djmoore250

Thanks I was kind of teetering and looking for some reassurance

djmoore250

The dealer is going to put the car on a lift so I can check out underneath if nothing looks out of the ordinary I'll be buying it. Thanks for the heads up on the leather!

bclexus

The car has 60k miles on it, not 30k. No one is questioning why the car is not CPO - it is being sold by a non-Lexus dealership...and it has too many miles to qualify as a certified CPO Lexus anyway. Some, but not very many, 3 year-old Lexus vehicles are traded-in at Toyota dealerships. While it's not unheard of by any means, it does make one [me] wonder why.

As for this particular car being worth $30k, I personally would not buy it. I would much prefer to spend $5k more and get one from a Lexus dealership that carried a Lexus 3Yr/100k CPO warranty with only half the mileage (~30k miles). I think that would be $5,000 very well spent.

Joeb427

iTrader: (1)

I agree!

djmoore250

All of the feedback is exactly why I wanted to come and post on the forum before making a decision. I appreciate both the for and against comments and they certainly help.

I'm not trying to be cheap on my purchase but when searching lexus CPO there are only 3 results in a 100 mile radius and all of them are the same price $39,900 with mileage between 31K-41K. That's 10K more than the non CPO at the toyota dealer, With that said I'm still trying to wrap my head around why the car is only 30K. Is twice the miles and non CPO really a 10K difference?

Any tips on what to look for with the car? I did take it for a short test drive and it ran well, but anything is going to seem smooth compared to my current car (Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution)

Joeb427

iTrader: (1)

Travel a bit.
Here's a few certified Premium models at one dealer in my area with 34K-36K miles for $34.5K-$36K asking prices.

http://www.prestigelexus.com/Vehicle...-NJ/2362017173

http://www.prestigelexus.com/Vehicle...-NJ/2421522483


http://www.prestigelexus.com/Vehicle...-NJ/2456624653

bclexus

I think you will find that Lexus dealerships will have their CPO cars (e.g. 2013 GS 350) all priced very much the same, within a narrow price range...of course depending primarily on the model and options. That said, don't think that many dealerships, if not most dealerships, won't take ~$5k lower than the advertised price. If you follow the pricing over a period of weeks or a few months you will see that what was at one time priced at [say] $41,900 is dropped to [say] $38,800, which is a $3k drop from a previously advertised price. And, if they don't sell this inventory fast enough the prices will continue to drop. Lexus looks at how their CPO inventory is selling and adjusts the pricing accordingly. There may be hot spots and cold spots where certain models sell quickly or not, but unless a particular dealership or sales area knows a particular model or models are hot sellers they will reduce the advertised price a significant amount to move the inventory. If you are in an area where the particular model, color, options, etc.is not very popular, then the dealership will likely sell it 'at cost' or below just to move it. A car on the lot that does not sell is money that is tied-up and losing money instead of earning more money. The name of the game is to turn the inventory over. If you find a nice CPO car you like priced at $39,900 - offer them no more than $34,900 or even $1k less and they will probably [eventually] agree to sell it to you.

djmoore250

Thanks for the pointers, That's just what I'll do. There are 2 lexus dealers really close to me, one of them is ****ty to deal with and they don't have any pre-owned gs 350's but the other one has 3, I'll contact them to see what they'll take. If not a I found another dealer about 3 hours away that has one for 34,500.

SW17LS

It actually doesn't have too many miles to qualify as CPO, CPO's max is 70k miles. 60k miles on a Lexus is nothing, if the savings is there dollar wise, and the buyer is okay with that mileage...the car is pretty much the same at 60k as it is at 30k...it just doesn't have the warranty.

I have seen plenty of 3 year old Lexus vehicles at Ford dealers, Toyota dealers, etc. People trade cars on any number of different cars. We had a moderator here who had a 4GS before you joined...he traded it in on a Honda Ridgeline pickup...so there was a Honda dealer out there who had an excellent 4GS on their lot.

Its at a Toyota dealer because thats where it was traded.

Thats you. $5k on a $30k transaction is 17%....paying 17% more for something is no small thing. CPO doesn't impress me, I've driven plenty of CPO Lexus vehicles that were total garbage, off lease, not maintained, beat up, obviously repainted. I'd take a non CPO car with complete service records over a CPO car without any day of the week. As for the warranty...you can always buy a warranty but I really don't think its that big a deal on a Lexus.

thholr

The car looks nice. I would take it to a lexus dealer and have them do a pre purchase inspection on it. Have them pull the service records on it as well. As long as that checks out, why not go for it . I would not think twice about putting 100+K miles on this car. I would then offer them 28K or so and work from there.
The mileage is not a big deal. It is a toyota. My wifes van was purchased 9 months ago and already has over 25K miles on it . Also a toyota :-)

djmoore250

Thanks again everyone. I'm going to the dealership Monday to see the car while it's on a lift and I'm also going to call the dealership that performed all of the maintenance.

Do dealers usually allow a customer to take a vehicle to another dealership to have it looked at pre purchase, if that is possible I can definitely do that too.

As far as CPO I like the peace of mind, but at the same time $5k more is only really worth it if you get $5k worth of warranty work out of it.

SW17LS

Absolutely, they should have no issue letting you have Lexus look it over.

greg3852

On the LS's there are dealers that sell the extended warranty even out of state, so you may want to look into that as well. If you get the car for 28k you might be able to get a 3yr 36k mile warranty for 2-3k and still be less than a CPO.

UKNOWME

Is 30k the asking price or the negotiated price? I'd offer 27,500 and they throw in a 5 year/100,000 mile premium warranty.

bclexus

Spend $3k for a 3yr/36k third-party warranty vs. spending $5k for a 3yr/100k Lexus CPO warranty and a car with 30,000 fewer odometer miles. With a difference of only $2,000 I most definitely know which one I'd choose...