Originally Posted by mbarron37

Does anyone know of a resource where I can get updated wholesale auction info from Mannheim? I am trying to get an idea of the spread between auction prices and dealer retail.

in that same vein, does anyone know of a reliable 3rd party that will take me to an auction or look for a car for a fee? I am located in Mass if that helps.

I see very low inventory and very high retail on '13's and '14's right now. I am beginnnng to think I might need to wait until the new LS is actually released. Thanks and the search continues..............

Originally Posted by caha14

I am not sure how far you've extended your search, but I would not be too surprised by your findings, especially if you've kept it reasonably local. I've been down this very road before as I pointed out a few posts back.

At any rate, for a local car buying service, here you go: https://ganleyautoadvisors.com/

Originally Posted by mbarron37

I see very low inventory and very high retail on '13's and '14's right now.

Originally Posted by jrmckinley

Each market is different so it's hard to help since I live in a different market. Here in FL, the difference between a 2012 (L or SWB) vs. a similarly equipped and similar mileage 2013 is about $10k. I shopped within the '10-'14 range for about a year before buying my car (late model '10 L). I compared dozens and dozens of cars and always found the value of a '13 to be almost exactly $10k more than a '12. I also found that each year of the car was worth around $1,500 (so a 2013 with 50k miles would be $1,500 cheaper than the exact same car with 50k miles as a 2014 model) and also had a general feel for how much each additional 10k miles had depreciated the car. I tracked all of this very closely and would only compare cars that were equipped identically (with features I cared about) and it helped me come up with a "formula" of sorts for determining a really good deal when I saw one.

I think the range of $47k-$53k seems high for the pricing I'm used to seeing here in FL (and keep in mind a 2013 is about to technically be 5 years old). I just did a quick search near my zip and there are a handful of '13's and '14's that are CPO and the asking price for a '13 starts in the $41k range. These aren't L's, so those may command another $1,500 or so in the used market (the cars listed did have Levinson, etc). So I would peg a CPO 2013 L down here with under 40k miles around $42k as an asking price. There are some cars that are in the mid to upper $40k range but those have less than 20k miles (probably snowbird cars). CPO cars with 55k - 60k miles are priced around $38k (not LWB, so add the premium to that).

I can't remember the launch date of the LS500, but I would imagine it's some time in the late fall/early winter if Lexus continues their typical model year release timing. That being said, I think you'll see the '13-'17 bodystyle take a slight dip in price when the 500 comes out, at which point you can get a better deal. And I won't get started on how/why I think the used car market bubble is about to burst.... I think time is on your side and the longer you wait, the better deal you will get for many reasons.

Originally Posted by sktn77a

Just a side note, be prepared to be a little disappointed with the 2013+ ML system - it's not nearly as good as the 2007-2012. I've had both and this was very noticeable to me. You might want to compare the two to see if it will really be a dealbreaker in a 2013+ as, like you say, there are quite a lot of cars out there without it. Note - I haven't heard a non-ML system so I don't know how they compare (hence the recommendation you compare the two)