RX350, Lease Trade In, Extr Low Miles, Any bargaining advice for next vehicle?

[10esgirl]

Hi all, new here. I have a ‘21 RX350 Premium+. Lease ends in a few weeks. Car, inside and out is in pristine shape and only has 14,600 miles on it (30K was allotted). I want to get the 2024 model. My buyout is $32,700. Carmax has offered me $36,000. The dealer in my area (central FL) just sold the identical car, (year, make, trim, everything) with 4,000 more miles for $54,000+.
Not sure if it makes a difference, my current plates are registered to CA. Recently moved to FL. Lexus financial told me that would not be a problem at trade in/buyout.

My first question is, can I, in any way, use the printout of the 2 vehicles they just sold at $20K more than what my buyout is as a negotiation tool toward a lower down pymt or ticket price? If so, what is the best strategy to use this toward either a new lease or a new purchase?

Second, with the above info in mind on my current car, would it benefit me more to do a lease or a purchase at trade-in? This will be my 4th consecutive car with Lexus, using Lexus Financial each time. They have all been leases. I am not concerned with mileage as all 3 have been turned in WELL under the maximum.

Last, would it suit me better to sell it to a 3rd party dealer (or use that option as a negotiating tool with my dealer here) or to let Lexus dealer handle trade-in and new transaction?

Thanks!!

[jeisensc]

@10esgirl

Recently moved to FL. Lexus financial told me that would not be a problem at trade in/buyout.

Correct but keep in mind in Florida that you must buy out your LFS lease from a dealer. IIRC FL also has a sales tax credit for trade-in.

Ignore the resale data point, get more 3rd party purchase quotes to compare, and start negotiating

List of places to sell or value your car online

For the quickest results: Copy your VIN to your clipboard and just paste it into each site. Quicker than plate lookup. Enter “I own the vehicle” where applicable — you don’t need to get into the details of your lease payoff or loan balance until you’ve eventually chosen one entity to sell to. Use a Google Voice or some other device you can turn off at will. Otherwise your real phone will be bombarded initially. In alphabetical order: Buyer Name Direct Link Review Link AutoCo…

[10esgirl]

Great info. Thank you! Just so I am clear, you are saying that with LFS, I need to bring my car back to a Lexus dealer. I cannot sell it to a third party (Carmax, Carvana, etc). I am only using their quoted buyouts as a negotiating took if I can.

[sharksfan15]

That’s not what he’s saying. Why would CarMax give you a quote if you can’t sell it to them? Maybe you should look to purchase your next Rx instead of leasing.