OT: blue book value vs. reality for car

[rounder]

I bought a car for my wife about a month ago. It was used and had 2,0000 miles on it. She did not need a new car but it seemed like a good deal.

I looked up the Blue Book value of our trade-in car based on miles and condition and it said $5,000.

The car store offered to go down in price by $1,000 and give us and extra $1,000 over the blue book value. I think that was partly related to the fact that we had done business with them before.

The lesson for me was that Blue Book means something, but that it is just an indicator, not the end of the process.