wcl77

Today I looked at an 08 LS460. The dealer offered me $12k on my 02 with
59k mi. silver/black/chrome, like new Michelon's. This may be the black book value but it ended my search to trade. I believe I'll drive this great car for at least a couple more years. Depreciation mostly gone and haven't had single problem since I purchased it with 23k over 3 years ago.

I6turbo

iTrader: (1)

That's ugly. I wonder what they would have priced it at on their lot if you'd traded? It's not terribly surprising to me that they offer so little -- they never know when they'll get a hit and pick up $10K on the sale of a used car in addition to the profit on the one the initial sale. Just curious -- what were the circumstances of their offer? Had you gotten them down to a cash buy price for the '08? Was that their initial offer based upon their asking price for the '08? Etc?

Jabberwock

From Edmunds.com Pricing Report
2002 Lexus LS 430 4dr Sedan
Trade-In / Private Party / Dealer Retail

Average Condition
Total $11,936 / $13,882 / $15,959

For Clean Condition (Generally better than average)

Total $13,524 / $15,730 / $18,028


You were getting low balled unless your car is pretty jacked up and rough looking. If you detailed it and sold it privately you should be able to move it pretty quick for approx $15,000- 16,000 depending on your actual options.

stanell1

This guy was really low balling you. I would go to another dealership and not mention what the last guy offered just to get a second quote. I think you might get a better offer. Kelly BB has a range of 12-14k for a car with your miles. I personally would not let the dealership take my car and make 5-10k off of it. I would keep it or sell it myself. But I doubt my college age son would let me do either LOL.

stanell1

We must have been writing at the same time. I could have just said ditto.

jadu

iTrader: (42)

I remember going to carmax and getting the lowest trade-in value specified on kbb and the car was in very good condition (detailed the car)

I actually went there today and one of the sales guy said that the buy back rates have been erratic ever since the fuel prices dropped down

Tee

I would try a different dealer/s, he def was low balling you on your ride.

miniz

If it in good shape with that low of mileage, then sell it yourself. Who cares what the dealer is offering. In 95% of cases, you can get more money out of a car by selling it yourself. An 8 year LS with under 60k miles is going to sell in a week. Don't be put off buying another car because of your last. One has nothing to do with the other. Go get the 08!

AlexusAnja

Edmunds is a good place to get a starting point of what to look for, but not a definitive source as most dealers use recent auction prices as basis for trade-ins, not Edmunds. $12K, given what Edmunds estimated at $14K, is about what I would expect from a dealer as a first price.

Come on, first rule of negotiating, buyer tries to low ball the price of vehicle they want, seller trys to lowball the vehicles about to be traded in, and then they hopefully meet somewhere in middle. You don't go into a dealership and say "hey, I'll give you what you're asking for that car, where do I sign?" You set an amount in your mind, say $14K, and then you offer $11K and work up. If the dealer can give you $14K for your vehicle, why give you $14K off the bat and have you try to up that even more, when they can offer you $12K and hope...

1. you're a sucker and takes it
2. you will work up to $14K

$12K won't be final price for your vehicle is the dealer is ready to really deal to get the LS460 off the lot.

V8_Fan

Another thing I found is dealers will first low-ball you. Then you negotiate the asking price of the vehicle down a few grand. When they make out the billing, it'll say the price of the trade-in was low-ball price + the few grand you bargained for and the price of the car you're trading in for is the dealer's asking price. This way, the buyer sees that they got, say, $14K for their car intead of $11K, and the just paid $35K for the replacement car instead of $32K. Either way, the dealer wins. Now if you sell your car for $15K, maybe the dealer won't go below as low as they would have with the trade in? Depends how desperate they are.

danxp

ok so how much for the 08 ls460? there, i said it!

Jabberwock

It all nets out to this - when you want to trade in a car you are essentially going to have to pay the following: transaction cost, processing/paperwork cost, risk cost, carrying/interest cost, and the marketing and sales cost for the dealer - and then you are going to pay for some dealer profit because they need to make profit on each transaction to stay in business. All of that adds up to a huge cost to you if you don't want to handle selling your car yourself. Sometimes it might make sense to do a trade, but in most cases it is very expensive, don't underestimate how much it will cost you to instantly "sell" your car to the dealer. You will take a bath - there is no other option given the nature of the trade-in transaction.

