Amazing gesture, Steve, and I can truly appreciate your detailed observations.

 

Good gesture Steve. Took your personal time to do a test drive and report back, amazing.

 

Steve, Thanks for the detailed inspection of the LS! You've saved me lots of frustration (and money), as none of the issues you found were evident in the dealer photos and I was seriously edging closer to pulling the trigger 'sight unseen.' The price is pretty good for a 2014 LS460L, but the issues you found would have made me crazy!

You've set a pretty high bar for how to do a thorough car inspection for a fellow CL guy!

if I can ever return the favor for you (or anyone else on this amazing forum), please let me know. Seems like the cars coming out of Nebraska are not very competitive, price-wise, though, and most have been exposed to our harsh winters.

I'll keep my hunt for the perfect next LS. I have to admit, I do enjoy the hunt...

 

Happy to do it! Yeah the car's got some issues that would need to be addressed, and the replaced rear decklid and bumper would give me pause. If it weren't for that I would say go for it and just price in the wheels and tires, but you just don't know what the story is with that rear hit...didn't seem to involve the rear quarter panels which is good, but still.

 

That's why I like the CPO approach. That Maryland car would not get a CPO designation I'm pretty sure.

On another subject mentioned in this thread:
IMHO, I would avoid pre collision. My Benz S class (2006) had a bad sensor on an early version of this called "pre-safe" and it actually caused the car to malfunction with a false alarm and almost go into "limp-home mode" and replacing the darn sensor cost thousands.
I'm kind of nervous about these sensors getting fooled mistakenly and suddenly braking on a highway somewhere. And you can't turn the system off I believe.

Maybe I'd get it if I was 90 years old...
And in decades of huge amounts of driving, I never would have used it. And there was that fatal Tesla crash where it didn't work.

I have a sort of phobia about this self driving car thing in general, especially when I hear about self-driving trucks. Sometimes I see a Tesla out there and worry it's going to drive into me by mistake with someone asleep at the wheel and not looking...
Maybe this is nuts, so correct me if you disagree. Just my 2-cents. Thanks for reading.

PS: What I would really like is deer detection with a warning beep or voice announcement. Or even for other animals. ("Look out! German Shepard ahead. No leash.")

 

I bet that car I drove would be CPO'ed no problem. It's in better shape than many CPOs I've seen.

 

Scary thought. Thanks. We probably need a thread for experiences with CPOs that had problems.

 

Sadly, I beg to differ. It shouldn't perhaps (don't know), but you'd be amazed at the crap I've seen certified by Lexus and many other manufacturers (of course, a function of the certifying dealership: some are thorough and ethical; others not so much).

To repeat myself (from many other posts), CPO to me is about the warranty. Otherwise, a crappy used car will likely remain so, and a good one could only be made slightly better. My 600 is CPO; my 460L was not. It all came down to history and quality of the inventory I found.

 

Agree. I think dealers will CPO almost any car - that means Lexus foots the bill for any flaws a customer may find after buying the car (otherwise, the dealer would need to fix them pre-sale or shortly post-sale, on his dime). CPO is a marketing strategy that plays on insurance averages being in favor of the insurance company. Lexus vehicles being more reliable that most, weighs even more heavily in favor of the insurer (Toyota Financial). However, like many others on this forum, I bought the 5 year CPO wrap warranty giving me 11 years (8 more from today) of warranty/service coverage, by which time, I'll probably be dead!

 

Wow, can I get you to review my next LS purchase.
Travis

 

If it's in the D.C. metro area I'm there! Lol

 

Very nice thing for you to do Steve.

When I bought my Ferrari I posted on a Ferrari forum asking if anyone knew the dealer. It was not a Ferrari dealer, but they dealt in high end cars and exotics. I'm outside of Boston and the dealer was outside of Cleveland. A member posted that he had bought several cars from the dealer and could vouch for him. Then he offered to go see the car for me. He also confirmed a recommendation from the dealer on an independent Ferrari specialist who could do a full PPI. So that same day he saw the car and confirmed for me that cosmetically the car was exactly as pictured. I appreciated what he did for me, and resolved that I would always offer the same if the opportunity arose.

A funny thing is he told me that the dealer had actually called him the day before and offered the car to him, but he had just ordered a new Porsche and couldn't buy it!

 

Steve PPI Services - ClubLexus certified consultant !!!!! . Sorry couldn't control......

 

Haha, the official source! I'll await my enormous check!