FatherTo1

A special thank you to you too, CRowe, for the support along the way. The help from everyone has been invaluable and has kept me from buyer's remorse and saved me from rushing into a decision or settling. Just hope the sale happens. I don't have any indication that it won't, just paranoid. Things are in order on our end and the seller is making necessary preparations. Thank you again.

CRowe14

Absolutely (for my tiny 2 cents) lol!!
And though I can understand the paranoia and level of anxiety, rest assured that it will happen, and if it doesn't, this was not meant to be for whatever reason and there is still something out there for you and your wife! The universe has its ways I guess...
You are ready, did your homework -- that's about all you can do, and I believe the hard work will pay off.
Regarding the folks in this little corner of the forum, I personally think this place is incredible.
Not only the amount of information that is shared, but it is easy to distinguish that the character of many of the people here are tier 1.
So a thanks to you for your contributions and sharing your walk with us as well.
I bet you cant wait to get those keys in your hand!

SW17LS

Yeah no reason not to just go ahead and do them all

FatherTo1

Am I correct to get 12044148 and 12044149 for the front and rear Centric Premium rotors, and 10512820 and 10512830 for the Posi-quiet pads? Is that what you bought, Steve? Thank you.

My mechanic says he has Centric parts at his warehouse and may be cheaper. He has installed Centric pads for clients but has not tried the rotors yet and my case will be his first if it all gets done.

SW17LS

Yep, those are the right ones.

If your shop can source the parts thats preferable, as long as they are using the same parts. Be sure that they are using the Centric PREMIUM rotors, the basic Centric rotors have an unpainted rotor hat that gets rusty and ugly.

If your shop sources them down the road if you have any warranty issues its easier...

FatherTo1

Thanks, Steve, and will do. I have forwarded the exact part numbers to my indie.

Good point about future warranty claims, I hadn't considered that benefit.

SW17LS

My mechanic told me that Centric is very good with warranty issues, its just easier to file for a replacement if he is the source of the purchase.

FatherTo1

Some of you may recall that I had considered a silver 2009 AWD 460L two months back. It was the one in Kansas with air suspension and some rims replaced because the owner hit a curb. Back on Jan 2nd, the lowest the dealership would go was $21,701 (already down from a high of $24,488). Fast forward to today and the price is now $17,983, plus the dealership is willing to ship it FREE within 1,000 miles! They have dropped it $6,500 in three months. Most surprising is the drastic drop and free shipping offer in the last 6 or 7 weeks. I don't want that car anymore, of course, but am shocked how much more room they had for further reductions. I only noticed this because I received an email price alert on the car today.

https://www.lairdnollertopeka.com/in...dl46f695000417

comotiger

Fto1, are you sure you are not tempted just a little bit??

I think that car can't hold a candle to the one you have committed to buying. It's much too old (no offense implied to 2007-2009 LS owners), too many miles, and still the same issues with air suspension (OK, never mind, you said they were replaced, now that's good). Still, you are getting a much newer freshened vehicle in a nice color combo, BT enabled, and the 2013 UltraLux MUST have rear door window shades (yes?) which the 2009 is lacking. Plus you don't really need AWD in CA, so one less mechanical issue to deal with. Besides, the 2013+ has been vetted by your entire clan (sorry I meant family ), so you can't back out now...

We are waiting for inside and out photos of your 2013 LS, not anything else. Have fun!!

FatherTo1

Good one, comotiger.

I am not tempted in the slightest and agree with every point you've made. The cost difference is easily worth it in my mind (now). I am in love with the 2013, and all the features, power side sun shades included. Hopefully we can bring it home in 24 more hours. I have double-, and triple-checked all the required identification, forms, pay-off declarations, etc with the bank. Just counting down the seconds...

comotiger

Don't forget the money....

I really marvel at your courage as you went thru the process of making this purchase. You pretty much bared your soul on this forum as you detailed various thought processes in choosing the car that suits your family best. We all gave our opinions and sometimes even needled you a bit. You were game and ultimately have made a great choice.

I wish I had done (what you have done) exactly a year ago when I purchased my dream car on Feb 25, 2016! I don't regret the purchase, it's exactly what I wanted and the car has been exceptional in every way. But had I become a member before buying the car and discussed my options candidly as you have for the last few weeks, I very likely would have saved about $3-4K. More power to you!

Junglequac

Guessing since that white one has been on the lot for over 90 days and does have an accident history and over 100,000 miles that they a simply dumping it at roughly what it would fetch at auction whilst still saving the money of having to pay to transport it and auction fees and in turn trying to recoup some of the loss with the "dealer fee" and whatnot.

Regardless, it really does appear to be an absurdly good price for a 2009 AWD L and someone is going to get one heckuva deal to say the least. Shame that CarFax has stopped showing service records without signing up for "my CarFax" as prior many CarFax reports showed many dealer service records without having to signup and no doubt pay extra for another service.

And indeed the 2013 FT1 getting is much nicer as well it should be as I am guessing it is close to twice the price of the 2009. While I decidedly prefer the Nebula Grey/Flaxen (or whatever they call the interior color over the white/tan), it is certainly up for debate whether or not it is twice the car as the 2013 only has roughly 30,000 less miles and is RWD (which I actually prefer)

FatherTo1

Thank you, comotiger/Jungle. Alas, there will be no new car. The seller just sent me a text and cancelled the sale an hour ago.

