Hello everyone I went and viewed a 2004 LS430 Custom Luxury today and I’m more impressed with it in person than the pictures I seen on the website. I test drove it and checked the maintenance history on CarFax and Lexus Drivers, the car has had all major service done recently such as timing belt, water pump, and fluids plus LCA Bushings and control arm bushings. The dealer is selling it for $7500 before title, registration, dealer fees etc.

After applying those fees it would be $8600 the car has 157k miles on it and during the test drive it definitely was quiet and felt smooth on the road, didn’t hear anything irregular, all buttons work, has an after market radio. The speakers still work too! The car only had 2 previous owners, the last owner was actually someone who worked at the dealer and got promoted so they traded it in. I was told both of them maintained it well.

here’s the link to the car https://fcauto.com/inventory/27409/v...Lexus-LS%20430

I’m sold on the car and prepared to buy it in cash, but my mom and other immediate family thinks that the car is too much for the amount of miles on it though I explain to them that these cars are built to run many many many miles If well maintained and serviced. My grandmother thinks I need to go finance a new luxury car no older than 5 years old but I’m only 22 now and I rather not pay a car note ontop of high insurance :/

What do you guys think? Is there perhaps a way I can negotiate down the asking price? I really like the car and other LS430s in my area just don’t compare due to the asking price being $9k+ or the car’s condition is not the best.

 

The price seems fair to me. The blue onyx is a nice, rare-ish color and the CL adds some subtle things like additional leather interior, alcantara headliner, softclose doors. Radar cruise is nice to have and works well, considering it's 2004 technology.

 

I agree with your mom.. It is too much money for the car. Not necessarily the miles, but our cars are now old. Unless there is something exceptional about it, this car is really a $5-$6,000 car tops. Of course its not at that price because a dealer who paid high 3s or low 4s is selling These car cost money to maintain. Not a cheap car. Good luck with whatever you decide.

 

Yes, family should always watch out for family. That's a good thing. I hope they have done some research into the cost of buying a new luxury car? Leasing is more attractive to some at that price point. I think the LS price is a fair place to start negotiating down. If possible, get it inspected by another mechanic...money well-spent, as I recently found out. If the car has only one key, I would be prepared to shell out $200+ at a dealership for another key almost immediately. You don't want to be walking around with just 1 key! Negotiate that amount off the bill first!

Let us know how it goes either way----

 

Buyers must be very leery of any claim(s) a dealer or salesperson makes about a used car. While factually false statements used to sell a car are against the law, "puffery" is a legal way of promoting a car with statements that cannot be objectively verified. Basically, just making up a bunch of BS about a car one is trying to sell to help make the sale. A dealer/salesperson can make up almost anything that helps sell a car, because the claims do not have to be true, but merely possible. It is hard to prove that when the dealer/salesperson is/was "lying" to you that the dealer/salesperson knows/knew the "puffery" claims being made are/were both not only simply untrue, but also impossible.

 

This is what my mom and her friend had sat me down and talked to me about. Though I was well aware of something like that being used to help make the sale... I will continue looking but definitely will try my hand in negotiating at least $1600-$2000 off the asking price if I can. My mom also has called one of her friends at a nearby Acura dealership to see if they could help me and look through some of their auctions and see if they can help me find the LS430 im looking for. While the LS430 isn't my only option as I am looking at GS models from '06 - '08 the '04-'06 LS430 is still my first choice if I can find me a Modern Luxury or Custom Luxury for a decent price that has been well maintained and serviced. My mom also suggested an Acura and though I'm used to driving those cars (she has owned quite a few of them and they prove reliable) I still prefer a Lexus over an Acura.

But all in all I guess the lesson isn't to settle on the first car I see, especially one being sold by a used car dealer. So the search continues I just hope I find something before October

 

e.g. A particular used car on a used car lot looks decent. The dealer/salesperson looks at the car, and thinks the car could have been well maintained because it looks decent. The dealer/salesperson may now say this car has been meticulously and perfectly maintained, even though it may not have been maintained at all, if the dealer's/salesperson's "opinion" is the car was well-maintained because it looked decent. If it is found out later by the new and now unhappy owner that both the oil was never changed, and the car had been run hot ruining the engine, the dealer/salesperson is not liable because when the dealer/salesperson said this car had been meticulously and perfectly maintained, the dealer/salesperson was merely expressing an "opinion" and not a factual statement. If the dealer/salesperson did not know the oil had never been changed and that the engine had been run hot and that the engine was ruined, no worries to the dealership/salesperson who sold the car, because what was told to the now unhappy owner of the car was not a statement of fact but merely an "opinion" as the car looked decent and the "opinion" of the dealership/salesperson is that decent looking cars are well-maintained....

 

If you may be both very patient and very careful and you may find a very good one priced right....

 

Ugh. Lousy, amateur stereo install for one. It just looks awful with the cover missing. Who knows what kind of interface they used for it. If the face of the install looks that bad (trust me, that looks TERRIBLE), who knows what it looks like when you pull the unit out (wiring-wise).
Looks like it only has one key? ($100 a piece)
Missing the tool kit? ($30)
Missing one lug nut per wheel! Seriously, WTF is this? Hate when a dealer can't even spend $20 on 4 new lugs to make it correct...
Timing belt sticker have date or mileage on it?
What kind of goofy crap did they install where they had to tap the battery for power? Large power wire with fuse and something off the ground also perhaps?

Lot of little things, did you even notice them? Since it looks like a northern car, what does the underside look like?
If you're dead set on this car, haggle aggressively. To me, that looks like a $6500 car OUT THE DOOR. Lots of miles. 15 years old. Northern car. Trust me, whoever traded this car in got next to nothing for it. Obviously, it got flipped at auction and this dealer is trying to make a quick buck.


Looking at CarFax, no service reported at all between 6/18/2018 and now. That makes me nervous.

 

Here's one that popped up recently in Central Illinois. If they have the service records it would be a serious contender----

https://chambana.craigslist.org/cto/...191612297.html

 

hmm that looks real good, I just may have to look into that one. It’s pretty far though!