So I've finally narrowed my options down and now ready to start the negotiation/buying process.

There is a certified pre-owned is350 I have had my eye on for about 2 months now at a local Lexus dealership. 2 Months ago it was 27,900 and now with some promotion at the dealership it is being offered for 26,800.

When I went to go see the car in person and noticed it has (5) small spots on the car that have been covered up with touch up paint. The bumper also has some minor scuff marks on one portion of it. Keep in mind these are pretty minute defects I noticed while meticulously looking over the car. The car is also SGM/dark gray.

My goal is to get the car for $25,000-$25,300 "Out the door," which of course includes tax/title/lic. So through negotiations and pointing out the minor defects is this obtainable?

 

I think you need to look at this on a more macro level. A few scratches like you describe are not going to cause a car's price to drop $1500-$1800 (or more if you truly mean "OTD"--including TTL). But if the car is priced too high, and there's still profit there for the dealer, you can soften the discussion by bringing up the flaws that you see in the car, together with whatever other evidence you might have that the car is really worth your asking price.

 

States vary taxes/title/license costs.

What would the car need to be priced in Oklahoma before TTL?

 

What is this "goal" of yours based on? purely your willingness to pay? what you can afford?

Dealers are all into cars for different amounts. I would look up potential trade in values for a car with your parameters to get a proxy for what they might have paid for it, would need to make back with some margin, reconditioning costs, etc.

They've already lowered the price by $1,100, so I don't know if they'd have enough to drop it another $4,000, (estimating 10% for Tax/Title/License/etc, but as Philip noted, this can vary greatly) for you to be able to walk out for $25,000.

Used cars are expected to have nicks/scuffs, that's the nature of it. Nowhere is it expected for a used car to be absolutely pristine. Sounds like they've done the work of touching them up.

 

Just use some SCRATCH-OUT by Kitwax. Comes in a small yellow bottle. It will take out most of the surface scratches/stains/paint-discoloration as long as they aren't too deep into the paint.

Though not a wax, it goes on and off just like liquid wax (but you have to rub the scratch or stain out with pressure). Then, just wipe off the residue with a cloth, and it leaves a smooth clean polished (but not waxed) surface.

 

thanks mmarshal i'll look into it

 

willingness to pay.

 

IMO, when you buy a used car, you have to expect some amount of flaws. If you bring that to the dealer's attention, I doubt they're going to be willing to drop the price that much due to those flaws. If anything they'll offer to have a detailer come out and work on those paint issues.