Rx Depreciation

[ThinDuke]

I am somewhat perturbed to realise that I have lost £10k in one year driving an RX300. On top of fuel and servicing/repair costs.

Part-ex'd my IS200 which I had owned for five trouble-free years in July 06 for a 53 plate RX 300 SE with 33k on the clock. £24k and you assume that the bulk of the depreciation has been taken. lovely car and I am more than pleased with the image, comfort, gadgets, ride etc.

In August 07, with 50k on the clock when I enquire about getting into something a little less thirsty I am quoted £14k trade-in for it by the same dealer. Is it just me or is that a tad much? Nearly 60 pence per mile on top of fuel. Parkers tallies with the value. I must have got done last year by the same dealer.

Turns out that the 'larger' vehicle has become highly unpopular in this environmentally mental world we live in and I guess I just have to take it on the chin. So I think I will sit back and wait and see what happens. On that trend I will have a £4k vehicle come next summer so I may as well run it into the ground...

[kam05]

Its the same with the old IS, they can be bought for peanuts nowadays.

I drive a IS200 which is nearly 7 years old now, with 93k on the clock, probably isn't worth much to a dealer/trader, so I've decided to run it until its dead, besides I'm not too keen on the looks of the new IS.

Have you tried to sell privately rather than p/x? You get more for your car this way.

[leedsunited]

Its the same with the old IS, they can be bought for peanuts nowadays.

I drive a IS200 which is nearly 7 years old now, with 93k on the clock, probably isn't worth much to a dealer/trader, so I've decided to run it until its dead, besides I'm not too keen on the looks of the new IS.

Have you tried to sell privately rather than p/x? You get more for your car this way.

A few on eBay private and trade going for around £17 - 18K on 03 and 53 plate, have a look on the Lexus GB pre owned website and you will see that O3 plates are a lot higher than the 14K you were offered, which dealer as i think they are taking the p***, name and shame.

[MacRS200]

Put it this way, a dealer will try to make a 30% margin on a car he sells, so of the £24K you paid, about £5.5K was dealer profit. He will buy it back and again make about 30% on it, so £14K + 30% = £18.2K which is the minimum he would put it on the forecourt for. About the same as an e-bay one.

So the actual depreciation if you take the difference between what the dealer bought it for originally and what is offering now is about £4.5K.

Oh and welcome to LOC :D

Edited September 7, 2007 by MacRS200

[maneesh]

You poor sod!

hold up..in 2003, your RX would have been around 32 grand list price (please correct me if i'm mistaken), and nobody ever pays list price for a RX brand new..

then 3 years down the line, you pay 24k for a 3 year old RX with average mileage from a Lexus dealer? That works out at only a 25% loss in value of the first 3 years. That seems way too low...

Yes, sounds like you paid over the odds last summer.

Haggle like crazy before purchasing.

[Bobby McLeish]

I am somewhat perturbed to realise that I have lost £10k in one year driving an RX300. On top of fuel and servicing/repair costs.

Part-ex'd my IS200 which I had owned for five trouble-free years in July 06 for a 53 plate RX 300 SE with 33k on the clock. £24k and you assume that the bulk of the depreciation has been taken. lovely car and I am more than pleased with the image, comfort, gadgets, ride etc.

In August 07, with 50k on the clock when I enquire about getting into something a little less thirsty I am quoted £14k trade-in for it by the same dealer. Is it just me or is that a tad much? Nearly 60 pence per mile on top of fuel. Parkers tallies with the value. I must have got done last year by the same dealer.

Turns out that the 'larger' vehicle has become highly unpopular in this environmentally mental world we live in and I guess I just have to take it on the chin. So I think I will sit back and wait and see what happens. On that trend I will have a £4k vehicle come next summer so I may as well run it into the ground...

Regardless of what is said on this topic, we should all know that once you buy a Lexus (especially a RX), then you are commiting to money down the pan unless you hold onto it for a VERY long time. It does not amaize me that when you go into Lexus to buy a car, they never mention the dramatic reduction in depreciation, but if you go into trade one in, then they ram it down your throat. Once you have crossed the line then you are commited, unless you have pots of money !!!

To be honest if the depreciation was not this bad I would probably get rid of mine, but I am stuck with it, even though I loke the car.

[ihpj]

FWIW I think too think you paid way too much for the car. To put it into perspective, we bought our 2003/03 RX300 SE with 36k on the clock (1 owner, FLSH) from Lexus Croydon just this February for £17.5k - OK so yours is 53 (over our 03) - but still thats a whopping chunk you paid for it...

I don't think people fully realise how heavily these vehicle depreciate - they are not in vougue these days, but tahts to be expected. Shame really as these are very good vehicles, excellent in every point and the price we paid for ours certainly makes sense for us. Depreciation is going to be a kicker on these cars - just accept it as a running cost, nothing you can do...

[jbanfie]

There is a 53 plate 300 SE on the forecourt of a local car dealer round the corner from us, just a guy that has about 40 cars for sale on some land.

Price is only £17,995 - it has 40,000 on the clock. The guy said "You won't find one cheaper than that", sadly I doubt I'll ever know what he paid for it.

Just another example.

[ThinDuke]

Thanks for your feedback. I think I was probably a little naive when I originally bought the RX and should have worked harder to improve the deal. It's still a lovely car and judging by the concerns about the hybrids on a more recent post I won't be the only one experiencing high depreciation! The price you pay. Cheers.