I am new to this bulletin board and hope, based on your responses, that I will be a participating member.

I am looking to buy my wife a car to replace her totalled 1998 Infiniti I30. While she loved the infiniti, she would like a different car and we were impressed after we test drove an ES300. We are looking to buy a CPO (Certified Pre-Owned) ES300 and need your advice. Whatever car we buy will be in our family for 5-6 years so leasing is not a consideration.

Based on the 2004 ES330 price at the local dealer at $30.9K + taxes, I am looking to buy a pre-owned car from anywhere between $25K-$30K out the door. Since we keep our cars for a long time, I will likely get the additional 2 year warranty for a total of 5 years. I was quoted $1,450 from the dealer. Does this price sound right?

Is there a model difference between the 2002 and 2003? Which do you recommend?

What should I expect to pay for a 2003 w/ approx 10K miles or a 2002 w/ approx 20K miles?

I was guessing that $23-24K for a 2002 and $26-27K for a 2003? Are these good guesses?

How will I be treated if I don't buy it from my local dealer?

Is there a downside if I buy it pre-owned?

Since I don't want to pay for the first year or two of deprecation hit, I was leaning towards the 2002 but don't know much about the models.

Any input would be appreciated.

Sincerely,

Anthony

 

Basically, both the '02 and '03 are identical.


That's a tough question to answer, since there are other factors involved beside mileage. What factory options did the car in question have, the exterior & interior condition, etc.

Generally, you should be treated with kid gloves at all Lexus dealers, regardless where or whom you purchased the car from. This I can vouch for since I've been a Lexus owner since 1990.

Before buying a CPO, check to see how many years are left on the warranty. This way you can decide if you want to extend it.

As far as I'm concerned, I feel there is no downside in buying a low mileage CPO.

Good Luck

 

To help you with your questions, if you don't buy a Lexus from your local dealer, it's not like they're gonna turn you away for service just because you bought from a private party. There's no discrimination when one brings his Lexus to a service dept. It's $$$$ for the business.

There is no downside to being pre-owned other than it was driven by someone else meaning you don't know the actual history of the car other than on paper. Just because a non Certified vehicle at a Lexus lot isn't "certified" doesn't mean its no good. You can certainly add the Cerfitied portion to it as long as it qualifies. Yes it will add another $1k to the asking price of the car.

As for depreciation, you don't have to worry too much about it since Lexus models hold their value very well. Of course you'll probably find a lower price 02 than an 03.

Good luck and welcome to CL!

 

Thanks for your feedback and your valuable information.

You brought up an interesting point about buying a non-certified lexus.

Does anybody know if I can buy a "Lexus" extended warranty if the car is non-certified?

 

You can only apply the Certified warranty or Lexus extended warranty to a non certified car sold at a Lexus dealer only.

 

I recently purchased a 2001 ES300 with 22k miles Certified Pre-owned at the Lexus dealer for $24k + taxes and other fees.

I speak from my own experience and this may or may not be indicative of the typical practice of Lexus dealers. Keep in mind that I am from NY and the dealer was also in NY.

To me, Certified Pre-Owned means exactly this: 3 year 100k warranty. End of story. All that stuff about million check lists are a bunch of B.S. Now I'm sure they will do some basic brain-dead checks to make sure that they don't get sued.

The "5" year extended warranty offered extends the 3 years another 2 years, so you are essentially paying $1500 for a 2 year warranty. But that might be a nice thing to have, although you can go third-party and get a 7 year 120k mile bumper to bumper w/emissions warranty for the same price.

When you buy pre-owned, they have you in the computer as a pre-owned owner. How do I know? I went to get my car serviced and I saw it my self..."ES300 Preowned" keyed in to their system. So you see, there is a status difference. Not that I got treated poorly...but still there is a distinction. BTW, I drove back in a Pontiac Grand Am loaner car from Avis rent-a-*****.

