World Record Depreciation ?

[GaryC]

Took the Beast down from Manchester to London for a good run out. 95% happy with it now. On new road surfaces it is almost totally silent but bit noisy on less than ideal road surfaces. Cruises effortlessly, sat nav great, 32mpg on the run so all ok....

apart from the boneshaking ride on bumpy town driving. That's the only thing that slightly puts me off the car.

I saw a Tuscany Flame SE on the Lexus website (another dealer) and it was roughly the same price as I paid for mine (£15,000).

So I rang the dealer and told them the story. "Great car in nearly every respect but I think I should have bought an SE in hindsight" I said.

They said "We'll see what we can do for you in terms of a deal on the SE we are selling".

They rang me back and said "We can strike up a deal for you !!!!! We'll give you £9000 for your car !"

I've had it less than three weeks !!!!!

The next bit of conversation was basically :tsktsk: :tsktsk: :tsktsk: :tsktsk:

Dear dear me. What a shambles.

[Fidgits]

That is a load of :tsktsk:

Your car is worth a lot more than 9 grand... I'm shocked...

Please name and shame the dealer!!!

[Steve]

sell it privatly... although i would expect the buyer would be suspect to your story.. even though its true

perhaps you can point them here.

I would have the suspension changed.. it would be worth it if you actually like the car!

[djanderso]

Is the suspension really that hard?

You surely don't want it to be as soft as a US car? After parking up for 10 minutes they are still bouncing about! :D

Shame it's the only thing you don't like about the car.

[Glyn C]

I Gary you have my sympathy (as before!!!)

I did much the same recently -( may need to get something to carry stuff aorund in so looked at an RX) and was told even though my car is four months old with 4k they rate it as a 1 year old and offered me £28! Told them to stick it where the sun don't shine! They went on to say we don't want it anyway as we have a couple of those already around our sites!

I must say I am seriously considering something else next time based upon this kind of attitude!

I know they have to make a profit but a "killing" is a little beyond a joke - and then to expect customer loyalty!

:yack:

[Steve]

Lexus valeters must be expensive!

[ColinBarber]

Lexus dealers do take the pi$$. I had a couple of poor trade-in offers. It varies between dealers and does depend on the other vehicles they have in stock. I would normally expect to see a £3K difference between retail and trade-in but as your car is in showroom condition there should only be £1.5.

I suggest you borrow someones 17" wheels and see if that improves the ride.

[UKPulse]

I know it sounds like the Lexus dealers are taking the p!ss, but it's not just them, many other manufacturers dealers will treat you the same.

Like the guy who bought a brand new BMW 735i Sport for just £54,955. After six months he was informed that it was worth £35,200 trade-in!

[UKPulse]

PS - I bought my Nissan 200SX in May 1977 for £25K. In 2001 when I approached the local Nissan dealer I bought it from about upgrading to a newer 200SX, they offered me just £1,800 for it (the car was spotless apart from a tiny parking ding in the passenger door, had been serviced every 6K miles, and had only slightly above average mileage). That's 92% depreciation in 4 years

Needless to say, Nissan didn't get my business.

[javaboss]

I Gary you have my sympathy (as before!!!)

I did much the same recently -( may need to get something to carry stuff aorund in so looked at an RX) and was told even though my car is four months old with 4k they rate it as a 1 year old and offered me £28! Told them to stick it where the sun don't shine! They went on to say we don't want it anyway as we have a couple of those already around our sites!

I must say I am seriously considering something else next time based upon this kind of attitude!

I know they have to make a profit but a "killing" is a little beyond a joke - and then to expect customer loyalty!

:yack:

I got the same horse **** when I tried to trade my 3 month old IS200 SE auto with 2.7k miles on the clock against a new RX300 SE-L. They took a years depreciation off. My wife and I decided to keep the IS for a year and then see what deal we can get.

[DaveEllen]

This is why I'm modding mine...........I like the IS...........all you get is a newer reg..........

spend the extra £ on making it go like sh******************t

[mudzs]

I would never trade a car to a dealer they will always give you rock bottom price ,the only way you will get a good price from them is if you pay over the odds for your new car .It is just not worth it and is a no win situation.I to bought a nissan 200sx T reg the car was two years old when i bought it and i paid £8900.i sold the car 6 months later for £10750 the bloke had a full aa report on it and did not knock any money of the deal ,He was so pleased with it he even gave me his H plate astra gte that i then sold for £1500 :D .i had been offered £6500 for this car three weeks earlier from a volvo garage and nearly took the money thank :tsktsk: i did,ent :P.Gary c keep your car it looks the b*****ks you will get used to the suspension in time.

[ColinBarber]

many other manufacturers dealers will treat you the same. Like the guy who bought a brand new BMW 735i Sport for just £54,955. After six months he was informed that it was worth £35,200 trade-in!

