Looking to sell my IS250 2011. Has 45k miles and Chrome wheels. Fully loaded and has always been serviced at Lexus Dealerships.

Any suggestions if a trade in or private sell would be better?

 

the private sale route almost always yields more money.

 

Depends what you mean by better? It's not even a question that you'll get more money privately. But you'll have to wait for it to sell, you'll deal with a bunch of idiot tire kickers, and the car continues to depreciate until you sell it. Whereas with trade in, you give them the keys and take your new car home. End of transaction.

Personally I wouldn't ever trade in without at least trying to sell for a certain amount of time first.

 

Private sell.

 

Private sale if you're not in a hurry. Especially on a 'newer' year and a lower mileage car, the dealership will give you much less money than if you sell it on your own.

 

I always had good luck with Carmax buying my cars. I've sold my past 3 cars to them and purchase elsewhere. I don't think the extra $$$$ is worth the hassle. In all 3 situations, Carmax gave me very close to what I would have asked, had I sell myself. Which ever option pays the most, that's the route you could go. However, I think this is a personal choice and a lot of factors into play. I don't know your personal situation and knowledge when it comes to negoating, buying and selling cars, time on hand, if you have a deadline, etc and the list goes on.
Most car dealers now would match the offer from Carmax, and some would even give up to 1k more.
Also, keep in mind if you trade it in and get another car from the dame dealer, you will not pay tax on the value ($$$) of your trade in. This could be a great benefit to you, but like I said, too many unknown factors to truly make a beneficial recommendation.

 

I think you should private sale your car. It's going to take more time but you get more money out of it.

 

Thanks for the suggestions everyone! I ended up selling it privately. Got an offer then went to dealership to compare and dealership was giving me $2K less.

Ro