Cruiter

I'm not thinking of trading or selling but a friend wanted to know how the value of mine was holding up so I looked up the the Kelly Blue Book value for my area.

It's pretty impressive for two years old and 25,000 miles. About what I paid for it new http://www.cars.com/go/kbb/kbbMain.j...D&pt=&referer=

You'll have to put in your mileage and options. I used 25k for miles and my options and figured excellent. It is, even still smells new inside. Came up with a retail value of $49850.

kitlz

Jim, I did mine and came back with $54,345 retail, $51,845 private sale. Not bad, not bad at all That's one thing I love about Lexus, they retain their value. I'm sure the mileage and the cost of gas factors in too. No complaints from me. I know I made the right choice.

wa3cuj

I'm one of those geeks that updates info like this every 6 months in Quicken. The last time I updated mine it actually went up in value as compared to the 6 months before!!! Of course gas was going up pretty good at that time also.

I use Edmunds and put the same info in each time. I stay with Edmunds only for consistency. Around here they use the Manheim numbers for trades and the general public cannot get them. I live about 10 miles north of Manheim, so that makes trading a little more complicated.

kitlz

Good to know, Bob. My brother-in-law goes to Manheim so i can get numbers from him for a more complete estimate. But I doubt there are too many 450hs at the auction. I already know Japanese cars are few and far between. The ones that are, whew, they're going for much higher prices.

RXSF

while the resale value stays quite high for Lexus, you'd be hard pressed for a dealer to match that kbb number.

Cruiter

It really depends where you are. Now in all honesty even though my tires are 'good', to be a CP car, they'd figure a new set of Michelin's. So a grand there but pretty close in all other categories. All the maintenance is done and other than new tires you could literally pull it from my garage and place it on the showroom. It's that clean and looks that good inside and out. The supply does not exist on new (h) models new or used and they can ask what the market will bear on used cars. Since KBB is consulted by banks for loans that helps as well. Higher used car prices or even making the news down here.

Cruiter

Does anyone know if the standard RX350 is maintaining as high a percentage of resale as the (h) model ??? I imagine it's 'Lexus' high but the (h) IMHO should be bringing a slightly higher percentage.

wa3cuj

I also doubt that there are many hybrids going through Manheim.

My comment about dealers around here using the Manheim numbers was a generalized statement referencing most, if not all, trade offers in this area. When a dealer here is quick to offer the KBB numbers it is a quick heads up that they are going for more than that at Manheim. As always, it is just "Buyer Beware".

I have often thought about getting a drivers job at Manheim. They hire a ton of retirees. My only interest would be working on Exotic Thursdays and Fridays when I might get to play with some vehicles that I would never even get to sit in otherwise!

RXSF

yeah when you are buying the new car, they willl say, "sure we match the kbb number'

and when you are trading in your vehicle, they say that the market simply will not want a $16K 2004 RX330 with 112,000 miles.

ended up trading that car for $13.5K

UCSB

Sorry ... I just don't believe that these KBB numbers are real ... not even close. I think that you guys are just kidding yourselves. When I picked up my 450h, the market was very soft. I paid new $2,500 less than my current KBB trade-in estimate. Hey, but it is fun to dream. I just hope that the fundamental assumption is basically correct ... that these hybrids are holding their value well ... although common sense tells me that these cars are decreasing in value much faster than we realize.

Cruiter

The numbers are market based using actual loan and wholesale/retail figures. They're also regionally based meaning that some parts of the country may bring more than others.

Even the news is reporting record setting resale figures on all popular models that get good economy. When dealers have nothing to sell new, they will buy low mileage late model cars for their showrooms and pay high dollar for them. Right now it's a combination of the economy/high gas prices/ and extremely low production numbers for any cars made in or have parts from Japan. It's not the normal trend right now but factors have temporarily altered the normal. In time things will return to the past normal.

In the meantime, we can feel good about the decisions we made.

I just ran the same options for a regular 2010 RX 350 all other things being equal and it was good at $40,440 but the difference in price used between this car and the RX 450h is approximately dbl which means the (h) is returning almost double it's higher new car cost. More 'feel good' figures that validate spending the extra $4k up front. Better mileage, performance, more options as standard, plus higher resale percentage.

Keep in mind these figures represent 25,000 miles (two years old for me) and excellent (CPO) condition. In my case reality would probably drop a thousand just for newer tires. Otherwise it's new condition.

wcntan80

KBB and Edmunds are good references for me when it comes to buying and selling. It's hard to get to the exact figure. There are other web sites as well. I pick the lowest to buy and highest to sell or trade from the internet then work from there.

Just bought a CPO 2008 RX400h w/35,000 miles from a dealer for $32500 plus fees but KBB showed $39,765. Not sure if it was a good deal but at least I did not pay that KBB figure. Paid $51,200 plus NY tax and fees for the 2011 450h w/ 6000 miles but w/o the HUD, RSES, headlamp washer, wide view mirror, and precollision system, but just about everything else.

Wil

wcntan80

It's totally worth it for me. Thanks Cruiter. Oh, you forgot to mention that with the hybrids would be less trips going to the gas stations.

Wil

RXSF

Logic tells me that hybrid resale prices plummet after 8 years

Cruiter

Maybe they will, logically most cars will have taken a hit in excess of 50-70% of their original value in that time period. But we don't have much experience to determine that yet except Toyota's Prius and it's not to shabby. It's to be expected unless you have a Ferrari and keep it parked in an air conditioned garage w/o being driven.

But by then my plan is to be driving something new. That new law they're talking about (I think it's Morre's law) indicates the doubling of technology about every two years or so now. I'd really like to see the Lexus division develop something like the new Jaguar concept of mini turbine engines powering the computers and totally electric drive components. Very little maintenance, high reliability, and mass production could really bring them to affordable cost for everyday high tech cars like the ones we drive now.

Time to dream and imagine ......