trade up my 2004 TSX for a 2005 TL?? I'd appreciate comments from anyone that knows how the whole trade-in/trade-up process works.

iamhomin

Simply put, you add however much you owe on your current TSX to the TL's price, and take it from there.

For example:

60 month financing @ $300/month.
12 months paid, 48 remaining. x = 48 * 300 = $14400 remaining.

TL's price = $20000 + x

Or you can always privately sell your TSX.

johnstelting

It all depends on how much you paid for the TSX, the current condition and how much the dealer wants it. I'm assuming this is not actually a lease. If it is a lease....... keep drooling over the TL because you are way upside down and unless you have several thousand to put down or can handle payments about triple what they are now you don't stand a chance in trading the TSX in.

From someone that used to sell cars!!!!

sigmachi96

You need to be prepared to lose some equity in this exchange. The dealership will probably not give you the value that you should expect from your 04 TSX just because you are trading up to a 05 TL. Best case scenario is that they just pay off the remaining value of the TSX and you start with a new payment for a 05 TL.

The likely scenario is that you have negative equity if you trade up and will have to pay off some type of different between the current money owned on the TSX to the trade in value they give to you. I am not sure about Blue Book values as they are not available yet online via MSN autos or KBB.com. If I were you, I wouldn't do this until your payment owned is close to the value of your car so that you can exchange the car without the hefty payment of the difference.

John_74

Thanks for your comments so far. I was actually hoping for the "best case scenario" described by sigmachi96 - basically that the dealer pay off the remaining value of the TSX and let me get into a 2005 TL. A while back I seem to remember one of the Acura dealers in my area having an ad in the paper that said something like "we'll accept your current leased car regardless of the length of the lease". I should add that my TSX is in superb condition - I treat it with kid gloves and routinely wash it and detail it inside and out. In fact, I've had it almost a year and people still ask me when I bought it and are amazed when I tell them that its almost a year old. Also, I have low miles so the dealer would definitely have no problem selling mine and make a nice profit.