Originally Posted by Lavrishevo

Also, some nationwide dealers will transport a car to you for free. Try searching auto trader set to private owner only, then set the range to 500 miles. Your best deals will be private owner.

Originally Posted by CJITTY

Hmm..interesting. I paid trade in value for my CPO Ls600hL at a lexus dealership..far less than any private seller at the time..so I have to disagree

Originally Posted by LANewsboy

Bezee....

Here are three national inspection services:

https://www.carchex.com/inspect/

http://www.carzinspection.com/

http://www.autoinspections.net/

Originally Posted by CJITTY

how far away is too far?

- For me, I would ship if over 1K miles away or more just because of the time.

can I really negotiate my price over the phone/email sight unseen?

- SURE YOU CAN!! most dealers are going to add plenty of pad in their pricing, especially on used. On the two LS's I have purchased since 2010 (2007 460 SWB in 2010 and 2008 600hL in 2012), I was able to save a combined $12K or so after comparing and negotiating. As suggested before, getting an independent inspection service to go to the car and look at it is money well spent if you are serious about getting it. Use services like Autocheck.com and Carfax.com and compare that with the inspection to see if there are any holes in the life history of the car. Log onto lexus.com and go to the my lexus link and plug in the VIN of the car and see the basic service history. Call the servicing dealerships like I did. They gave me all the scoop on my car. I almost bought a white 600 in Kansas at a Toyota Dealership. The salesperson at the Lexus dealer nearby told me that car had been wrecked significantly to where the wiring in the doors was all screwed up, but that didn't show on any report. That is why it was at the toyota dealer because they would not sell it. I'm sure someone got a fantastic deal on it and more than likely not having any long term issue..but who knows.

If you are going to spend $30K+ on a car, then a $400 plane ticket to go check it out may not be a bad investment..you can easily negotiate that out of your price and then some, trust me. They have a bottom line. Just use truecar.com and see what the average person is paying and then shoot way lower than that. All they can say is no, but be ready to walk away and not get attached to the car because that is when they get you. I almost walked away from mine and made it seem like I didn't like the car as much as online. Little scratches, issues with leather seats (normal wear but I hyped it) and the salesguy knocked off another $750 or so because I was calling the cab company to pick us up lol....it's all a game, just play and win. But remember, the dealer will usually make money of you, but as long as you are paying less than most, you are doing just fine. Good luck