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Lost A Lot Of Money... More Than I Thought Possible


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I got a lovely 430 in November - it was under a year old and I was pleased to get it for £39 ish, delighted with the car and a converted fan.

Cut a long story short I had a M5 on order with a 07 due date, got a call saying they had a cancelled order and did I want it - no brainer - yes please. Asked for PX on the 430 and they looked at the floor, called 2 dealers and was said it was worth £30ish (happy with that) but it was not wanted - hmm.

To date the best offer I can get for a 05 reg GS430 is £22k a loss of £17.5k in 7 months :tsktsk:

I am a bit upset about this, I am prepared to lose £1k a month for the 7 months I had it but to lose £3k a month in depreciation is poor.

I have called Lexus cust services and am awaiting a call back - will update as it happens

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Telephone Man,

I got an April 2005 GS430 for £38K in November, thinking I had got a great deal as the car was £47K new 7 months before.

Was your quote from a Lexus dealer? If so, that is a massive £25K loss in 14 months or £1428 loss per month. That is (at £1428 x 12m) a whopping 36.5% first year depreciation.

Interestingly, when I bought the car, I did a lot of analysis of residuals to try to make sure I didn't get rooked. In November 2005, What Car had a one-year old residual figure of £32728, yr2 of £28801 and yr3 of £24499.

From What Car today - Lexus GS Saloon 430 4dr £47,160 yr 1 £33,012 yr2 £29,050 yr3 £25,216 yr 4 £21,990 - all p/x prices at 12K miles a year. According to What Car then, the residuals have actually risen. Hmmmm. Your p/x offer is equivalent to a three year old car price! It is even less than a GS300 SE 2005 at 18K.

However, latest prices for my car at 18K miles (again from What Car) - Dealer £29,045, Private £27,245, Part exchange £26,445, Trade £25,945.

Why could this be?

The GS450h launch

Petrol prices

Over supply - p/x for GS450h's plus dealers cars coming off 1 yr demo? (remember they can take the depreciation against their businesses!).

Slow summer....?

I'd be amazed if Lexus do anything, but I wish you luck. There are a shedload of cars out there at dealers at £29995 and bizarely, the 2005 GS300S SELs are actually listed at the same price, but of course they cost £36211 or £11K less.

I'm keeping mine, it's fast and I like it. But I doubt I'll ever buy another Lexus with depreciation like that - well not until it is three years old.

If you must sell, why not sell privately or is that where you got the offer? How many miles have you done and what is the colour?

Best regards,

Marcus.

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I should have said -

If you had bought it new at £47K and sold at £22K you would have lost £1785 per month over 14 months!!!!!

That is the true impact if you had bought new and it goes as you have suggested.

That is DISGUSTING - - we are talking KIA level depreciation! Not Lexus.

Do they sell Lexus at Halfords?

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Without trying to dishearten you or anything but Lexus are one of the most famous makes for depreciation. Prices fall like snow off a dyke in spring but that`s no consolation.

I bought mines a year ago at 10k and would struggle to make 7 on it. 30% hit in a year.

Anyone notice depreciation only seems to come into play when you`re selling and not when you`re buying.

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Hi C4MYC,

I agree with you in general. I think the difference here is that the depreciation in first year is perhaps the worse I have seen for a Lexus.

I have had three GS300s, one used and two new. I sold the last one for £17K at 2.5 years old, losing about 50%. If I sold the GS430 now for the price mentioned by Telephone Man, it would have lost about 53% after 1 year!

Even noting it is a V8 and all the other bad points I mentioned, plus the fact it is a new model (which should help residuals) - that is a massive hit in one year and doesn't seem to fit with what you would expect, even as a worse case.

Best regards,

Marcus.

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Thanks for the input guys.

No Lexus dealers want it locally - best (only) offer is from a used car lot who are doing me a favour.

Car is just over 12 months old with 15.8k miles and is silver

I have decided (as I want the M5 so much and will not let my poor judgement buying the Lexus cloud it) that I will dump the GS430 for anything I can get over £20k and learn from it. If Lexus dont help place the car within the network for £27 / 28 ish then I will feel let down but will bite the bullet (possibly throw it in the auctions) however a small crumb of satisfaction will be in writing to all the mags with the tale of loss :crying:

It has depreciated twice as much as my 730 BM I had before and that had done 50k miles

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I'm sure you will get private sale interest via Autotrader for £26 - 27K, failing that it might be better waiting 2/3 months until the UK dealers have cleared their backlog of GS430s. I guess it's the oversupply of p/x's for GS450h's and demo cars where they have taken the depreciation against tax. I bet that none of them are buying new ones for demo right now!

