I got an offer from a local dealer to buy my 2020 P400 and am vaguely considering the option to upgrade to a 2024.

They are offering $43k for my 2020 with 55k miles on it with several upgrades, ceramic wrap, OEM roof rack, fairing plate, ladder, running boards, 20" Black Rhino rims and a Molle plate from powerfulUK. It does have an accident on the records as well but only a minor fender bender (no damage). I know dealers are only buying back to resell but they also have a 2024 similar spec (minus third row) for $72k with 3.9% financing. In our state, you only have to pay taxes on the difference of the trade which would be nice.

Is this a very low ball offer, I should just not entertain? I assume this is just a relatively poor trade as replacing all these upgrades would be quite costly (guessing around $4-6k at least) however the factory warranty for the next 4 years (maybe upgrading to 6yrs) is appealing. I normally only put about 10-12k a year on the vechicle.

 

You could check kbb.com, I'm going to guess the avg trade number is somewhere in the 40s, upper40s if you're lucky for a 2020 model. You might be able to sell privately for more but then have the hassle of dealing with that process. First thing I'd do is get the cheap interior detailing for like $40 at Delta Sonic or similar and then bring it to carmax to get an appraisal. Then you have something legit to work with for numbers on paper because if it's several thousand more than the dealer was offering then the dealer will likely match it or even give 1-2k more, that way you'll get a better number plus you won't lose out on that tax piece which you're correct to focus on as being fairly important with a price tag this high. I leveraged it with my passport, I traded the defender for it and paid no sales tax because it was 15k cheaper. If you sell to carmax they'll hand you a check, you might get more $$ but you'll lose the sales tax offset when you turn around and buy the 2024. Act like you're interested in a Land Cruiser or something along those lines, test drive one, get an offer for your trade from some Toyota dealers, take the highest offer from them and leverage it with your JLR dealership, things like that will help because if they really think you're dead set on a Defender nobody is going to budge much on numbers, they need to know you have other options. Have a take it or leave it attitude with a new one, people get all worked up and the dealerships pick up on that right away when you're laser focused on buying something, have to be able to just get up and walk out, I've done so numerous times. There are a lot of other cars and a lot of other dealerships needs to be the mindset. Just keeping what you have is another good card to play in negotiations but yea if you want to stay in a Defender then I would highly prioritize getting back underneath a factory warranty.

 

The kbb trade in value is $42-48k right now, so its a good point to try to get another dealers hirer evaluation.

My other thought is maybe I am anchoring too much on a factory warranty. From the recent reports I've read (for the most part and given its a Land Rover) the reliability scores for the Defender are pretty good. Most common compliant are from the electrical systems but I assume this is going to be common across brands moving forward. I did get an extended warranty (which I can get refunded) but it wasn't through Land Rover. I've also followed the over 100k miles thread here and looks like people are keeping their Defenders with relatively low issues. Granted mine is currently in the shop but its due to the common trim piece problems others have had. Hopefully most of this is fixed for 2024.

The new Lexus GX550 looks like a decent competitor but I do prefer the interior styling to the Defender. The GX550 will mostly likely be the better longer term buy given Toyota's reliability ratings.

 

I've read the reliability of the V6 in the GX550, which is used in other models across Toyota and Lexus, isn't as reliable as the old V8 it's replaced, Also my mom just bought a new RX350h last August and she's had it back at the dealer twice for software issues and she has an appointment to bring it in again next week for another software related issue.

 

Your call, a lot of factors play into these decisions. Maybe yours will be one of the reliable ones, seems to be ok so far, and you already have an extended warranty so maybe it's worth just keeping it. I had many more issues with mine during the 15 months or so that I owned it so I can't relate as well to the folks who haven't had issues. It was all covered under warranty of course but was a PITA back and forth to the dealership so I grew tired of that. The 100k thread to me is just a novelty, I can't relate to anyone buying this thing and running that many highway miles, that's using it as a fancy Prius. Should really have almost zero issues with the least reliable cars on the road with that much highway driving in 3 or 4 years. Some of the issues I did see mentioned in the 100k thread made me cringe tbh but that's just me. Mileage is pretty much irrelevant in that kind of use-case IMO but maybe it's applicable to your own usage. Good luck with your decision. Let us know how it goes.

 

The trade number given by the dealer is spot on.

 

Yep, depreciation on your old one will be from now max. $ 8K, a year, on the New one $ 18K the First year.
So take the gamble in my opinion and drive it for some years.

 

Interesting perspective. Can you share what causes you to conclude that? It would seem to me that if most Defender problems are around brakes or drivelines, then sure, 100,000 hwy miles doesn’t stress a car as much as 100,000 city-traffic miles does. But the types of things that generally fail with modern LRs are going to be plenty stressed from any sort of motor-running situation. Maybe you could discount 100,000 highway miles down to 80,000 mixed hwy/city, or something, but it doesn’t take it down to 20,000.

 

There are plenty of Defenders out there that have passed the 100k miles treshold and they have proven to be as reliable as other cars and trucks. There is a thread here about the 100k miles Defenders. Check it out.

 

Yeah this makes sense. I did buy it used, so never endured the initial hit but this early Defender does some of the trim issues that many others have mentioned. Its currently in the shop to the tune of $2k to fix a back passenger window issue and the windshield wiper spray. The window was the most costly thing and it wasn't covered under any warranty. Next up is the 63k mile service which is also costly. This was my reasoning for maybe putting that money towards a newer defender vs further investing in this one. But I guess $5k on maintenance is better than a larger hit.

Does anyone know if most of those trim items are no longer an issue in new models?