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Restil t1_jecnyxq wrote

Just some notes of interest:

We are at the waning end of a unique point in history where used cars are worth far more than their typical depreciation rate would otherwise indicate they should be. This is not expected to continue. The new car will not hold its value like your current one has, but if you plan to keep it indefinitely, that's not a concern. However, any increase in your trade-in value is probably going to be offset by extras the dealer throws on the new vehicle. In the past, it wouldn't be unreasonable to negotiate $4-5K off the MSRP (although probably not that much on CRVs). That hasn't been the case the last couple years, so the numbers are probably working out more or less the same.

Something you could try, is to price out the new vehicle you want, do all the math considering trade in value, loan payoff, TT&L, cost of interest over the life of the loan, and figure out how much that would be, and then knock $3K off that total and insist to the dealer that's what it needs to be out the door or you're not interested. It's highly unlikely that they'll accept, but you might get lucky and it might make the whole transaction worth it. They're getting some amount of profit baked into this deal, so it's just a matter of how much of it they're willing to give up. It hasn't been a buyer's market for the last couple years, but the waters are a bit murkier right now. Again, probably not going to work to your benefit, but worst case you're right back where you are now, so no loss there.

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