CPO vs. Little Old Lady Special
03-02-12, 02:18 PM
#1
Pit Crew
Thread Starter
CPO vs. Little Old Lady Special
Howdy LS430 Family,
What's your take on spending the extra at the dealer for a near perfect 2006 LS Certified Pre Owned instead of an 04 or 05 pampered private party car. It's not unusual in Arizona to find nice 04 & 05's with less than 60k miles out of warranty but very well cared for.
I purchased my 2001 ES300 from Lexus of Tucson in 2004 as a CPO car. The only time I was grateful for this was when the transmission started leaking. The new seals had roughly 12 hours of labor to install so I dodged a $1300 bullet there. Other than that my graphite ES has been near bullet proof and I am now at 157,000 miles.
My mechanic says the LS is still one of the best cars on the road and would not pay the extra for CPO...
What's your take on spending the extra at the dealer for a near perfect 2006 LS Certified Pre Owned instead of an 04 or 05 pampered private party car. It's not unusual in Arizona to find nice 04 & 05's with less than 60k miles out of warranty but very well cared for.
I purchased my 2001 ES300 from Lexus of Tucson in 2004 as a CPO car. The only time I was grateful for this was when the transmission started leaking. The new seals had roughly 12 hours of labor to install so I dodged a $1300 bullet there. Other than that my graphite ES has been near bullet proof and I am now at 157,000 miles.
My mechanic says the LS is still one of the best cars on the road and would not pay the extra for CPO...
03-02-12, 02:40 PM
#3
To me it might be worth 1500ish.
Many will echo my sentiments a good start is an LS serviced by the dealer(or well reputed independent) by the manual with a paper trail(people lie about their cars)with CPO or not. A dealer sold car with or without CPO will come with a short warrantee and that is worth something also.
Next a thorough inspection by an unbiased party. HWY miles versus city miles can have alot to do with the ride. Good luck
Many will echo my sentiments a good start is an LS serviced by the dealer(or well reputed independent) by the manual with a paper trail(people lie about their cars)with CPO or not. A dealer sold car with or without CPO will come with a short warrantee and that is worth something also.
Next a thorough inspection by an unbiased party. HWY miles versus city miles can have alot to do with the ride. Good luck
03-02-12, 03:43 PM
#7
ls430
No No its premium which is the basic.Modern which includes nav and other acc.Custom which also includes laminated side windows windshield washers radar cruise etc.Then the ultra which also includes adj suspension etc.I probably left out some acc because there are so many
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03-02-12, 05:51 PM
#9
Recovering Lexus Addict
Remember that when you find a car you're serious about, you can enter the VIN on the owners section of lexus.com as "your" car and inspect the service history to search for problems, verify regular service, and know where the vehicle was generally driven.
Since only 06s are available as CPO, I would focus my search on a good, non-CPO car. Drive a bunch of cars so you get the feel for them. (I found the LS430 to be more consistent car-to-car than most other brands and models.) Find a good independent garage that knows Lexus vehicles to inspect the one you want before you buy.
Generally, I think the premium cars without the complication of nav and other items will prove to be cheaper to own. However, most folks value the additional luxury items in the higher trim levels. (I fell for the CL myself.)
Good luck in your search and keep us posted. We'll be glad to look at links you post and comment on good / bad things we see.
Since only 06s are available as CPO, I would focus my search on a good, non-CPO car. Drive a bunch of cars so you get the feel for them. (I found the LS430 to be more consistent car-to-car than most other brands and models.) Find a good independent garage that knows Lexus vehicles to inspect the one you want before you buy.
Generally, I think the premium cars without the complication of nav and other items will prove to be cheaper to own. However, most folks value the additional luxury items in the higher trim levels. (I fell for the CL myself.)
Good luck in your search and keep us posted. We'll be glad to look at links you post and comment on good / bad things we see.
03-02-12, 06:14 PM
#11
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the only two advantages about purchasing at a dealer is that you can purchase an extended warranty and get it financed (in most cases). If you have finances in line and you dont care about getting an extended warranty (of course, it's a LEXUS), then go with the nice old lady car. make sure that the price difference is around 2k or more lower than the dealer if you're comparing apples to apples.
03-02-12, 08:49 PM
#12
Moderator
I purchased an 06 LS with CPO about 2.5 years ago. So far have no warranty claims except driver mirror - a $700 repair. My car is a little anomalous as it only had 14k miles on it when purchased. I probably paid a 2k premium for the CPO and based on the single $700 repair it wasn't worth it ...so far. Having said that if I had it to do over again, I'd likely get the same deal - find a low mile CPO car - the excellent Lexus service and prep before the sale and the complete peace of mind for 3 years of not having to worry about any possible repair bills was worth it to me.
You can always get a private party or independent dealer car that is not CPO and if its a recent year and low mile you can purchase an extended warranty from a place like Costco - I would do this for almost any Lexus given the relative complexity of these cars and the high cost of repair...especially those models with more complex systems like Nav and ML sound.
It all depends on what you are comfortable with and what budget you have to work with...there is no absolute right or wrong answer here. The warranty companies have to make money long term on their product or they go out of business so by definition most people over pay for a warranty - but it is insurance... so by definition that's how it works.
You can always get a private party or independent dealer car that is not CPO and if its a recent year and low mile you can purchase an extended warranty from a place like Costco - I would do this for almost any Lexus given the relative complexity of these cars and the high cost of repair...especially those models with more complex systems like Nav and ML sound.
It all depends on what you are comfortable with and what budget you have to work with...there is no absolute right or wrong answer here. The warranty companies have to make money long term on their product or they go out of business so by definition most people over pay for a warranty - but it is insurance... so by definition that's how it works.
Last edited by Jabberwock; 03-02-12 at 08:54 PM.
03-03-12, 08:10 AM
#14
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Dude I gotta say to check em both out in person. I found a cpo at my lex of annapolis that seriously looked like *** and a single owner at an independent that was immaculate. I went with the immaculate and haven't looked back since 
03-03-12, 09:31 AM
#15
Pit Crew
Thread Starter
I agree after reading all the great posts here it all boils down to that individual car. I went with my gut on what I saw with my CPO ES300; probably paid a little too much but it's been the best car I've ever owned. The dealer currently has two 2003 LS's with mileage in the 50k range; they are immaculate. Too old to be certified but amazingly clean cars. I really want the updated facelift that the 04-06 got; I just love the lines on these cars. So this could go either way...dealer or private party. The right one is out there somewhere. Preferably silver with black like the 05 recently posted!