tlo

i brought a black is 250 8 months ago, if i trade it in now, will i lose alot of money ...what is the best way to do it
i have 6g left to pay of the car.......will that be a problem
or should i sell the car by myself ,what does the car worth now

9520G

I would look for an 07 leftover and try to get the most possible money off than sell yours privatley and you only spend a few grand extra.

gsrthomas

iTrader: (1)

Of course you will take a big hit. The car is not even one years old.

I thought of trading in my 07 IS250 for an IS350 as well. But financially its not a smart idea. So im keeping my IS250 for a while.

dojoman

iTrader: (5)

Trade in your 250 for a used 350. If you trade in for a new one you will have to pay up a lot more. Is 250 nav w/ML loaded? If you trade to 350 based model used then you might break even.

PhilipMSPT

iTrader: (5)

To find the best deal (lose the least amount of money), it's best to privately sell your 250, then find a used same year, same mileage, same optioned 350 via private seller.

sportsfan8

Always test drive the IS350

DropTopGal

Chances are you'll take a $3k to $6k loss if you trade in your IS250 as it has depreciated that much. With very, very, few exceptions, cars are NOT an investment.

You have to ask yourself, is 3k to 6k is worth the price of being content with your car?

If you do decide to trade up to an IS350, this time around get what you REALLY want to avoid buyers remorse.

Trading your car into the dealer will be less of a hassle than selling it privately. Have you considered CarMax to sell your car to? Also, you can deduct the difference in sales tax between the new purchase and the trade in value of your IS250, thus making up a large portion of the difference between trading it in and selling it privately.

Personally, I don't buy used cars to avoid inheriting someone else's headache.

Good luck!

ABC

I think the real question is WHY do you want to do this? What are the reasons? And do they justify the $3-6k loss? If so, then by all means do it! If not, then keep the 250.

sportsfan8

Ugh, CarMax. I heard all these great things on CarMax so I took my wife's Civic there to see how much they would pay for it. To my dismay, it was a super duper lowball offer. So I just put the car on Craigslist and sold for double their offer

Joeb427

iTrader: (1)

I've heard CarMax was really good in the past but not anymore.

Recluse

I agree wholeheartedly that trading is less of a hassle....no juggling your schedule to meet people for test drives (half of whom probably won't show up), having to allow people to drive the car that you still own, etc. To me it's worth a few thousand to NOT have to deal with that.

However, there's no sales tax credit for trading a car in California. Sacramento apparently wants all the money it can get its hands on.

cspec

I would just get a different car man...

Pnuge88

iTrader: (1)

im planning to do it.. theres just that big of a difference between the 250 and 350..

Giggity

agreed...

I got a smokin deal on my 350, it was a year old and an early lease return (bought from a dealership, bro in law works there).
Sold my current car at the time privately, no hasseling with low ball offers and paper work from the dealership. stuck it on autotrader pocketed a wad of cash and put it toward the 350!