Bocatrip

Yes most of us are already informed of the amazing reliability of the proven LS430s. However purchasing a "good one" can be challenging. Doing research is the best avenue but doing too much research on a gem will ultimately lose the purchase as many out there know how sought after these cars are. Just understand this especially at a distance from the actual car. Yes it is frustrating as our cars are aging and there are less choices for the better cars. Do your best to make your decisions.The best values disappear before you can do anything. I believe the lucky buyers find our cars for sale off line and privately by chance or otherwise. Good luck everyone!!!!

tallcaguy

Out here, the good ones (at realistic prices) sell pretty quickly. I like the idea of Face Time visits to evaluate cars long distance. Agree spending too much time on details may lose the sale but I really don't want to spend thousands of dollars after purchase. A Lex dealer inspect is the easy way if it's convenient. Also easy to see if it's a great car (service records, good address, garaged, not the daily driver, etc). There are still nice LS's. Sure getting rare but still see the low mileage, one owner, non winter use cars.

Bocatrip

Yes they are always out there. The task is to find the good car with the color combo and service history that you want to invest in. Not all that easy these days. But of course always possible.

JJLS430

Well said...very rarely will you be able to purchase a used LS without it needing some sort of repair, or a catch-up of deferred maintenance. If your all in expenditure (purchase price + outlay to bring car to your "standard") is where you are comfortable, i think most will be very happy for a long time. On my recently purchased LS430 (and my former LS400, and even a Mercedes ML500), i was able to purchase the cars and do some of the repairs that seem minor to me, but they were things the previous owner deferred due to not wanting to spend any more than necessary on a car they are not looking to keep. The cars were not in too poor of a shape, but just need some cosmetic items, or non-essential pieces replaced / repaired. Just a matter of perspective, where the prior owners thought it would be silly to spend $$ on a car they were going to sell/trade anyway and i am looking to bring the cars to a reasonable level, with the thought of being the last owner of the vehicle.

Jeff

warminwisc

With any car if it feels not right pass. Keep looking.

Johnhav430

Since this is an old car, imho most of the cars for sale, are below the condition of those on the forum. That's usually why people get rid of seemingly nice cars, they don't want to spend money to repair or maintain them any longer. Most 2006's are going to drive into a dealership and come back with a multipoint stating you need this and that (I actually think this is based upon what they can pull from the service history, not what they actually see). I think the important thing to do, imho, is to get rid of this "it was a 65,300 car when new, and I can pick it up for $10,700" notion as a reason to buy--German cars are far worse, lower price today, $13k more in 2006. From what I can tell, the LS430 is a very much above average car for reliability, but that doesn't mean that the lexus dealership won't recommend $5k+ of work on your 2006 with under 100k. So just caveat emptor. From everything I've read here, the driver door actuator is a GIVEN. So deduct it from the sale....don't tell yourself, he's firm, he won't go any lower, he already took it off, no, he did not. lol

Legender

Can you imagine trying to buy a vehicle these days without the use of the internet, smartphones, and the Forum? We have it so easy than it used to be. No more picking up the Thrifty Nickel, or perusing the classifieds in the local paper every weekend.
Anyone here remember those days?
Yet, it's still hard to find what your looking for, even in this connected environment.

Johnhav430

I remember some newspaper like free magazine, in color, dunno if it were auto trader or something....and I always liked to look through it. Had to be the 90's. I thought it was so hilarious, that if a car were advertised, "yard runs, right front damage." The pics would basically be 360 degrees, except for the damaged section!! I must have been young, as I clearly remember looking at Nissan Maximas and thinking da** those 16" star rims are hotttt.......(I'd go on to buy a 5-spd SE as my first new car). Those were also the days where employers couldn't fill positions fast enough, and the help wanted was similar, color newspaper like magazine with real newspaper ads clipped and printed. I remember answering one in TX and they simply FedEx'd me plane tix and rental car papers for the interview, and I didn't even get the job. No pre-screen or anything. Those were the days when this country approached full employment...and jobs really paid well...

edit dunno how it woulda worked out if I had ended up working in TX, woulda changed my life for sure...I remember missing the plane so it must have cost them a lot more to change it. The gentleman called me 2 yrs. later to see if I were available but by then I was about to relocate to PA...

Jabberwock

The art of buying a cream puff car (or almost anything of value for that matter) involves lots of work - first educate yourself on the market and the range of what is available at what prices, then have the discipline to wait, spending time and energy to check out lots of examples, have tons of patience, and also some plain old luck because a great deal is rare, and finally the ability and the budget to act fast when that deal presents itself. There are lucky exceptions but in general the quality of the deal typically is a function of the work you put in to getting that deal on a car, house, whatever.

Bocatrip

As Jabberwock said so well....."a great deal is rare, and finallly the ability and the budget to act fast when the deal presents itself" all is crucial to be successful for purchasing an aging car that is continuing to be more difficult to find by the day. Good luck guys!