The price may not reflect the whole story. Some dealers will cut a lot off the price if you do not have a trade in. If you have a trade in, they will 'give' a good price for the used car,but not knock off much off the list price.
They are not going to give much for an old car nomater how the numbers look.
So, you're saying Kelly Blue Book doesn't know what they are talking about and their trade-in, retail, numbers that show the car being worth a lot more are wrong?
And it was not an "old" car. It was 6 years old, in great shape other than possibly needing a cat converter, which the dealer didn't even know about. It did have 225K miles, which is high, but that's different than a 20 year old car that's falling apart with 225K miles.
I never traded a car in, but my understanding is that you have to look at the bottom line in trade-in deals. For instance, what's the difference if your friend got $5k for his car but paid $3.5k more for the new car? That's aside from financing issues, which can also have some meaning.
Todat dealer financing is so low it is only a small consideration - and the days of being able to juggle the prices as you envision are pretty well gone. In most cases you get the same price, trade or no trade - and the trade allowance is "real".
Even YEARS ago - like when my Dad bought the '68 Rebel and was going to trade in the '61 New Yorker.; They were offering a ridiculously low amount for the Chrysler, so Dad said "forget it - I'll keep the Chrysler" and bought the Rebel outright for the same "before-trade" price - then asked "who wants to buy a nice 61 New Yorker?" The dealer principal had just walked in and Dad threw him the keys. Instead of the 2 or 4 hundred they were going to allow him on a trade, he got $1000 cash. Dad said for years that was the easiest $600 or $800 he had ever made.
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