Frank1984

I have been on the hunt for a is 250 for 3 weeks now, only have 8grand in my pocket so its been rough to get the one i want (09 white on black with 110k tops), most places wont budge on the price, or i find the car and it has a salvaged title, the best i have come across is a 2010 red on beige with 136k miles, clean title. im thinking about going for it just 2 issues with it

It was clearly repainted, and the paint job is not original, the dealer told me straight up they "retouched the paint" when they bought it from the auction.

he showed me the autocheck report and it shows that it was in 2 accidents, but then after that it says that "no damage has been reported"

im not sure how autocheck works, and if its as reliable as carfac, So is it safe to say that the 2 accidents this car was in was minor, like a fender bender? Or could this car still possible have has serious damage?

JunoBR

Hi I will answer you since no one else is biting and I just went through the same thing. I picked up a 2008 for $6000, 125k miles and it clearly had a paint job. You can see the overspray on the radiator when you lift the hood. I don't think it was in an accident, because the Carfax is clean. But we do live in Florida so I think that the black on black took a beating from the sun. Not all accidents and up getting reported though. It only goes on the record when insurance pays for the repair. Sometimes, if the damage is less than the owner's deductible, they will choose to just do it in a body shop behind the scenes to keep it off of the record. It only goes on the record when insurance pays for the repair. Not sure where you live, but whatever you do, don't buy a car from Miami. Ever! It is the home of the auto auctions in South Florida and there are a ton of fraudsters who engage in every scam you can imagine.
Mechanically our car is a pretty good car but I did have to replace the radiator fan and a lot of stupid little problems like the master window switch which was only controlling three out of four windows. The sunroof switch does not work but I'm OK with that because I don't really use it and I'd rather have it stuck in place than leaking. I am now I'm finding out the projectors on the headlights which are aftermarket, have a problem and I'll probably have to replace the entire headlamp on both. It is not something that you could detect during the day at all and it is fairly common I am finding out, with aftermarket headlights. The aluminum housing in the projector starts to pit after about 3000 hours of use and the reflection is no longer bright. That's not going to be cheap. It also only came with one key, so I am making a second for back up. A huge issue to look out for is the "melting dash ". If you don't know about it, you can read about it on the forums. Mine came with the dreaded melting dashboard , but somehow I got lucky to be on a replacement list about six months from now And in the meantime I have a dash cover on it. Many people get fooled by the dealership though. You will think they just have a nice Armor All all shine on there, but you will find out that it is actually the dashboard disintegrating. This is mainly a problem if the car has been in a hot climate like Florida or California. You can test it by digging your finger nail into a inconspicuous place and see if it leaves a mark. There was a 10 year recall, but a 2010 maybe just a few months out of extended warranty. You have to call Lexus and give them the Vin number and find out. Another thing you want to look out for is all of the inputs located in the center console. If you don't have an upgraded sound system, it is fairly common that the aux input goes bad. It is located in the back of the center console armrest compartment. It can be replaced of course, but it is just unexpected pain in the *** problem. While you're at it, check the electronic controls on both the driver and the passenger seats and make sure they are working. Aside from these things, because the car has been at a buy here pay here dealership, expect that it may have parts borrowed from it and placed in other cars. I found, once again, a bunch of unexpected little things missing that cost a fortune to buy salvage. One of the items was the button caps on the radio controls. $42 each on eBay! I improvised and made new ones out of Sugru. They look great. Check your floor mats and see if they have been replaced by generics or old dirty ones. Also missing from my car were two out of the three plastic seat removal clips behind the back seats. You would be surprised at the little pieces that somehow go missing on the dealership lot.

Aside from that, if you want to see the service history on the vehicle , you can go to lexus.com and register the Vin number. All the services will pull up. Same as auto check and Carfax , but maybe you will see a discrepancy. These can be easily photoshopped btw, so always verify. It's worth a look. Hope this helps.

JunoBR

One more thing to add. Make sure you see the airbag light on the dash briefly when you first turn the car on. If you don't see it light up and turn off, they may have pulled the bulbs out to hide the fact that the airbags have deployed. That's one way to detect a serious accident.

Frank1984

damn thanks for all the info, yes i know about the dashboard situation, the very first is 250 i was looking at had the dash board real bad and though i could just do the recall, i called lexus only to find out that 2008 dont qualify, that i would have to contact lexus and basically beg them to make a exception and even then they probably wont do it. That was a 08 though, this one is a 2010 and is already at lexus getting the dashboard replaced. I will definitely note all this down if i decide to go with this particular is 250.

Honestly the only thing thats holding me back from getting this car is the price (300 dollars over the 8grand i have) and that autocheck report saying that its been in 2 accidents, thats what im trying to find out the most, if the fact that the autocheck report says no damage does that mean atleast that THOSE 2 ACCIDENTS atleast were not mayor?

and how did u snag a 08 lexus with 128 miles for 6grand!!?

JunoBR

Well, I found out that the guy I bought it from who is a private seller, had just bought it from a buy here pay here lot. He paid 6000 and I think he wanted to ditch it because of the many issues that I was willing to take on as my project. The dealership is still running the ad, which is how I found out. I'll end up sinking at least 1k more into it and that's with us doing the work. If I can't fix this headlight issue, it may be another 1k going back to stock.

I think you won't be satisfied unless you get the car up on a lift and have it inspected for frame damage. See if they will let you take it somewhere close by. That's your best bet. It sounds to me like the report they showed you was either edited (easy to do), or they are just telling you truth- that it had two accidents but you won't get to know how serious they were. Try putting the VIN number in at Lexus.com and also try the app ISeeCars. Check for any inconsistencies from the report you saw. I like the app because it will show you all the times it was advertised and will link you into the state of Florida database where you will get a lot more info on it. On Carfax you can see the areas on a diagram that were damaged in the accident. You have to ask yourself why it was at the auction in the first place.

Where in FL are you?South Fl is going to be less $ than central and north FL. Set up a search on the Autotrader app for private sellers in the state and your parameters ie 2009-2010 is250, is350 under 9k (negotiation room). Refresh it a few times a day. Strike when you see a new listing. You can do the same for craigslist. Remember, never Miami, no matter how tempting it looks.