marcarl

I have a loaded 2012 450h. We commute from Pennsylvania to Florida at least twice a year. I bought in November 2011 and as of December 12th, 2012 I have 21,000 miles.
What is the best nexus of milage and age to trade?
50 k?
4 years and 80 k?
2 years and 40 k?

wa3cuj

I only go to Florida once a year from Pennsylvania. I have just shy of 40k on my 2010 450h. My tentative plan is to turn it over after 6 years. My thinking is to trade it while there are still a couple of years on the battery warranty. I have no idea what the optimum trade mileage is. The value of these things seems to rise and fall along with the price of gas -- I guess that is a psycological effect!

Cruiter

The 450h is a really well built car. If you like a new one often, go ahead and trade when you get the urge. But the hybrid system (batteries included is designed to last the life of the car). Just because the warranty is up in 10 years, doesn't mean they're gonna go belly up. Lots of Prius taxi's with over 300,000 on the traction batteries. If you like your car and want to enjoy it's full potential then keep up the required maintenance and enjoy it.

kitlz

It's hard to say when the most opportune time to trade in is. The price of gas is a factor like Bob said. But based on what you mentioned in your post, you're already putting above-average mileage on the odometer. Your basic warranty will expire between two and three years. Not sure how important that is to you/if you have an extended warranty. At three years, the mileage will be more comparable to a five year old car. And the fourth gen RX will probably be out by then. I say 2 years/40K so you have some of the basic warranty left.

watch37

For what it's worth, I recently traded in my 2010 RX450h, which had about 46,000 miles, for $37,000. I wrote about my trade experience in another post in this forum. The fact that I got as much value as I did on my car shows just have strong they hold their value. I wanted to trade in my car before it hit 50,000 miles, so that it would still be under factory bumper-to-bumper warranty. I'm no expert in selling cars, but my thought was that the car would have more value if it was traded in before the warranty expired. After all, when I'm going to buy a used car, I try to find one that is still under factory warranty, so that if any problems pop up that I didn't find during the pre-purchase inspection, I can have it addressed by Lexus. Also, if you buy a used Lexus before the factory warranty expires, you are still eligible to buy the Lexus Platinum extended warranty, which at least in my mind, is pretty important. Of course, that's just me, but I'm guessing that other potential buyers consider some of this when they are shopping for used cars, which in turn increases the value of your trade in.

Personally, I think the concern regarding battery life is way overblown. These batteries are tested under rigorous conditions, and they have shown that they really do last a long, long time. Just look at the number of hybrid taxi cabs out there with tons of miles on them. I think you have a better chance of a transmission dying prematurely than having a battery die early. Premature battery failure is the exception, and not the rule.

But perception is everything, and the public perception, even though misguided, is that battery life is something one should be concerned about when buying a used hybrid. So, that perception may lower the value of your trade in the longer you keep the car, because potential buyers think that the battery might go out and they will have to buy a new one.

go3Ds

You are making good use of the hybrid system with all your yearly miles. You would probably maximize to the fullest by waiting for the 4th generation to come out, especially when your car is loaded and only 1 year old. Also, hybrids are easy on the miles. I doubt you would have any issues after your warranty is up, and might as well start a new round of depreciation with a new release model. Best time to buy and trade is the minute the bigger discounts begin. Shortly afterwards, previous years models take a hit on trade in book values. I noticed this when trading our 2010 for our 2013. Hope to have the same good timing when the new release arrives for our next trade in.