GoldGS3

iTrader: (1)

I'm looking to buy 2004 LS430 from a private party or from an independent dealership.

I read that many of you suggested to get the car inspected at the Lexus dealership (pre-purchase inspection).

Does anyone what the inspection involve?

Thank you.

ErseOne

I'm also looking to purchase a GS or LS 430. I don't trust private parties or mom & pop dealers.

Why not buy a CPO at a Lexus dlr? It goes through the 161 point inspection and they give you a free Carfax report as opposed to a Carfax record check. Plus, a 3yr/100k mile warranty, which you can upgrade to 6-7yr by paying extra.

Do an Advanced Search on www.cars.com and the listings tell you if they are CPO or not. Also go to www.lexus.com and check out their CPO section.

Good luck!

ccs2a

Well, don't go blindly trusting the CPO either. I searched all over the country looking for the exact color combo/year/features/miles/price I wanted (black with cashmere interior, ultra, 30k miles, CPO, $37.5k). It was out of state, but CPO from a lexus dealer. I trusted that meant that it would be like what I expected from reading all the literature on the lexus website. Knowing it was used, but as close to new as one could expect. My four issues.

There is a large dent in the frame on the underbody of the car (like someone ran over a curb - or put the jack on the wrong spot). It's not visible unless you look under the car. It doesn't seem to affect anything, but I mean come on. If ANYONE had the car on a rack, they would have seen it, so 161 point inspection my ***. Next, there's a minor paint spot near the gas tank opening (rear quarter panel), that looks like it was painted at some point after market. Granted, it's only visible in the right light, so, I might give them a pass on this one, but still disappointing that it's there. Next, there was a small dent in the hood, I didn't notice it immediately, but after I left, of course, I saw it on the drive home, and no, i wasn't hit by anything on the drive home as it would have taken something falling from directly above the car, a minor annoyance as a $60 dent removal company fixed that one near perfect.

Next however, my wipers made a 'slapping' noise when going down and back up, I've had them adjust it twice now and each time it's better, this last time (today) I dropped it off hoping they would make the final adjustment so that they would be near silent in all wiper speeds. The dealer called back saying the windshield wasn't factory, so they were going to charge me one hour of labor to do the adjustments. Yes, the is the same dealership that worked on it the other two times (although, a different service adviser since mine was out sick today).

So, just because it's CPO doesn't really mean much. You get a warranty, and that's very nice, but in regards to the quality of the vehicle, the CPO means nothing IMO.

If I had it to do over, even though it was raining when I went up there, and it was a CPO, I would have inspected everything - yes, that was my mistake, and I admit it. I believed the CPO hype - now I'm warning others....

Don't get me wrong, I love the LS430, however, I'm SEVERELY disappointed in the both the service I'm getting at my local dealership and the quality of the 'inspection' from the lexus dealership I bought it from.

For my local dealership, here are the issues I've had.

When I bought the car with 30k miles, the rear passenger pillar (inside) was a little lose, they said it was broken and replaced it. I have the ultra luxury so the headliner is that leather like surface. Well, they replaced it with the cloth one so it didn't match. I didn't inspect it as I didn't think they could mess it up. When I got home, I noticed it was the cloth, so I called up and made another appointment. They called back saying the leather version didn't exist, I argued, they insisted, I said I'd call lexus myself to get the part number, *then* they said they'd look again, well, guess what, they found the part and replaced it with the correct one.

Next, a the rear passenger foot sill was a little lose, I asked them to tighten it up, they did but charged me $50 saying that whoever installed the XM wire did it wrong and messed it up. Well, since *I* installed the XM antenna wire, and I knew I ran the wire under the passenger carpet, and not the sill, it was very easy for me to tell them that the wire WAS NOT THE PROBLEM!!! So, I got my $50 back.

Next, they told me my alignment was out. Now, the car was driving straight as an arrow and the steering wheel was perfect. However, I do know that it's possible for a car to drive straight and not have proper alignment, so I told them to do it, but give me the before and after spec sheet so I knew they did what they said they did. I arrived, they didn't have the sheets for me, they said they would fax them to me, they never did. That's one thing, but that doesn't bother me near as much as the fact the steering wheel is off center to the left now!! I took it back in and they're telling me one of the tires is bad now and that's what causing it.

Speaking of tires, my low tire sensor goes off every 50 miles or so. So, naturally, as anyone would do, I checked the tire pressure, everything was exactly the same at 32 psi. So, I reset it since people on the forums said it would happen sometimes. However, it happens almost daily. I took it in and asked them to check it when they did the alignment/oil change. They said everything was fine, they reset the sensor. I wasn't thrilled, but it was off again. Of course, it turned back on within 50 miles. So, this time, when I dropped the car off, I demanded they fix it. They called back and said one of the tires was at 20 psi now - and that was the problem!? You've got to be kidding me!? You checked, I checked it, it was fine!

Cigarette lighter wasn't working, so I asked them to check that too (I don't use the lighter, but I'd like to be able to plug my cell phone in). They said the fuse was blown and my cell phone carger probably had a short in it, but they *graciously* replaced the fuse at no charge. Are you kidding me again!!?! my cell phone charger has a short?! I've been using the outlet in the center console since I bought it and it's worked great, I've never been able to get the cigarette lighter working, and it's my fault!?

Believe it or not, there's actually more!, but I know you're probably as tired reading this as I am of writing it.

Please, tell me if I'm being an *** of a customer. Again, I love the car, but dammit, the service is driving me nuts!!!

onepointon

I will tell you first hand that your expeirence is rare. My dealer is very strict on what we CPO, and what we do not. Just to clear it up, you bought the car from one dealer, then wanted to stuff fixed at another dealer? If so, most stuff should be covered under warranty, but when you have aftermarket parts on the vehicle that slipped through the cracks at one dealer, its hard for the other dealer to say that you didnt install them. Its kind of a bad situation for both the customer, and the dealer. The ideal thing to do would be to take it back to the original dealer and say "you certified it, you stand by it".


Back to the original question. When you get a vehicle check over, it should be the same check over they do for the CPO process, which is (read: should be) strict at every dealer. I know when I do one, I let nothing slide. If it wasnt as the car was when it first came off the boat, I write it down.

I would say you cant go wrong with going that route. Understand they will charge you for their time, especially since its a car that you aren't buying from them, but its worth it IMO.

Goodluck.

LEX012006

Damn ccs2a, I picked up a 01 UL from a private seller. The miles was a little on the high side (67000) but the vehicle was well kept for. Interior & exterior were virtually flawless and there were only two things that concern me, slight groan noise from steering column, tsb for that & auto wiper function inoperative. Other than that, the vehicle has given me wonderful, trouble free service.

Maybe that particular car was not as well kept as the one I picked up. Basically I do believe it all depends on who owned the vehicle prior to the "CPO" process. The 161 point check up has to be done by a technician that actually cares about the work he/she is performing. And the dealer hopefully is willing to live up to the quality of the product.

Not every certification process is going to be perfect, but the "check out" the dealer is going to do for you can be as bad as getting a car that has been certified by a tech that just don't care. If he checks out the vehicle you are looking to buy and you are going to pay the dealer to look over the car, what gaurantee do you have they are going to "properly" check over the car?

Buyer beware!!!!! It is not always "You get what you pay for".