One other option is to write to Honest John and ask him what he would do (He is the Saturday Telegraph's motoring expert). He will always give you straight and sometimes blunt advice. His email is below.

letters@honestjohn.co.uk

Best regards,

Marcus.

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GS430 just not desirable - it's not a hyped up saloon car. Most saloons depreciate loads.

I bought the import Aristo V300 which is same features/bhp as the GS430 for a mere 22K / 6 months old. I've probably lost 50% in 5 years as a result. Aristo V300 has some additional bells and whistles such as 4 wheel steering and F1 shift - but big bonus is the tuneable 2JZ-GTE engine as found in the Supra.

Personally, if I wanted to save some bucks, I'd slap a supercharger on your GS430 and get the suspension reworked with TRD and Tein coilovers, maybe drop in a limited slip diff and you'll find it performing very much like the new M5 'cept with comfier seats. :)

Remember, M5s depreciate wads too...the safest bet is the M3 for lower depreciation.

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GS430 just not desirable - it's not a hyped up saloon car. Most saloons depreciate loads.

I bought the import Aristo V300 which is same features/bhp as the GS430 for a mere 22K / 6 months old. I've probably lost 50% in 5 years as a result. Aristo V300 has some additional bells and whistles such as 4 wheel steering and F1 shift - but big bonus is the tuneable 2JZ-GTE engine as found in the Supra.

Personally, if I wanted to save some bucks, I'd slap a supercharger on your GS430 and get the suspension reworked with TRD and Tein coilovers, maybe drop in a limited slip diff and you'll find it performing very much like the new M5 'cept with comfier seats. :)

Remember, M5s depreciate wads too...the safest bet is the M3 for lower depreciation.

this is probably why i will never get rid of my GS i'll just take it off the road and change the running gear and engine etc and definately why i would never buy a brand new car unless i had the money to burn. If i consider how closely i am lookign at supras at the minute and if i part with 10k for one how much of the lex can i change for that. in reality i don't need any more gadgets in the car i'm still in awe of the moving steering wheel :D

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Whilst saloons and Lexus GS models do depreciate heavily, the amount being offered right now for TelephoneMans GS430 is far below what would typically be expected. Originally, the GS430 was forecast to lose 50% in three years, not 53% in one.

In the Sunday Times today, there is a large advert in the Motoring section. It is a joint advert for Lexus Nottingham and Lexus Guildford. The advert says "The GS430, just £29,995", then "We have a limited number of Lexus GS430 models available for £29.995, which is the price of a 2005 GS 300 model, but the GS 430 has enhanced features". Er, yes and it cost between £11K and £16K more one year ago, which anyone who bought one has just lost, to the dealers gain.

As one factor in the overall market, all manufacturers need to manage oversupply, so as to protect their customers from excessive depreciation, as this is what hurts. They must also avoid the impact on their own profits for the future. (I mean, who would pay more than £35K for a new GS 430 now? And that will have an impact on GS 300s etc etc). People will push for very heavy discvounts in this environment. If these are demo models being pushed through the market for year end revenue, Lexus GB should regulate it in some way like other manufacturers, before other dealers get stung and their future customers walk away. Remember they are selling 2005 model cars for £5K more than 2005 old model GS 430s. It is very odd, I really don't know what they are playing at (other than being typically greedy). When I see things like this cropping up, I often think back to the salemans bull*hit about residuals. I can imagine, there are quite a few upset customers, who will not be prepared to "invest" again, regardless of the Lexus customer service - hell you pay for it!

Once bitten, twice shy for me.

Best regards,

Marcus.

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Yes I have seen the adverts for the £29.990 GS430`s they are Lexus Uk cars that are being given away, this is a point I have raised with Lexus UK that if they have had a change of revenue expectation for the model then fair compensation should be payable - I am dreaming but I am not losing £18K + in 6 months without a fight.

As for tuning engines and swapping bits - thats not my bag, I buy them - drive them - sell them, I stopped doing things up years ago.

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It's definitely not just Lexus - The sad fact is no matter what car you buy (unless it is an exotic with big waiting list) the first year depreciation is almost vertical. Also don't believe the depreciation figures for Mercs / BMW / Audi etc because if you dig deep you will see they are just as bad. The figures quoted don't take into account all the optional extras you have to pay for to make the car resellable. So you may we ll get back 60% of the value for your E Class in three years apart from 2 small things :

1) that someone actually wants to buy it :P

2) you will have had to have added satnav, leather, CD, sunroof, parking sensors, auto box etc to make is desirable and you will get 3/8 of sweet FA back on them.

I speak as the man who paid 33k for a BMW 330i in "desirable" spec and got back 16K a year and half later :angry:

So be prepared to keep cars, especially expensive ones for minumum 3 years....I certainly plan on keeping my GS for a LONG time :D

Specifically Telephoneman - I suspect you may have got offered a whole lot more against another Lexus....

