I just realized my car may need more help than I do!! This gov program sounds great, but I want the wiser ones to help me ( and everyone!)

The more I know, the better I feel........................ask your men, husbands, brothers. Is this a good thing to do?

With grace,

Bella

It all depends on what you are turning in and what you could potentially sell that vehicle for on your own. If the vehicle fits in the profile of what they will take on the deal and it is worth less than 4500 by all means go for it. We just bought a ford fusion and I tell you it compares to the camry I had at one time. We chose not to go with GM with all that is going on in that company. My father a mechanic for nearly 40 years is very impressed with the new Fords as well. If you want more bang for your buck the Kia Sportage is ranked pretty well but the other KIAs turn out to be pretty much what you pay for them as far as mechanics goes. You can never go wrong with a Honda or Toyota. They run for 100's + thousands of miles with very little problems. Check with the vehicle manufacturer for your warranties, cash back or 0% interest rates and sort out what is going to be best for you. Often times the 0% interest is your best bet.

We just traded in our old 95 cadillac on a new 2010 toyota camry...we used this to get the rebate and also traded our gmc envoy with it ....we got $3500 for the cadillac rebate...for us its working out great.

I work at a car dealership and to be eligible for CARS--the vehicle you are trading must have been manufactured less then 25 years before the date of trade and have a "new" combined city/highway fuel economy of 18MPG or less. But most of the manufactures are giving good deals right now.

Hope this helps with some of you questions. I like the GM vechicles, but also own a Ford. I have a friend who just got a Toyota an loves it.

We would love to get rid of our 1995 Plymouth Voyager, but the calculators tell us that it gets more than 22 mpg (it doesn't), so we can't take advantage of the rebate. This really stinks. That car burns oil, has been a problem since about 80K miles. We've replaced a lot and now it has about 150K miles on it. But, without the rebate, it's unlikely we will trade it in for anything new. We'll just look for a good used car deal.

WriterMom

yes writermom.............my fried has a voyager they wanted to trade in but they said she isnt eligible. Did you have problems with the transmission...or electrical? They said the trans in those cars were crap and there should have been a recall on them.

hey Daisy...maybe you can answer a question for me...I went looking for a new car yesterday....we went into about 7 dealerships....and before I went everyone I know was telling me this is the time to buy...they will work with you on price and wont let you out the door without buying a car. I swear to God....they didnt come down off sticker and they just let us walk without even a counter offer. Whats going on? something in the wind?

hey AA#1...Not real sure what's going on. Maybe the area you live in, but they should still try and make deal, they know nobody it going to pay sticker price right now. We had a sales manager here until couple of monthes ago who like to try and charge sticker price and we were not selling any cars. But they fired him and got a young man in here who moves the vehicles. With all the rebates and kick backs they are not going to loss any money.

The sad thing is I would have told you the same thing about them wanting to make deal and now is the time to buy. With you going to that many dealerships, I would have thought someone would want to sell you a vehicle, but then again thats why some of them are going out of business or having to get help from the gov/us the tax payers!!

There isn't much money to be had on a new car sale anyways. So maybe they are trying to make some bucks if they can. Try to get out of the Chicago area maybe and see what kind of deals you can get.

Dav I was outta Chicago....i went to our suburbs.....Im gonna try the Chicago places...the city has a poorer crowd ...so maybe these dealers will be willing to drop prices a bit becasue they arent selling...but who knows...with this economy everything is a crap shoot!

Daisy do you work selling cars...how much do you guys pay below MSRP price so I know where about I should be in the offers they are giving me?

AA#1, No I dont work in sales, I work in the service and parts. From what I understand its not much. Depends on the vehicle it could be any where from $600 to $1100. Use to be more but they cut that back. Sorry not much help.

We didn't have to replace the transmission, but by 80K miles we had to replace all the seals in the engine. And I faithfully did all the regular maintenance. It leaks oil now. The AC has needed work. For years now we haven't taken it far from home. My husband just drives it 10 minutes back and forth to work. If we have to go on a trip, we take my Toyota Highlander. It has 106K miles on it, and we've never had any issues with it. We did have the water pump replaced, but it was under warranty then. I think the AC needs something. It's not as cold as it used to be.

After owning a Dodge Caravan, a Plymouth Voyager, and a Chevy Malibu (I got rid of it at 86K miles because it was already having engine trouble), I swore I wouldn't buy another GM or Chrysler car. I hate to say it, because I believe in buying American, but I won't buy them if it's going to cost me a lot of money and leave me stranded. Their trucks seem to be a lot more reliable.

WriterMom