Hi everyone! I'm looking to purchase a 2015 CPO GS 350 in F-Sport trim next week (moving to Boston and will need a car). This will be my first car purchase. Right now, the two listings I'm looking at seriously are:
1) White Exterior, Red Interior | 27.8k miles - $28,999 (with advertised $500 discount on top of that)
2) White Exterior, Black Interior | 39.6k miles - $29.328

I prefer the red interior over the black, but to complicate things, 1) is at the Lexus of Brooklyn, which is about a 4+ hour drive away. Option 2) is a 10 minute drive away from me in Boston. Since I've heard that CPO pricing tends to fall within a fairly tight band, and both these locations are in high cost-of-living cities, is there anything I'm missing that justifies why the higher mileage, Boston dealership-based, black interior (I've heard red interiors generally are more popular as well) is asking a higher price?

With the information provided on CarGurus, what I've guessed is: 2) includes the Parking Assistance feature, alloy wheels (vs. aluminum wheels for 1), and a 6-year, unlimited mileage warranty from original in-service date (vs. 4-year basic warranty that I thought was standard?). Does that smell right, or is this just a case of one (of course, the more inconvenient listing) being a better deal?

Here are the two CarGurus listings in full for reference:
Option 1 - Brooklyn
Option 2 - Boston

Sorry for the novel, and thanks very much in advance for the guidance!

 

 

The car in Brooklyn does not have Blind Spot Monitoring (BSM) nor Intuitive Park Assist (IPA), which are two very common options on practically all GS 350s. Look at the images to the left of the steering wheel where the heated steering wheel button is indicated. There is where you will see the button for the BSM if the option is installed. Also, the lack of sensors on the front and rear bumpers tell you that there is no IPA. I would stay away from the Brooklyn car because even though it has fewer miles it does not have two very popular options that most all GS 350s have, and it is likely to have been treated with less care.

 

Agree with the others, avoid the Brooklyn car - too much money to not have some key options. The Boston car is nice - I would make sure they replaced the front tow hook cover before you finalize any deals just to make sure the paint matches evenly. Also, $29k isn't too bad, but it's a bit on the higher end just based on a quick review of other similar cars on the market within a couple hundred miles. I would definitely think you can get $2,000 to $2,500 off with little bickering, especially given we're nearing end of month.

Good luck! You picked a great car for your first purchase

 

i would stay away from BK.
FYI cars up north cost more for some odd reason, i normally search cars down south of NYC.

 

I'd recommend staying way from Lexus of Brooklyn (i purchased from Lexus of Mt Kisco which is an hour drive compared to 20min from me to Lexus of Bklyn). I have had a poor experience with them. When I went there, they said they had a $1000 dealer fee that sits on top of the price of the car. The other run-around I got was that "some cars are priced and include our dealer fee and others do not..." Talk about misleading!

I would call them and ask what would be your out the door price if you were to make the trip all the way down.

I personally would go for the car that is closer to you that you can inspect and deal with directly and more easily. If you're not tied to the red interior, you can find a few other deals...you can probably find better deals and I wouldn't worry too much about the mileage as anything under 40k miles is just fine for the 2015s:

https://www.cars.com/vehicledetail/d...6567/overview/
https://www.cars.com/vehicledetail/d...0282/overview/

 

Thank you so much, incredibly helpful information and great spot on the tow hook cover.

 

Wow, that sounds like a BS way to do business and doesn't do much to dispel my image of a NY car salesman being a shady guy that launders money for the mob. I'd leave right then and there if I didn't get straight answers.

 

Thanks everyone for the extremely helpful responses. Looks like it's not worth making the trek to Brooklyn. Just had a quick follow up question regarding financing -

I've seen before that LFS goes as low as 1.9% APR on L Certified purchases. Are these actual time-restricted promotional events that happen every year at a certain time? Or can I expect to get the same rate all else equal no matter when I go in and purchase the vehicle (assuming my credit score remains the same)?

 

Must be time based promotions. When I bought my L-Certified the lowest LFS was offering was 2.9% for Tier 1 credit. I was able to get 2.79% unsecured thru Lightstream at the time (last September).

 

When I first went in, I told the salesman I was interested in a 2010 Grey IS250 AWD they had on the lot - he got the keys, i test drove it (felt a bit underpowered but was clean with 66k miles) I think they were asking at the time in the $21k range. When we went inside to discuss, he said the only thing is that there is a $1000 dealer fee on top of the price of the car...I told him there was no way that was ever disclosed anywhere online or at the dealership and he said it was "non-negotiable." I didn't argue b/c i already knew at that point I wasn't buying. I left and didn't return.

Not all the NY dealerships are like this you just have to find the right ones and you can usually figure that out pretty quickly. That's why I wanted to save the OP the trip down b/c there are dealerships that charge dealer fees but they treat the customer with respect and give full disclosure. In NYS there is actually a law that says a dealership cannot charge more than $75 in doc/dealer fees -- but not many folks know about this and the dealerships get away with charging folks because people foolishly pay up by signing an agreement that has these pre-defined dollar amounts.

 

The lower financing rates are definitely seasonal. From what I've seen with LFS, the L/Certified rates are often tied to specific vehicles as well, vs. being any L/Certified.

To give you an idea on the monthly payment difference, if you were to buy a new one and finance the car, tax, title, fees, etc. (all in $60,000), you're talking $26 a month difference in your payment for a 2.9% vs 1.9% on 60 months. Not a big deal, but enough to buy pizza and a beer once a month so that's what you're giving up for the higher rate.