mumbles

Hey all,
I've have been looking for a GS4 for quite some time now. Last night I found one at Carmax in Orlando, I'm in Atlanta. Here's the deal... 2000 GS4, black on black, 17K miles for $38K. This sounds waaaaay too good to be true. Carmax states that they will not sell any frame damaged cars, but I'd imagine cars with any other damage are fair game. I have sent them an email asking if the car has ever been damaged, and what the contents of the Vehicle History Report are. I also asked if the car had a navi system, because that's really the only option I'd be interested in.
Can you all think of anything else I should be wary of? My thoughts right now are that the car had to have been damaged in some way otherwise the seller would have gone through a Lexus dealer to get a better price when they sold the car, unless of course they have money coming out their ears . Anyways, I'm interested in hearing your thoughts on this since it just sounds too good.
Cheers,
Eric

Johnny Mo

than it probably is too good to be true. I'd be concerned about flood damage, or a stolen recovery that has been rebuilt by man (known to mess up)in the U.S. vs. the machines (that don't mess up as much) on the production line in Japan.

gsintensive

37k, I think it sounds realistic, as the 2001 models got a facelift, the pre 01 models price drop a lot. However, as the premium GS430 now only sells 50k out the door, 17k 2000 GS400 would indeed sell much cheaper. Don't worry too much, just make sure you got the vins and check the accident report. I think it's a very good deal, if not perfect, but fair.

Benny

make sure it comes with an engine. 300hp v-8. make sure the car is not a gs300 with gs400 badging.

RealMarty

Eric,

Get the VIN and spring for the $$ to run it through CARFAX (you may also check with a Lexus dealer and have them look at what they have in their service records). You'll quickly know if there are any surprises.

Good luck. I know you've been looking for some time.

GS4Will

Eric,

gsintensive already covered what i was going to say.

for reference, i know a certified '00gs400 blk/blk w/nak was sold for $40500+fees, and the car only had 5k miles. so taken into consideartion of miles, and no extended waranty. $38k is about right. just do the uasual checks that were mentioned.

will

mumbles

A little update, CarMax ran a Clean Vehicle Report for me which showed no body/paint work, clean title etc. So... I gave them $150 and they are transferring the car from Orlando to Atlanta for me. Once it arrives I'll have 72hrs to decide whether I want to purchase it, during which time I can have a dealer look the car over. Any recommendations on a good Lexus dealer here in ATL?
Keep your fingers crossed. If this works out, I may be an OFFICIAL member of Club Lexus soon!
Cheers,
Eric

RealMarty

Eric,

Sounds great!! Hope this works out.

I use Hennessey on P'tree Industrial. My service rep is Tim Halloran. 1Sicklex uses him also. Bit uses Tony (I don't know his last name). Both have treated us very well.

Let me know if I can help in any way.

nanotech

iTrader: (2)

It's actually not such a great deal anyway, kbb RETAIL value is 43k and wholesale dealer trade-in value is 32...so assuming the dealer paid the exact kbb trade in value for that GS400 ($32k), then he would actually be making over $6k by selling you that car, I doubt there is anything wrong with it, but ofcourse go through all the checks, carfax, lexus service records, etc, and if carfax tells you that nothing bad has happenned to it, and it something has (like flood or whatever), then just sue them!

jberger

Damn,
I think we were looking at the same car. I've been talking with Marci @ Carmax and was going to check it out later this week in Orlando. I had that bad feeling when I read your post on Friday. . .
I've been bouncing back and forth over the price, seems too good to be true, but hey sometimes you just get a great deal!
Let me know if you decide against it, I'll want to take a look too, so email me if you can.
Jberger@Jberger.com

Cheers!

NVRENUFHP

I have no personal knowledge about what the car is worth, but why does anyone think that CarMax is selling the car for a "great deal?" CarMax has sold a car or two in the past and my guess is that they know a little about the value of what they have. The best you can hope for is that you don't pay way too much for the car.

whitediamond

Running CarFax report will only give you so much information such as if the title has been altered, salvages,etc... It will not tell you if the vehicle has been in an accident unless it was in a major accident and was totaled on paper AND reported. A car could be in a half dozen or so accidents and it would never appear on any report. It is still best to run a CarFax, they are not that expensive. But, always take a professional or take the car to one to check for it's condition. Previous accidents are usually easy to find by a professional.
The first thing I do when shopping is:
Run a CarFax
Then thoroughly inspect the car
Paint on any window moldings-pull off/peel off moldings to check the back of them
Overspray on the bottom of car or in the engine compartment
Body rust insolation removed to access screws/bolts/nuts
Body panels line up-they are very straight on GS's
Factory nuts/bolts used on panels
and the list goes on and on.
A good inspection of exterior and interior+drive train takes a good 2 hours which includes lifting the vehicle and compression/leakdown check of the motor . A Lexus tech can do a good inspection for around 100.00 or so.

mumbles

Thanks for all the input gang! My reasons for feeling this was a good deal are based purely on my recent searches. For example, another GS4 I was interested in, '00 Platinum Ed., 23Kmiles, no navi was running $45K, and there have been several more similarly priced, so at $38K this one looks very attractive.
Bottom line is that I'll have it checked over thoroughly before making any decisions. jberger, I'll let you know how it turns out.
Regards,
Eric