He said that he just learned today that he was approved for the Tesla he wanted, "with the Lexus included". I don't quite understand how the dealer would give him more for his car...or maybe they did/will. I learned tonight that he was going to need to pay $6,500 to pay off the existing 2013 LS loan, after we pay the agreed upon price of $38,500 (originally listed as $39,500). We were able to bargain $1,000 reduction due to some curb rash on two rims, a small dimple dent near the A-pillar (which is much worse in the photo than in person), and two superficial scratches on the driver's side rear seat leather (photos below). KBB/NADA appraised the car between $36,500-$37,000, but honestly I thought $38,500 was a great price considering I searched cargurus nationwide and could not find a comparably equipped 2013, in anywhere near the same condition, for under $40K, sometimes not even for $50K!

I am disappointed, but more so just confused by the seller's choice of direction. I let the seller know I am glad things will work out better for him. I will keep the search going and hopefully will be rewarded later.

Jungle, you're right that the 2013 LS is more than twice what that 2009 AWD is now asking for and the 2013 isn't twice the car of the 2009, but with this particular example I felt it was worth it. Nothing against 2007-2012 as they're still amazing vehicles, I just was more wowed and saw greater differentiation from our LS 430 after stepping into a 2013. I was reticent about purchasing the 2011 LS 460L, at $32K, because there were so many niggling things that bothered me about it. I didn't have any reservations about $38,500 for this particular 2013. A few days ago, the seller shared that he had another buyer willing to pay his asking price of $39,500 but that the prospective buyer was doing some home repairs and would not have the money available for quite some time, so the seller decided to sell for less to us. Since the seller backed out of the deal, I don't feel as bad. We were fully committed to the purchase and I feel good about that. It just wasn't meant to be, but I learned a lot from this past week. I know that I want 2013+ and that Nebula Gray and Flaxen is a killer combo. I also learned that the smaller trunk is a non-issue and that I do like the air suspension enough to keep it.

I still don't quite understand the seller's rationale. I will say he was a pleasure to interact with throughout the experience and placed a great deal of trust in me with his LS. He even allowed me to pick up the car from his home to take it for an inspection. He was always responsive to my texts, all up until today when it seemed communication went silent. From my interactions with the seller, I have a very good impression of him and still do. Oh well, I don't blame the seller at all for doing what he felt was best for him and his family.

Here are some parting photos:

(This rim isn't so bad. The spare is worse. After the seller swapped the clean spare with the first damaged rim, he then managed to scrape up this second rim shortly after.)





(Not that it matters anymore, but this dimple dent is hardly noticeable in person. I had to deliberately catch it at the proper angle to bring out the dent in this photo.)

comotiger

Fto1, I am very sorry to hear that the seller cancelled the sale. That must be very disheartening for you considering the car was so close to being yours. I wish you the best to find a similar vehicle before too long.

If the retail price (for private sale) for this vehicle was around $40K on KBB/NADA, and if the seller owed the bank another 5K, I can understand his hesitation to completing the sale. However, I agree with you that I cannot understand how he could trade it in for a Tesla since he would get no more than $38-39K for the trade in, and he would owe the bank even more. Unless Tesla is offering him a "yuuuge" discount....

Sorry again. You found this great car. You will find another one again. Remember that 2014 LS leases are coming back, so there could be a good selection in a few months.

FatherTo1

Thank you, comotiger. It was indeed disappointing to receive word of the cancellation, as you can imagine, but it is beyond our control and the seller has every right to change their mind. Oddly, my wife seems more upset over it than I am, primarily because she feels we could have avoided wasting time and money on the inspection if the seller was "serious" about selling. I will give the seller the benefit of the doubt and believe he was indeed serious about selling. He probably didn't know for sure what to do until the very last moment when satisfying the loan became a reality, which isn't very different than when I hesitated to put real money on the 2011 460L last month. Strangely, if we had closed the deal yesterday (which was never in the plans) then it would be too late for the seller to back out. But it just wasn't meant to be and hopefully the seller is happier in his new Tesla that he is scheduled to pick up next week. I still don't know how his Tesla loan is better with trading the car in than selling it to us. When I first test drove the car last Saturday he did jokingly mention that he "wasn't sure if he should sell the LS". I can completely understand if he just decided to keep it -- I would...although I probably would have avoided being $6,500 upside down on the loan to begin with.

That is another thing that doesn't make sense to me. If he is $6,500 upside down, then why didn't he just sell the car at $45K? There are two other Lexus dealerships in the Bay Area that have a white 2013 460L and a 2014 460 SWB, both at $44K. They both have less miles than the private seller, but neither has anywhere near the options that the private 2013 has. Why didn't the private seller list the car at $42K-45K then? After all, he still could and get more money for the car than what Tesla is giving him...I assume. Of course, for $42K I probably never would have contacted the seller and would have just kept waiting and searching. This is going to be tough moving forward. For the immediate future I will be comparing all potential LSes against the almost fully-optioned private example at $38.5K.

On the bright side, you're absolutely right, comotiger. This gives more time for 2014 lease returns to come to market and also gives more time to see how much prices may fall when the LS 500 goes on sale six(?) months from now.