I drive a 2015 IS 350 FSPORT AWD, series 2.
has 120,000km or about 75k miles.
Atomic silver with Red interior.
Car is in great shape, a couple little scratches, what you’d expect from a 7 year old car.
Full service records.
Everything done with OEM parts...
I’ve also done 3 transmission drain& refills, spark plug change and serpentine belt changed as preemptive maintenance...
this saves future owner a lot of $.

car has another 20,000km or 6 months of Lexus Platnium warranty.

I’ve never sold a car private, always trade in...waiting to here back tonight from dealer wat there trade in offer is...presumably same as any other one because they don’t use logic and won’t pay extra for a immaculately maintained car although they will surely sell it for more.

How much more generally should I expect private sale? What’s my car worth?
autotrader says 20-23k on trade but again I did all the maintenance it needs preemptively so someone should want to pay more as nice they don’t need to do plugs, trans or serpentine...
also 6 months of Lexus platinum warranty has to be worth some.

should I sell privately or trade in?

 

^^ I personally prefer to trade than sell privately:

1. Don't deal with shady people
2. No rubber kickers
3. Not have to worry about strangers taking your car for a test drive
4. Not have to worry their payments won't bounce

Now you would get a better price if you sell it privately - Your car has some mileage so I would say you should still be able to fetch 25-27k Cdn. but you will get lucky if you get 20-22k (+ taxes) on a trade. For me, I don't like to deal with hassles so I would trade

 

and then there are people like me—never once traded in a vehicle and always made a lot more money selling privately.

 

It all depends on your tolerance for risk and BS....I would rather lose 3-4k and have the peace of mind but I know that private sale is FAR better from a financial point of view

 

Thanks for the replies!
The extra $$$ I could make from selling privately, all though probably only an extra 4K or so, is important at this point as I have a kid on the way.
If the trade in offer is really good, say 22-23k I’ll probably take it, if they come back low at 20k I’ll sell myself.
I’m going to put an add up this week just to test the waters...I will specifically mention no test drives unless money in hand, and I will ask to see proof of funds before letting anyone come see it...
Anything else I should look out for potentially about to sell my first car?

 

Not sure if you have CarMax and Carvana in Ontario, but worth submitting to them for an offer

 

I'm in Toronto.

I think you should ask 25k for the car privately based on the kms, trim level and your well documented maintenance history.

Your car is well sorted out.

GLWS

 

If the $4k is important to you? It would be to me too. Sell the car yourself. The Dealers will not give you what you could get as full value. Sounds like a nice car and valuates great. It's a great time to sell at full value, there is a very limited selection out there now.

Do ask questions of caller from ad's like so when are you looking to purchase how soon? How are you going to pay? If they have a problem with those questions I pass on meeting. You will know who to meet by asking questions and the answers. If the Warranty is Transferable, then I would research what Dealers are selling like of like IS's for and that's what I would advertise and sell it for because of the 6 months' of warranty. Why let $4K - $5k go to Sell to a Dealer?

Only go to the Bank to do a sure Banking Transaction of all the Funds.

 

One note about trading in at the dealer...you only get the tax if you're taking a vehicle from them too, otherwise it's the straight amount of what they are offering.
So if they offer $20K and you take a vehicle from them as well, you will get $22,600...but if you're not buying from them at the same time as the trade in, you'll just get the $20K.

Hence why you have to weigh what you plan on doing. Private sale is the way to go if you're not buying another vehicle from the dealer.
Also you may want to get the UVIP ($20 at Service Ontario - you have to go in person) in advance to see what the Ministry values the car at...as the new owner will either pay the tax on the sale price, or the wholesale value on the UVIP, whichever is higher (not lower).
It's a small incentive for private buyers where you lower the value on paper to the wholesale amount so they pay less tax when transferring the vehicle to them.
Also consider if you plan to sell the car Certified or not...to get a Safety Certificate these days is around $180-$200.

 

Ok hang on. So in Canada you sure that how the Tax works?

IDK but, in the US it dont work like that. So say you are buying a car that is $50k. You trade and the dealer gives you $20k. They deduct the $20k from the New car $50k to leave $30k. Now they only Tax for $30k Not $50k. But they dont ad and give you Tax on the $20k. That's not how it works here anyway. Is that how it works in Canada????

 

^^ Maybe it's a language issue on my end (being French) but aren't you saying the same thing as Sasnuke? In Canada, if we trade a vehicle and buy a new vehicle, the tax portion is factored into the deal....so if you get 20K for your appraised value, you will get the 20k + taxes on that car. The example you gave is the same isn't it? You would have paid 50K + taxes on the new car, so if you get a 20k trade in value, you will only pay the 30k (difference) and the taxes on the 30k rather than on the 50k because they already credited you 20 k and the tax equivalent.

Unless I am missing something all together?

 

Yeah I though about that too...... but are $20k + Tax (what he said) is not the same amount as $30k + Tax is it? One you are adding a set tax to $20k, the other you are adding Tax to $30K. Am I missing something here? IDK?
Plus on a Buyer order Sale Order they list it as $50k minus trade = $30k then the tax is applied on the diffrence $30k. They don't list $20k and add tax to it is what I'm saying is all.

 

^^ I am getting totally confused....That is why I just lease and never worry about that stuff (LOL)

 

Thanks for the replies!

I love Lexus but I need a suv to tow my boat and have room for the family.
I checked out some Lexus ones but didn’t see any I liked in my price range.
I’m checking out a 2019 Acura RDX A-Spec...has a peppy little 2.0T that makes 270+ hp and 280ft of tourque...looks really Sharp, is *almost* as quick as the IS’s are, can tow, good AWD system and I’m seeing allot with the Acura 7 year/160k warranty which is really nice piece of mind.

 

In Ontario the HST (Harmonized Sales Tax) is 13%.
With the trade in, they apply the tax to the trade in if you are buying a vehicle at the same time.
So the $20K IS would be $$22,600.
Then you have the cost of the new vehicle, let's say $50K, which is $56,500...we're ignoring the Freight, PDI, etc. charges as we don't know if it's a newer used car or brand new car.
So then the customer owed amount is $33,900.

Even if you did it the other way, the result is the same:
- $50K + tax - $20K + tax = $33,900
- ($50K - $20K) + tax = $33,900

But if you don't buy a car, then you just get the $20K...so it's an incentive that if you trade in a car, to take a car away...cause you will get the tax.