rxis300

7 % sales tax

calvin2376

iTrader: (2)

I like many of the other posters here are confused about a few things. One, cars are a terrible investment. They depreciate. I've never heard anyone say they wanted to buy a car, drive it for a few months, then sell it for as much as you bought it for or more. That's because the act of driving it those months will by definition depreciate the car's value beyond what it was when you bought it.

To achieve this, you'd have to get the car for significantly less than the market price for that car. And it sounds like $14-15k is what KBB is saying is within the market range for that car, so I wouldn't imagine you could buy it for that, drive it and sell it for the same or more. Also keep in mind that a car that is one-owner often sells for a premium in the market. Your buying the car from her, driving it for 3 months and selling it will not look good to potential buyers. It will no longer be one-owner, and buyers will wonder why this person bought it and is flipping it so quickly afterwards. Is something wrong with it? Are they hiding something?

Finally, cars are a bad investment overall, but high mileage luxury cars are often even worse. You might buy this car and a week later, the water pump could go out, or the cam gear issue could arise. Both would be $1000-2000 repair bills. Someone else on here with a higher-mileage IS just posted they have a coolant pipe leaking and the repair bill is $2500. Don't get me wrong, these are very reliable cars, but if something goes wrong it's going to be extremely expensive. That's why I insisted on purchasing mine CPO.

rxis300

Good point on the repair bill issues. Thats probably the biggest issue here. I could probably drive it for a year, maybe lose a thousand or so, but if a big repair bill hits, then I'd be out more money. But that could happen to any vehicle I'm driving I guess.

kikcaffine

iTrader: (3)

We have never spoken. Done it on plenty of 240sx's, did it on my GS400 I just sold

Kurtz

iTrader: (1)

Just for clarity- Navigation is not part of the Lux package. While it'd be very very unusual to find a Lux package car without nav, it's certainly not impossible.

That said, it's far more likely it's just the premium package, which has like 2 grand less content.

Simple way to tell is this:

Heated/vented seats without memory seats= Premium package.

Heated/vented seats WITH memory seats AND woodgrain=Lux package

Heated/vented seats WITH memory and NO woodgrain= Sport package

Only one of these is possible in a car


Nav is an entirely stand-alone option, not part of any factory option package. The only options here are:

No nav (with or without ML)
Nav without ML
Nav with ML

Any of those 3 can appear in a vehicle with the premium, lux, or sport, packages.

p0lo8

I would say go for it if you are good at fixing cars or have a mechanic who can fix it for cheap if something goes wrong. If you are planning taking it to the dealer every time you need something done i would say pass and buy car with a warranty.
If i wouldn't know a guy who can fix it up for cheap i would have passed on my car too and looked for something with a warranty. However, i did not have a single issue yet and hopefully it stays that way.

Gville350

iTrader: (10)

Buying a car for personal use should never be a matter of looking for something to buy and turn around and expect to make money.

With that said, walk up to the front door with 13k in a briefcase and tell them they can take it or leave it.

calvin2376

iTrader: (2)

You're exactly right, my only caveat would be that while it could happen on any car, on a Lexus the repair bill will be much larger than say on a Camry or Accord.

trinh

iTrader: (5)

I think you can get a better deal, be patient with it.
I got my 350 for 20K with only 55k~ miles on it.