LS430inDE.

These were the latest auction (WHOLESALE) results from Manheim auction on 2/4/10

2003..LS430...88,460......GRAY.....$13,500
2003..LS430...88,508..... BLACK....$14,200
2004..LS430...65,012......BLACK....$17,000
2004..LS430...55,811......BLACK....$19,000
2004..LS430...78,152......WHITE....$19,000
2005..LS430...122,166.....na.........$18,500
2006..LS430...41,990.......BURG.....$24,500
2006..LS430...39,706.......GREEN....$24,500
2006..LS430...30,884.......BLUON....$25,500
2006..LS430...34,592.......BLUE......$23,500
2007..LS460...63,086.......BLACK....$34,000
2007..LS460...34,664.......SILVER....$34,500
2007..LS460...88,216.......BLACK.....$29,400
2007..LS460...33,815.......SILVER....$36,250
2007..LS460...37,062.......BLACK.....$36,500
2007..LS460...43,467.......BLACK.....$32,250
2007..LS460...34,045.......DK RED....$32,000
2007..LS460...44,394.......SILVER.....$31,750
2007..LS460...28,692.......BLUE........$33,000
2007..LS460...33,548.......BLACK......$34,000
2007..LS460...10,142.......GREY........$38,000
2007..LS460...25,162.......GREY........$35,500
2007..LS460....51,700......SILVER......$31,800
2007..LS460....43,485......BLACK.......$32,000
2007..LS460....33,460......BLACK.......$33,750
2007..LS460....31,187......BLUE.........$33,250
2007..LS460....27,325......BLACK.......$38,500
2007..LS460.....42,456.....GRAY........$33,250
2007..LS460.....47,227.....GREY........$31,000
2007..LS460.....28,799.....DK BLUE....$32,500
2007..LS460.....29,836.....BLACK.......$35,000
2007..LS460.....11,087.....SILVER......$39,250
2007..LS460.....40,321.....MED GRN....$33,250
2007..LS460.....45,709.....BLACK........$34,500
2007..LS460.....40,580.....BLACK........$32,500
2007..LS460.....41,540.....GRAY.........$33,000
2007..LS460.....22,736.....BLACK........$38,000
2009..LS460.....14,708.....RED............$42,000
2007..LS460L....44,087.....BLACK.........$34,750
2007..LS460L....34,108.....GREYMET.....$36,750
2007..LS460L....31,486.....BLACK.........$37,000
2007..LS460L....65,554.....GREY...........$31,250
2007..LS460L....43,867.....GRAY...........$35,000
2007..LS460L....64,135.....GREY...........$30,250
2007..LS460L....30,617.....BURGNDY......$41,250
2007..LS460L....34,668.....SILVER.........$36,500
2008..LS460L....4,880.......GREYMET......$42,250
2008..LS460L....22,828......BLACK..........$39,750
2008..LS600.....18,520......PRLWHITE......$70,000

Knowledge is power!

danxp

wow... great info... thanks!

now, how much would a dealer typically add on top of that to come up with their asking and ultimately sale price?

LS430inDE.

I think it's all relative to how much work the car needs after the dealership brings it back to their shop. Contrary to popular believe, dealers will NOT necessarily buy the "nicest" condition car at auction, but rather get one that balances on barely acceptable condition at lowest purchase price (which equals highest return on their investment = $$$). Most Lexus dealers don't even INSPECT the vehicles closely before inspection. Heck, they can even bid remotely via ONLINE (they don't have to be on-site!)

I'm probably stating the obvious, but I would think whatever the wholesale price (WP) a dealer buys the vehicle for plus however much they put into it for reconditioning (R), they will strive to make $2k-$5k over (WP+R)...........because THEY TYPICALLY CAN.

Of course, Lexus dealerships are not located in "da hood" but rather in rather affluent areas of town, where it's more likely that the clientelle (50+ year old married males) usually won't bother "haggling" from a stickered price of $28,999 for a 2004 with 70k miles. Those are their favorite customers..lol.

Of course there are exceptions to everything I said. Heck, this website is an exception.

Without having access to any of this knowledge (wholesale prices), I used to consider myself very lucky when buying a used car from a dealer...if I could get them to come down 10% off their listed selling price, if I wasn't trading anything in. They can only say no. Also don't forget the law of supply and demand..lol.