What's the market like for IS-Fs?

[Flytvr]

If you've sold,trying to sell, just bought or trying to buy, it would nice to get an idea of how you are finding things.

For example, sellers, how many enquiries did you get, tyre kickers, test drive pilots, how long did it take to sell, did you have to reduce the price much etc etc

Buyers, how did you find the quality of vehicles (in your price range), did you manage to strike a good deal, how many cars did you look at etc,etc

I look forward to hearing your stories.

[Stazza80]

This may sound stupid but I only viewed one and bought it. It ticked all the boxes and wants for nothing plus being in my price range. It was also the closest one to me at the time which was still 60 miles away! Didn't get much of a discount, about £300, but as I said it needs nothing, with a full Lexus history etc. Not bored after 2 months and look forward to driving it every day!

Ben

[Prof Manny]

Test drove the blue one in Kent . Drove nice for 80000 miles , just what you would expect from a Lexus . Condition was good had a few blemishes and did not like the wheels so did not make an offer . Had a drive of a c63 amg was impressed similar age / mileage but a bit aged worse than than the ISF .Thought the ISF was a smoother drive , less hectic . My thoughts are that they are great cars but slow sellers . 

[Prof Manny]

Mccarthy cars have 17000 mile 2011 for £25000 , this was up for auction at Manheim as mentioned  by Mr Rat. Interesting to know what it sold for .  

[GibletPH]

Listed mine (AT, eBay and PH) at the worst time of the year, just before Christmas. Had nowt but timewasters. 

Some examples - 

1) A chap sent me a message offering me a speedboat as px and cash his way. 

2) Someone asked for more pics and videos, sent them over only to get a reply saying the car was nice but I was too far away. Mind boggling given that he knew my location before he messaged me. 

3) Someone offering me over 4k less than it was advertised for and saying they could come and collect it the next day. 

4) Someone asking a fair few questions on condition etc before offering 3.5k less than the advertised price. 

In the end I got fed up and sold it to Evans Halshaw who paid 500 less than my advertised price. They then sold it on to a fellow forum member and made a tidy £1500 profit although I'd argue they got luck with that sale since they were inept to say the least. 

I agree with the Prof, great cars but don't sell that easily. Or maybe my timing played a bigger part. 

[emjay82]

If I wanted to sell, my view is it has to be priced cheap if you want to achieve a sale in a relatively short period. Very few serious buyers. Before I bought mine I viewed one other, nice car but too many owners and miles on the clock. A forum member was testing the water and  @GibletPH also gave me the nod! Purchased that one! Enquired on a handful of others but didn't bother to view if the service record wasn't upto scratch.  

[Bluethunder]

Bought my car almost a year ago and it was the first one I viewed. The others were quite far away. 

After a few emails back and forth the seller drove the car to my house, on his way to Manchester airport.  

I viewed the car again a week later at his office car park and bought it with £500 discount.

The seller was a nice bloke and very helpful. He said he had encountered a lot of time wasters(emails/calls) but no one had actually viewed the car!... 

[GibletPH]

1 hour ago, emjay82 said:

If I wanted to sell, my view is it has to be priced cheap if you want to achieve a sale in a relatively short period. Very few serious buyers. Before I bought mine I viewed one other, nice car but too many owners and miles on the clock. A forum member was testing the water and  @GibletPH also gave me the nod! Purchased that one! Enquired on a handful of others but didn't bother to view if the service record wasn't upto scratch.  

The trouble is if a car is priced too cheap then people get suspicious. I think I've given heads up to 3 forum members who ended up buying an ISF.

I replaced mine with a fairly tuned Evo X which I'm now planning on selling in a month or so. Not looking forward to the tyre kickers and timewaster it will attract! 

[Prof Manny]

Ha would love to , just the vulgarity of money . How is the hunt for the Lotus going ? What is it like compared to a Cayman ?

[Mark G]

Travelled 80 miles for a test drive at Lexus Cardiff, really liked the car but it ended up being sold to someone else, a member on here, a few months later they had another one up for sale, in a much better colour and I bought it over the phone, 2011 model with 28k miles, great car.

[dr_rick]

23 minutes ago, Prof Manny said:

Ha would love to , just the vulgarity of money . How is the hunt for the Lotus going ? What is it like compared to a Cayman ?

Lotus is nice. Trialled a N/A Exige, but wasn't impressed compared to my previous supercharged Elise S. Think I need to try a supercharged Exige S, and an Evora.

My gut feeling is that an Evora is more appropriate as I'll need the ability for 4 seats in some way shape or form. Difficulty being, as you say, the vulgar subject of ££ as to whether I can get into an Evora at this stage. I may go for a staged approach and try to get into an Exige S for a couple of years, then 'upgrade' to an Evora.

Heart says Exige S

Head says Evora

FIGHT!!!

[Prof Manny]

Nice dilemma to be in though . The ability of having four seats gives you options . Enjoyment with practicalty . The n/a will always feel sluggish . However when it comes to cars the heart always rules .

[dr_rick]

Oi @Prof Manny, you shush!!

I've almost convinced myself into an Evora and now you're agreeing with my heart approach of an Exige S.

I do however know that my budget won't stretch to an Evora S, so there's going to be a 'compromise' somewhere along the line anyway.

[Prof Manny]

Ha Apologies Dr Rick do it ! Ignore the logical part of the brain .

