Fuel prices are so high that drivers of gas guzzling sport-utility vehicles are willing to lose money on trades in order to pick up cars that cause them less pain at the pump.

In April, 26 percent of drivers who traded in their cars nationally had negative equity, meaning their car loan was worth more than the auto-mobile’s trade-in value, according to Edmunds.com, a Santa Monica, Calif.-based automotive information Web site.

That means more than one-quarter of drivers who traded in their cars paid, on average, an extra $4,282 to cover the old loan.

“A middle class family with two SUVs could easily spend $100 for each fill up,” said Jesse Toprak, senior industry analyst at Edmunds.com.

“I think that really gets people, when they see three digits at the pump,” he said.

David Jacobson, chief executive of Hauppauge-based Groovecar, an auto loan processor for credit unions, said the majority of drivers on Long Island with negative equity roll over the amount to their next car loan to avoid paying off the old loan up front.

It’s a risky decision since the new loan, then, must be stretched out as long as eight years to keep the monthly payments the same as the old loan. Jacobson said the chief concern for borrowers is the monthly payment, not the total amount of the loan. However, if drivers keep trading in cars with negative equity, their debts will continue to increase.

“You can just flip the money and keep stretching it from one car to the next,” he said.

For example, according to Cars.com, a borrower would pay $462.91 per month on a three-year loan for a Honda Civic that costs $15,010. Over the course of the loan, the borrower would pay about $16,000 total including interest, only $1,000 more than the original price of the car.

But add $10,000 in negative equity from two trade-ins to the cost of the Civic and the loan must be stretched to six years to keep the monthly payments the same. Over the course of the loan, the borrower will pay about $30,600 total, or almost $6,000 more than the original loan amount because of interest, and double what the car was actually worth.

Lenders cringe at the idea of mounting negative equity because it creates more risk for them. But because cars depreciate so rapidly, negative equity is inevitable, said John Barrie, who has worked in commercial lending and is now the assistant vice president of marketing at Suffolk Federal Credit Union.

“We will finance 100 percent of the vehicle plus sales tax so we’re in the negative equity immediately,” he said. But the credit union won’t stretch auto loans to their new maximum of 96 months because that keeps the borrower underwater for a longer period of time, he said. Also, longer loans carry higher interest rates to cover the risk.

If drivers want to get out of their SUVs immediately in order to save on gas, the negative equity is unavoidable. In fact, the $4 a gallon-plus gas prices have actually caused SUV values to depreciate at a faster rate, Barrie said. Unfortunatey, that means paying the high prices at the pumps could sometimes be the cheaper option, depending on how long ago the vehicle was purchased.

“I know a lot of Long Islanders would like to bite the bullet and trade in despite negative equity, but sometimes the costs are too prohibitive,” he said

By Laura Glasser