I have not yet taken my car to Carmax, but I do plan to, based on other things I've read here. I was offered $10k on it by a local dealership in June, but that was because the GM was going to leave that position and come work where I do so he was going to give me a really good deal...until he decided to stay in the car business after all. I owe a little over $11k on it still. Another dealership offered me only $5500 for it. It has some front end damage, but it's definitely worth more than that! KBB on it is over $12k (well, minus the damage anyway, which is about $1500-$2k). So realistically, it is probably worth around $10k, but I highly doubt anyone is going to give near that on trade. So I may not trade it but sell it myself.
But yes, I decided it would be imprudent to apply for any more credit until after I buy another vehicle. I'm sure the new loan and it's ratio is going to cause a pretty deep score drop for a while, so I'll probably garden my revolving accounts until April or May.
*Unless I wind up getting a used Flex instead of new one, in which case I can wait until around tax time because I won't need to buy one at the end of the year to get the best deal. In that case, I'm thinking I SHOULD go ahead and get another card now. Thoughts?
Congrats!