[Big Rat]

2 hours ago, Mark G said:

Travelled 80 miles for a test drive at Lexus Cardiff, really liked the car but it ended up being sold to someone else, a member on here, a few months later they had another one up for sale, in a much better colour and I bought it over the phone, 2011 model with 28k miles, great car.

@Mark G The problem is your an old grizzly half blind bloke from oop north, where it rains all the time so you needed something 'BLUE' in your life.

Where as I am a young fit virile picture of male masculinity, who lives by the sun drenched beaches of Somerset, and therefore need a Silve lining in our occasional clouds 😉

Big Rat

 

[Big Rat]

Ok back on Topic bought mine January 2016 from Lexus Sheffield over the phone, no discount but I traded one of the family cars which was taken in at considerably over market value, swings and financial roundabouts.

Mines a 59 Plate then had 30k on the clock, and was/is in fantastic condition.

All very easy really but as always with cars there is an element of luck I suppose, got a free 3 year warranty in the deal as well.

So at 20k in money something of a snap really, no intention of selling in the foreseeable future so today's value/ difficulties in selling pretty meaningless to me.

Big Rat

[Prof Manny]

Mileage , condition and fully documented service history are in my opinion the main criteria in how quickly a specialist car like the ISF will sell . These are rare specialist cars with a very very small buying / selling market . Those who want one will know what they want . Trying to persuade people to come from historical brands like Mercedes , BMW and Jaguar is very tall ask . So if it ever comes to parting with your ISF prepare yourselves for a wait . Hopefully nobody will buy and you can keep enjoying this great highly underated car .

[Mark G]

2 hours ago, Big Rat said:

@Mark G The problem is your an old grizzly half blind bloke from oop north, where it rains all the time so you needed something 'BLUE' in your life.

Where as I am a young fit virile picture of male masculinity, who lives by the sun drenched beaches of Somerset, and therefore need a Silve lining in our occasional clouds 😉

Big Rat

 

That's what I like about you mate, you always manage to suss me out and point out the error of my ways without shouting too much about your own qualities, at times I feel honoured to know you...............

[Big Rat]

1 hour ago, Mark G said:

That's what I like about you mate, you always manage to suss me out and point out the error of my ways without shouting too much about your own qualities, at times I feel honoured to know you...............

@Mark G No you don't  look evidence you tried to kill me 😂

Big Rat 

[Flytvr]

28 minutes ago, Big Rat said:

@Mark G No you don't  look evidence you tried to kill me 😂

Big Rat 

Oi  Ratty. That image is copyright!

And stop picking on my mate Mark 

[Nick W858]

I have bought two and sold one in the last couple of years. Obviously I was a dream buyer for the seller to deal with 🌞. For me the important thing is to get a feel for the vendor through phone conversations, on both purchases everything was as was described and I had checked it all out with the Lexus dealer too in terms of history etc (both were private purchases. I got a bit knocked off both but not loads and equally when I sold one I only dropped a small amount. I did get a couple of 'interesting' phone calls when selling but nothing too daft and the chap who bought mine was excellent to deal with. Due to the banking transfer system my purchaser ended up sending me about £5k more than the price we agreed on, I returned it the next day and I would expect anyone to do the same for me under those circumstances - perhaps that is naive of me? I like to think I can get a feel for an individual and equally am confident they would get a good vibe from me too - I guess a lot of it is about trust.  I think there's a small number of people that 'get' the ISF and if selling, you just have to wait for the right one to come along - and they will, providing of course the asking price is sensible.

[Big Rat]

1 hour ago, Flytvr said:

Oi  Ratty. That image is copyright!

And stop picking on my mate Mark 

@Flytvr Nah I love him really and him me can't you see from his facial expression above how true that is 😂

🐀

[emjay82]

27 minutes ago, Nick W858 said:

I have bought two and sold one in the last couple of years. Obviously I was a dream buyer for the seller to deal with 🌞. For me the important thing is to get a feel for the vendor through phone conversations, on both purchases everything was as was described and I had checked it all out with the Lexus dealer too in terms of history etc (both were private purchases. I got a bit knocked off both but not loads and equally when I sold one I only dropped a small amount. I did get a couple of 'interesting' phone calls when selling but nothing too daft and the chap who bought mine was excellent to deal with. Due to the banking transfer system my purchaser ended up sending me about £5k more than the price we agreed on, I returned it the next day and I would expect anyone to do the same for me under those circumstances - perhaps that is naive of me? I like to think I can get a feel for an individual and equally am confident they would get a good vibe from me too - I guess a lot of it is about trust.  I think there's a small number of people that 'get' the ISF and if selling, you just have to wait for the right one to come along - and they will, providing of course the asking price is sensible.

When I bought mine there was a money transfer issue, the bank stopped the transfer 😓, but we got there in the end. The ex-forum member on here shared tons of receipts, photos, emails,  phone calls etc. before I flew over to Ireland to pick the car up! I had made my mind up to buy an ISF and if it's wasn't this one, it would've happened soon after. If I wanted to sell I would make sure mine was the most attractive (condition/price) to ensure my car was snapped up first and not left for sale too long. 

[Flytvr]

2 hours ago, emjay82 said:

If I wanted to sell I would make sure mine was the most attractive (condition/price) to ensure my car was snapped up first and not left for sale too long. 

Ill give you €500 😁

[emjay82]

20 minutes ago, Flytvr said:

Ill give you €500 😁

I accept your offer of £500 per month over 40 months. We can finalise details over cake at Kemble. 😉