So, I walk in the Lexus dealer in my area to check out a used IS500 in incognito (my favorite color). Two hilarious things happened:

(1) The IS500 is a 24 with about 3K miles and a repainted rear bumper and q.panel from a minor accident and they were asking over 68K - slightly more than the original MSRP...

(2) Had my flawless 23 IS350 F Sport, Special Appearance Package edition with 13.5K miles appraised out of curiosity and the trade in value they came up with was $33K...

Interestingly, after making fun of the sales manager for ridiculously trying to defend their absurdity, they lowered the IS500 price online down to $67K...

I think my car buying days are over for now. I am more convinced than ever that my 23' IS350 and 23' T/A Challenger are the last new cars I buy for the foreseeable future.

 

I feel the same way. My last car might be my current 2018 Lexus IS 300 fsport.

Everywhere has been asking well above market value for their used vehicles.

Current automobiles are made to last 250,000 miles. People don’t really need a new car every 2 to 3 years. I’m cool with holding onto my car as long as possible. Not having a monthly payment is something to cherish.

 

Same with my 2022 IS350, I will probably hold on to this car for a longer time, I wanted to get some good deal by getting IS500 (pre-owned with low mileage… but prices are MSRP or more while they would give me 33k for my car with barely 17k miles on it) not worth the trouble imho, especially that already paid off almost 3 years of the loan and like previous post mentioned - having no monthly payment is a great thing!
And i’m pretty sure this car will last more than 200k easily with regular maintenance.

 

There is a 23 Incognito Grey IS500 Launch Edition used at my dealer too with 10k on the clock. Literally priced above new IS500s. I have a pristine 2019 IS300 F Sport and was toying with the idea. I bought my 2019 less than a year ago for 32k FROM THEM and it was L Certified, they offered me 15k. I have bought 3 Lexus cars from this dealer. I laughed all the way out the door. That was two weeks ago and that IS500 is still there. I was ready to pay what they were asking too...

 

The trade-in offer they gave you is actually insulting.

For my 2021 IS 350 F Sport RWD, with 18k miles on the clock, in early 2023, I was able to get $41,500 on the trade. They started out at $36,000, but we talked them into going up. We proposed $42,000 multiple times, but they said the absolute highest they could go was $41,500. We figured that my car was probably in well above-average condition, since it had a fresh set of tires AND wheels, due to the dealership damaging my original wheels and replacing them. Once we told them about those factors, they started to get a bit more willing to go up. If they had offered us $33k, we would have immediately told them to have a nice day.

 

I would be personally insulted at the trade in and price for the IS.

 

That’s such a low offer. I didn’t know used IS500’s were going for MSRP or higher. I’ve only seen one for sale around here.

 

I might be on this camp, both because I dream of owning an IS500 at some point but also open to continue to drive my car to the end, mine or its.

 

If one is going to try to trade in a year or two old IS, he/she will not get anything for it. This has been the case for decades at Lexus dealerships. If you want better pricing, check out Carmax or Carvana or sell private party. Always higher. Lexus dealers are built to take advantage or premature trade-ins and people buying on emotion. What you are doing is premature and nothing new.

 

When I traded in my last car (a domestic) it had well under the yearly mileage. As part of my appraisal I was "dinged" 500 for mileage. I was given some lame excuse and I just looked at him for a few and asked "Is this how this is going to go? If so I can move on and you can service the next customer". Sputtered a bit and then relented that was silly and gave it back. I then asked for 1k more which he very begrudgingly gave.

I get its a business. The less you pay for mine the more you make on markup. But geez a smidge of common decency?

 

Just did a test appraisal on CarMax. My '22 350, with 4,100 miles, $39,000. Could probably get a couple thousand more. Your offer from the dealer is ridiculous.

 

This makes me feel better with the deal I received on my 23 IS500 back in May. It was 3K under original MSRP for an eight-month-old, 7800 miles CPO Infrared/white IS500, It has a few minor paint nicks I still need to take care of, but they meet the 5 foot rule (cant see them from more than 5' away). However, the dealership way undervalued the trade and it came down to me nearly walking away before they made a reasonable offer on it.