http://www.theimportautogallery.com/

There is a 2007 with 73,000 miles on it at the above site and they are asking $26000.00 for it. I have a 2003 300ES with 122000 miles. I want $8000.00 trade in.

This will be my first convertible and my 5th lexus. What do you think of the price??

Thanks

Dakrri

 

I think its a fair price.There's a site where you can look up vehicles for sale by states, it uses Craigslist nd you can select all states not just one. So far I've only found a few 2007 SC 430's that have about same mileage as the one you've mentioned and they're asking not less then 30k, so i think its a good deal.

 

Thanks MikeCGS

It has a clean carfax and on car fax they say its $880 Below retail book value. I also ran the Vin on the lexus site and it checked out ok there too.

 

I have a 2002 with 59,000 miles. Light silver with the same color interior. For a convertible this color is great. The car looks great, a outstanding color combo. A Lexus that has been maintained at 73,000 miles should be of no concern. Under the circumstances however it might be tough to verify that the service has been done. I would take it to either a local Lexus dealer or an independent garage that works on Lexus and Toyota's. This should cost you about $75.

Regarding price it seems very reasonable. In your climate and this time of the season, I would offer $24,500 with a price of $25,000 as your upper limit.

The 2006 and newer model has six speed transmission, phone bluetooth, a better voice activated navigation and XM radio intergrated with the factory radio. You will LOVE the car!!!

Kelly Blue Book is $26,700, NADA trade in $26,100 and retail $31,825 and Edmunds private party $25,852 and dealer retail $28,243.

As you can see, it is priced right and I would not make a $1,000 be a deal breaker.

To try to get in contact with the last owner, to ask them of any problems etc, here are some suggestions. While on a test drive go into the navagation system and hit the home button and see if an address shows. Do a search on that area real estate tax records for a name. Go into the address book and see if you can get some names and do the same search. Go to the phone address book and get some contacts and numbers. I would call these people and explain that you are buying this car and was trying to get in contact with the previous owner. A description of the car will trigger who owned it. If they feel uneasy giving you their number, leave you name and number and ask them to call them and explain your situation. A little detective work but I have done this and it has been very helpful. The car is sold and they have no reason not to be truthful with you about previous problems and service work completed.

 

SC430 Great choice, a lot of positive feedback on them !,, Yeah make sure carfax are clean. I personally own an 06 IS250 & an 09 GS350. Great cars nothing to complain about.. but i wanna upgrade to an is350 here's a pic of them.

 

This is great advice. If you can't find the name, even sending a letter to the "home address" addressed to "Former SC430 Owner" might get you some inside info. Or you could just knock on the door.

When I bought my SC from a dealer, they disclosed that it had previously been in a minor accident. I casually asked how long ago and where, so I could get the date and city. With that info, I then got the accident report from the police department to confirm what actually occurred. The accident report also had the contact info for the former owner, who I contacted to get further details on why she was selling after only 5K miles, the accident, etc.

The other great piece of info you can get from the former owner if you are diplomatic is the price the dealer paid for the car. With that info, I knew exactly how much bargaining leverage I had.

 

Thanks for the input, I'll try the navagation thing. I just hope I don't end up on the door steps of his mistree! LOL

 

Nice cars MikeCGS...one of the cars was a GS400. The carfax is clean so thats a good sign.

 

Ok, we think we might pull the trigger on this car. We really like it and its the color we wanted.

Any Chicago people know of this dealership? The Import Auto Gallery 511 W. Winthrop Ave., Addison IL 60101?

Anything I should be looking for on a 2007 SC430? He said there is only 1-key fob. How much is a new fob...we need 2?

Thanks

 

Fair price for the mileage. No warranty though. I'd look up the VIN JTHFN45Y779011177 on www.lexus.com/owners and register to find out the car's maint history. Looks like an executive lease for the first owner with 60k miles. Looks like a 36 month lease with 60k miles. It was listed as a fleet vehicle, so my guess is that you probably will not find a ton of maint history done at the lexus dealer. I could be wrong. Just my two cents.

I would get a new set of floor mats in black from them (that ecru floor mat set looks pretty dirty), an extra key and all books if you are missing any. New key at the dealer is $200 and floor mats $100.

Tires are expensive...how are they?

 

Thanks

They said the tires have 85%-90% tread remaining so they are fairly new. They are not run flats.

I looked the vin up and got the same info you did.

I'll also need an extra set (4) rims so I can put some winter blizak's tires on it. I live in Wisconsin. Any ideas on rims?

I'm going to ask them foor another fob too.

 

The books are pictured as is the first aid kit.

 

Just a point about carfax. Not everyone reports to carfax so you can't trust the report as gospel. My friend owns a bodyshop and they don't report anything to carfax. He is a reputable guy with a first-class facility but doesn't use carfax, so there are probably MANY others who don't use it as well. I think there's a fee that carfax charges to shops so some choose to pass on it.

 

I contacted a couple of dealerships that had service reports on the Lexus Drivers Service Reports. Hopefully they will get back to us. We are going to look at the car on Saturday morning and if everything checks out we will buy it that day.

I will need to get another key. The Lexus dealer wants $280.00 cut/programmed.

I will need another 4-rim to mount Blizzak’s

Any ideas on either of these issues??

 

There are several threads dealing with buying keys off of ebay and programming them yourself for less than $100. Some of these threads may be in the stickies at the top of the forum page. Be sure to check these threads out for the spare keys.