ziggyziggy

I been hearing comments on how a car sitting for 5 months on a lot a long time, but I don't understand why. Cars like the 450h are not for most people. Why would they not be harder to sell?

topgun04

Cars like the 450h are not for most people. Why would they not be harder to sell?


They are hard to sell.. But your dealer is in the business of making money. Having a car in the lot for 5 months means that he is lossing tons of money in paying the holding cost of the car. More importantly, if a dealer cannot sell a car for 5 months, there is a big problem there. Either the dealer order the wrong combination of equipment/color in the car or there is no market of that model. so they make a big mistake in ordering the car in the first place and they are in the business to make those decision. Either way, you proably want to think twice about buying that car. One of these day down the road, you will have to sell or trade in that car and you will find out that you may have to advertize the car more than 5 months before having a taker or take a big loss. Cars that fly off the lots are the one that is interesting to get..

Evitzee

Just because the dealer possibly ordered the wrong car, color, options, or the market changed doesn't mean the car is a turkey or will be hard to sell 3, 5 or 10 years down the road. Conditions change (gas becomes more expensive, the economy booms/or stalls, or dozens of other factors). Cars that fly off the lots today may well become duds later on. Think of cars like the Ford Pinto and Chevy Vega of the '70's, they were brought out with great fanfare and sold well, until their problems became known.

kitlz

The 450hs my dealer had on the lot last time I was there included two with RSES and another without nav. I guess people are picking ones with other options including color like topgun said. Overall the majority are spoken for before they arrive. Mine was a special order so it went from the truck to prep, no sitting on the lot.

JimH2

Selecting a car that was on a lot for "5 months" or any other timeframe has zero to do if that car is a bad buy or for figuring up future resell value. I believe it has more to do with how the vehicle was equipped, color, etc. The RX 450h I purchased in October was manufactured in March, and assume it was there due to folks selecting other options or color preferences. That worked out great for me as I liked everything about the options/color, and got a good year-end closing price on the purchase.

billy44bo

You must be in the market for the 450h, and if that one unit has been on the lot for a long time the dealer will get it off his floor plan as fast as possible. Dealer triad or make a deal to cut his loses. It just might be where to car is right now not everyone is doing well under nobama. I special order my back in September and got the car the last week of November. What I needed in the car put it out of the market for most 450h buyers because it would have things they did not need or would not use so why would they want to pay for them. If this car were on the lot in my market, it would be there a very long time. The car in question could have been a special order that went south and the dealer was left holding the bag on this one.

ziggyziggy

i bought a 10rxh last month on nov 10 and the production date was june 12, about 4 months. it is obsidian on black leather with nav, xenons, comfort, and premium, a very typical configuration. i dunno if black on black was the reason? i kinda assume the black on black is a popular combo. also, the only thing i find low demand about my car is that it has the $250 cross bars option. i would have preferred to not get it and save $250 but its not a dealbreaker since they only had two left and both had crossbars...and i got a great price.

socalJD

I was in a similar situation as JimH, my 2010 450 was made in Aug (prolly one of the last 2010s off the line) and I took possession at the end of Nov. I figure it was on the lot for almost 3 months, but got a great deal since it was a 2010 w/2k corp support and the Dec 2 Remember lease rates. I would've still bought it if it was on the lot 4 or 5 months since my dealer keeps new car inventory in an underground climate controlled lot . . .

billy44bo

but it takes almost a month for the car to get here. My 2011 Rx was made on October the 13th and the car did not get off the boat until November the 14th.

ziggyziggy

I check the sticker on car door, all I see is month and year of production time, how do u guys know the exact date?

billy44bo

I special ordered my RX and have them built for me with all that I need in them . I do not care for stock units.

tsslaporte

5 months is a long time.

Most of the dealers here have the stock of cars sitting outside in the sun. So sitting 5 months out in the sun is brutal on the paint and interior.

Also not to mention how many times a car is moved around in that amount of time.

I would not touch a car like that IMO.

capcap

The dealers definitely start discounting CPOs after they are on the lot for a while. I was originally interested in a red AWD and they would not discount it past $34K. Tried for days to make the deal. 6 weeks later, they still have it and it is currently up on eBay for $30.5K.

dwlink

This is exactly why. Fuel has remained relatively inexpensive so the point where a few more mpgs of fuel economy don't offset the premium you pay for the hybrid.

Based on the data provided on lexus.com, the premium for the hybrid is $6650 at full MSRP. The improvement in fuel economy ranges from 4 mpg on the highway to 12 mpg in the city for the AWD model.

The breakeven mileage assuming fixed fuel price of $4/gal for 100% city driving is 73-74k miles. For 100% highway driving its 275k miles. So it really only makes sense to buy the 450h if you will both drive the car primarily in the city and keep it for 7-8+ years. Remember, if you are doing 100% city driving you probably aren't putting more than 10k miles on the car per year. The only other real wildcard here is the "tree hugger" factor - so those types may be willing to pay into that premium just because it has the hybrid stamp attached to it.

So to me it seems the premium for 450h is quite a bit high unless you are really expecting gas prices to surge. Even so, if it were $6/gallon with 100% city driving it would still take 50k miles or so to offset the premium.

If you lease the car, let's assume are only paying 40% of MSRP or so for depreciation. If you discount the hybrid premium by this amount, then with 100% driving and $4/gallon prices the break even mileage is 30k. Once again with full 100% city driving you are likely doing no more than 10k per year. This is right on the fringe of the mileage you might expect to drive with a 3 year 30k lease. So, once again, the hybrid premium appears to be over priced unless gas prices really take off.

markrivers

I totally agree with dwlink on this one.
If saving money on the pump is the PRIMARY reason for getting a hybrid, there are a lot of cheaper alternatives.
Especially if you do mostly CITY driving.

450h owners can chime in on the other benefits of getting it, anc All of these points are valid as well.
You can't compare a 450h to a base 350 because there are additional technology added which will make the $6650 difference down to a $4500-5000.

Having owned a prius, and i loved the technology, i walked into the dealer hoping to get a 450h.
BUT, thanks to a fellow member ( cossie600) who got a RAV4EV, i changed my mind and got a loaded 350 and a pure electric SUV.

I'm so glad i did.