GS 350 Extent of Damage?
 

I have found a GS 350 that matched my criteria to a T. (Interior/exterior color, luxury package, ML, 30,000k miles)

Checking the Carfax, there is no mention of an accident. However, the only history listed is the date of sale as a lease car and an emissions inspection passed at ~19,000 miles. I got online at the Lexus owners site to check the maintenance history. It appears all maintenance was performed. There was mention of a navigation being in a loop at 5,000 miles that seems to have been resolved according to the dealer comments and were never mentioned in the future maintenance listings.

However, at around 8,000 miles there is this entry:

REPORTED BY: Park Place Lexus Plano
SERVICE: REPAIRED FRONT BUMPER & HOOD
DESCRIPTION: REPAIRED FRONT BUMPER & HOOD ~ ~CLIENT STATES: REPLACE FRONT BUMPER COVER AND REPAIR HOOD ~ ~ ~ ~1300 REPAIRED DAMAGED AREA ON FRONT BUMPER AND HOOD PER INS EST.

All other entries(up to 25,000 miles) seem to be regularly scheduled maintenance.

Is this an accident repair not picked up on by Carfax?

Could be as simple something that fell over onto bumper/hood in the owner's garage. Hood was repaired and bumper replaced. Could not have been much more than a paint job on hood?

If you look at it and the hood and bumper look good, I would not be scared off.

not sure what you meant.

Probably a typo probably meant "would not be scared off"

Typo, corrected. That's what I meant. Not sure if it is my PC or keyboard or what but I lose letters and autocorrect does odd things if I'm not paying close attention. Seems worst here. Don't notice elsewhere.

It all depends on how you feel about owning a car that has been damaged, repaired and repainted. Some people really don't care, but others really, really do care and wouldn't own a car that had any body work or paint work done to it.

Since Park Place Lexus Plano (my local Lexus dealership BTW) did the repair work on that car you might be able to furnish them the VIN number and request the details of the damage. Since the car is for sale they might be willing to share that information with you.

I figured so. I just wanted to make certain. Thanks.

Thanks. If it's just cosmetic, I don't mind. That description from the Lexus maintenance history just seems vague to me.

Sounds like cosmetic only damage. If the damage was significant the dealers repair notes would also indicate things repaired/replaced like grill, fog lights, headlights, any engine components, etc. Since none of that stuff is listed it doesn't sound like this was a major collision type of damage.

Contacting the dealer is the best bet.

The guy probably hit something or possibly a family member or friend backed into him and he did not want to get insurance involved so he just paid to get it fixed. I would not worry about it as long as the repair looks good.

REPAIRED DAMAGED AREA ON FRONT BUMPER AND HOOD PER INS EST (insurance estimate).

Odd that it would not show up on Carfax then.

You can get the insurance company involved and get an insurance estimate and then not take the payout. This would not result in a report to carfax from the insurance company since the insurance company did not pay the claim. If the repair shop also doesn't report it, and there was no police report, then carfax will never know.

If the original owner had a 1k deductible, filed the claim with insurance, got the estimate at 1300 and then decided not to take the payout, the dealership would still repair the vehicle based on that estimate and the owner paid out of pocket. I would pay a repair of 1300 out of pocket with a 1k deductible to avoid the future hit on rates that would result from a payout. Only 300 more out of pocket.