Terry,
I completely blew past your comment that they were asking you to take a $4500 hit on your 05. That is absolute nonsense. When I toyed with the idea of moving from my 03 HCH to an 05 HAH, the dealer I spoke to offered me $15000 in trade for my almost 3-year old car with (then) 40K miles. That's only $6K off the price I paid for it - not bad at all in my mind. We know, and these dealers know, that used hybrids will fly off the lot. You're sitting on a gem - make them pay for it.
Dealers will talk themselves into believing that because of a car's perceived demand, they can get all crazy about what they sell them for. Your strategy of talking to a variety of dealers will help. With my 03 I talked to dealers in about a 100 mile radius from where I live. The one dealer closest wanted a $2K markup above sticker. Another dealer 90 miles down the road did not. When I went to negotiate (at the closer dealer), the sales person and I "agreed"
that $2K was worth a 90 mile drive and if they wanted to sell me the car, that little mark up was not enter into our conversation at any point (and it didn't).
You know, regardless of what you pay someone you know (or on this board) will have paid less. Always happens. I hope you find an agreeable situation soon and get on with the business of enjoying your new car.
