2KHarrier

Interesting that you should mention this. My long-term plan (stress the word plan) is to drive my 2001 LS for another 3 years, and when I hit 300K, sell it or donate it and buy a Model 3. I'll no doubt still have the 2005, and with the amount of garage sitting it does, I'll probably start driving it to work to keep the Tesla as the "nice" car...

We'll see...

Bocatrip

. After being in the car industry for almost 30 years I can say this with confidence. If any older LS430 with reasonable miles for the year (100-135) will still fetch good money if the car is in absolutely exceptional condition visually. That means original unblemished paint and like new interiors. Buyers will overlook a few items out of sort if the car shows well with the RIGHT color combo. Any exceptional early LS430 can fetch 7-8500 if it has a top notch presentation. Many early LS430s are rough and after viewing them buyers are willing to step up to the plate for the rare beauties.

tallcaguy

A good 04-06 private sale (low mileage, good service, ML or above) is holding at 10-12 IF you can find one. The "non standard" colors (Blue, Green, Briarwood) seem to do ok out here.

Bocatrip

Finding a good one is the problem. These cars are trading hands often. With each trade the condition drops. Harder to find a real nice car...

warminwisc

I think there are still the cream puffs out there when I look around on craigslist. There are a lot of elderly drivers advertising full dealer records one two owners( before you go further ask if you can call Lexus dealer). Ya can just skip thru the ones that do not resemble this as tit is an elderly driven car loosing its appeal to younger generation.

tallcaguy

Seems like elderly cream puffs (ECP) don't usually sell on Craig's. They get traded in. The 2 ECP's I saw local Craig's had ridiculous prices (more than a dealer). They sat for 1-2 months. I've bought and sold cars on Craigs for years but too many weirdo's these days. A couple of years ago, sold our ES300. Agreed on a cash price by email. Guy showed up several hundred dollars short and asked me to still sell. Told him to get the cash (ATM) or go home. He did but it was such BS. LOL took the cash. Walked to the Honda dealer just down the street. Bought a nice one owner ES 330 (60) and drove home. I will never do a trade in to a dealer but willing to buy at the right price. End of the month a good time because they often want to get rid of cars

Johnhav430

I'm not in to buying/selling cars (I have a coworker who does it on the side, and he states it's a very difficult way to make extra money, esp. given everything is online now), but I too would NEVER trade a car in. I don't care what it is, if it's a 1998 Nissan, or a 2005 Audi, just give it to a relative or something rather than accept what a dealer would give, which is not much. They make money on the trade, and make money on the new car sale. And the margin is higher on the used car.

XJSFan

I agree... I am leaning towards selling my 2006 LS430 to my brother and keeping my 2006 GS430 with 38K miles. Tough decision because my LS is mint for a 2006 with 92K miles and I have had all the service done on the car including the timing belt, etc. I love that car. No other car I would rather drive across country then my LS430.

warminwisc

The folks in the car business, parts guys, most sales guys, service guys make chump change. Good techs get paid well. Otherwise owners, and executives get rich and money gets sucked up by the multi million dollar "stores" the manufacturers make em put up. New car sales generate a small percentage of the profits used cars do. I try to buy from private parties. I think if ya figure 5k plus on used cars on first month on the lot then deal down from there you might not get ripped off to obadly. They have to make 3k on each car I bet to support the new car scheme.

Bob04

Heard today that one of the few upsides of the hurricanes is that it will cause a boom in the car market due to all the cars destroyed in Houston and Florida. The 20k mile car I bought in May actually came out of Houston. Hope the previous owner is ok. Used car shoppers are going to have to be careful for a long time to be sure they don't get a flood-damaged vehicle.

Johnhav430

Yeah my car was from Naples FLA and as mentioned, when the indie lifts it he says the undercarriage is not typical of the northeast. I had thought that I had found a sure fire way to get an old car and sidestep the corrosion caused by salting the roads in the northeast. A coworker who deals cars on the side said he remembers after Katrina all the massive fraud and title scrubbing etc....but said now, TX or FLA, avoid is the easiest way to not get taken....

Johnhav430

Yeah I had always heard used cars is where the margin is, take advantage of the person trading, do the minimal to recondition, and churn and burn em. I did buy the LS from a new car dealer, and so I figure hey, maybe that $14700 price is $12700 private party, maybe it isn't. When the car needed front brakes and the driver door actuator was broken, the dealer fixed no charge, no hassle, and brakes were OE Lexus parts. Actuator? I would assume so, but it works. The flip side is a used seller would necessarily have sold the car knowing the driver door didn't lock, whereas on a used car they likely didn't even check it or could actually be unaware (you hear a click when locking, do you place the smartkey out of range, and pull all 4 doors to check that they have locked?)....service is unfortunate imho, I wouldn't want to work in that area, it'd be pretty hard to satisfy a customer, although my wife's car got some work for $0 under an extended warranty so I was happy to avoid a big repair that I didn't even know about....

BradTank

Finally sold my LS430. It took about 2 months.

It's a great market if you're a buyer, not so much if you're a seller. There's a few floating around with high prices, but once you get miles on these things, it's a tough sale. Sedans just don't do really well when it comes time to sell. When I sold my wife's Lexus GX470 SUV that was the same year, I was beating buyers off with a stick. Very little interest in the LS.

I only got $8,000 for my LS. Close to 180k miles which was the biggest issue with it. It had almost every single option except it wasn't a UL. Rear camera, parking sensors, GPS, ventilated seats, Mark Levinson sound, etc. And what I would consider a desirable color, Flint Mica. I had lots of receipts and had a lot of documented repairs.

It was in excellent condition, but not perfect.

It was honestly a shame to let such a nice car go for so little, but that was the going price. I came close to giving it to a family member.

I would have kept it as a maybe a 3rd car if I had the room, but I just wanted something newer as a daily driver and it was time to move on.

toddmorr

I think you did well actually, perhaps a testament to how well the car showed. But yes, that's the issue, the mileage. Vast majority of people can't fathom buying a car with that kind of mileage. Too bad, I'd have no issues buying an LS that old, especially if suspension had been done and the interior was in good shape. Even if you have to put say 2000 into suspension work you still end up with a reliable comfortable economical ride.

mykvr6

What year was your car? I paid 4950 for my '02 I just bought. I wanted it cheaper! haha. 160k miles, tons of receipts and records, never wrecked, interior pretty nice. It needed a few things but I looked at a few newer cars with multiple problems and spotty service records. The only really nice car I looked at was an 05, 87k VERY clean at a small dealer. they wanted 12k for the car and it needed a few things. Mirror switch needed repair, needed bushings or brakes, it pulsated pretty bad during braking and the rear shade was broken. It was supper clean all original, no wrecks, super straight, super clean interior but it needed too much and would still need a timing belt and other service at its age and mileage. So to me the car wasn't worth the price. All the newer cars I looked at had low ish miles but most needed multiple fixes (tilt steering, mirror switches, stereo speakers out etc etc)