Mrd916

Wondering what u guys think value of my wife's 2011 IS 350 is? It has 35,000 miles, we bought it new so it still has warranty. It is in great shape just the usual rock chips in paint and one wheel has small curb rash. We are considering trading it in on an RX 350 but before we do I want to get some opinions. Thanks for any help

John510

Kbb says 26k trade in but I didn't add any options. I wouldn't ever recommend trading a car in. Better to sell it on Craigslist as you will get way more than the dealer will offer.

wildtigg3r

If KBB says 26k then you knock off another 5k from it. Around 21k is what the dealer will be offering you for your car.

The upside of doing a trade-in is the convenience. You don't have to deal with posting your car for sale on the internet, etc. You don't have to deal with meeting strangers. No need to answer phone calls and answering questions. No need to haggle price with potential buyers. The downside is you will get less than what you can get if you sold the car yourself.

If you are okay with getting less from the dealer, then by all means, do the trade-in. Everyone will offer their 2cents. Some will say trade-in, others will be sell it yourself. I recently did a trade-in with my 2009 IS250 for a 2014 IS250. I went in knowing how much I wanted for my car and the dealer's offer price was close to the amount.

Glashub

I sold my past 2 cars to CarMax. I got a fair middle price between private and trade-in on both. Extremely painless.

kabgolf1

Remember to add in any sales tax savings from a trade in as well when calculating the sales price for selling it yourself. So although the dealer is offering less, he is knowing that you receive the sales tax credit for the amount of the trade.

dojoman

iTrader: (5)

This doesn't work in CA. We pay tax on full price of the car trade in or not.

kabgolf1

I am not liking California too much then. In RI we only pay the sales tax on the full price when it comes to a truck that is being purchased by a business instead of an individual.

Timmah

I would also check NADA and Manhiem. Those are the two common places that dealers look at values and they will assess your car accordingly. Just to give you an idea. I looked up a 2009 is350 Fsport with over 50K (so out of warranty) average condition on manheim is 22,400 and NADA AVG trade is 21000. Being yours is new and less mileage should be more than that. Also IS350 are fewer so I would play that to your advantage. If I'm not mistaken FL gives you the tax savings for your trade. (i.e lets say tax rate is 10% for simple math THey offer you 20k for trade in means you will need to sell it privately for 22,001 to for it to make financial sense for you to do so.)

Timmah

I forgot to add go to Auto trader.com and put in the car's information and if the dealer doesn't give you as much as what autotrader says they(autotrader) will cut you a check for that amount given that you put in all the right information.

Evitzee

Unless you have a buddy on the inside a private party can't check Manheim's numbers, they aren't available to the public. CarMax uses Manheim for their buying pricing. Not sure where you got the Manheim values.

Mrd916

We went today to look at the RX 350 but it didn't have nav and I assumed it did so I didn't bother to work a deal. I was in my IS F and salesman asked if I was interested in trading it in towards the 2011 IS F they had, mine is an 08 with 50k miles, CPO and in perfect shape. They offered me a whopping $30k for my car and I laughed at him plus their 11 IS F was about $5k overpriced

Timmah

I am in the auto industry and that is how I pulled those figs. to be exact they will always need to pull by vin. You can always go to a CarMax and get a buy bid or any other reputible pre-owned dealerships. In Texas we have Texas Direct Auto and they will buy cars for more than dealerships and Carmax. I just don't know how they make money doing so.

Glashub

^^^^

Probably in the financial arrangements they make with the audience they target.

Timmah

Not to profile but the clients their buying a car don't seem to have their finances in order. Unless they are exporting them to Nigeria, Middle East, or China. They sell average 1500 cars a month as well.

Glashub

Not to profile but there are certain social/economic realities. I have an associate who is recovering from a gambling addiction -- he's paying 30% interest in order to drive a fairly new car. Clearly he ruined his credit and became unemployable. Here in LA there are car lots that cater to people in trouble and worse somehow they fix it so that they can legally take the car back for a any reason. I'm not saying the company you referred to is doing that -- but it is a way to make back money that is used by some.