islandbeef

I talked to a car broker and he recommended going to CarMax to get a trade appraisal. He told me that CarMax's trade-in values are usually in tune with the market overage, sometimes higher than typical in many cases.

droclex

I forgot to mention that and am glad others did: carmax. It really can't hurt to get an appraisal from them. An insider once told me that they will pay well for cars that they consider to be in higher demand. Worst thing that can happen is they lowball you and you walk away..oh well.

jarm

Well VW of Houston put my car on ebay and the final results are................. final bid 20,010.

Maybe the salesperson will call me now and talk.

She has called me one time since my wife and I looked at the car and told her we wanted it. Must be new to the business or she wants someone to finance it as they make more money.

R Z

I checked out the site. If it's true (and of course it's what the buyer will pay), after a year and a half of owning the car, I could sell it to an individual for about a grand less than I paid!

litesoarer

That was my bid. 🐍

I guess they didn't wanna eat the interchange fees for paying with an AMEX. 😂

jarm

OK it is a done deal. First of all I waited two full months on this car. The price went from 48,900 dropped down to 42,500. I waited till the last day of the month. Time to buy. The Trade in price for my car was $14 - $16K in KBB. I called up and talked to the sales manager direct. I told him I would give him $29K cash and my car $15.5K trade in for total drive out price including TTL. He told me he could work with that but he would have to go get the car as it was already sent to auction two days prior. He told me that after sixty days on his lot if it doesn't sell then off to auction. The sales manager went and got the car out of the auction parking garage and brought it to me for inspection. I took it to a good friend with a body and repair shop. We looked over the entire car and even with a paint meter. Everything checked out fine. Took it back to the dealer, they cleaned it up, filled it up with gas and it was mine. Maybe I got screwed for a few thousand but the entire car was almost like new. The interior was new and there are a few marks on the hood from driving. It had a clean carfax( I know this doesn't mean much but still), It was purchased from a my usual dealer in Houston and all the service was done there too. I looked at OffLeaseCars online. I found one with less mileage and a cheaper price but after looking at the carfax, it had been in two accidents that were listed. I would have to fly down to Florida, look at the car, fly home, and have the car shipped back to Texas. I look at it this way. Saved almost a thousand dollars in taxes and will get back maybe two grand from the previous Lexus warranty be cashed in. I will have to buy another Lexus warranty for maybe $2500 but I will drive this car for another 100K miles and love it. Love that ML system.
Thanks to everyone for all the help.


jarm

SW17LS

Congrats! Now we need pics!

Nospinzone

Sounds to me like you got a good deal.

Congrats and I wish you good luck with the car!

rld14

Well bought.

I don't think you got screwed at all... Especially compared to what you'd have paid at offleaseonly. I think that people don't realize the impact a dirty carfax has on the value of a luxury car as they often have much more markup in their inventory than you realize.

Bill

droclex

Sounds a like a great buy, especially for a '13. Congrats!

Pics?