I've never gotten a bad check for a vehicle yet....neither has anyone else in my family (and my late mother was a Notary-Public), although my last several vehicles were traded, not sold to private parties.

You call it insane, but there is a certain amount of risk in any transaction, unless God Himself hands you a check.



And, with that, back on topic...........

Agreed. 10 years from now, most Lexus SUVs will probably be electric ones, and smaller than today's LX.


Good luck on that back problem......hope it works out.

 

Just bought a new 2021 350 ES—-no trade, no financing, just my personal check for whole amount. Dealer never even mentioned anything about it. I assumed it, expected it and appreciated it.

 

.....

 

No kidding, that’s a no brainer with a dealer. We aren’t talking about dealers here.

So let me ask you this, would you be okay accepting a personal check for $35k for a car you are selling from another person? My 1st GTR I sold for $74k, you think you would be comfortable accepting a personal check for that amount and letting the title and car leave your possession?

 

OP just wanted to post a picture of his new truck and share his excitement...this thread gets hijacked because he mentioned the seller asked for a cashiers check??

CONGRATS on the New Truck @AJT123 Its a beauty, Enjoy it!! Do post some pics of that clean interior

 

Exactly. While it might be fine to some (I think thats insane, but its their life) it certainly is understandable and not unusual for a private seller to require a cashiers check for this kind of transaction. Certainly unreasonable to say "Well if you don't trust me then I'm not buying your car" when its a total stranger, why should they trust you?

He's used to it lol

 

Agreed. I only mentioned my opinion of them, but some people took that as an excuse to kick the thread around. OP deserves better....especially with the contributions he has made to the forum.

He's also got a point that, in ten years, vehicles like this will probably no longer be in production.

 

Congrats! LX is a great choice, enjoy it!

 

Hey man congratulations on the new/used LX. We have an identical 2013 LX (silver/black/same wheels) with about 90K on it they we bought used back in 2016. Bought it for $49K and our personal property tax still shows it as being worth $33K so you're right these things hold their value man.
The thing is pretty much bullet proof. The only issues we've had were the spring to flip open the gas flap broke and one of the wireless headsets for the back seat entertainment system stopped working... first world problems. Otherwise it's an awesome family hauler and so comfortable. Love the center console cooler, the auto-retract 3rd row seats, the air suspension which lowers when you park and helps for getting in and out of with little kids and the ML stereo and speaker system sounds amazing in that thing. We played one of the kids DVDs over the speakers versus thru the earphones and man did it sound nice!
One obvious complaint is the gas consumption.... but not just the consumption the overall smaller gas tank. The LX will only go around 290 miles on a FULL tank. But you just factor that in to any trip and I'll take the trade off for the comfort and reliability of this thing.
Enjoy!

 

I bought both my GS's with personal checks, one from a private seller, and one from a used car dealership.

The private seller had no issues with me writing him a check, he just had me sign a bill of sale he typed up, I think he was happy I didn't take another $500 off my offer for the door lock actuator(I had no idea it would be that expensive to fix and somehow missed it on the PPI). No issues with the sale.

Dealership was a little hesitant to take the check because it is from a lesser known bank in Texas so I had her call the Bank/number on the check to prove it was real, I talked to the Bank and got them to say how much money was in the account so she could hear it which was more then I was writing the check for and she was then fine with it and we finished up the paperwork/sale. This car was on sale for a while so I think she was pretty motivated to just sell it. The previous day before I went for the test drive/made the offer I made sure the Bank would say how much was in the account and it could be done quickly over the phone.

 

Pics. They’re not the greatest. I’m owed a detail from seller but trust me, this thing is brand new condition other than one small, small blemish you’d have to search for on the rear bumper. I’d go out and take more but I already got it muddy from off roading yesterday. Oops. More review of truck to follow after this post as I had to use phone to upload these.

 

The pics are crappy but better than what I could post now because I've already gotten it dirty because I took it off roading yesterday. There is an incredible feeling of safety and security, and luxury for that matter, to just go hit up some stuff and not touch a thing (Torsen diff is standard), but knowing there are about 20 off road features I COULD turn on if I needed them. Including a switch to turn the side airbags off because Toyota anticipates you being at such crazy angles off-roading that they might set off.

