LexusGSboy

An accident listed on Carfax or other sites is tricky no matter what. One car that I would have purchased had an accident with right front damage reported just a couple months before it was turned in. I was immediately concerned and asked the dealer if they had any further info about the accident. As it turned out, the car had not even been repaired and the issue was a bumper rub. They took a bunch of photos for me (it was out of state) Things like the fenders and bumper covers all seemed to line up very well and nothing looked out of whack. It was going to be a certified car so they fixed the little bit of damage and the car looked great. I would have purchased the car in a heartbeat had someone else not gotten there first. The accident on the Carfax helped knock a bit off the price I think so that was a plus in my book.

I think missing or incorrect badging can be an indicator of something but I don't think it is definitely an indicator. Some folks like to customize their cars - it's why so many cars got those horrible paste on hood/fender vents 10 years ago. Some folks want things stock and some even all original to the car - it comes down to how much of a purist you are. I have one friend who insist the dealer remove every badge off his Mercedes except the star (if it's easily possible which it often is). It's not because he buys bottom end, he hates badging. I know others who just want the main brand badge and the model badge but no other things like "BlueTech" or "SkyActive" etc... And if I bought certain cars in the period where GM was putting that little square badge on the side of everything I definitely would have taken that off, especially if it was a Cadillac.

Sure, some folks will certainly change a badge to try to sell something for something it's not. If memory serves - the car in this post was properly listed as an F Sport, not a GS F. From the listing now, and if memory serves, this listing never implied it was a GS F. I'd pause a little bit because they make a deal of saying "clean Carfax" on the ad, and then say it's been hit twice. For me, I'd want to know more about what those accidents were like and why or how they know this. I walked away from another car because it had accident damage listed but zero info. If it had been the perfect car in all othe respects I might have had someone I trust check it out before I agreed to buy it. I wasn't in love with it so I decided not to bother.

Ultimately everything is about trying to infer what you don't know from what you do know.

charley95

Obviously not everything is listed on Carfax. Spotting a repaint is very easy if one looks closely. 95% of the time a repaint is easy to spot, orange peel may not match factory paint, sand scratches is an other good indicator... I would walk away from any late model used car with paintwork. The average consumer has no idea what the extent of the damage may have been.

peasodos

iTrader: (1)

It's nearly impossible to get perfect paintwork thats 100% match to factory unless you pay out the *** with a high end body shop, even then with a good eye you can tell. I went through the paint debacle after someone backed into my hood and they had to bodywork and paint it. They painted the damaged area and cleared/blended the rest of the hood. Also blended the top of the fenders. There is on scratch on the hood under the clear coat and they had to repaint the fenders because there were spots under the clear coat(they claim previous orange peel) Unless you look at the hood at the right angle in direct sunlight up close you won't notice it. I had to take it back to the body shop twice to have them sand out the lumps in the clear coat. They did finally get it perfectly smooth, owner said he lost his *** on my car from all the repainting and buffing, 3 stage paint job is not cheap, When he quoted me the first time he thought the car was a 2 stage, until they looked up the paint code, they did paint it properly. So not my fault he lost his ***.

charley95

And if he did it right the first time he would not have lost his butt. Really good paint and body people are very few and far between. The thought of repainting any part of my cars horrifies me. I have no clue around here of who I'd even consider for paint repair.

Zsikd

Paint work on the Lexus GS is practically very hard to match... very hard. My vehicle was involved a rear end collision requiring to paint the rear bumper, driver side quarter panel, driver rear door, trunk and spoiler.... the collision spot spent a lot of time just spraying down paint.. even then, the bumper is a little off (they stay it’s because the bumper is plastic compared to sheet metal on top) but close enough match. Only can tell if you look at it for a good few minutes. Some cars, identifying accidents is easy and some cars it’s hard