When you buy CPO, you get a certificate. They are supposed to personally go over the checklist to make sure they inspected the vehicel. Mine was a Xerox paper of the original form...except the VIN number was typed in afterwards...meaning post-copy. So my guess is that they have a bunch of these xeroxed certificates (copy crooked too!!!) that are already checked...and then just type in the VIN number.

Also, my car was listed as a CPO, but when I haggled they were like "We can cut off another $3k if we take away the CPO status"...and I'm like "How do you take away CPO? Uninstall it like computer software"? Fishy right? Dealers have a right to "promote" a car to CPO status if they see fit. So although my Car was listed as CPO, in fact it hasn't gone throught the CPO certification process. Needless to say, after I told them I will buy it, they probably just did an oil change and took it to the car wash.

This is typical and allowable practice according to Corporate Lexus, so just be aware of it!

After problems I had with my car (which they will take care of) I personally feel that this particular dealership doesn't do jack for CPO. I was probably better off buying elsewhere for cheaper and getting a third-party warranty. They have no way of knowing anything more than we know through carfax In fact that's what they showed me...but in fact when I took it to my body shop, the cars has been worked on.

When confronted with this evidence, they ignored me. That's the pre-owned treatment.

Just make sure you inspect it like crazy...

BTW, I saw a 2002 ES300 with navigation with less than 30k miles going for around $30k at the dealership...FYI.

Also, at a non-Lexus dealer, I saw a 2001 ES300 with 17k miles going for $22.5k...wasn't the color I wanted else I would have jumped on it!

Good luck!!!

 

Also, make sure to ask them if they can take care of imperfections on the car before you make the commitment, and get it in writing. Never take the car as-is...unless of course it is already in mint condition!

As an example, these are some of things that they did/are doing...
-Wounds on front bumper : It was repainted and looks new now.
-Crack in taillight : New one installed
-Windhsield chip : Fill the hole up.
-Rubber seal around moonroof rotting : They will replace it.
-2 dings : They fixed one of them, will fix the other one next.

Some of the problems I have encounted post-delivery:
-Wiper fluid not coming out on driver side
-Interior rattles.
-Steering wheel squeeks.

So don't them tell you "Well it's a used car so..."
Things that I could not get them to budge.
-Minor touchup paint like areas
-New tires (had to try)
-repaint rear bumper...nope...only had some touchup spots

Ah well...

 

Forgive my misunderstanding, but are you saying that buying a "CPO" is worth it or not?

With all the little imperfections, touch up paint, etc..., I am confused if you are a strong
advocate of the "CPO program" or if you suggest a third party warranty and buying
the car cheap?

 

From my personal experience, other than being unlucky with choosing what turned out to be a rather bad dealer, it was worth it. But all the work being done on my car I would have had them do regardless of the CPO status. I haggled with them and they still ended up giving me CPO status so...otherwise it would not have been worth it.

This probably depends on on individual dealer. I heard that someone had visited another dealer in NY and they were treated better and the car was already "taken care of"...unlike mine...and he just drove away no questions asked. That's great! In fact if the typical CPO experience is that, then it is DEFINITELY worth it. So you might be asking the wrong guy!!!

I'm just saying if you can get a good deal, go for the CPO...just make sure that if there are any issues with the car try to have them repair it...I think they can be pretty flexible before the sale. They were asking $26,500 for mine. I thought that was kind of high...so I told him "Let me get some coffee and think about it. What time do you close", to which they replied "If you are serious maybe we can talk inside"...then they made it $24k with CPO plus the car's got chrome wheels so I thought it was a great deal. They did offer the "extended" warranty but I declined since I can always get third party.

So. yes, no, maybe!!!

Try to get them to shave off a few k's and see if they can throw in the CPO...

 

Anthony,
Shoot me an email when the new GS comes out. I'm really leaning towards an all wheel drive now. I'd rather give someone a good deal than the dealer.