hardimen

- 2005 LS430 - Modern Luxury Package
- 76K miles
- Dealer maintained - all maintenance including oil changes done at Lexus dealership. Lexus service history at lexus.com shows service done pretty much every 5k miles. Timing Belt and water pump already replaced at 70K. Talked to the Lexus service specialist that worked on the vehicle - it was serviced last month and all of Lexus' recommendations for replacement of parts due to wear and tear were replaced.
- All buttons and controls work
- Seller is 2nd owner - bought it Certified Pre-Owned with extended warranty up to 125K miles. Unfortunately, it is non-transferable
- Exterior and interior is in excellent shape

Seller is asking $20,500.

Location: California - Vehicle has always been in California.

I think it is a great deal. What do you guys think?

Thanks for your input.

Bocatrip

If all the history checks out and there is no paint work other than the standard bumper cover respray, try for 19K and grab it. It's a great price.

C8V6C

Sounds like a good deal

Jabberwock

Wholesale on the car is apprx 18k. What it will sell for retail $ is depends on overall condition and history - if it is truly a well maintained cream puff then you should grab it. More and more cars are semi-trashed or have high miles when they get 6-7+ years old so great condition examples get harder to find.

Playdrv4me

What interior and exterior color is it?

I paid about the same price for a 2004 Ultra Luxury with 70k last year. There are some really nice colors on the LS's though so for me it comes down to the total package if I am going to go after a car in that price range, including the color combos. My favorite is the pearl white on baseball glove leather. A few members here have it.

eptigers

Having just bought an '06 in excellent condition, same miles, same excellent service history, I would I've preferred an '05 at the lower price point. But I needed a car fast due to mine getting hit and I wanted a hard to find color with chrome rims. I paid 23.5k.

Was it on this board where someone posted that there are five categories of used car "wants"? Color, Condition, service history, mileage and price? If you get three of your targets you are doing fine, four is great, five is tremendous. I hit on 3.5 of 5, I didn't mind spending an extra $500 - $1,000 or so for the right car. I was about to start spending $300 a week on a rental.

V8_Fan

Are you sure the CPO warranty isn't transferable? I seem to remember reading somewhere in the paperwork that it was.

FWIW, I paid $38K out the door back in 2009 for a 2005 ultra w/ ecru leather and 21K mi w/ 6 yr CPO warranty extension. The extension was around $2.5K more. It was owned by retirees in Palm Springs, vehicle was like new. If the car is immaculate, $20-25K for an ultra is a good deal. The only issues w/ the 05 ultra w/ PCS is many of them, including mine, have a bug in the radar cruise control. It doesn't show up until you've driven like a couple hundred miles on it. Then it'll signal an error. There's a TSB out on it. You have to replace the radar ECU ($800, covered under warranty). I also had a bad electrical connection in the front blower when it hit 117F in AZ (replaced under warranty), and three of the front sonar sensors had gone bad. Those happened in NM (wonder if it had to do with sub-freezing temps?).

In all, the car is still awesome to drive, plenty powerful, and economical (I average 26mpg, mostly highway driving, but 1700 ft of climbing up a mountain pass every day. As my commute is about 45 mi per day round trip, I put on 20K mi in the last 15 months (now have 52K). The rubber bushings underneath are still new-looking, just cleaned the A/C evaporator to remove the smell since the PO drove the car to San Diego (found a map in the pocket) and probably didn't run the blower on fresh air and just turned off the A/C.

hardimen

thanks for the comments folks. i bought the car for $20400. it is in great shape. the only problem I saw was the paint below the nav screen was worn and needs repainting. also, there was only one key.

I checked everything I know on the car and just pushed buttons and evrything works. There are light scratches coz he used a car cover which he gave to me also. no deep scratches though.

I am very happy with my purchase.

hardimen

According to the Lexus dealership here, CPO warranty is non-transferable unless it is still covered by manufacturer warranty - which is, the car has to be less than 50K miles and a certain age (which I forgot).

The only other way it can be transferable if it the car has Platinum Extended Warranty - which is different from CPO.

That's what I've been told anyway.

hardimen

I believe I hit 5 out of 5 on this one.

Color - Black on Black (my 1st preference)
Condition - Excellent for its age. Very quiet - it's just lovely IMO.
Service History - All maintenance records (every 5K miles done at Lexus dealership + timing belt/water pump replaced early at 70k)
Mileage - even less than what I expected for what I can get with my budget. I initially thought I would end up with mileage between 85k - 100k.
Price - A couple of thousand less what I expected to pay.

hardimen

I was actually interested also in an 04 Ultra Luxury but I was a little worried about the air suspension coz it was around 90k miles. Asking price was the same at $20500. I'm glad the seller didn't call me back.

I noticed that cars coming from states that doesn't have snow are a bit more expensive. I noticed this from looking at the carfax reports of many, many LS430 listed over the past couple of months.

sajack

As for snow states, I have purchased snow state cars in the past. EVERY single part that was not aluminum or stainless on the underside of those cars was rusted and corroded. On a top end car like a Lexus, I would only search non-snow state cars. There is no point in dealing with rust and corrosion any more than you have to.

Playdrv4me

My '04 UL came from North Carolina, I pretty much buy only Southern or California cars UNLESS it's specifically a beater. And whatever you do, avoid Chicago stuff at all costs.

Chris51080

My '05 ML with 80k in California cost me 19k from a local dealer.
I also had full service records at the Lexus dealer, every 5k miles like clockwork.

Thats a very nice price on the car provided there has been no bodywork or accidents requiring major repair.

eptigers

You nailed it, sounds like I car I would have snapped up too. If it had been on the market a month ago I would have grabbed my golf clubs and flown out from Texas for it. Congrats!