zerocrack

I am in processing of negotiating on the 2014 F Sport with 45k miles from a private party. the original listing price is 31.5k OBO and I got him down to 29.5k. It has white exterior with cabaret interior color. The owner claimed that It a rare color combination and wont budge below that. He said he bought the car from auction himself after it came off lease(he does this as side job) and been driving it for a year so he know all about the car and its pricing. Is this true for the F sport package about color combination being rare? Is the fair price for the car? I feel like It should be less given that 45k miles is on higher side. The plus side is that the car is very clean inside and out with lot of service record.

roblim

If your instinct is saying that the price is high, then i would trust your instinct. The GS has terrible resale value. If it was a CPO then 29.5 sounds like an OK deal, but from a private party,no thanks. I'd walk away from it.

Also, new front brake pads on the FSport can run close to $900 to replace even at an independent shop that uses Lexus parts. If the pads need replacing soon then you will be looking at that bill.

np20412

I don't think white with Cabernet is rare... That's what I have. Bought mine in Sept this year.
​.. 2014 with 26k miles for 33k, and that was CPO/L-certified.
​​

AJLex19

White/Cabernet is not really a rare color combination, but probably harder to find that color combo under $30k. I don't think its an outstanding deal, especially without any warranty. Here are few examples of L/Certified cars in your price range that have a warranty and lower mileage (except for that last one but that one is a 2015):

https://www.cars.com/vehicledetail/d...4489/overview/
https://www.cars.com/vehicledetail/d...9440/overview/
https://www.cars.com/vehicledetail/d...8352/overview/
http://www.lexusofriverside.com/Vehi...-CA/3116413623
https://www.cars.com/vehicledetail/d...0873/overview/

LatinLS430

iTrader: (1)

I think you can find a better deal. Price does seem high for the miles and no warranty.

zerocrack

Yeah, I look around and this is about the going price for F sport 2014 with around 40k miles from dealership. With TTL, It would be around 34-35k. is the L certified worth extra 4-5k?

bclexus

I think an extra $4K-$5K is not typical. It's more like $3K or less.

The Lexus dealership has to invest 'x' amount of money into the vehicle in order to meet Lexus Certification Requirement first. This may cost anywhere from typically a few hundred dollars to maybe a couple thousand dollars. It cost $1,500 for a Lexus dealership to pay Lexus Corporate when a CPO car is sold, so the dealership has an automatic debt of $1,500 that they must recover when they sell the car, plus the money ($500-$1,000) they spent to meet the minimum requirement - so the total dealership outlay is say ~$2,000 - $2,500. For instance, the dealership will almost always change engine oil and filter, replace the cabin air filter and engine air filter, change brake fluid, clean-up, remove dings/scratches and detail the car, which costs say $500 - $1,000 ... The dealership may install new tires, brake pads, rotors, do one of the major services, repair torn weather strips, repair any mechanical issues, paint bumpers and replace a missing tool in the trunk, which could cost an additional $1,000 - $1,500 or so. With all this done, now we are up to $4,000 invested, which must be recovered when the dealership sells the car. There is a point where spending too much money can not be recovered when the car is sold...so the dealerships like to keep the investment around $3,000 or less. So - a Lexus Certified car could actually be valued [say] $3K or so more when compared to a non-Lexus Certified car - all depending on what the dealership had to do versus what wasn't done to a non-Lexus Certified car. That's why most of Lexus Certified Vehicles are normally a few thousand dollars more than non-Lexus certified cars.

AJLex19

I imagine that with the private party purchase, you still need to pay tax. To me, its based on your own threshold for cost vs. warranty needs. One thought would be you save the couple thousand now and use it to pay for any repairs on your own in the future. The other school of thought is that you pay extra $$$ for a warranty now and if anything comes up, you are covered by Lexus.

Depending on the first in-service date, the 2014 from the private seller should still have some time on the original 4yr/50k warranty and will still have the factory 72month/70,000 mile powertrain warranty.

shurik74

iTrader: (5)

agree with everyone's response above!

If seller buys / sells cars as his side income, he knows how to negotiate and BS people, as soon as you walk away, he might drop the price even more considering he got a deal buying from a dealer's auction.

In this particular case, you MUST check the car for repainted body pieces & mechanically at independed local shop (of course out of your pocket).

My 2c...

MythicOne

That color combo is not "rare." Plus, I would not buy any used car w/o warranty.
Lexus CPO is the best in the business, worth the extra piece of mind if you can afford it.

UDel

It is not that rare of a color, seller is asking too much. I would try for 26 to 27K or look elsewhere. The guy did not have to pay extra for the color combo nor does it add to the actual value of the car.

GS is a very reliable car with few issues, you don't need to pay thousands extra for a extended warranty.

Mike552

My opinion:

$27k if awd
$26k if rwd

Anything more than that and it better be CPO.

zerocrack

Thanks for the insight everyone. I will look for a CPO one instead at dealership. the few I been looking at have around 35-40k miles. Would CPO car have new tire and brake done or it different from car to car? I would think that amount of miles would warrant new set of brake and tires. Is that something I can request to be done before purchasing if it a CPO?

AJLex19

It really depends on the dealership and each car's needs as to these types of wear/tear items. If you like a CPO GS but you have it inspected and it needs brakes/rotors, i'd recommend asking them if they can address that before you commit to buying it. Tires can be expensive, so if they are close to their wear-limits, you should discuss. Same with other wear/tear items like the sunroof seal, any leather discoloration, wheel/rim bent or with curb rash, exterior scratches, bumper nicks, interior trim issues, etc...if you see something you don't like, bring it up. It doesn't mean they'll fix them though if things fall into spec (e.g. brakes need to have 6mm or something like 50%-60% life and tires can be down to 5/32 to be certified within spec).

Good Lexus dealerships will recondition the cars to make them "like-new" but sometimes try to pass-off less-noticeable items if they can save $$$ on the reconditioning costs. They tried to do this with two wheels and the front bumper underside of my 4GS - when I brought it up, they addressed the issues so we could move forward with the sale. Unfortunately, I had the minimum specs on the tires and rear brakes/rotors so I spent roughly $1500 on those items a year after my CPO purchase.

zerocrack

I am considering buying this car tomorrow: http://www.arrowheadlexus.com/Vehicl...-AZ/3094876453

According to the sale person, It used at loan vehicle at this dealership and then 2nd owner bought it and traded it back in 2 years later. Sale person said that dealership put $2300 into this car before putting it on market and that include brand new set of tires and brakes. Should I verify this by asking for paper record or their word is good enough? There is small bump on one of the panel which is only noticeable if you look for it. There is a mall scruff mark below driver's door which I asked about it and they said that the tech probably tried to buff it out and that the best they can do. The leather on the door handle of the driver have some dirt mark and some blemish on the leather in the back seats. They seem unconcerned when I brought up these issues with the interior imperfection. Is it within reason that I ask for a details before taking the car?

For the price, I got them to drop another $250 so we at 27,750 but they will not budge anymore than that. Think this is a decent deal?