As for going OT, nobody rambles on CL more than I do (lol I'm just a talker/writer) I could not possibly care less, unless thread gets closed. I'll want to come back to this thread over the years as this vehicle will be kept for decades.

Thank you for all the congrats and well wishes, seriously. This whole thing has been a long odyssey and I appreciate the shared sentiment. I don't buy cars much so it's very exciting for me. This is literally my/our dream vehicle.

More about the truck:

First let me fully disclose I haven't driven all the other trucks, the competition, like many of you have. I'm going on my observations and not comparing this to anything.

Ok. It's fast. I swear it might give my LS430 a run for it's money down low. I knew the Toyo 5.7 would be plenty but I did have a lust for the GM 6.2 as they're more powerful. Um, I'm fine with what we have. The 5.7 is a beast, delightful. The transmission is always in the right gear. It sounds great, though I may have to concede sound to the Americans. I think a/my Chevy small block's sound is slightly better. That said, this thing still sounds great. It's a 5.7 V8, so duh. Incredibly smooth engine. I touched on the precise throttle which I'm starting to get used to, that helps make it feel fast. You don't have to really boot it, at all, to get it going unlike more luxury focused cars. But make no mistake I had to pull out fast last night on to a main road and was shocked how fast I got up to 60 or so. I had it up past 100 on the interstate and could not believe how quick it was at those speeds.

It's extremely quiet, not far off my LS430 or possibly equal. The ride, highway ride is great, though not quite the freight train my LS430 is. But then I didn't just go off roading in my LS430 either lol. Fully anticipated this. Overall the ride is very, very good.

It feels smaller than it is to me, but I lovvvvve knowing it's a 6200lb tank. And I mean it feels smaller in a good way. It feels like a rolling bank vault solidity wise.

Is it trucky? Yes, but in the most delicious way and not as much as I was expecting. The steering is luxury car slick, and the brakes are great. It's very buttery like most higher end Lexus vehicles are.

It does not have quite the material quality of my LS430 or the 100 series LX for that matter, but overall it's still excellent. It's not worth what it was new, obviously, but it fully feels silky and luxurious like a proper $90,000 Lexus should. Late 90s and early 2000s Lexus materials were just that freaking good. It has the semi-aniline leather and it's great but not as soft as the base leather in my LS. I think it may have been designed that way for durability. This is a truck you throw your dogs and junk in daily, so I'm not displeased at all the leather is a little harder. It has over 107k miles but still feels new. I touched on how it's had every single fluid changed and was fully maintained like clockwork. I would take Toyota suspension height fluid, transfer case, and diff fluids to 200k myself easy with zero worry; this guy changed it all at 85k. I don't have to do any major maintenance for another 100k miles at least.

Stereo is insane, 19 speakers I believe. I finally have bluetooth and can stream calls and music from my phone! Hah.

Love the tailgate, we plan to head west or into Canada and venture off the beaten path and want to sleep in it, which you can do because of the bottom part of the tailgate will let your legs hang out. Might be a little tight squeeze with the 3rd row you can't rip out but definitely doable for sure!!

One thing I wanted to mention was that the previous owner put aftermarket rotors and pads on it, Stoptech is the brand. Slotted and drilled front, drilled rear. Wasn't crazy about that until I tested them out and my buddy told me he puts that brand on his 911. The brakes are amazing. The gas mileage is awful but I could not care less. Step on the gas and listen to it and feel the pickup and it's worth every penny. I love the trick suspension. It raises and lowers quite quickly, and as I said it's hydraulic fluid instead of an air suspension which is much more robust IMO.

Guess that's about it for now at least. Feel free to ask me any questions. I haven't really even played with everything yet in it, lol. If I forgot anything I'll be back.

 

Congrats!! It looks great!

 

How does it feel over broken pavement on local streets? My GX is a bit crashy and jittery and it only has 17k miles lol.

 

If you hit a bump while turning at 30 or more or so you can tell it's a BOF truck with a live axle, I noticed that yesterday.

I wouldn't call it "crashy" though. No jitters, the whole thing feels tight as a drum.