I went and check out a Lex today. It is a 2012 IS350 with 9k miles. It has nav, backup camera, that dark grey oak looking trim on the inside, with the two tone black and white interior, spoiler, and the F-sport font bumper. The car looks amazing! Asking 38k.

Now the dealer (not an Lexus dealer) gave me a "autocheck" not a car fax and of course it was clean. He advise me to check the local Lexus dealer to see if there were any repairs. The thing is that this car was being sold at a local lexus dealer about 3 months ago. I know this because i looked up the vin on the Lexus website and then I looked up the one i check out today and its the exact same Vin.

Three questions for you guys....

1) Why would it go to auction? (maybe because new IS is coming?)
2) What do you think of the service history?
3)Also how is the steering on your lexus? This one seems slightly stiffer than my mom's 2010 Camery (I know a camery is not a lexus).

Any and all advice and opinions are appreciated!

Here are a couple of things on the service history that concern me:

05/19/2012 CLIENT AUTHORIZES PARK PLACE LEXUS TO WASH THE VEHICLE AFTER REPAIRS. PARK PLACE

03/05/2012 IN ORDER TO PROVIDE OUTSTANDING SERVICE FOR OUR CLIENTS ALL LOAN CARS ARE DUE BA

03/05/2012 CLIENT AUTHORIZES PARK PLACE LEXUS TO WASH THE VEHICLE AFTER REPAIRS.

02/25/2012 EXISTING BLEMISHES OR DAMAGE

02/25/2012 CLIENT AUTHORIZES PARK PLACE LEXUS TO WASH THE VEHICLE AFTER REPAIRS. PARK PLACE

 

I wouldn't worry about the washes, thats part of the lexus service, however I would be interested in what repairs were preformed. Can you paste up the full service history??

 

Dealer Reported 05/19/2012 Park Place Lexus 5646 0987237 CLIENT REQUESTS PARK PLACE LEXUS TO PERFORM MULTI-POINT COURTESY VEHICLE INSPECT

Dealer Reported 05/19/2012 Park Place Lexus 5646 0987237 04 & NEWER 6 CYL-MINOR-5,000 MILE SERVIC
E
Dealer Reported 05/19/2012 Park Place Lexus 5646 0987237 VEHICLE HAD ANOTHER KEY IN CONSOLE-SMART ACCESS WILL NOT WORK IF MORE THANONE KE

Dealer Reported 05/19/2012 Park Place Lexus 5646 0987237 CLIENT AUTHORIZES PARK PLACE LEXUS TO WASH THE VEHICLE AFTER REPAIRS. PARK PLACE

Dealer Reported 03/05/2012 Park Place Lexus 2647 0970043 STRIP & RETINT RIGHT FRONT WINDOW

Dealer Reported 03/05/2012 Park Place Lexus 2647 0970043 IN ORDER TO PROVIDE OUTSTANDING SERVICE FOR OUR CLIENTS ALL LOAN CARS ARE DUE BA

Dealer Reported 03/05/2012 Park Place Lexus 2647 0970043 EXISTING BLEMISHES OR DAMAGE
Dealer Reported 03/05/2012 Park Place Lexus 2647 0970043 CLIENT AUTHORIZES PARK PLACE LEXUS TO WASH THE VEHICLE AFTER REPAIRS. PARK PLACE

Dealer Reported 02/25/2012 Park Place Lexus 2455 0968107 RETAIL TINT (SEDAN)

Dealer Reported 02/25/2012 Park Place Lexus 2455 0968107 CLIENT REQUESTS
PARK PLACE LEXUS TO PERFORM MULTI-POINT COURTESY VEHICLE INSPECT

Dealer Reported 02/25/2012 Park Place Lexus 2455 0968107 1,000 MILE SERVICE

Dealer Reported 02/25/2012 Park Place Lexus 2455 0968107 EXISTING BLEMISHES OR DAMAGE

