Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
My Lexus ES, which I bought new, will be three years old in July. By then, it will have about 35,000 miles on it. There is a sweet spot for selling your car to get the most out of it but I'm not sure when that is. You don't want to wait until it hits 100,000 miles. Some say to keep it as long as it runs but I am not looking forward to driving around a 10 year old car, even if it's a Lexus.
I trade around every 3 years because that's when I start to get bored and want something different. My '16 F-150 is coming up on that mark soon.
I lose money, but it's nowhere near as bad as most people exaggerate it to be.
My Lexus ES, which I bought new, will be three years old in July. By then, it will have about 35,000 miles on it. There is a sweet spot for selling your car to get the most out of it but I'm not sure when that is. You don't want to wait until it hits 100,000 miles. Some say to keep it as long as it runs but I am not looking forward to driving around a 10 year old car, even if it's a Lexus.
The first years suffer the greatest depreciation drops, I'd say you are much better off waiting a few more years till 90k or so before trading for a new car when you can start the bend-over all over again.
Trade? Never. Dealer will offer you about a 1/3 of it's value.
Years ago I was trying to trade in my three-year-old car. The dealer offered $8K. When I said Kelley blue book says $11K, he asked is Mr. Kelley paying? Don't get too excited when you see those retail prices. You won't get them. You get paid on the spot but the dealer has to park that car for months to get his money back.
Years ago I was trying to trade in my three-year-old car. The dealer offered $8K. When I said Kelley blue book says $11K, he asked is Mr. Kelley paying? Don't get too excited when you see those retail prices. You won't get them. You get paid on the spot but the dealer has to park that car for months to get his money back.
Every car I've ever sold, I've sold above blue book. Right now used car prices are inflated for whatever reason which makes selling one at a more reasonable price extremely easy.
Did you check to see what cars like that were actually going for locally, private party?
My Lexus ES, which I bought new, will be three years old in July. By then, it will have about 35,000 miles on it. There is a sweet spot for selling your car to get the most out of it but I'm not sure when that is. You don't want to wait until it hits 100,000 miles. Some say to keep it as long as it runs but I am not looking forward to driving around a 10 year old car, even if it's a Lexus.
Best for what?
Most cost effective? Let's get real. It's a Camry on a stretched platform with a nicer interior. 10 years/100k miles is well within the sweet spot for a Camry on a stretched platform with a nicer interior. There's no finicky stuff to break mechanically. It's a Camry powertrain, conventional non-adaptive suspension.
Private party a '15 is going to be worth $20-23k or so. A '12 is more like $12-15k. That should give you an idea of the depreciation curve. It's already late model so no rush to trade in to beat that drop in value. It's already occurred. Not sure what you paid new but maybe $15k or so depreciation in three years and another $8-10k over the next three. Then they start leveling off.
Really, that's your sweet spot. Buy it when it's 5-7 years old and drive it until it's around 12. Then unload it before it starts having lots of problems. Let the first owner(s) take the $20-25k depreciation hit. Something like an ES there is no sweet spot buying new. The closest you can do is hold it for through the sweet spot.
You lose money either way. Hang on to something too long and it isn't worth much. You have to start with little or no equity.
On the other hand, you start with several years of not making payments.
Last car I sold at 7.5. On a typical five-year note that would mean 30 months or around $9,000 in not making car payments on a typical $300ish economy car note. Sold for $6,000. No way I could have gotten $15,000 when it was five years old. I only paid $18,000 for it new. I could have, and probably should have, held onto it longer.
It’s a tricked out Camry. Your best ROI is to put 200,000 miles on it. The dealer will still give you the $2,000 auction price as a trade. It will end up on a buy-here/pay-here lot where somebody with lousy credit will pay 12% interest and $4,500 because it is a Lexus.
It’s a tricked out Camry. Your best ROI is to put 200,000 miles on it. The dealer will still give you the $2,000 auction price as a trade. It will end up on a buy-here/pay-here lot where somebody with lousy credit will pay 12% interest and $4,500 because it is a Lexus.
You USED to be correct... way, way back in the early 2000's.
That is no longer the case. A closer comparison would be an Avalon, but I never could figure out why anyone would buy that over a Lexus.
Please register to post and access all features of our very popular forum. It is free and quick. Over $68,000 in prizes has already been given out to active posters on our forum. Additional giveaways are planned.
Detailed information about all U.S. cities, counties, and zip codes on our site: City-data.com.
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
