The problem you are going to run into is that the Dodge Ram has the most inflated "retail price" of any truck on the market. That's why you can only get a Ford dealer to come down maybe $5k off sticker, maybe slightly more on a GM/Chevy, and you're lucky to get $2500 off on a full size 'Yota. At the same time, it's easy to get the dealer to jack the price of a $40k stickered Ram to a walkaway price of around $28,000.

Don't look at sticker, but see what people are PAYING for a new Ram comparable to yours. If you can walk off a dealer lot with a BRAND NEW 2011 Ram with a sticker of $39k for $29k, then they will obviously have to re-sell your 2010 Ram for considerably less, especially when figuring in financing incentives on a new truck that will not be on a used one. I don't think I've seen any used 2010s around here, but 2009's in a Hemi QC 2WD flavor are going for around $23k, I did see a completely loaded 2010 Hemi QC 4x4 on my local dealer's lot that was a dealer demo with 8k miles on it for $28,995 about two months ago though. But that was "sticker" and I'm sure they'd deal off of that.
Honestly, I'd be surprised if you got much more than $20k for your in REAL DOLLARS. They may show you considerably higher on paper, but that just means the difference is what they COULD take off that new 2011 that they aren't.

Of course there is no harm in shopping, lots of times a dealer needs to move a few vehicles at the end of the month to make considerable "kick-back" quotas. I had a chance to trade my '04 in on a brand new '06 2500 CTD for only $13k and my truck on the last day of the month in the fall of '06 and the deal would have been a no brainer. I had been looking just a week before and they wanted $19k and my truck, but the sales manager called me and said they needed to move three trucks that day to meet a quota bonus from Chrysler. But as luck would have it my mom was diagnosed with cancer that day and I traveled immediately from Georgia to Florida the next morning. By the time I got my head back to thinking straight, that truck was gone and the sales manager said they were taking a $5k loss to meet that quota and as of the first of the month, they wouldn't have honored that deal anyway.

 

You should owe less than blue book with a truck this new... the only thing you have to consider is that the dealer will not give you close to blue book value for your truck. if your truck is in immaculate condition, with little miles, they will have to sell your truck for less than a brand new, comparable truck, minus incentives and rebates.

for instance... your truck brand new= $40,000. you owe say 28k, cause you got a lower price due to incentives and rebates, but kelly blue book says your truck is valued at 37k.

if all incentives makes you walk away with a 28k loan, instead of the sticker of 40k, then they will offer you less than 28k, cause if you can buy a new truck for 28, they would have to sell a used truck for less than that.

The only way you might be able to make due with the blue book value being more than what you owe, is with someone who for whatever reason, cant get financing for a new truck, but somehow can get it for a used truck, which i've heard of a few times... instances like that, you may be able to get more than what the dealer will offer you.

I am in the same boat... after owning my '11 RAM sport 1500 reg cab short box for a few months, im coming into some financial problems, and need to get a cheaper truck payment. I went to the dealership last week, and they offered me 25k for my truck thats blue booked at over 33k. its a crappy situation, but if you're desperate to get rid of it, do what you gotta do.

 

If at all possible, the best thing to do with a new truck is to keep it for a few years before selling or trading it. I bought mine with pretty much all of the options knowing that it would be awfully expensive to decide in a year that I wanted (say) leather seats or something else that I should have originally ordered.
The dealers will really beat you up on a one year old anything.

 

whats on the 2011 thats not on the 2010 that you want ?

 

I want to get a diesel

 

I traded my 2010 1500 slt back in march for a 2011 ram bighorn for $4300 difference

 

I am trying to buy a new 2012 vehicle that is quite a bit less than the 2011 Ram 1500 Laramie I bought just two months ago and this particular dealer is telling me that this trucks value has dropped from $48,000, amt of truck in Nov. 2011 to $32,000 today. I guess I pretty much know the answer to this one, but is this the way it goes to try and trade a vehicle this soon. My reason for trading is for medical reasons.

 

It's never going to be good trading in a vehicle that is so new. As I stated before, just because your 2011 listed for $48k doesn't mean that's what the real world value was the day you bought it. If you got just an average deal on it when you bought it you should have paid about $36k for it then, so getting $32k on it now isn't that bad.

Way back in '04 when I bought mine new, the sticker on it was just a shade over $36k and I paid $28k for it. So sticker really doesn't mean sh*t nor does "book value" really. In late '05 just before I started moddin' the hell out of my truck I looked real hard at a new '06 2500 diesel. Blue Book on my truck was still at about what I paid for it new - about $26,900, but best I could get from any of the three dealers I went looking at diesels at was $18k - almost $10,000 under "Blue Book" value. Not surprising because they were discounting new '06 1500 QCSB 4x4 Hemi Rams at about $24k on the lots. Realistically how could I or anyone expect "book value" of $27k on a two year old truck???

 

FWIW, Edmunds gave me what I thought was a much more realistic trade-in appraisal than KBB, for all the reasons mentioned above. For a 2009 Bighorn Hemi 4WD with 35k:

KBB
Excellent: $23,575
Very good: $23,225

Edmunds
Outstanding: $19,346

Give them a try and see what you come up with. I've also had good luck in the past by browsing ebay motors and seeing what dealer auctions end up selling for.

 

I'm guessing mid 20's tops.you take a huge beating the first two years. Try selling on craigslist,but you won't get retail,but more than a dealer will give you.