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buying a used 2020 camry

vgriffvgriff Member Posts: 5
edited July 2021 in Toyota
Hi, I am thinking about buying a used 2020 camry LE off a guy off craiglist. I have met with him and saw the car and it seems ok as far as I know. It is a basic LE 2020 camry with 5000 miles on it that he said belongs to his mother who barely drives that he wants $20,000 firm. However, the car is currently on lease.

So I have two initial questions that I hope to get your insights if I may. This is my first time buying a car myself so please bear with me:

1) Assuming no mechanical damage should I value this as much as a new car? It looks like in Kelly Blue book a basic, no frill camry le 2020 is $23K as a trade in-is this the number I should go off on? In short, do you think it is a good price? I live in Florida so I think with tax and everything it is like $22K to buy his car. I can't seem to find an actual 2020 LE in my area to compare it to.

2) I know you can sell a car that is currently on lease, but I can't find much info because it seems that it is not very common to sell a leased car to an individual versus a dealership. I wonder if this is something that is commonly done. If so, can someone explain to me the procedure? It looks like at some point in time, I have to trust the guy and hand the money to him so he can buy back the title from the leasing company before transferring that title to me?

Honestly if he owns the title outright, I probably would have sealed the deal. It is the leasing thing that makes me hesitate. I read on one source that it is actually a fairly complicated process with many steps to go through to pass on a leased car's title (and probably a lot of fees involved) so I think I better ask for some advice.

Thank you very much again for reading my post.

Comments

  • kyfdxkyfdx Moderator Posts: 250,442
    vgriff said:

    Hi, I am thinking about buying a used 2020 camry LE off a guy off craiglist. I have met with him and saw the car and it seems ok as far as I know. It is a basic LE 2020 camry with 5000 miles on it that he said belongs to his mother who barely drives that he wants $20,000 firm. However, the car is currently on lease.

    So I have two initial questions that I hope to get your insights if I may. This is my first time buying a car myself so please bear with me:

    1) Assuming no mechanical damage should I value this as much as a new car? It looks like in Kelly Blue book a basic, no frill camry le 2020 is $23K as a trade in-is this the number I should go off on? In short, do you think it is a good price? I live in Florida so I think with tax and everything it is like $22K to buy his car. I can't seem to find an actual 2020 LE in my area to compare it to.

    2) I know you can sell a car that is currently on lease, but I can't find much info because it seems that it is not very common to sell a leased car to an individual versus a dealership. I wonder if this is something that is commonly done. If so, can someone explain to me the procedure? It looks like at some point in time, I have to trust the guy and hand the money to him so he can buy back the title from the leasing company before transferring that title to me?

    Honestly if he owns the title outright, I probably would have sealed the deal. It is the leasing thing that makes me hesitate. I read on one source that it is actually a fairly complicated process with many steps to go through to pass on a leased car's title (and probably a lot of fees involved) so I think I better ask for some advice.

    Thank you very much again for reading my post.

    An individual can't sell a leased car directly to another individual. The leasing bank won't allow it.
    His "mother" would have to buy out the car, pay sales tax, take title, then re-sell it.

    I wouldn't bother with this. Either it's a scam, or he has no idea what's involved in doing this.

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  • vgriffvgriff Member Posts: 5
    kyfdx said:

    vgriff said:

    Hi, I am thinking about buying a used 2020 camry LE off a guy off craiglist. I have met with him and saw the car and it seems ok as far as I know. It is a basic LE 2020 camry with 5000 miles on it that he said belongs to his mother who barely drives that he wants $20,000 firm. However, the car is currently on lease.

    So I have two initial questions that I hope to get your insights if I may. This is my first time buying a car myself so please bear with me:

    1) Assuming no mechanical damage should I value this as much as a new car? It looks like in Kelly Blue book a basic, no frill camry le 2020 is $23K as a trade in-is this the number I should go off on? In short, do you think it is a good price? I live in Florida so I think with tax and everything it is like $22K to buy his car. I can't seem to find an actual 2020 LE in my area to compare it to.

    2) I know you can sell a car that is currently on lease, but I can't find much info because it seems that it is not very common to sell a leased car to an individual versus a dealership. I wonder if this is something that is commonly done. If so, can someone explain to me the procedure? It looks like at some point in time, I have to trust the guy and hand the money to him so he can buy back the title from the leasing company before transferring that title to me?

    Honestly if he owns the title outright, I probably would have sealed the deal. It is the leasing thing that makes me hesitate. I read on one source that it is actually a fairly complicated process with many steps to go through to pass on a leased car's title (and probably a lot of fees involved) so I think I better ask for some advice.

    Thank you very much again for reading my post.

    An individual can't sell a leased car directly to another individual. The leasing bank won't allow it.
    His "mother" would have to buy out the car, pay sales tax, take title, then re-sell it.

    I wouldn't bother with this. Either it's a scam, or he has no idea what's involved in doing this.

    Thanks. I think that is how it will go: I probably have to accompany him to the leasing company, give him the money, he buys the car and get the title under his name, then turn around and transfer the title to me. But this will only work if it all can be done in the same trip.
  • vgriffvgriff Member Posts: 5
    edited July 2021
    Sorry but I think it just finally clicks for me now: So basically it's his job to get the title under his name before he even can offer to sale the car-how he comes up with the money is his business?

    Once that is done then $20K is a fair price? He also says it's equipped with blindspot warning and lane departure warning which I think would put the car somewhere in the $25K range if it was new?
  • kyfdxkyfdx Moderator Posts: 250,442
    vgriff said:

    Sorry but I think it just finally clicks for me now: So basically it's his job to get the title under his name before he even can offer to sale the car-how he comes up with the money is his business?

    Once that is done then $20K is a fair price? He also says it's equipped with blindspot warning and lane departure warning which I think would put the car somewhere in the $25K range if it was new?

    I don't know the pricing. Leasing banks usually aren't local. It's an involved process. Once he buys the car from the bank, they would have to have the lien released, and he would have to wait for a new title, then register the vehicle. That could take weeks.

    Most people that are leasing don't have the funds available to pull this off.

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