I just bought a 2016 IS 300 F SPORT from my Lexus dealer for $35,000 with 6,800 miles last week. Car Fax showed one owner, no accidents. Today I discovered, in the glove box, a summary of repairs for $6,800 from the previous owner. Looks like this car was rear ended. What would you all do? They haven't offered me their solution yet, I told my salesman and he was shocked, said he would be calling me back asap. I wonder how much $$$ they may offer to take off or will they want to put me in a new comparable model? I don't think they would take off $6,800 from what I financed. Maybe $5000? Just making assumptions here, heck they might even say tough crap, I don't know my rights. I feel taken advantage of right now that's for sure, my hands are shaking pretty bad. Just wanted to share my story and see what insight you all have? Thanks in advance.

 

That's rough buddy. Contact the body shop to confirm that this actual vehicle (make sure there wasn't a mix up) was repaired, research and obtain a POLICE ACCIDENT REPORT, then go to the dealer along with the substantial proof that this car was indeed involved in a accident. A reputable Lexus dealer would take care of this and either reimburse you or put you in a different vehicle. This is indeed a rare situations though,

 

The repair bill would have a VIN# on in or at least the license plate number. Carfax does not report all accidents on a vehicle, and it is a big mistake that buyers rely on carfax for history. But honestly there is no other way to know. Hell, my previous Civic had 8 accidents and carfax reported nothing!
Laws vary from state to state, so may want to look up what you can do within your rights. It's unlikely that you will get $5k, maybe $2k. I would push for as much as possible until you like a settlement they offer.
A rear end accident is usually not too bad, especially if it was repaired for $6800. Look at the details of the bill and see what was repaired. If you like the car and get some money back, it's a perfectly fine car to drive.

 

Lexus Dealers always overlook stuff like previous repairs the owner did or complaints about malfunctions. The only thing Lexus cares about is money. They are money based dealer. They tend to the Rich and hate to finance the poor. (Cause they get less upfront money) Do like GibbsLexus suggested and do the research to obtain PROOF. I remember shopping for used Lexus IS 250 -350 F at the dealer. I asked the same question on all the cars. "So the ait filter was replaced"? How long ago. When you actually pop open then engine and remove the plastic clips you can see it was never changed and it look like a handfull or more of pile of leaves and stuff. Lexus dealers never think you will check the engine condition. They call it the "Dry" look. The engine is not shined or cleaned. Every sales man was like "Oh my" your right it has not been changed. Let me go put in a work order to change that for you. "Do you still want the car"? *** no you lame *** suit wearing Bigit. After all my concerns were attended to, i finally made a purchase. After I spoke with the previous owner. Do your research People. You can buy a nice car but look around a bit.

2010 IS 250 RWD basic pacakge Smokey Granite

 

Honestly, I doubt they'll do much.

It will vary by state, but in general, my understanding of the law is that they do not have to disclose the damage unless you specifically asked. If you asked and they said it had never been in an accident, that would be an issue, as would it be if they put any kind of a statement in your contract/paperwork stating it had never been in an accident. But if you don't ask, they generally don't have to tell.

 

At my dealer when you bring a car back for trade-in purposes, they ask you verbally and make you sign that the vehicle was not in an accident.

So based on that, the previous owner should get in trouble for not declaring it to the dealer. As for what they'll do to compensate you, I'm guessing they would take the car back and have you pick another. I doubt they'll discount anything on it. IF the dealer actually missed it upon inspection, then it must have been fixed really well.

More importantly, do you even want a car that has $6,800 repairs? I know I wouldn't.

 

CarFax isn’t 100% accurate when buying a used car. My cousin had an IS350 bought brand new and 2 years into ownership the car gets t-boned. Long story short, insurance repaired it paid for damages nearly 28k, never made it to CarFax and it’s been over 4 years now.

 

I remember reading a recent (past month) thread on Reddit on this exact issue. I don't recall which state but I believe it was a Honda dealership. I remember the conclusion was that the dealer (I read the manager was extremely helpful/sorry about the situation) offered two options: credit the difference or offer a brand new compatible car. I assume this should be the same options presented to you.

 

Good luck to you and I hope Lexus is willing to work with you on this. Maybe even contact corporate as well? I don’t think it would hurt your case...just my two cents

 

Look for a precedent in your state, that should give you a good guide on what to expect and always sound extremely willing to make this fiasco public.

 

Hi all,

Just in case anyone is interested, we made a compromise at the Lexus dealership. Turns out I bought the car "as is" which is what I assumed being that it was used. Since they technically didn't have to help me I wasn't very aggressive. The original solution was to find me a replacement , I wanted a 6 cylinder and preferably F sport (like mine) so 300 or 350. Since I got mine for 35k with about 7k miles on it, it was very hard for them to find me a replacement with ultra low miles for about 10k off MSRP.

After waiting several weeks I went in person to come up with a solution. Previously, on day one I had negotiated the price and agreed to purchase the "Platinum Lexus extended warranty" for $1500 (they go for 2k before negotiation). They gave me that for free plus a hand full of free oil changes. They also gave me an extra key ($300 value) and a free wheel (not sure on value) I scratched mine bad on a curb the first day I owned it. In addition to the extended warranty, they told me they stand behind their analysis that the frame is not damaged and "put a note in the system that they" would take care of me" if I run into issues out of warranty. Whether the last part is true who knows. No I didn't ask for it in writing since he offered it as a nice gesture when as I was leaving (I was already satisfied).

The man who previously owned this car was 80 years old. The old man told them that it hadn't been crashed (he paid cash to have it repaired). The repair receipt that I have shows 3k in parts and 3.5k in labor so maybe it wasn't all that bad, lots of labor cost. The mechanic who inspected it at Lexus during trade in swears that it didn't appear it had been repaired, again clean car fax and we all looked at it on the jack again. Looks clean and new. I hate to think about the crash, yea I'm still semi-uneasy but I think it will be ok and I know I got a car that I could never afford new. 7k miles for 10k off msrp on a 2016 was the best deal I could find locally after searching for months. Thank you all very much for the advice and well wishes.

p.s. I had it tinted and lowered at the dealership (attaching a picture below)

 

This is pretty much what I did, thank you man. Was too late to re-negotiate selling price since it went to my bank and I got my first bill. I feel like I got approx 2500k-3k of value. I loved the interior color and exterior, didn't want to settle for different. This makes you wonder how many people are driving cars that had repairs that they don't know about?

 

Thanks, yea I know some of you may have pushed harder than I did. Hopefully I did ok and didn't come out too short. Maybe I could have gotten more, I see someone said a brand new car. I dont know if I had that power since I bought "as is". I was wanting to get this settled asap so I could get my plates ans get back to life. Thank you all for the support!!

 

Glad it worked out for you and it looks like you received some good value back.
$3k in parts was probably just the bumper and rear diffuser, and maybe some small miscellaneous parts. It's almost impossible to tell if the car was ever repaired or not because it was only cosmetics, and replaced with brand new parts.

Did you pay the dealer for the tint and drop? FYI, They just contract that out to a local shop and charge you more for it.

 

As long as you're happy with the end result, that's all that matters!