grayson73

Why would a leased GS 350 end up in a non-Lexus dealership? I would think that Lexus would just sell it themselves. If they sold it at auction, does that mean it's not in good condition?

jtrue28

The person who was leasing it could have "traded it in" early. I got a quote for my GX a couple of weeks ago from CarMax. I would have sold it to them, had they given me a higher number than the dealership. Buying and leasing aren't really that different. You still have a "payoff" amount, even when leasing. You could write Lexus a check for that amount, and it's yours.

AJLex19

A leased GS could end up anywhere for sale depending on the nature of the first attempt of sale after its lease period.

In 2014, when I was looking for a CPO '11 IS350, I saw one at a dealership at a great price but it was suffering from rot-lot. They weren't willing to negotiate down much b/c the pre-owned mgr. explained to me that going another $1000 or even $500 down wasn't going to work for him b/c he was at his bottom price (obviously his bottom retail price to me is the lowest he's willing to sell it for to at least make $3k-$4k on the sale). I understood and walked away. They played the standard games, called me back, but I stuck to my guns.

That car went to auction the next week because there wasn't a buyer...I know this because the dealership where i eventually bought my IS350 about 2 weeks later, the pre-owned sales mgr. there looked into it and saw it at the auction (i had the VIN handy) and I used that car as negotiating leverage.

The same holds true for any model/make...if an off-lease GS simply isn't sold by a Lexus dealer, it doesn't mean that it isn't good - it can just mean that the dealership was not willing to keep it any longer because as it sits on the lot, it costs the dealership money. Once they don't want it, they will sell it at auction and get the going wholesale price...usually, you'll never see a car held at a Lexus dealership for more than 6 months.

My coworker has a friend that is a private dealer. He asked his private dealer friend to find him a 2013 RX350. He found one at the auction and bought it at wholesale. He then charged my co-worker (his friend) about $800 on top of that price as a nice "friend" gesture. The RX my co-worker has is MINT with like 29k miles just off lease (the final price was like $31k)

When i bought my GS, i actually considered two non-certified, black GS's with lower mileage selling at two different local toyota dealerships. They had about a year a half left of the original 4yr 50k mile factory warranty which was good enough for me - the problem was they had the wrong color combos.

I've seen 3yr old, just off lease GS's at all sorts of dealerships (BMW, Toyota, Nissan, Audi) and its usually because people trade cars in at those dealerships or that non-Lexus dealer knows they can sell an off-lease GS brought in from auction on their dealership lot b/c there is some market for it.

grayson73

Thanks for the explanations. I originally thought that Lexus would take back the cars and CPO them to re-sell, but now see that there are various scenarios that can take place.

islandbeef

My GS was a trade in for a Range Rover (purchased at Land Rover dealership), the price was low blue book with 16k on the clock, swooped in and grabbed it. No CPO needed, I've owned Lexus before, no worries.

AJLex19

Nice - thats how you gotta do it!

rld14

The nice GSs that show up at auction are hardly ever in the Lexus Financial lane (See my other post for an explanation).

However I see and have bought some nice cars that other dealers have sent to auction... Bought a super mint and front line ready 2013 GS F-Sport from a Lexus dealer in Virginia at Manheim not too long ago, apparently they had it 60 days and t had to go.

Off lease GSs that are nice very rarely leave the Lexus dealer network tho, occasionally some nice base models with equipment will and base base AWDs usually end up at auction (17s, no heated seats...)

AJLex19

Do Toyota dealerships have access to the same off-lease Lexus cars through the same dealer network?

rld14

In the afternoons they do, but by then the good stuff is gone. Same with us and yes by then the good Toyotas are gone.

These are the GSs on Dealer Direct right now: (I deleted my info and the VINs)



The White 14 has a bad carfax, as does the last one, which is an F-Sport.

The one with 70K is an F-Sport and nobody is buying it because A) It's rough and B) It's got 70K. The one with 33K has a clean carfax...but.....




It's got frame from the looks of it. It will probably sell for $23-24K at auction and some dealer will sell it for $27K.

There were 11 GSs on the site earlier today. These are the dreck that nobody bought and this is what will end up at auction. Heck, there were some edgy ones that got snapped up anyhow.

grayson73

How do you know the 70k is rough since you can't inspect it in person? Also, what does being "rough" mean?

SW17LS

The reason a good one would end up at a non-Lexus dealer is that the non-Lexus dealer took it in on trade and bought it out of the lease.

For instance I had a leased Jeep Grand Cherokee I traded on our Kia Sedona minivan. The Kia dealer sold the Jeep on their lot because they bought it out.

AJLex19

At that site that rld14 provided and other auction sites, there are usually indicators of condition for the exterior and interior. Many times notes and other items indicate the overall condition and pre-owned sales managers become good at understanding how clean the car really is based on those markers.

For example, I asked my dealership to bring in a GS but purchasing it from them was contingent on them bringing in something that would be CPO'd and clean. When it came in, the car had some scuffs on the rear bumper and a bad (to me) scuff on the left side of the front bumper. The leather on the driver seat had a weird peeling issue. Everything else was good enough.

He knew about these issues before buying the car even though he couldn't see the car himself. But, he showed it to me "pre CPO" or "pre-reconditioning" to gauge my threshold and tolerance. Bottom line is the process is on-line heavy and the data provided to the dealers lets them know how much they would have to spend to get the car clean enough to sell to potential buyers in their market.

rld14

Because the condition report shows that it was rough.

Also a 70K car can't be CPO'd, I don't want the car unless I can "steal" it.

rld14

Well said.

Generally if a Lexus was traded to a non Lexus dealer it may very well be a nice car. One of the wholesalers that I do business with just got me a beautiful LS460 that was traded at an Acura store I believe it was.