tfischer

Allowing a lessee to return a leased vehicle is not "buying it back," because the lessor already owns it; this is just an early termination of a lease, which is not uncommon when the lessee agrees to a new lease for a new car.

The original post suggests that the dealer was going to "buy back" his car ("mine"), which is quite a different transaction. "Buy back" says to me that it was sold to a customer, and the seller is now wiling to buy it back.

Although many people today don't always distinguish between buying a car and leasing a car, but they should.

umpalumpa

we are specifically talking about buying back the 05' model. i understand there is a big difference between buying and leasing - but the difference isnt much over the short term especially on a 5 or 6 year buy when you are only half way through that term. i have a theory that Lexus is trying to unload the 08 350s as fast as they can so they dont get stuck with a bunch of them when they roll out the new body style. by buying back OR offering lease payoffs, in order to upsell them a new 350, they can keep the inventory on the low side. the packages they offer (at least in CA) seem to be very limited...bare bones, luxury, and navigation that includes backup camera, and thats it. thats a pretty good nav package imo. they are keeping it simple and making it very enticing by loading up the options on the nav.
the responses are correct in the fact that a dealer can buy back a car anytime they want to, but i really wouldnt doubt if lexus isnt giving them some sort of incentive to help unload current levels of 08s.