SW17LS

I just did a search on cars.com. There are 185 used 2013 BMW 5 series within 250 miles of me. There are 64 used 2013 Mercedes E Classes. There are 52 2013 GS350s.

So...I don't think this is all that unusual...especially when you factor in that they were selling 2013 GS's for 6 months before they started selling 2013 5 Series or E Class.

Stew4HD

^ Now that's a great comeback!

KA8

iTrader: (1)

This week I traded 2011 ML350 for a prius. My allowed mileage was almost up and I still had close to two years left on lease. First I went to carmax, they offered $30K. Talk about depreciation on MB's, this is a $60K car new. I was going to go ahead with it because they had prius with all options I wanted, but they said they couldn't do the deal because it's a 'leased' car. So I went to Longo toyota the same day and they offered $32K and smoking deal on a certified prius.

MJA1951

I've taken 2 cars to Carmax and wouldn't waste my time again. Both times they offered 1/2 of what my 6 year old 94 Cougar and 97 Mercury Grand Marquis were listed in Edmonds and KBB.

I really take good care of my cars and we probably drive less than 8,000-9,000 per year on them.

They always come up with some goofy reason why they are low balling, like the nicks being touched up or the car is just in average shape and needs major work before putting it on their lot.

The last time they told me they would give me $4,000 on my 6 years old grand Marquis that was in the books for just under $8,000 in better than average but not excellent shape.

I told them they would find it upside down burning on Golf Road ( outside their location) before I would sell it to them for $4,000.

Also they add on a $150.00 fee for trading it in.

SW17LS

I don't get why people get so angry. Its a business, what they can offer for a certain car depends on a lot of factors, their inventory, their market for the car, overall demand, age and condition. If you don't like their offer, take it somewhere else but why be angry about it?

MJA1951

They do have very right to offer whatever to offer whatever they want. but their advertising is deceptive at best when they present themselves as giving you a fair market value price for your trade in then have you wait for an hour or so then sit you down and try to talk down your car.

They should just tell you up front in 2 minutes that the best they will do is 1/2 or the KBB or Edmunds value and work down from there.

While I agree they can do anything they want, I don;t think they show themselves very well when they are not honest about what they are evaluating

Outrage

My local dealership has a 2013 GS 350 listed at $45,988 with 22,000 miles. I figure the actual sale price will be around $42,000 to $43,000. For the dealership to make profit buying the vehicle for $40,000 doesn't seem unreasonable. I think Edmunds should start questioning the validity of their "True Market Price" rather than question CarMax's offer. I've found Edmund's TMV prices to be out of whack in this area.

NewSpace

2013 Lexus GS 350: Alternate Appraisals
http://www.edmunds.com/lexus/gs-350/...ppraisals.html


I was pretty disappointed with the $40,000 that CarMax offered for our 2013 Lexus GS 350. I wanted to improve on that offer and decided to list it on AutoTrader for $47,500. This was roughly its private-party sales value, according to the Edmunds True Market Value estimate.

In the meantime, I decided to get other price quotes to test if CarMax's offer was in the ballpark. I ended up learning a few things in the process.

I tried Trade-in Solutions first. This company has a number of reviews on Yelp, with people saying that they got a great price on their car. The appraiser said that he'd only be able to match CarMax's offer of $40k at best.

Next, I tried the online quote service from AutoNation. You answer a few questions about the car, send in a few photos and then you get a price. I liked the prompt response, but I didn't like the price. AutoNation quoted me the lowest offer yet: $39,200.

My next move was to call a few Lexus dealerships. After all, this would be a perfect car for them to certify. It's loaded with options and only a year old. I called three Lexus dealers. One ignored my call.

The used-car manager at Jim Falk Lexus of Beverly Hills was very helpful and honest about his appraisal. "This car is really loaded, but my customers don't really shop for specific options." He said that his customers only care about the color and whether the car has navigation on it. This meant that the options on our GS 350 had little value to him.

Another issue was that many of the major options on our Lexus weren't coming up in his system. The car was too new and the system hadn't been updated to reflect the value of things like the F Sport package, rear steering and more.

"
I suspect CarMax had this same issue," said the used-car manager. "They probably quoted you a price for the luxury package and navigation."

Adding to the bad news was the fact that there were no comparable cars being sold at auction to help the used-car manager size up its value. The miles were too high on our car and it was too loaded with options. The dealer wasn't willing to quote a higher price, due to that low sample size. Our Lexus is what my colleague Phil Reed and I call a "Frankenstein Car." There's no other one like it.

"The best I can do is offer you $40,000," said the used car manager. "It'll cost me about $1,000 to certify it, and I'd probably list it for $43,900."

And here I was asking $47,500. That's probably why I only received one reply to the ad in a week, a man offering $39,000 cash. I told him his offer was too low, but he never countered. The following day, I dropped the price to $43,900 on AutoTrader and I hope to end up slightly above $40k.

As it turns out, the CarMax price wasn't the lowball offer that I made it out to be. It seems to be in line with other offers, based on the current information available.

There is a glimmer of hope, however. Stevens Creek Lexus in San Jose, a dealer we worked with for an Edmunds event, made us a tentative offer of $42,000. We're still hammering out the details, but I'll keep you posted.

SW17LS

This is absolutely the case...

NewSpace

Same quote that shocked me. Still can't get over how most people view cars.

SW17LS

Used cars, its always been that way. People buy a trim level, etc, but individual options don't get you a whole lot on the used market.