educk

Sorry for the long first post...

There's a local guy advertising a 1998 GS400 for $10000, 130K miles. I've always loved these cars, so I decided to send him an email asking for some particulars...That lead to me calling him about the car...

He's the original owner; Bought it off his original lease, he fell so in love with it (so he says). The conversation was going REAL well until I asked about maintenance and records; Silence.

"What do you mean by maintenance? I don't have a garage to put it in."

"No, no, I mean like where have you been taking the car to for oil changes, routine maintenance, recommended maintenances..."

"Oh, you mean like Jiffy-Lube?"

Silence from me. I was a bit stunned, to be honest. So, I dive back in: "Um, I guess they're okay for oil changes..."

"Yeah, they always gave us the best deals..."



Okay, duck, move along...Jiffy Lube can't be that bad, right?

"So, where did you have the 90-thousand mile service done?"

"The 90-what?"

Now I'm rolling my eyes and cursing under my breath.

"The 90-thousand mile service, the service where the timing belt, water pump and a bunch of hoses and other fluids are replaced--it's pretty invasive and typically expensive."

Silence. Then, "Well, I haven't been keeping all the receipts after I bought it off lease."

WESPEAKYENGLISHNO?

"So you didn't do the 90-K?" <--Me

"No, no, not that I recall. I don't remember ever having to change a belt for any reason. And nothing's leaking. Come drive it, you'll like it."

So honestly, what would you guys recommend to a lurker making his first post and test driving his first Lexus tomorrow, if you were in my shoes?

djjt

wowwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwww

hahahahahahahaaaaaaaa oh god, some one save me, my face is about to turn inside out from laughingggg

mole

iTrader: (3)

your asking the right questions and your getting all the right answers; i.e. the truth.

if the car was younger, I may still buy it, but it's not, so keeping looking in my opinion.

thanks for the great post... anyone looking to buy their first lexus, or car for that matter should read your post.

educk

What gets me is dude is older, and has some money. He emailed me about his hobbies, and it's the kinda stuff you do when you are old and $$loaded$$. Or at least comfortable. And he said he's selling this car because he and his wife bought her a new IS250, and it's their 7th Lexus, and now he wants to buy a new car, he has that bug.

So...How do you have that "bug", how do you fall in love with Lexus enough to keep going back for more, yet you don't keep maintenance records and take your car to Jiffy-Lube?

In his defense, he has offered to allow me to come up and take the GS to a local Lexus dealer for their car sale inspection.

But still. I have been thinking and thinking and thinking about my conversation for a couple days now...

phantastik

Dont get it i recommend you keep looking you might save some money but in the long run you might spend more (maintenance wise) so be patient and look very carefully... thats my opinion

pakiblaze

even for being an old man, there must be a reason why he's letting it go for so cheap.

sicc

i have to admit though. That is a pretty good price.

blkvader

it will cost you more at the long run to do the maintainance

educk

I was hoping you guys would say "Don't worry, these cars are lined with fairy-dust from the manufacturer just in case a bad owner buys one."

I wonder if I should even tempt myself and go look at it?

aliti19

The golden rule w/ our cars is... take care of them and they'll take care of you. It sounds like this guy has done nothing but oil changes (and at Jiffy Lube of all places - RED FLAG!!).
The reason most poeple don't have many major probs is b/c they do the maintenance. Unless you can talk him down to a rediculous deal ($8-9K) & get a full positive inspection report from Lexus, walk away.

chuckb

I wonder if it has original trans fluid w/130k miles?

educk

If he hadn't said "Jiffy Lube" without me saying it, I probably would still be all over buying this GS. And I can't describe it, but his attitude on the phone about maintenance was non-chalant, he kept saying "come drive it, you'll see it's in good shape." I've owned a couple clunkers in my life, and at one time or another, they drove well.

I called Pohanka Lexus, and they won't give ME any Lexus vehicle info (for a car I don't yet own), although they admit they can look any of them up by VIN. Should I just keep calling around until I find one that might be willing to give me maintenance history of a Lexus I am considering purchasing?

educk

I intend to check the fluid levels and ask more questions of him today...he's supposed to call me with a confirmed time. I wanted to do it this morning, he said that may be possible, but more likely this afternoon. I hate to insult someone by checking fluid levels in front of them, but $10K/good price or not, it's still $10K that I don't want to throw away.

GWELEX

You'll never know until you try. Go look at the car, spend a $100 at Lexus and have a pre-buyer inspection done. Then you'll know exactly what needs to be done to have the car in great shape for it's mileage. Negotiate with the fact that this or that needs to be done and subtract from his price so that in the end you spend 10K. If he doesn't budge then you can move on knowing that at least you tried to make a deal.

aliti19

Call around the Lexus dealers. I'm sure you can find a service guy that will give you the info.