I just went through the new (to me) vehicle shuffle a few months ago and was going back and forth for trade or sell. In the end, I sold to Carmax.
In MN, we get the tax break when trading in (6.5%). The trade-in offer plus the tax break was still about $2k less than I got outright from Carmax.
Also, the dealer was not budging on the sale price of my new (used) vehicle and I didn't want to 'give' them any additional free money for what they could have sold my trade-in for (it would have padded their pockets by another $5k-6k).
Of course I could have gotten even more if I went private party sale, but I just didn't want to deal with that rigamaroll.....especially for the high $$. Due to the ridiculous market, I drove my Golf R for 2 years, plus all maintenance and gas for free (yes, I overpaid for the replacement vehicle).
Regarding financing, you can play the game that they may come down more in price if you finance through them....less likely these days though.
In MN, we get the tax break when trading in (6.5%). The trade-in offer plus the tax break was still about $2k less than I got outright from Carmax.
Also, the dealer was not budging on the sale price of my new (used) vehicle and I didn't want to 'give' them any additional free money for what they could have sold my trade-in for (it would have padded their pockets by another $5k-6k).
Of course I could have gotten even more if I went private party sale, but I just didn't want to deal with that rigamaroll.....especially for the high $$. Due to the ridiculous market, I drove my Golf R for 2 years, plus all maintenance and gas for free (yes, I overpaid for the replacement vehicle).
Regarding financing, you can play the game that they may come down more in price if you finance through them....less likely these days though.