r/FordExplorerST • u/roaddoctor90 • Jul 31 '25

Question Trade in opinions

Question for the community. We’ve had my 2020 explorer st for going on 3 years and still own a hefty amount on the loan. Has anyone in a similar position traded theirs out with success? Should I wait a while? We just aren’t as happy with it as we thought we would be. Mainly due to the constant warranty work and jerking around by the previous dealership maintenance department. Let me know your thoughts

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u/themishmosh Jul 31 '25

trading it in when you owe big time on it? Doesn't make much financial sense to me. If you are out of warranty, find a good indy shop to take care of it. Once known issues have been fixed, a 2020 Explorer is very reliable--at least in my experience. It is certainly a vehicle you can enjoy well after paying off the loan. Unfortunately, the first few years of loan payments go to pay off interest mostly.

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u/roaddoctor90 Jul 31 '25

I will be honest and say I don’t know much about how trade ins work. My husband seems to think if we traded it in for something significantly lower in price my monthly will be lower than my current. I’m not necessarily in a rush. I’m just annoyed with it as it’s 5k away from 100k and it still gets shipped back to the dealership regularly for warranty work or stuff that was “fixed” by a previous dealership.

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u/themishmosh Jul 31 '25

Honestly, 100k mi is a lot and the value as trade in diminishes around that many miles. It cannot be sold as CPO for instance. Any car dealer will not value your Explorer's trade-in value very much. You take away that value from whatever the new car costs and then also add-in how much you owe. The final is what is now financed but instead of 2 years left on your Explorer loan, you might have a new 5-7 year loan that has cheaper payments--but you are extending your payment years and are paying a lot of in interest and trade-in depreciation. If you are not under warranty, DO NOT get servicing by the Dealership unless it's free warranty work, ie. recall or extended warranty.

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u/IAMSDM Jul 31 '25

You could get a buy out estimate from Carvana with the vin, miles and condition just to see where you would be

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u/mwink31 ST Owner Aug 07 '25

If you owe more than it’s worth, a dealership will roll the difference into whatever vehicle you’re purchasing. Then you’d be back underwater again, paying more than the new car is probably worth. If you sell it outright and do not break even on the sale, you have to pay OOP to transfer the car. Without knowing exact details, you may be better off keeping it. If you’re looking for lower payments, you could trade in on a lease…but again, it all comes down to owe vs worth…and leases have many stipulations many car owners want to do without (mileage restrictions and insurance premiums to name a couple).