miniqtone

I am taking possession of a 2000 LS 400 Platinum Series this Saturday. I was actually looking for a LS430, since I already have a 1998 LS400 (not in the best repair) and had a 1995 until that deer jumped out of the bushes when I was doing 55 (I drove home).

I used the usual search engines to scout a 200 mile radius, to no avail. Sure, there were 430's for sale, but they either had too many miles, were too expensive, not in good repair, got sold immediately, or the owner/dealer gave me the creeps.
After searching daily for 10 weeks I realized that I have loved my 400's dearly, and so why not see what was out there? My search turned-up this 2000 model at first try! Some things are meant to be. Read on.

The 400 is at a dealer and so Im paying a DOC fee that I'd rather avoid, and Im not getting any sort of warrantee. So far, not good! Ive always bought from a private owner! But hang in there with me......

The 400 has a tad under 133K miles on it.

I found the car via CarGurus. It is 2.5 hours from me. The pics looked VERY good (I've since gotten a whole additional set which look great). Its the silver color, with the black interior/maple trim. One owner, no accidents.
The interior shots showed an amazing state of preservation and cleanliness, easily equal to any of the lowest-mile LS430's I'd looked into (even though they were above my budget, I still peeked). In fact there are no notable scuffs at all, and it was obvious that A) the original owner was OCD and B) whoever drove it since 2000 was small and lightweight; the driver's seat bottom has zero stretching of the leather. In fact it's impossible to believe that the car is 18 years old. It looks like a very clean one-or-two year old car inside. That thick urethane clear coat on the interior trim and steering wheel has no cracks, which is rare indeed (isn't it???). Even the leather on the wheel shows no wear. Hmm. Was the original owner driving with gloves? I don't get it.

The exterior paint is that of a garage-kept machine that was kept clean. There are small 3 scuff areas on the bumpers but Im great at wet sanding and buffing so no biggie. Engine compartment 100% detailed and clean. Cant wait to clay/sand/touchup/buff. Porter-Cable!

That all sounds good, but here's where drivers.lexus.com clinched the deal for me. I found about about that site via this very forum! Thanks!!!!!!!!!

For those who don't know, you can go to that site and enter a Lexus VIN and it will show you any repair records reported by a Lexus dealership.

I entered the 2000's VIN and I now have all repair records from when it had TWO MILES on the odometer up until 225 miles ago! The original owner had it serviced at Lexus exclusively; not only was the service schedule adhered to exactly, but every in-between visit is logged (even the car washes and look-overs). I think that the owner had little do do, there are even numerous logs regarding the merest suspicion of trouble that proved to be nothing. And of course there's the list of repairs, brake work, etc etc ad nauseum. Ive never seen such a detailed history.

And so Im grateful that I found out about drivers.lexus.com here...very grateful.

After reading the complete service record, plus the outward great condition, there was no way that I wasn't going to buy this car for $ 6000.

Ill post pics after I get her home and settled. She drives like new.

Your new friend Terry

miniqtone

Moral of the story being wait for the right one and use that website to check out the service history folks!

spuds

Yup,thats EXACTLY the way to get a fine car.The lexus site is so helpful,recently I was checking out some SC's.I found a lot with minimal records,a few with extensive records.What amazed me was finding more than you might think with advertised mileage that in no way matched the lexus records.

miniqtone

Yes isn't it an interesting bit of human-nature study when shopping used cars? It is indeed a gift to be able to check out complete "authorized" Lexis service records!

One thing for sure, used car sales folk are sometimes taken-aback when they learn that WE know more about their car than they do. That Lexus site is a blessing. I learned about it right here!

I think that I lucked-out, but I DID pursue due-diligence, I will say that. Time will tell, but I am thinking that a May 2000 LS 400 that had pristine upkeep for it's first 133K miles is worth $6K. It looked great but having access to the complete service history up until a few months ago is a huge plus.

I decided to buy one of the last 400's made with complete service records over buying a 430 with records that ended at 70K.

Was I right?

spuds

You did great.400 is the better looker anyhow.430 better,IDK.
I fell into my car too.I happened upon a youtube of worst used car.Guy was good.Looked at his BEST used cars,and there was the LS400,a car I never knew the slightest about.

Joined up here and read everything then POOF,up pops a car with 247,xxx and a huge service record owned by a Lexus Service Manager.Upshot,wound up with the best 2,500 dollar used car in the History of the World.

So there you are,we are peas in a pod in our experiences buying the Lexus.

miniqtone

YAY for all of us!

One priority for me was no navigation and especially no air suspension. To each his own!

spuds

Same advice I was given by the folks here.One thing Ive learned is when someone is willing to educate you free,without agenda,you shut up and listen!

I was prepared to wait a year if need be before jumping in,less than 2 months into my journey the right car just dropped into my lap.I had just sold my dodge truck to my nephew for,yup,2500 dollars.What a karma play!

Legender

Congrats.. great story and nice find.
Hope the car serves you well.

miniqtone

I acquired the car yesterday and have put about 100 miles on her since....a mix of high speed interstate and suburban driving.

The car drives as-new and I cannot be happier!!!!!!

The additional service record from the dealer now means that I have complete and strictly by the book servicing records on this car from when it had 2 miles on the odometer up until 125 miles ago. I got very lucky!!!!!!

They are still out there....you have to look every day and be ready to pounce!

spuds

Terry,we need pics!

Fit1too

I like the drivers.lexus site as well. I used it in my recent car search and of course this site as well. I was really surprised that they provided that much information. I used it for 4 different vehicles, which helped narrow my choice. Congrats on your new baby!

miniqtone

Will do after I have wet sanded/buffed out the inevitable scratches! Theres nothing bad except for a half-dollar sized area on the rear bumper thats through the color coat; but I am a good sprayer.

miniqtone

Here she is as I received it from the dealer. It's almost like a time capsule inside; the exterior paint is in very good shape but I am glad to have the Porter Cable buffer for scratches.

spuds

Very clean! Well done!

miniqtone

Today I used the Sylvania headlight restoration kit on her main lamps; I do endorse the product!
I followed the instructions exactly EXCEPT that I stuck a 600G wet-sanding between their 400-1000 supplied schedule.

As regards a LS400 job, they (Sylvania) give you enough pre-soak and gloss topcoat for at least two car's worth of headlamp so, Ill be doing all of the remaining exterior lenses with the remainder.
I'll have to supply the sandpaper and rubbing compound to do so but no problem.

You'll want to spend approx 1.5 hours to complete the headlight routine, which involves wet sanding, buffing, chem-cleaning, and gloss top coating.
In addition, to do it the way I did you'll have to tape-off the lights 3 times during the process.

The result is PERFECT.