Aggy50

Hello All,

I may be pulling the trigger on a 2005 GX due to my family growing. I just need to sell my 335XI and figure out if I have found the one that I want. Carmax is shipping a 2005 GX for me from CT to IL and in pictures the car looks clean. As far as I can tell, the only option it does not have is KDSS. It's a one owner car with a clean car fax and auto check report. The car is silver with grey interior and only has 21K miles with a purchase price is 20K.

Does anyone have any experience with buying a GX from Carmax? I hear they do a good job in inspecting and reconditioning their cars. I am little concerned that the car is 10 years with such low miles, but I will purchase an extended warranty. Also, in one of the pictures Carmax sent me the rear control arm has some rust on it. Is undercarriage rust a concern on these cars? I hope this is the one as I can't see myself in a newer pilot or MDX.

NTH

Wow very low mileage. These trucks are very reliable and well built. I would use the money on deferred maintenance due to age rather than buying extended warranty.

BlackCat81

Surface rust is going to be normal on any salt state car, but these trucks don't have issues like the 3rd gen 4Runners, Tacomas, and Tundras with rusting/failing frames. IMO, that's a great price for the truck. What part of IL are you from? I'm in the NW suburbs.

chiph9

Carmax does a very good job of inspecting their cars and assigning a value. They do some reconditioning, but only if they think a particular item needs it (i.e. they won't do everything)

Chip H.

Aggy50

Thank you guys, I am excited for the truck to get here. I couldn't believe the miles or price as it was CarMax. The day after I requested the transfer they tried to raise the price to 21,999 but I had already placed a hold on it, so CarMax is honoring the price at 19,999. The extended warranty is 5 years up 100K miles for $1300 and 5 years to 150K miles for $1999, it's not bad considering the potential repair costs with stuff breaking. Glad to hear these trucks are well built and I shouldn't be too concerned with rust.

BlackCat81 - I'm in Arlington Heights now but moving to Glenview. BTW your truck looks awesome, digging your set up with the rims and tires.

BlackCat81

Oh right on man, I'm in Libertyville/Vernon Hills. My sister has a place in Palatine, so I'm always out that way. Thanks for the kind words, I'm an Infiniti tech for a dealer in Libertyville, if you ever have issues with the truck and need somebody who knows them really well to work on it, shoot me a message. Your Carmax warranty may also work at our store as well. I'd ask them if it's possible to take it to a place other than Carmax to have extended warranty stuff done should the need arise.

Aggy50

So I finally saw the car yesterday and now believe it was too good to be true. While the mileage is very low and the price is right, the car had been in accident on the passenger side right fender and door. The paint matches however, I can tell it has been in accident. Both fender and door are missing the factory vin tags to show they are not from the factory or they were repainted. I did check the history of the car on the lexus website and found out it had been repaired at a body shop in Chicago. Carfax and auto check did not show the car accident, that's messed up Carmax!. I'm kinda torn on what to do next considering the car's mileage and there are no other good GX's out there right now. Good thing is the previous owner kept up on maintenance and the timing belt was replaced in 2013.

BlackCat81

I'm not sure I'd sweat it too much, but I'd certainly use it as a bargaining tool. It was probably repaired out of pocket by the PO, which is why it doesn't show on Carfax. In my opinion, had the accident been severe enough for insurance, they would've used it. For all you know it was hit by a shopping cart or backed into in a driveway.

chiph9

How does the paint look? Do the door gaps look tight and even?

If you want it, definitely use it as a bargaining tool. But in my experience, Carmax won't come down, saying they already factored the repair into their price.

Best of luck.

Chip H.

lesz

Whether the body work was paid out-of-pocket is not necessarily what determines whether the work will show up in a Carfax report. Repairs do not show up in Carfax reports if the body shop that does the work does not enter it into the data base. I had a Tacoma pickup that was rear ended by a semi. Total damage covered by insurance was over $12,000. Still, there was no entry at all for that repair in the Carfax report when I traded in the vehicle 3 years later.

BlackCat81

I understand that, but those occurrences are rare. I hate Carfax anyways, it's very misleading. I "bumped" into a drunk chick who ran across the street after her friends one night in my old 3rd gen 4Runner. Like less than 2mph. There happened to be a police car in the opposite lane who stopped to make sure everyone was ok, and made a report. Upon selling my 4Runner, it showed front AND rear collision damage reported to Carfax on the date I hit her.

Johnny Rad

Punch the vin into the Lexus website to see the dealership servicing... Let that be another key ingredient to deciding to get this truck or not.

Morphyne

I just bought an 05 GX from carmax less than 2 months ago. the brakes needed replaced (carmax) handled no problem) and the secondary air injection pump went out. Also covered under carmax' s 30 day warranty.

Overall my experience with my 05 GX and carmax has been extremely positive. I will say they could have done a better job detail;ing is but whatever.

If you have a cracked dashboard call lexus and they will replace it no charge.

My biggest complaint with the GX is that the leather is pretty worn. but new covers fix that pretty easily and you can get really nice ones. Carmax can even work that into the purchase.

Aggy50

I drove the car last night and it was great. Only has 20,500 miles and the interior is mint.

My issue continues to be with the body work that was completed. The passenger door was repainted and hangs a little lower which causes it to stick out a bit. It's noticeable even to CarMax's body shop, they said they wouldn't want to risk realigning the door only to make it worse. I want the car but knowing how OCD I am about my cars I would want to get it fixed. Also the right front fender has bubbling clear coat from the crappy job done by the body shop. Supposedly they were lexus certified, yeah right. I am thinking I am going to pass on this one, but it's hard to ignore the low miles, plus I paid for the car transfer.

maxx430

Did Carmax charge you a delivery fee since the car was not local to you?