newyerker

Hello all!

I've been debating a new car for months now and I think I might just have an opportunity tonight on a 2015 ES300h.
I initially looked at ES350 / Avalons / Q50 / Genesis / 528i but it came mostly down to Lexus and with local dealer having a certified 2015 hybrid for $25000 with my college grad rebate included.
Just trying to get any opinion I can since it does have a bit of a high mileage and it being a hybrid, I am a bit paranoid. Current updated model is already going on its 2nd year, and 3rd yrs about to come out in months.
Which means an entirely new ES model is not too far ahead and this car will soon be 2 generations behind thatll make this look ancient (I notice lexus design gets old REAL quick).

I like keeping my vehicles forever and my current volvo is already 16 years old, which is why I was looking at lexus, wanted something just as reliable and luxurious, that was going to be bigger than my s60.

So with these things considered (quickly aging in design / long term reliability with the hybrid battery / maintenance costs), would this be a good purchase and would you guys consider this a good price right now?

Here are the details :
Lexus Certified
2015 ES300h
42500 miles
Luxury Package (No navigation) with parking assist
priced at $25900 - $1000 college rebate. (price includes dealer handling of $500, but excludes like $70 doc fee).

TMV / KBB etc. suggests this should be a pretty decent deal but with this being still relatively new and taking an aggressive hit on the depreciation, I was not sure.

Do you think theres room for a bit more nego as well?


I would really appreciate any help!

Thank you

newyerker

So my post finally got approved, and now I have the car.
I'm a sucker and got it last night at about $26,000 OTD before tags / registration. (Vehicle alone $24,695)


But noticed a couple of things while actually checking out the car before buying. It had a very minor front impact that affected the passenger side parking sensor / grill chrome piece that were replaced. when the bumper got damaged, it also left the hood a bit misaligned when closed (theres a slight gap where it closes in the front on the driver side while passenger side doesn't, i think that small gap is supposed to be there but passenger side bumper seems slightly pushed in due to that impact). and the paint job is a bit iffy with small crack still apparent right above the sensor, and beneath the headlamp. I said fine to that since they the repair and did pass lexus certified inspection. also since the car was very cheap for what it is IMO. everywhere else was as clean as it can be.

BUT today i noticed under a bright sunlight that top of the display area and the dashtop was separating!!!! it was like the melting dash, something that was keeping them together had ripped/melted or something and there is a separation.

like who the heck inspects and gives them L certification? I was so upset and sent the sales guy an email after hours. And will follow up with some pictures tomorrow.

It sux that i bought the car from a dealer about an hour away.

Wondering if they agree to fix this, if I can bring it to dealers closer. Anyhow, what do you guys think?
Also, are there supposed to be any certified warranty documentation anywhere? Besides the dealer telling me, and the car having the L certified sticker, I see no where from my paperwork on details of the warranty (not that it is hard to find info on L certified stuff).

Mike728

That would concern me.

Good luck with your issues getting addressed.

SW17LS

Can you post a picture of this separating dash?

lesz

Since only a Lexus dealer can sell a Lexus Certified Pre-Owned vehicle, I'm assuming that the dealer that you bought your car from is a Lexus dealer. Is that assumption correct?

While the advertising from Lexus (and other manufacturers) is likely to make people feel that buying a certified used vehicle equates to buying a car that is in "like new" condition, but that is not necessarily the case. Instead, it means that the car has been checked over and that the items checked meet Lexus standards for a CPO vehicle. It doesn't mean that the car doesn't show wear, that the car has not had body work done, that the brakes and tires aren't half way toward needing to be replaced, etc. This link presents, I think, a realistic view of what it means to have a certified vehicle.

https://www.edmunds.com/car-buying/c...ity-check.html

The dealer should have provided you with a CPO checklist. The checklist shows areas where there is damage or wear to the exterior and interior of the car, whether things like all of the light bulbs, power windows, etc. are working, the remaining tire tread and brake pad depth, etc. It also shows what repair work or component replacement was done to bring the car up to CPO standards. At the bottom of the CPO checklist, there is a place where signatures are required from the mechanic, the service manager, the used car manager, and the buyer of the car. You should have had a chance to review the checklist, and you should have signed the form to indicate that you accept the condition of the vehicle and the dealer's assessment of what items needed repair or reconditioning.