BTW - Parkers say you should get £30500 for a part ex on your GS....

Parkers Valuation

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Hi Rillo

All the dealers say its worth £30k but none of them want it - full stop, I expect Lexus to find me a dealer who wants it somewhere - its the least they can do.

I think I purchased on the crest of a slump for the 430, £38 ish for a 9 month old with 9k miles I THOUGHT was reasonable :o

Live and learn - guess its a Porsche to beat depreciateion if I could fit in one................

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I have it on good authority that BMW are struggling to shift new cars too and that residual values of these are falling too.

Depreciation on large cars is always worse than smaller ones because there isn't such a demand.

Writing to magazines might make you feel better, but all you will do is hurt the image Lexus has worked hard to built and the rest of us will suffer too.

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Porsche not great at holding their value either sadly....although wouldn't take much to beat GS430 residuals.

Personally, I'd just keep the car and save the money. Sure the new M5 would be nice, but no doubt in a few years time you'll be on another forum moaning about it's crappy residuals also.

Cars are just so expensive....

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To be honest I dont give a toss about Lexus`s image I care about my hard earned cash far more.

I got a padded offer of £28.5k against an inflated BMW (used as a yardstick to see if its the M5 causing the issue), the dealer was ages trying to get it underwritten.

However real world is poorer than any car I have known and anyone buying new I guess its on a pcp or a company car.

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To be honest I dont give a toss about Lexus`s image I care about my hard earned cash far more.

If your that concerned about money I'd suggest that you don't change cars every year. Keep the Lexus for 10 years, it should be run in by then and it will have cost you next to nothing per month.

I can see the appeal of a new car every few years but don't get why people then moan about the depreciation. You either want a new car and accept the drop in value as a fact of life or you keep the car until it costs you money to run and then buy another.

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You either have to

- buy very low price to reduce depreciation

OR

- order the newest/hottest car and sell it after 9-12 months to avoid too much depreciation, then get another e.g.Honda Civic Type Rs etc.

OR

- run a 500 quid banger which doesn't depreciate at all (but is in the garage getting fixed most weeks!)

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Hi Rillo

All the dealers say its worth £30k but none of them want it - full stop, I expect Lexus to find me a dealer who wants it somewhere - its the least they can do.

I think I purchased on the crest of a slump for the 430, £38 ish for a 9 month old with 9k miles I THOUGHT was reasonable :o

Live and learn - guess its a Porsche to beat depreciateion if I could fit in one................

dont belive the hype about porsche depreciation - from conversations ive had they are as bad as everyone else..

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The 430s for sale at 30k are a glut of pre registered ones that lexus had for various promotional reasons. There were about 20 - 30 of them - i saw the list as i bought one.

It may just cause a brief upset in the market as not all dealers are allowed these models.

This is the power of the internet - 10 years ago lexus could have sneaked these cars out at a few dealers and most poeple would be none the wiser.

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These cars are also in Year 1 - the first year is always the steepest for residual value loss. Over the 3 years the GS holds it's value as well as it's direct competitors - hell, think of the suckers who will buy a C6, Vel Satis, or some other pseudo-executive car.

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To be honest I dont give a toss about Lexus`s image I care about my hard earned cash far more.

If your that concerned about money I'd suggest that you don't change cars every year. Keep the Lexus for 10 years, it should be run in by then and it will have cost you next to nothing per month.

I can see the appeal of a new car every few years but don't get why people then moan about the depreciation. You either want a new car and accept the drop in value as a fact of life or you keep the car until it costs you money to run and then buy another.

Precisely.

bill

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Why should I have to keep a car for years ? I expect to lose money when changing them and luckily I can indulge my whim when I get bored and dont have to keep them for years however the GS scenario is unusual in that its 8 months not the usual 18 months and as it stands the GS is the highest depreciating most unwanted car I have ever owned without doubt. Plus from a maker / dealer attitude its poor as they just dont want it and have no problem telling me its worth £30k but we cant sell it so we dont want it. I have never had that problem with a BM or a Merc.

Its a good car no problem there its just the cost to purchase and the perceived value differ a large amount - I mean would Lexus under value the cars they sell - I doubt it.

If Lexus want £30k for a >12 month old car that is £47k new then its cynical poor customer consideration and probably the last time I buy Jap as I doubt the established quality manufacturers would do such a thing (so blatantly).

On the 450h / 430 issues I have driven both (450 only 70 miles) and all I can say is a V6 is never going to be a V8 - and it proves it in spades, on electric take off its eery smooth but the V6 is (for a Lexus) far rougher than the V8

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