krazzyk83

Hi,

I was hoping to start posting on this forum on a better note but unfortunately no. I was involved in an accident last month in my '08 ES 350 and sustained quite a bit of damage. The car had 11k worth of repairs in all. The air bags did not deploy and I could not total the car. Cosmetically after the repairs the car looks new but I am not sure whether to keep it or trade it in for a newer Lexus. Anyways to begin the decision making process I wanted to ask the knowledgeable members of this forum how you would determine the value of a car post an accident given you know the KBB value of a car before the accident and the repairs made on the car.

I tried posting craigslist ads and called it "make your offer" but that dint help to get a ball park estimate. Some people even offered 5k for '08 S 350!! .. Kindly share your past experiences with selling an accident Lexus and your pricing approach or advice to price it right. Thank you very much

jbalian

I have access to the canadian dealer auctions (where the used car dealers buy their cars) and I actually saw one posted yesterday for 10k, standard black 2008 es (not UL) with 140 000km, it had been accidented and repaired and if im not mistaken the repair was also about 10k... I'll keep you posted if i come across another one...

nevernu

if it were me, depending on its history and the type of damage i would probably consider it a new lease on life on a good older car with the additional bonus of insurance companys lifetime warranty on the repairs. That's just me cause I like to keep my cars for a long time.

jcat_350

as nevernu alluded to, it's going to depend upon your buyer. Someone who knows the collision industry and knows how to tell the car's been repaired properly will be fine with it, others will try to use the accident as a bargaining chip. A major accident typically affects value by about 10%.

First, forget KBB entirely. It's inflated in the dealership's favor always. Use NADA for values.

That being said, I'd use the following guidelines to determine the value of your car.

NADA Clean trade - 10% to account for accident = fair trade in value

NADA Dealer retail + NADA clean trade divide by 2 (for average) then -10% for accident, = private party value.

Example:

NADA Clean trade = 15000 - 10% (1500) = 13,500 (expect this at a dealer for trade in)

NADA Clean trade 15000 + NADA Dealer Retail 20000 /2 = 17,500 -10% (1750) = 15,750 private party value.

garsarno

I had a 2004 Lincoln LS with a lot of damage to the drivers side door back to the passenger side door. Was high four figures to repair. Car never ran right after and I finally got tired of going back and forth to the dealer. Traded it in for a new 2007 Impala SS. Dealer gave me the full trade in value, I never mentioned it was in an accident and he may have never checked carfax to see. Traded it in about six weeks after the repair.

krazzyk83

Lifetime warranty on repairs ? That is interesting. I took it to a body shop of my choice. Not sure if the insurance company will honor the warranty for work done by another body shop.

krazzyk83

Wow. its coming out to 18k after applying the math. Not bad at all. If I get this price I might actually consider selling it. I gree with the previous poster that keeping an accident Lexus dont make sense when it keeps losing value everyday.

ThumperPup

it's well known that if you give someone the chance to make an offer especially on Craigslist
what they call OBO offer they will alway slow ball you

iceblast

Sorry to hear about the loss. It is the unfortunate side about owning such a high priced item and the inevitability of something to go wrong on the road :S

Basically a good rule of thumb is take the value of a non-accidented car and subtract half the repair cost, as body shops usually inflate the price of repairs.This is what I saw whenever a dealer was trying to sell a vehicle that had been in an accident.

Personally, I would never buy a car that has been in an accident. They just never run the same, begin rusting and who really knows if I were to ever be in an accident again, whether the structural integrity of the car would hold up. Also there are shady dealers who mask the true condition of the original accident/repair.

Always take your used car to a body shop before purchase, throw it on a hoist, and check for previous accident damage. They can tell you in about 5 minutes.

lgb0250

Speaking from a franchised dealers point of view you would probably get no more than Black Book (most dealers dont use KBB or NADA) rough price minus a couple more thousand because he would end up wholesaling it out to an independent "buy here, pay here" type of dealer. I don't know of a franchised dealer that would keep this type of damaged vehicle on their lot for sale.

As far as selling on the open market goes, it's hard to tell what somebody would be willing to pay but I kind of doubt it would be very much! Put yourself in the buyers shoes and what would you do?

If it was me, I would just keep it and enjoy it looking new again! Provided it drives that way. As a side note, many US states have a requirement that any seller sign a damage disclosure statement disclosing any damage over 25% of the vehicles value at time of damage.

jcat_350

that's not necessarily true. Don't forget that Carfax is not 100%. Meaning you may trade out of this properly repaired car, and into a car that was hit and not repaired quite as well.

It really comes down to what a dealer will offer you on trade, vs what you can get private sale (remember, something's only worth what someone else is willing to pay you for it) and how much you owe on the car.

Additionally, like the others have said, they'll probably go by either black book or galves, neither of which you have access to and only show what they could get the same car at auction for. Here's a tip; if they play that auction angle, remind them that they don't have to pay someone to go to the auction, win the car, pay transport to get it delivered, and then prep it. The car is right in front of them and ready to go.

Also, most financial institutions and the registries use NADA to determine their values. I usually take an average of NADA, KBB and Edmunds values to determine trade in value as well as what to pay for the car I want. I've had a few dealers balk at it but most of the time as long as you're not throwing out outrageous numbers (I.e. retail on my trade in is 19 and that's what i want, even though it's trade in is only 14), they'll work with you. Remember, your starting point doesn't necessarily have to be your endpoint as well.

LexBob2

Another option is to take it to a Car Max store and see what they'd give you for it. Odds are they wouldn't put it on their lot, but they could give you an idea of what you can get for it and/or an idea of the dinished value in their eyes.

ThumperPup

just for the hell of it a few days ago i went in to see what a dealer would give me as a trade in on my 07 with 54k on it
they offered me a pathetic low ball 12k
i said no way
they asked what the least i would take for it i said i was thinking like 18k
because i feel you could turn around and ask 21-22 and probably get about 19 or 20 told them your not going to get rich of of me you can make some money get rich
he looked at me with this face that was like
ok i serious and not going be a easy push over
he went to his manager told him what i said they came back with an offer of 14k i said no 16
then they offered 15 that was the highest i was able to get

15k with an 07 that had been in a accident no air bags where deployed and from records that i found it was even repaired at there dealership wich i know to do good work not bad sloppy work

jcat_350

12k was not a lowball offer at all. 07's with 50-70k miles are going for about 14-17k near where I am. Take into account a couple thousand profit for the dealership and the fact that yours had been in an accident, they weren't that far off. They also probably thought that they could sell you a more expensive model of whatever car you're looking at to make up the difference.

ThumperPup

maybe in your area where do you live again ?

down here where i live with in 100 mile search on auto trader
there is only 1 lexus 07 ES350 for sale for 12k or even around that price and that has 128,000 miles on it

raise that price a little bit and around 14-15k you can pick them up with about 90k or above on them

around 16-20k for 07s with 40-70k on them

there are a few at lexus dealers most of the ones are around 18-24k $

so i figure i take 10 even 15% from the value of mine for the accident that it was in and 12k is a freaking low ball offer down here maybe not where you are but here it is

mind is fully loaded eveyrhing except the rear park assist and the Mark Levinston

i talked them down for a 2013 Dodge Challenger if i had walked out it was a SXT model with all the options in that model was going to cost me 14,900 out of pocket after trade
thats what i was checking with just for the hell of it

yeahi realize they have to make there money
but i also asked them if they where going to keep the car or send it off to another lot they said with that low miles they would most likely keep it
i knew that if i had really done the trade and if i took there offer of 12 at first then a day latter id be looking online at my ES at there lot being asked for 18k and then they would take the first 16 that walked threw the door