My wife and I had come thisclose to buying a 2015 Lexus RC350 last May but backed out of the deal when we spotted rust bubbles on the driver's side rear fender just as we were taking delivery of it. For a myriad of reasons, finding another one in our price range between $25,000 and $30,000 has been a challenge. Well, careful what you wish for, you might just get it. Problem is, if you do, often times there's a catch. This 2015 Lexus RC350 "F-Sport" turned up on my semi-weekly search recently for sale down in northern Kentucky. Just 68,000-miles on its eleven-year-old digital ticker, it's in to-die-for "liquid platinum" with an all-black interior and has an asking price of $19,500; that's thousands less than other RC350 F-Sports with this kind of mileage. The catch? It has a Kentucky "red" title.
Cars with red titles in Kentucky are ones that were total losses and rebuilt; they're have a red border, hence, "red" titles. Clean or "blue" titles are issued on paper with a blue border and hue.
The problem with cars with Kentucky "red" titles is they can't be titled in all states, Ohio, where we live, being one of them. Cars with rebuilt or salvaged titles could be excellent values, especially stolen cars that are recovered; there could be issues at trade-in or resale time though. It's ironic that Ohio, a red state, would have an issue with a red title from Kentucky which is also red.
I can't say for sure I would have been ok with this car it could be titled up here. With taxes and fees, we are talking more than twenty-grand out the door, chunk of dough to blow on a big question mark of a car. Nice to have what could have been a difficult decision already made for me.
This car is what were called "personal luxury cars", a significant market segment in the 1970's through the mid-1980's. Most often times built on the chassis of existing models, the market shifted away from them in the 1980's due in large part to the models offered not having the cache they once had. That and the growing popularity of sport utility vehicles luring statement making and fashion-conscious buyers away. Much like station wagons, luxury car makers continued to offer them, and they charged exorbitantly for them.
Lexus dipped their bumper cover back into the personal luxury car game in 2014 when they introduced the "RC", short for "radical coupe", a spiritual successor to the "SC", or "sport coupe", they sold from 1991 through 2010. Lexus only made around 60,000 of these over a protracted 11-year model run, nearly half of them built in 2015 and 2016. Their overt styling and inherent practicality, combined with how expensive they are, turn many buyers off.
My wife and I are empty nesters, and we find them to be comfortable, stylish cruisers. No doubt there's a nostalgia trip of some sort here as well given we're both children of the 1970's.
Thus, our search continues. Our plan for the last year has been that if we find one, great. If not, we hold onto our current "dailies" until one of them buys the farm. It's a solid, practical plan that's not terribly exciting, but one worth sticking to. Needs, wants, red titles and red states be damned.
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