well, after all my praise of ram trucks i just traded mine in for a ford. i sat down with a couple of dodge dealers and they were trying to gig me on my trade in and i didn't qualify for all the advertised discount. ford gave me 1000 more than the kbb trade in value for my truck and sold me a much nicer truck than the ram i was looking at. i'm having a hard time adjusting because i've been driving rams for 8 out of the last 10 years. i reach for something and it's not where it should be. the rams have better ergonomics but for 120 a month lower payment and about 5 mpg better mileage i'll have to adapt. i drive over 40k miles a year so i trade every 2 years anyway. we'll see who needs to make a sale in 2015. enjoy the truck, they're nice. i would have rather bought a ram but money talks and in the end a truck is just another work tool for me.
the storage bins in the back floorboards make nice coolers too.
10framer,
Hope it works out for you, sounds like it was a no-brainer given the numbers. As I said, I'm really not a truck guy, so I didn't go in with any brand loyalty issues. While I was very happy that both Motor Trend and edmunds.com had the Ram as truck of the year, any of the reviews will tell you that you can't go wrong with any of the major brands. And honestly, my ending up with the Ram was more based on the deal simply being too good not to make it. :)
I think you played it smart by getting the best value for your dollar...The strongest negotiating tool without a doubt is being willing to walk away from a deal, sometimes it just has to be done.