BMW are worse. The 5-series has about the same depreciation and around the same list price. as the GS. However you need to add options on the BMW (steering wheel, seats etc) which add £1,000s to the cost only for the dealers to offer you standard spec money when you trade in!

Depreciation is always heavy on large cars and it's something you need to consider when buying that type of car, but it's the mark up that gets me. Gary's had the car a few weeks, it's had all the problems sorted out, in showroom condition so the dealer has to do nothing and they will put it up for £15,000, maybe £14,500 as it has another owner!

[nickmoul]

Is the suspension really that hard?

If you feel the suspension is hard try this free DIY method.

Lower the tyre pressure all round by 3lbs. It can make a stunning difference. My RX (Yup I know yours is an IS) rides much better in town or on bumpy roads on 27lbs rather than 30.

The other way is much more expensive. Your Tyre/Wheel combination is probably set by fashion (skinny tyres on big alloys?). Smaller wheels with bigger tyres will give you a very different ride, which you may - or may not - prefer. B)

Either way you've got a great car - enjoy it and if you really fancy an upgrade then look for a 12 month old very low mileage private sale and sell yours through AutoTrader.

Best of luck,

Nick

[ColinBarber]

I know Gary has already lowered the pressures and that has helped.

Anybody live near Gary with 17" GS wheels? It would be nice to swap the wheels over and give the car a test to see if just the wheels will make a difference or it's the springs.

Gary, maybe your dealer would let you try a set of 17" wheels?

[GaryC]

Thanks. You've all been a great help. I have no issue with Lexus Sheffield where I bought the car as they have made great efforts to sort out some of the niggles with the car (offering free car mats, pick car up, loan another car etc). However the dealer who offered me £9000 trade-in are a disgrace. As soon as I finish posting this I am writing a stinging letter to head office. At the end of the day the Lexus company is advertised as a big happy family. Just looking at the website info and the way the dealers say "Oh when you buy a Lexus you are buying into prestige etc etc. You can take your car anywhere. We'll all look after you BS BS BS.....". Instead it seems like a load of Honest Joe Motors, all totally independent and couldn't care less about each other. One dealer says "Oh they have charged you too much", another will say "Oh they are hopeless", some laugh etc. What sort of image are Lexus trying to promote ?

I'm still fuming over the £9000 offer and mark my words the dealer (who shall remain nameless for the time being) will bitterly regret it.

[mudzs]

Gary i think the reason you are being offerd bad money is the mileage of your car most dealers will not want a car with over 90,000m sitting on their front and they will punt them out to non franchised carsales. also the little black book they get their prices from really would knock your car taking the mileage into consideration .I am surprised lexus had a car on thier front with this sort of mileage in the first place .If you really are considering changing it i would go back to your supplying dealer as he knows what you paid and would have to be closer to that price due to the fact that you have only had the car a short while.the sad thing is the price they offer you is never anywere near the identical one they have outside ,at the end of the day they have to make a profit.

[Loz]

Gary,

If you want to try swaping suspension with a standard GS I'd be happy to swap for mine. I'd like the slightly lower ride and could live with the bumps I think...

Let me know if your interested. All we'd have to do is find a garage that would swap 8 springs.

Anyone know if this can't be done?

Loz

ps. as for deprecation. I'd like to think I bought mine after the first owner had burnt all the heavy depreciation. I do such high milage that the idea of getting a decent price back it long since gone... I finally have a car that will give years of faithful service and is a joy to own. even my neighbours have started to comment on the fact the car is still there.... they have seen many come and go...

[Fidgits]

Thats probably the best idea for you Gary,

Switch the springs with Loz, and that way, you get to keep the car, get the SE ride, and still have a wicked looking motor....

And that way, no worries about losing money...

[ColinBarber]

Does the sport have different shocks? The first MKIIs had oil filled shocks which were changed to gas filled ones a year or so later. The sports are gas filled but I don't know if they are different to the SE ones.

Maybe somebody with parts database access can check the part numbers for the shocks?

Much quicker and cheaper to just swap wheels over to see if that improves the ride. If it does then purchase a new set of 17" wheels that go with the style of the car - I don't think the SE wheels would look that good on a sport. Keep the 18" wheels for when you sell the vehicle.

[HK_Altezza]

IMO, if you are satisfied with your car, except for the ride, get stiffness adjustable coilovers.

HKS just came out with the HiperMax LS Plus coilovers and these cost about USD1300 - 1500. The good thing with these coilovers is that these are optimized for comfort and you can adjust both the ride height and stiffness. If you just change the springs, you might think that the SE is too soft.

I got Apexi WS coilovers (also comfort-tuned) myself with 18s rims. I do not think that these are much stiffer than the original springs/shocks. I live in Hong Kong where the road conditions sometimes are very poor and think that the combination Apexi WS/18s is ideal for my GS300.

Alex