I am looking at 2 2001 GS300 that are not very close, I have to travel over 100 miles for each. I ran a carfax and both came back clean. One with 39,200 miles came back saying corporate lease vehicle and registered as a fleet vehicle. The other one came back clean with 57,089 miles saying sold as a lease vehicle but was not registered as a fleet vehicle. It was then sold at an auction listed as a fleet vehicle. I ran a couple other GS and they came back either lease or corporate lease and were either sold or registered as fleet vehicles. Is this common? Does fleet automatically mean it was a rental car. Does corporate lease mean anything different then regular. Would you buy a Lexus if it was a fleet or rental car even if it checks out. They are both priced around 19-20 thousand. What would you guys think is a good deal if turns out they were rental cars which I really never have seen a GS300 as a rental car. One with lower mileage is dark green, no heated seats and has ML. Higher mileage is black with tan leather and heated seats which I prefer. Thanks

 

I havent seen a GS rental car either. It doesnt sound like they are or were rental cars to me. Being a 2k1 with only 39k miles doesnt sound like a rental. I think a rental would have higher miles. It sounds like whoever bought the car bought it under a corporation name. Many people do that to write off the car as a corporate expense, or at least write off some of it. If it turns out that it was a rental I wouldnt touch it personally. I am sure that there are plenty of GSs out there that have clean records and are well taken care of. I would think the one with 57k miles has too many miles to me. If you are patient enough then there are some good GSs out there, especially now that people are selling them to get the new GS. Good luck with your search

 

My 99 was owned by a leasing company for a few years and then a doctor owned it and now me...

car has 54,455 miles...not to bad for a 99....

Good luck with your search..... Tony

 

It's strange, every car fax I ran for 10 different GS300 came back as bought at an auction listed as a fleet vehicle. I have never heard of rental car companies using Lexus GS but maybe the buyers list them as fleets to get a tax break or it is cheaper or they have to when they intend on putting them in dealers lots and selling them right away. I did not know buying at auctions was so popular. I figure the owner would get less at an auction unless it is a super exotic.

 

when I was shopping for a GS about this time last year, I had unlimited carfax and I noticed 70-80% GS300s were lease or corporate fleet vehicles. Alot of people lease these cars and maybe leases for 01s are running out now? The fleet vehicles are probably company cars, etc.

btw-not to diss GS3 owners, because they are great cars, but you should seriously drive a GS4xx before you buy a 300.

 

I've driven GS400's, GS430's, and GS300. The v-8 was alot more powerful then the 6 cylinder but they are also more expensive, cost alot more to insure, and get slightly worse gas mileage. The 300 had nice pickup when driving it easy but flooring it did leave a little more to be desired. It still gets up pretty well but felt slower then my moms base 2000 Acura TL. Coming from a 4 cylinder Eclipse and Accord the power is fine for me. I do not need alot of horsepower in my daily driven car because I am tired of getting speeding tickets and I will probrably be enjoying that v-8 too much which will hurt me at the pump with gas prices the way they are these days. There is so much traffic these days that all the horsepower goes to waste most of the time. I will eventaully get a sleek two door like a used Supra turbo, G35 coupe, used E46 M3, or a new Supra if it meets my expectations for my speed cravings. I can always upgrade to a v-8 down the road if I end up loving the GS. I still find the auction, fleet, and coorperate lease thing a little strange to be so common with all the GS's I ran carfax on.