99custom

My wife wants to sell her 99 sc400 for a 2002 es300 with only 60k. The car has been maintained very well. It already has the timing belt, motor mounts and some other things done according to the carfax. The seller is asking $10900 which is 2 grand above blue book even if it's in very good condition.

My other concern is that the car spent most of it's life as a corporate vehicle for a business. It also had the motor mounts changed at 40k at the dealership which seems very strange they would be bad that soon.

The car is a 2 owner, no accidents, dealer maintained, gold in color with tan leather chrome wheels if this helps. Thanks for any input

hypervish

I wouldn't pay that much for a 4th gen. You can get a 5th gen for that price!

Oro

Edmonds's says that car, with standard options (premium sound, leather, etc), outstanding condition, and that mileage is worth $7,400 in a private party/non-dealer transaction. Which to me sounds about like the market. the valuation shows the mileage as +$900 to the valuation, so a "normal" mileage one in perfect shape would be $6,500, presumably. Sounds about right.

As to the mounts, I'm going to guess that was because of an owner complaint about the hard downshifting the PCU does on these. It's normal (slightly annoying) to the model year. That's a theory but I wouldn't let that fact get in the way if the seller wants to make a deal around the typical market price for the car. Corporate vehicles usually REQUIRE the operator to get maintenance done on time/by the book or even more frequently. I would not hesitate on that. Ours was a corporate one for 3 years/90k. It is an '02 and really like it. It has 227k on it now and runs like new and looks great.

lostape45

Just a thought, a car with higher mileage is worn better than one that sits if maintained properly. The rubber all over and under the car is prone to hardening and cracking more if it sits. Never buy a car over blue book value in my opinion because you'll never get that money back. If you wanted to get a 4th gen for that price, I'd suggest an 05-06 due to the updates they made on it.

99custom

Thanks for the input guys. I'm going to see the seller is stuck on that price. It's a nice car but you guys are right that it costs more then it's worth.

My wife and I really like the quality of the Lexus cars, and I personally think some of the Pre-2008 were built to last longer. My buddies IS-250 has been a nightmare. Maybe he just got a lemon.