Got an "offer" letter in the mail from Lexus today.. first let me say I am not going to trade my car in... it's a 13, bought new in Jan. of 14 and only has 48K miles and is in pristine condition.. but I still wanted to see what you guys thought about this... Letter from Lexus told me if I wanted to trade cars, I could get a new 2019 ES 350 for $36,772.00 Letter did not state what "level" of Es... Just said ES 350. In the letter they estimated the mileage on my ES.. they were close, said they estimated I had 50K on it.. The letter went on to say at 50K miles on it and if it's in excellent condition I could expect a trade in value of approx. 13,252.00 Well I got to thinking and when I bought this ES, I traded in a 2007 Avalon.. excellent condition, but it was 7 years old and around 70K miles on it and if memory serves me well, they gave me either 12K or 12,500 trade in... seems like the trade in value for my Lexus is a little below what they gave me on the avalon, despite the fact the ES is 2 years newer and 22,000 miles less on the ES... even so, given their numbers I would be able to purchase the car ( after trade in ) for approx 23,500.00 plus TT&L. That doesn't sound bad for a new one, but I like my old one and hell, it's hardly broken in.. Just curious what you fellas thought about it.

Roland

 

Lexus ES sales dropped about 20% in the first quarter of 2019 compared to the fourth quarter of 2018. An interesting way to stimulate sales, I guess. Building an ES 350 with no options list for $40,625 so $36,772 would only be 8% off which is actually low compared to what others have received. So that price all depends on the options. My guess is that is the bare bones stripped down no option model. KBB value for your car used standard options since did not know what you had is $15,600 as a trade in. So sounds like a terrible deal.

 

I think that analysis is pretty much spot on. I'm confident in guessing that the dealer is offering a bare bones 2019 ES. Their trade-in offer is low, and it looks like the discount from MSRP on the new car is minimal. Putting all of that together, it does look like a terrible deal.

Sales numbers for the 2019 ES have been, for the first half year after introduction, well below the sales numbers for the Generation 6 ES during the first half year after its introduction. As much as anything else, that is confirmation of how unpopular sedans have become.

 

so are the 2019 models starting to get better incentives?

i inquired about leasing a 2019 es before buying my cpo 15, the lease rates were horrendously bad at the time. this was back in january of this year.

 

I received a letter from my local dealer about how they were looking for more preowned cars to buy because they sold a record amount in February. They also did mention about trading in for a new one but didn't mention any prices. They pretty much were asking me to trade my car in...no thanks

 

It seems to have been the same in Canada; I started looking for a replacement for my 16 year old Camry in February and there were about 12 ES350 that more or less met my “requirements” on Autotrader. Within two weeks half of them were gone and that number seems to have stabilized at around 6 ever since. (My specs included proximity, mileage, and price as well as the technical stuff). I noted that used Avalon availability took a dive about the same time. (Income tax refunds?...who knows). I do think that demand for sedans will start to go back up as fuel prices continue to increase though (and, of course, hybrids). Makes me wonder if the manufacturers have made a mistake in dropping sedans in favour of SUVs. Time will tell.

 

I was told by my dealer that January and February incentives are focused on Pre-Owned cars and the incentives reflect that. March is when they start focusing on New cars again.

Having driven both a 2015 and 2019, the changes they made are pretty significant in smoothness, quietness, refinement, comfort, and handling.

 

not sure about jan and feb being better for used cars. CPO rate from lexus back in january and february were 1.9% apr on ES and NX/RX models only.
Currently (april) interest rate for CPO sedans is 0.9% and all suvs are 1.9%.

i'm banging my head for jumping on a es at 1.9 back in jan. i could have been driving a is f sport or gs 350 if i knew they were coming at 0.9%. no way in hell i'd buy a ES over an is or gs if the interest rates were the same.

 

I rec'd a similar letter from the local Ford dealer sometime in the last half of 2018 saying wife's 2013 Cmax SEL was/could be worth more than ever, and they had a "demand" for good clean used cars. Just a marketing gimmick to get you to start thinking about trading in, and then get "car fever". I did trade the Cmax in on the '13 ES350 as the wife had grown tired of the Cmax hybrid stuff.

 

Great sales ploy. It is all about the numbers.

 

Those offers are just marketing nonsense and gibberish. My wife gets one 2x per year on her Toyota. Just throw those kind of offers where they belong..the trashcan or recycling box.