High Dealer Price Vs Trade-in

[strong1993]

Does this sound right? I went in to my friendly neighborhood Lexus dealer to trade my 2003 LX470 (78,000 miles) in on a new LX470. They wanted to give me $26,000 for it in trade. They have a 2003 (52,000 miles) on their lot they were selling for $47,000. That's a $21,000 differnence on top of the fact that their vehicle has less equipment. Is it possible there would be that much of a deduction for mileage?

[lenore]

The dealer generally is going to only offer you what is called a wholesale price. Go online and use Kelley blue book and see what your vehicle goes for if you trade in, sell on yourself, you will see the tremendous difference in price.

[lexus411]

The $26k for the trade is pretty fair. the mileage is about a $3000 difference maybe more being that your car couldnt be Certified because of the miles. Price for a Certified LX more likely was $37,000. Which $2500 of that goes for the certification an repairs. Car probably will sell for around $35,000.

[Jim_Chow]

That '03 w/ 52K mi for $47K is a pie-in-the-sky price. When I bought my CPO '03 (w/ 49K mi) in Jan '06, the price they were asking was $49K. I got it for around $41.5K, which was pretty much KBB trade-in in mint cond plus $3K for dealer expenses (advertising, $2K for certification, detail, etc.). After they paid the salesman his minimum commission, the dealer lost money on the sale. The vehicle has to have less than 60K mi for them to certify it, plus you need full lexus service records. I think you got a fair price on your trade-in. Your car will probably sell for ~$34K (prices seem to drop about $5K/yr, so I'm guessing a CPO '03 can be had for about $36-37K). There's no difference in terms of mileage on a trade-in between 50,001 mi and 59K mi. The factory warranty expires at 50K mi, so that's a big hit. That's why a lot of guys dump their vehicles before 50K mi (before the warranty runs out) and before 60K mi (can't be certified after 60K, plus they try to avoid the 60K mi service=$$$$ on the LX).

[aedgington]

They're ripping you off. Average dealer auction price with your mileage is in the very low 30's... unless your vehicle has massive issues or prior body work.

Note the "BELOW AVERAGE" unit with 97K still brought 28.8... and that auction (Bishop Brothers) is in the ATL :)

---DATE-- --AUCTION-- --TYPE-- --SALE-- --MIL-- --COND--

01/11/07 MANHEIM Regular $37,000 66,914 Above

01/11/07 MANHEIM Regular $31,700 67,186 Avg

01/10/07 NADE Regular $30,800 77,155 Below

01/23/07 FAAO Lease $35,200 85,060 Avg

01/25/07 MANHEIM Regular $36,500 85,067 Above

01/25/07 MANHEIM Regular $33,500 85,984 Avg

01/25/07 MANHEIM Regular $34,500 89,353 Avg

01/23/07 BISHOP B Regular $28,800 97,031 Below

[strong1993]

I originally purchased the vehicle (Certified) from the dealer I was trying to trade for a new one. Not only did they only offer me 26K, but they weren't coming off their price for the '07. I guess I'll look elsewhere. Thanks for all the insight!

[denslexusgx470]

Dealers have their own "KBB". Trust me, it's hard to deal with dealers. They bought my 2000 RX300 w/cloth seats, 32k miles, back in 03, for only $22k and they started selling it for $34k. I don't know how much dealers would add on top of a used LX, but that's how they play.