I used to over-price cars so I could over-deliver on px values because I realised people feel this strange attachment to their knackered 15 year old heap. Sometimes, regardless of how bad the overall deal was, they'd feel *almost* warmth towards me as I complimented their car and offered more than everyone else for it. That's one idea why it might work.
The other, more likely, is that people are as dumb as s*** and like new things... which is also why the first idea works