Here is a link to a Lexus CPO checklist. The checklist is actually several years old. The checklist currently being used includes additional checks on safety items, such as parking sensors, lane departure alert, etc. So, the non-functioning parking sensor on your car should have been noted on the checklist.

http://www.lexus.com/documents/broch...t-brochure.pdf

I'm not sure, after the purchase has been completed, what the extent of your recourse is, but I would suggest, at a minimum, requesting the CPO checklist. It should show things like the parking sensor that isn't working, the poor alignment of bumper and hood, the paint issues on the bumper, and the cosmetic issue with the dash. And I would be questioning why, after the inspection, those issues were not addressed. I would start by speaking with the sales manager, but, if I didn't get satisfaction at that level, I would move up the line to the general manager of the dealership.

Good luck.

newyerker

to my surprise, this morning, the dash had calmed down and more in place. i think my car sitting outside all day under hot CO sun made it worse when I got off work.
Which is probably why I did not notice this issue while test driving and inspecting it myself. It wasn't hot that day and it was at night.

So I plan on coming out there during lunch or something again to take a diff pic to post, and to send to the sales guy. he says he will make this right but will see.

newyerker

Thanks for the detailed response. I actually became aware of the CPO checklist last night, so could not think of obtaining one. I def should get it. And yes, this was from a lexus dealership. And carfax/autocheck had L certified all over it so im sure, just surprised there were no additional documentation provided with it.

Just did not expect such apparent issues that seemed pretty big to me being passed with the CPO checklist. other than these cosmetic issues, the car seems pretty good so im still not too sad and i do think this wasn't a bad deal given the warranty.

I have a day til I can purchase that additional warranty after certified warranty expires though.
Do you think those are worth it on certified lexus?
They quoted somewhere a bit above $1900 for 3 additional years which includes 2 years that would cover literally everything (minus wear items).

lesz

The $1900 that the dealer is selling the extended warranty for is almost pure profit for the dealership.

Depending on the exact date when the car was put into service, you should still have about 4 years with unlimited mileage of warranty coverage with the CPO warranty. If you keep the car for the two years beyond that, for which there would be coverage with the extended warranty, you likely will be spending some money on maintenance/repairs for the car, but most of that money will likely be spent on things like tires, brakes, etc., which are things that wouldn't be covered by the extended warranty anyway. The ES is a very dependable vehicle. If you put that $1900 in the bank, it will likely be more than enough to cover any repairs that might be needed and that would have been covered by the extended warranty.

Further, if you really feel like you would want to buy that extended warranty, I'm confident that you could negotiate the price of it down to well below the $1900 that they are offering it to you for.

I also had another thought about the damage to the front of the car that you described in the OP. If the parking sensor was damaged and if the bumper is not properly aligned with the adjacent panels, there is a reasonable chance that the shock absorber in the bumper and/or the brackets that attach the bumper to the fenders have also been damaged. The only way to determine whether they were damaged would be to remove the bumper from the car and to inspect those components. From your description, I'd guess that there is a reasonable chance that that was not done. Also, if the bumper had been removed, replacing the bad parking sensor could have been done quite easily. The actual parking sensor is a relatively inexpensive part (around $250), and I can't imagine a reason why, if the repairs were done properly, they would not have replaced that sensor when the bumper was off of the car. I also suspect that the reason why the bumper alignment is off is that there was damage to the brackets that attach the bumper to the fenders, and I can't imagine why the shop would not have dealt with that, either, The bumper brackets only cost a few dollars each.

newyerker

So i went out during lunch, actually pretty strong sun today so looked at my dash and took pics. For lesz, also some bumper pics.

it was worse yesterday evening. im coming from a black car and wow, that white really does keep the heat down.

In person, inside the gap i can see some sort of a sticky stuff, could be glue or tape that may be failing. is this normal????????

The bumper also looks much more apparent in person.i noticed it right away when i looked at it.
anyways, here they are:

Brent1944

Its still a lot of miles for a 2015...Hope it works for you

newyerker

yeah it isn't low. but as far as the drive goes, i've not found any fault and the nulux interior is in a perfect shape. The dealer also agreed to close down that gap for me. Gonna try to see if they can also check out the bumper misalignment when i bring it in.

prev owner averaged 37.7 but im already getting close to 41 mpg combined after refueling after spending about 1/3 of the tank.

lesz

FYI--If the ES that you bought is a Luxury Package ES, it has the standard leather interior, not the NuLuxe.