Hi I'm sorry if this has been covered, but I'm new and didn't find anything to help me. I recently bought a 06 is250 for 8000$ and am slightly regreting the purchase.. not because of the amount but because I'm concerned about the depreciating value of the car I also purchased it from a private party that didn't disclose it had been in a accident. I'm now hearing a knock when I start it and don't want to see what issue will appear next.

So my question is what should I do? How much trade in will a dealership offer for my is 250 f I get another lexus from them? Or will I lose more money doing that? Thanks in advance for any help or advice. And sorry if I posted in the wrong area

 

You should

 

How many miles on it? Are you putting premium fuel in?

 

Sell it to carmax. I've sold many cars to them. They offer decent money, better than a trade-in. I've sold a broken transmission 06 Odyssey to them and they didn't even know the tranny was bad.

 

There 130 on it and I've been putting premium from shell, the previous owner "claims" to have done the same. Will I really get less trade-in then from carmax??

 

just get a quote from carmax -- sometimes they will rape you worse than a dealer, sometimes (rarely) they won't. ....try to make an appointment with carmax - I wasted 3 hours of my life there one day just to get a ****tie quote from them.

 

Try BP or another brand of fuel. I know shell gas causing gas tank hissing sound in the RCF and not other brand gas.

carmax typically give 10% more than tradein, but again depends if you buy from them. Also don't forget about tax credit. Or you can bring your carmax quote to have it matched by dealer.

if you can prove it, take the seller to small claims court for not disclosing accident. I think it's against the law if you ask and they lie

 

Also, how's the oil level? Low oil pressure and/or cold oil will sometimes cause a knocking sound on start up.

 

depreciation generally isn't an issue much on a 10 year old vehicle or are you saying maybe you overpaid because it was in an accident and you didn't know? any professional (dealer, carmax) is going to know it was in an accident, so that will affect trade value, plus obviously their price to you is going to suck vs the private party price you paid, regardless of accident. i don't know about the knock, but if it's not much to deal with and you otherwise like the vehicle i'd just get it fixed and keep driving it.

 

The knock could be carbon buildup in the engine. Read about it in the IS forum, the 250 cars with the smaller engine are notorious for it, especially an early year like your 2006. There are several ways to clean the carbon buildup, but sometimes if the problem is really bad it can mean a total engine rebuild or replacement.

BTW how bad is the accident damage? Like replaced a door, just a cracked bumper, or something that twisted the whole unibody and required airbag replacement, etc

 

Agreed. I went to Carmax to sell my '06 Infiniti M45. They asked me if the wheels were aftermarket and they were the stock 19" wheels that came on the car. They gave me a low-ball offer. The Infiniti dealer gave me a much better offer on the trade. Plus, if you trade rather than sell outright you don't get hit with as much tax. You are only paying the tax on the difference between the new car and your trade rather than the entire amount on the new car.

 

I would agree with this. I don't think you overpaid for a high mileage IS250. Like all well used cars, there will be some things to fix. I dont think you can get around that with any $8000 used car.

 

Why worry bout depreciation? A 06 for 8k is already depreciated a lot, the most you will lose for another 2 years of driving it might be just 2k. And for any used car there would be some repairs need to be done. You should at least drive it for a while and sell it private party, this way you could still get more than selling it now to a dealership, plus you actually use the car a bit.

 

This is true in most states, but not all - CA being one of the big exceptions.