Thanks, guys. I'm just contributing to the thread with my analogous situation, more as an explanation of my feelings about dealer loyalty than having a problem deciding what to do about my car. I have a three-car fleet at home consisting of vehicles all newer than three or four years. I've been doing these deals for many years.
As to selling the car outright, that is typically the last option in a well-planned strategy for an upgrade. It's slow and a pain for someone like me with a two-income family, commuter job, and two very active pre-teens. Again, back to the value issue, it's worth some quantifiable level to not hassle with selling my own vehicle. I'm not doing the math on that option yet because I almost certainly expect "my" dealer will keep working on the situation and the phone will likely ring any moment. My point was that it's okay to walk away from a deal if it does not meet your exact expectations (as far a price; trade-in; whatever). There is a reason why a buyer should establish that reasonable level of profit for the dealer and stick to it. There is an exact dollar amount that a dealer will ultimately go to and a buyer should be no different (at least that's how I work). All of the history and service should be built into that figure. Some dealer hate this and love to remind you how "close" they are getting.
It's the bottom line on the deal that matters, not where the high price comes from. As you mentioned, it's a shell game and the profit can be in either the trade-in or the new vehicle price.
BTW, drop me a PM if you are interested and I'll send you the photos, service records, and specs /forums/images/graemlins/wink.gif