Dealer Reported 02/25/2012 Park Place Lexus 2455 0968107 CLIENT AUTHORIZES PARK PLACE LEXUS TO WASH THE VEHICLE AFTER REPAIRS. PARK PLACE

Dealer Reported 02/25/2012 Park Place Lexus 2455 0968107 IN ORDER TO PROVIDE OUTSTANDING SERVICE FOR OUR CLIENTS ALL LOAN CARS ARE DUE BA

Dealer Reported 12/02/2011 Park Place Lexus 10 0947208 DETAIL FOR DELIVERY DETAIL WAX EXTERIOR WASH ENGINE



There is more but its all delivery and wax stuff. The dealer is local so i think i will give them a call and see if they can shed any incite.

 

5/19 they did a 5,000 mile service so its considered a "repair"
3/5 they most likely buffed out some scuff marks and washed the car, which is also a "repair"

this vehicle is fine, nothing to worry about. and of course steering in your moms 2010 camry will be different compared to the lexus. Lexus uses electric power steering and the 2010 camry uses hydraulic power steering.

 

Not sure, but looks to me like the dealer was taking care of some issues that the original buyer was having with their new car..... I don't see anything definitive in regards to an "issue" with the car. I know that there are some members here that work for Lexus and may be able to shed some more light on the listings posted above, but looks like it's mostly cosmetic to me. As far as why such a new car would go to auction is beyond me, honestly. Auctions are usually reserved for older models or cars with extremely high mileage, meaning that your local dealership wouldn't want them on their lot....

 

That's just not true regarding auctions, though some dealers will never keep older and/or high mileage cars at all unless they have a "$9,999 and under section" or something along those lines. Most "luxury" dealerships don't. Regardless, dealers generally don't keep used cars much more than 60 days. For sale at another dealer 3 months (90 days) ago is quite long to sit on it, so maybe they gave such a new car some extra time. Either way, it doesn't matter if it's a 2005 with 70K miles or 2012 with 3K miles, used is used and if it doesn't sell within about 60 days where they are willing to price it, it probably won't sell and is taking up the space of a car that could. Stale inventory is bad news for a dealer, so while you're looking at Carfaxes, check the date it was listed for sale. The longer it's been for sale at a dealer, the less they will likely take for it, but the harder they will try not to.

Park Place has a Lexus dealership and other non-Lexus dealers (you didn't mention what dealer it's at now), so they could easily move/sell it to one of the other dealerships to keep the used inventory rotated and looking "new". I know I've seen the same IS passed around dealers here, so they may see if other local dealers interested before sending it to auction. Either way, it won't stay on the same lot for much more than 60 days, it will either sell retail, go to another lot or go to auction.

Yes, it's my first post here, I recently bought a 2011 SFP 250IS I was looking at two 2012 250's at Park Place Lexus a month or so ago, which is what caught my eye in this thread

 

Thanks for the replies! I figure it could not be much wrong with it since during the test drive he gave me the keys and told me to have fun (and I did). Your replies makes me feel much better. Now knowing the deal on auctions, I think i will press even harder for a lower price. When I was talking to the very talkative sales person I got a feeling that he paid somewhere near 30k for it at auction. I will try to go for the 33-35.5k range and use the "it was at auction" leverage and the fact that a new IS is around the corner.

 

Everything looks normal to me on the service after looking at the full list.

 

That might be expecting quite a bit, that range is where most 2012 250s were priced when I was looking last month, with the cheapest (no nav) around $32K at the time (with 3K miles). The other thing to remember is that the car is new on the 2nd dealer's lot regardless of how long it sat on the previous one. If it were still on the first lot and it's been 90 days, that would be another matter, but I don't think $33K is in cards anywhere. That would be a smoking deal if you managed it! $38K seems pretty fairly priced if the car is all there and if you can get them lower from there, you're probably doing pretty well. Good luck!

 

You might want to compare it with a new one. I got mine brand new last xmas with NAV, tint, spoiler, 18" rims, and F-sport exhaust for $40k.