So, was this causing a creaking noise or something else?

They told me I had (still have the creaking so I say it still does or it is BS) pinch weld were three pieces of metal come together and it is secure, just rubbing as the car flexes making the noise. They say mine is on the driver side under the finder. The tech said the Lexus Rep said to remove the finder, I said no way as he said the body shop would have to take it off. He tried to tell me was no big deal since it is bolted on. I said no way because they will scratch the paint or dent the finder. Just my experience that they can not do work without damaging something. The tech said he found a way to get to the weld point to hit it with an air hammer without removing the finder. He said all that it needs is to move a bit so it does not rub. Well, that seemed to work for a week then it came back. I’m not convinced that that is the problem, but they say they put sound sensors on the finder under the hood and traced it down to this spot. And yes, it pisses me off to buy a 60k car and have these issues. I’ve been back at least 5 times for rattles and for them to fix damage done to the car while they worked on it. Not sure I will get another Lexus, but maybe MB and BMW have the same crap too??

So they bought your car back for rattle noises? They give you the selling price or prorate it?

 

buyback was for a number of issues, not just this, and the total amount of shop time. i immediately bought another because they handled it so well. my friend who is a Lexus mechanic says he's seen three buybacks in 5 years, but his buddy who works at BMW has seen 70 during the same period! my lawyer says MB is the worst of all. Bottom line -- any car company can have a problem, but Toyota/Lexus has reputation for being the fairest and best, the lawyers tell me.

 

So which one was it?

 

Pro rata up to the first complaint (a year ago at about 4000 miles). So bottom line, I got 95%+ of the purchase price PLUS bought a 350 so came out in the black. Basically this formula is per the Calif lemon law.

I want to emphasize that I got this because of the sheer time it was in the shop and the piling on of basically every rattle issue known to this forum all in one car, plus a bad weld in the front end that added one more issue. So it is very unusual. I wouldn't want to suggest that every GS with a rattle is a candidate for repurchase.

 

I never buy new cars because I lose too much whenever I trade it in, although Lexus holds the best value among all my past rides. A new 430 is about $57k and a new 350 is about $45k. I paid $38,900 for my 06 430, despite a bit high mileage at 20k, I don't do much a year, probably around 6-8k at most so mileage doesnt matter that much to me. Plus having one with ML, Navi, and almost every option under the sun minus runflats made it much more worthwhile in the long run.