Soo, I traded my black 2002 Lightning in on my birthday in May of this year. Bought a new 2004 Sonic Blue Lighting (note the capitalization!) One reason I traded it in was that it started making a funny sound from the engine compartment. Sort of a chuffing sound, almost like an exhaust leak. I removed all my mods and took it in under warranty. They told me it was perfectly normal. Twice. On two separate service occasions. I wasn't sure, and since my friends have Lightnings that do not make this noise, I just figured I would get a new one before my factory warranty ran out.
Cut to yesterday: I stopped at the dealership, and ran into the guy who sold me the new truck. After I traded the truck in, it dropped a valve! Better them than me...it was their service tech who told me everything was fine! They just sold the truck after repairing it, and got $5000 less than they gave me for it. (I verified that with a friend in the finance office). I have never in my life been so happy to be right. Just thought I would share.

 

that is a happy ending!!!!!

 

Why did they get $5,000 less than the trade in price?

 

Trade in price was probably juggled up for an MSRP sale?

 

Sort of. Depends on how you look at the numbers. I look at it this way: I paid MSRP for the truck, and they gave me $28,371 for my trade in. You could also say that I got the truck at X-plan, and they only gave me $23,000 for my trade. OR, you could say that I paid $1 for the new truck, but I had to pay them $5000 to take my old one off my hands. In any case, they lost money on the deal...I don't know why they sold it so cheap, the salesman said because it had been on the lot so long?