Cadd

Ok, I'll find out what Lexus says in about 12 hours!

I'll keep you guys posted. If everything checks out, I'll give him the $1k deposit and I should have the car within 5 days.

Cadd

Any last minute tip?

I'll be over his place in about 8 hours.

Cadd

BACK!!!!! But seems like no one cares I'm replying to my own post here

Anyway, I'm pretty excited....Here's the story:

He does have the ORIGINAL title in his possession. The title is IN HIS NAME with the Bank as the lien holder. The title shows the car as "USED"

He also showed me paper work for the lease back in 99 ($570/month)....which proves that he is the original owner. Then he showed me the paperwork when he purchased the car after the lease (which I guess made the car "used").

I took a 40 mile test drive to/from the dealership all by myself. I guess he trusts me.

Everything check out alright. The dealership had 8 dates that the car was in the shop (for maintenance and one warranty repair to the radio).

All the mileage the dealer recorded was in line. The CARFAX mileage is incorrect.

My only concerns are:
1 - when I hit bumpy roads, sometimes I hear a VERY VERY VERY slight crackling sound coming somewhere around the front (maybe dashboard rattle?). With the radio & A/C on, you can't hear it. You can only hear it when the A/C and radio are off. When the mechanic drove it, the sound decided not to show itself. Anyone heard of this annoyance?

2 - I could have swore that while I was crusing at 40MPH, the car started vibrating more than usual (the same feeling as driving a 5-spd manual when you come to a stop and forget that you're still in gear......a very weird vibration). Again, when the mechanic drove it, it didn't show up.

When I drove the car back from the dealership to the owner's house, I didn't feel any vibration. When I first test drove the car 2 months ago, I didn't feel it. So, it could have been my imagination or maybe there were ripples on the road that caused this....but I didn't see anything change on the road surface. Oh well.

Anyway, the mechanic said "I recommend you to buy this car....especially at this price ($20k). If you decide not to buy it, please give me the seller's contact info, I'll buy it". He may be a collector.....hehe....I think he currently has 3 Lexus vehicles.

Overall, he said the car doesn't seem to have any rollback problems. He stated that the car shows wear & tear of a 40k - 60k mile car, NOT a 100 - 120k mile car.

So, I left a $1k deposit and I gave the seller 12 business days to pay off the loan a and to have the lien removed from the car. Hopefully I'll be able to pick up the car either at the end of this week or early next week. If not, I'll pick it up coming back from my vacation.

Here's a pic.

Cadd

Here's a picture of the most worn out seat (driver's seat). Can someone with a car that has black leather comment on the condition? Black leather ALWAYS seem to show the most wear & tear. I've seen a cream interior with over 80k miles and it looks better than this......but when I got UP CLOSE to the cream interior, I saw that the leather was worse than this black one shown here.....it's just that you can't see the wear on the cream interiors as much as black.

Cadd

I wasn't too happy that this floormat's gonna have a hole in it pretty soon. Any comments? Only 46k miles and the abuse this floormat took

Cadd

I was like this when I had my hands on the hood ready to pop it open
When I saw what was underneath, it made me

hawk

well, seems like it's working out....glad to hear the mech thought it was in good shape....

one last recommendation is to see if there's any way to rectify (before u buy) the title issue showing mileage inconsistency. it might be worth your time, and there's no way of knowing if perhaps it's going to be a boatload easier to get the person who owned the car when teh inconsistency showed up to take care of it, instead of the next owner (being you, i assume, since the mileage stuff would've taken place under this guy's ownership?)

hopefully, all the $$$ transaction will go well. I might suggest that you bring a friend or relative who has some used car buying experience or, even better, some banking experience with you during the transaction, considering some of the concerns that have been voiced about how you're going to be able to buy the car with the title completely in you name and no lien stuff.


besides, if it's in that good of shape, and you get the title stuff straightened out....well, what i'd do is to buy it and then fix all the odds and ends and sell it for a bigger profit.

Cadd

hawk,

The owner doesn't want to straighten out the title, he doesn't have the time....that's why he's selling it a few thousand less than what it's worth.

You're asking me to sell it and make a profit????? YOU GOTTA BE OUTTA YOUR MIND Do you know how much worrying I've been doing to finally come to this point. Well, we'll see if this guy comes through. I don't think he's a scam artist. Certainly not worth $1,000.

Well, hopefully in a week (or two), I'll have this GS.

3dog

iTrader: (1)

well the car looks good on outside and under the hood. you would think the guy would vacuum the interior before you came over. the seat looks fine to me. you will need new floormats but you can get those for about $100. glad you checked everything out and hopefully the rest of the deal goes well.

congratulations.
3dog

SeattleGS400

iTrader: (1)

SEATS

They look fine--pretty good for a '99. The top 2 or 3 patches of leather is due from a little drying out. Nothing a little leather conditioner couldn't help out. . .

FLOORMATS

You can buy a new set of Lexus floormats for around $82.50 (discounted price) from some of the internet dealers.

OVERALL

The car looks like it's in great shape. However, for the dash rattle--what car over a few years old doesn't have them? If it's not that loud, then I really wouldn't worry about it, but you can fix it, of course. As for the vibration, I'm not sure what that could be--search on CL if anyone else has the problem (I think a couple of people have mentioned it before. . . )

Good luck!

TLW

congrats man it looks very nice

dont worry about the carfax

i carfaxed my toyta 4runner which had been inn accident

and that never showed up ...

so good luck hope you get this before the april 25

-johnny-

Straight6

iTrader: (2)

car looks good.. seems like you're on the right track.. the seats are fine..
nothing wrong with that picture.. the cracking you hear might be coming from the
dash.. i think i get the same thing on mine.. but it seems to only happen on colder
days.. also..let me know if you want to get the whole car detailed or even just the interior..
i can arrange it at my best friends detail shop.. good luck, hope you get it sooner.

Cadd

Thanks 3dog! He had the car detailed about 2 weeks ago. They supposingly did the interior too (cuz I see the "Thank You for using XYZ Detailing Company" cardboard/paper on top of the floormats.

I'm glad the seats look normal. In regards to floormats (well, just the driver's floormat), is that normal for a car with < 50k miles?

Cadd

SeattleGS400,

I'm glad to hear that you also agree that the driver seat leather is "normal".
About the vibration, I remember reading about this a few months back....I'll search for it again.

Cadd

TLW,

Thanks!

I guess carfax is wrong. The mechanic specifically said that CARFAX is wrong. I went to Lexus Sales and spoke with a used car guy. Of course he wanted me to buy from him. He was such a hard-a$$ to deal with. But in the end, he said "since the car was serviced here in Lexus of Massapequa since it was new, I am 99% confident that CARFAX is wrong.

April 25th? I'm assuming meet? I'm in for meets.....I think I have 3 meets set up in the next 3 months for my other car (CR-V)....yeah, don't laugh. But there are CR-V enthusiasts as well. We go cruising like the guys did in SanFran, but we doing it in the woods where there are rocks and mud. Excellent chance to see nature.

Anyway, I won't be able to make the 4/25 meet. I'll be in Jamaica for a wedding that weekend. But I'll definitely be joining you guys in future meets. But I'll probably be riding stock for a while.....need $$$$$