was at the dealer today looking at 14 GL's and as we talked the gent asked if i was going to keep or trade in my 55 and to see what they would give me I asked for an appraisal and all things said and one they offered me $16K for my car.

No idea if that is good or bad:
stats:
2nd owner -
2004 E55
Tectite Grey
79K miles
all options except
parktronic
distronic
cd changer

Thoughts?

I'll give you 16k for your car...

thats the point i think it is worth more -

the prices are all over the map - i think mine is pretty clean and all maint has been done - i just spent 2k last week -

Sounds wayoff on the low side... trade in price should be somewhere >20k IMO especially when your trading for a brand new one!

tc1728's "offer" is not an indication that the dealer should offer more as a trade-in. He would be a private-party sale vs. the dealer's trade-in offer. Just throwing that out there.

As to the actual value of the car....

Our cars value is complete crap. People tend to go off of kbb and nada and don't realize that there aren't many out there for sale, especially low mileage clean cars. Realistically the dealer is gonna end up sending it to the auction where he will probably get around 17 for it. I'd try to get them to make up the difference on the price of the new car

I traded my beast in on the X5M, they gave me 15k for it. With many issues...

I think 18k would be reasonable but I would push them for more.

That's good, I got offered 12k for CLS lol

I was offered $7500 for my E55 by the local MB dealer LOL

16k isn't bad, rarity of a vehicle means nothing to a dealership. Haggle as much as you can, they'll most likely cut the price of their car vs offering you more for your car. It works out to be the same deal in the end but looks better for their side on paper.