New to the forum and glad I found it! Just got done looking around and am now waiting on a VBP Sport M/T. A few things of note; I am an Element owner and absolutely LOVE the car and will be very, very sad to see the E go. But a new job and long drive distance is making the frequent fill-ups painful so its time for something a little more fuel efficient but still cool. Got the E from Majestic Honda in RI and it was THE BEST experience. Fully loaded EX AWD for two grand less than anywhere else and only 95.00 doc. and dealer fees. Of course its a long drive to Majestic so I thought I would try locally in CT for the Fit and here are my expereinces.
Westbrook Honda-Wanted MSRP +450 doc. and dealer fees and accessories for the Fit were double the price of the MSRP
Cardinal Honda-Wanted MSRP +260 doc. and dealer fees and aprox. 65.00 above MSRP on accessories. Of course me telling them not to run a credit check when they took my licence and they did anyway (illegal in the state of CT) was the first strike. Then the salesman says "so what accessories are you going to get?", "the foglights?" I politely tell him they come with the Sport Ed. He goes on to say "oh yeah, so what about the leather wrapped steering wheel?" Told him that that too came with the Sport Ed. By now I have all sorts of red flags going off and my wife says "lets just go back to Majestic as they were the best at no BS" I agreed.
Majestic Honda-Either Michelle or Mike Girard of internet sales and they will hook you up. 15565 +95doc. and dealer fees. for a sport M/T and if you get the accessories from thier website they are waaay cheaper than anywhere else.

 

I will say this, Cardinal has one of the best Honda Service Centers I have ever been to and/or experienced. Too bad the sales dept can't be the same.

 

Update: So what do think Majestic offered for my Element in trade? 13K!!!! WTH, its an '06 EX AWD m/t with 30600!! Thier excuse is 'thats what it will get at auction'. I'm thinking WTH again and go to thier site and lo and behold there is a '04 EX Element with 45000 for 18K. BS, I'm thinking if I wanted a Civic they probably would've given me more but because its the Fit all of a sudden they figure they can get thier 2k markup through the trade. So now I'm still looking and really hating dealerships now...

 

How far are you willing to travel?

I've only had experience with a couple dealerships in the north shore MA area. If you want to go that far, I could suggest one.

Perhaps at the next dealership you go to you can get them to give you a value on your trade in before you discuss what you are going to buy. I'm not sure if that will work.

Even though 30k miles is a little much for your element, you should still be able to get at least 15k on the trade in...

 

Might be a little far...just realized my mistake the E is an 2005 so 30k miles isn't so bad. Anyone know fo anyone looking for an E?

 

2005?

kbb is saying about 14k on trade in and Edmunds is saying 13k on trade in...

 

KBB is 14695 for trade and 16230 for private party in good cond. Didn't check Edmunds but I'll take your word for it.

 

Just checked Edmunds. For an 2005 Element EX AWD M/T 30600miles is 15282 for trade and 16449 for private party sale.

Has All Season mats (OEM)
Mud Gaurds (OEM)
Rear Bumper Aplique (protector thingy) (OEM)
Full Length Cargo Mat by Murdock Industries

 

for edmunds I just clicked through on average condition, because I didn't know the condition.

oh well. good luck.

 

Just a suggestion-
If you can wait a little while for the process, private sale of your E would make you a lot happier than being ripped off with a low-ball trade. I recently sold two used trucks with Buy New & Used Cars, Research Prices, Sell My Car, Find Auto Dealers and it was cheap and easy!