I saw a 06 ul for sale with 76k miles that i am considering....I pulled a carfax report and it stated that it was a fleet vehicle. I guess that means that i was corporate driven, work car or something of that sort. It also list that it has been serviced at a lexus dealer up until the point of sale. However the vehicle was purchased and serviced in NYC where the roads are unforgiving. It is not a CPO vehicle but the price is not bad.....$25k but negotiable. Its also in another state where as the dealer keeps pressuring me to put a down payment on the car so he won't sell it. I also looked at the fine print on the buyers order where it clearly states "SOLD AS IS" which means he is not liable for anything should anything happen to this vehicle after the sale. Should i consider this vehicle or completely right it off.

Thank you in Advance.

 

You are looking at a UL car with high clock and no warranty....it is a chance, I dont think you can even get a Lexus warranty since the car has crossed the 4yr/50k mark. I would say take it to a local Lexus dealer and have it checked out before making a purchase. You do understand, if the car's air shocks go bad you are in a for a fortune to fix right (especially knowing that the car was driven in NY.

I would say buy a 05 UL with lower miles, which can qualify for a Lexus warranty.

Corporate lease means the car was leased under a business name and was either driven by an executive that owned/worked for the company or it was chauffeur driven.

 

Any time someone pressures me to buy, I walk away,, being 64 years old, I have walked away from some "great" deals, but on the most part, I find that it was more prudent to continue down the road when pushed. There is usually a reason. $25k for as is is pretty tough since it was a fleet car. Lots of miles, and NYC is pretty unforgiving on vehicles.

Case in point, I have a ES350 located for about 18k, but has a salvage title due to having been stolen. I passed and will continue to look. Main point is, that you should be comfortable with what you get. I paid $33k for my 06 but not UL, with only 28k miles... 75k on air shocks is pretty iffy, and they cost a grand a wheel, i see from post in here.

 

Fleet usually means leased in many cases. Good luck with the seach.

 

then is it possible to purchase an extended warranty on the vehicle through the dealer. Or is it even possible to purchase an outside warranty that will cover the air suspension?

 

Lexus won't CPO it as I believe the cutoff is either 70 or 75K, and I'm pretty sure it has to be a Lexus off-leased vehicle, or one that came on tradein to a dealer. Anyway, Lexus won't CPO it. You can find an external underwriter that might certify it up to 100K, but at this point, you might pay in excess of $2000 to do that. Not worth it in my opinion to take this sort of risk and additional milease for a "rush" job and get this LS. There are plenty of 2006 still coming off lease and I would wait it out.

With the LS430, I think the 'dead zone' when off-lease vehicles are done and you're dealing with private parties mostly, will be around mid to late next year (2010), so you still have a good one year to go to find your dream Lexus. Don't rush... haste makes waste.

 

I don't know how Autofax does it now, but Autocheck marks them as fleet/lease and many, many, many LS430's come off lease.
Many, many, many used cars are sold-as-it, probably more often then not.
Car salesmen putting pressure on you to put money down is also not unusual.
Those aren't big warning flags in my mind.
Your risk is with the mileage, particularly since it has the air suspension which is expensive when it goes.

 

As-is is fine for a private sale, because if I'm selling a car, I'm not getting it checked out to make sure it's not going to fail in "x" number of miles and then give you some sort of "warranty" for it. The same is not the case for dealers (Lexus or private) because if they can't vouch that it's going to last for some period of time, then why should I buy from you then?

The "worse" I saw when I was looking was 1 month or 1K miles. Typically I think it's 3 month and 3K miles for a basic warranty.

As for money down... come on, that's for hot cars like the GTR and ZR1, not for a used LS430. The LS430 is not selling like hot cakes and so asking for money down to me is a red flag, especially if it's not refundable upon inspection of vehicle.

Like I said, don't rush because there will be plenty of LS's coming along the way... for another good year.

 

Even if its not cpo you can get a pretty comprehensive extended service contract for that vehicle. If you check with your insurance company or credit union they can probably get you one in the $1 to $2k range. I have an 04 Ultra that I purchased in Jan 08 with 70k. I purchased an extended service contract (not from the dealer) and I didn't have to use it at all. I previously had a 99 LX that I bought with 55k. I bouth an extended service contract on that as well. I had a couple of issues that they took care of, at the Lexus dealership. It was handled as if it was a Lexus warranty. Dont rush but you do have options on the service end.