Neofate

iTrader: (1)

As for search -- too much at once eh? Some of those questions were in jest.

Anyway --

No, I didn't negotiate price -- I did negotiate the quality of the repairs and what was/is done.

The condition/interior is a 9.8/10 -- Imo.

I would also put this engine up against cars with half the milage.

Also, this car has no mechanical problems. The fuel gauge doesn't work, thats it.

The work done is simply 'maintenance' .. preventative. He knows what is likely to go out, what 'should' be needed about now, and is doing it. I didn't and wouldn't.. He could have sold it 'as is' .. It wasn't like the car was broken, looked bad, or drove bad from day 1.

I think the miles are throwing you guys with the whole price thing. Its sort of like 'technically' 220k, but in the shape of 100k well , well maintained. If you understand?

90% of these miles are highway miles, which is why the car has so many in the first place. That is a good thing, of course. Second his wife drove it (easily), and garage kept it. The previous owner had 90k miles or so on it when he bought it for his wife in 97. (3yrs, 90k) -- Practically all highway,.. Then from 97 to present it has been a mixture, but alot of them are highway -- Or so I am told. I cannot prove or be 100% certain they are, but I trust the guy. He has absolutely no reason to continue doing the maintenance he is doing right now to the car, and fixing every little thing .. but he is. Why? Cause he wants me to have a good car. He offers his 'free' labor if things go wrong.. (who does that?) --

They are simply getting another 'new' Lexus -- And he said he honestly wanted to give this to his Daughter for college, but she wanted a different kind of car.

It could all be lies though, right?

Bottom line, it is my LS400, and I think and believe it is in good condition. Only time will tell I suppose. All I have right now is a Master mechanic verifying things, and my own personal inspections. It isn't 45,000 dollars.

Also he is owed $4,000 of the 4500$ at the time of pick up of the car. Again the only delay in this is him being comfortable with having everything finished. I've actually been calling him , perhaps a little too much, trying to see what can be sped up, when I need to let him take his sweet time and keep doing whatever 'free' maintenance he feels he wants to do.

You got yours with an 80% perfect interior, bad gauge cluster, and needed new motor mounts at 90,000 miles for $2400? I would think that is a fantastic deal. Though I've priced them out quite a bit, and at least in my area the price is dead on accurate if not a bit on the cheaper side, even for the milage.

In this case, I would not want an identical LS400 with say, 160k on the odometer -- On this car I know the history, and where the major and minor maintenance stands.. On another I probably wouldn't be so informed.

But to each their own -- It seems like X percent think, bravo, sounds like a winner -- and Y percent are reciprocals of X, and think it is borderline ripoff.

I'm the one who has to deal with it, it isn't anything I can change now, I've made the deal , so I have to , "deal" , with it -- Good or bad.

Let us hope good.

I just sold my 240sx for $1600, took 3 days with no classifieds, only an internet forum post. I bought the 240, 5 years ago for $1500. So maybe we get some great deals sometimes and sometimes we get just some 'regular' prices.

Be well,

909LS

man... makes me wonder why i haven't been able to sell mine

j stuff

iTrader: (5)

well if your interior condition is as good as you say and the maintenace was done for you then its not so bad saves you a bunch of time

Neofate

iTrader: (1)

Indeed -- That is my point. I picked this because of all the reasons I explained, no need for me to repeat them

But, not only has it saved me time, but if you tack on all the maintenance and parts he is adding in.. It comes to several extra thousand dollars that I pay nothing for.

It would sort of like finding a great running lexus with the miles I have,.. that the owner was a master mechanic, and said ok it is $4500, and I'll fix everything wrong with the car.. go test drive it and come back and tell me anything else you find that I might have missed.

Now of course this could go on and on with things like, well you could really buy some new shocks, and the tires need to be 100% tread, (basically replacing every part of the car) -- But being reasonable,.. I think it is a wonderful deal.

Only problem is I'm still sitting here wondering if he will call today and let me know what the status is on the car, and also if it 'might' be ready tommorow. See he owns the shop, and he has to work on all the other vehicles he has as priority before he works for 'free' on the Lexus. So he really only has after hours, and Saturdays to put in time. (I'm sure he isn't thrilled about spending his Saturdays working .. but that was/is his choice) --

It has been Three weeks tommorow since I first went to see the car. Then the following thursday from 3weeks ago Sat, I put the down payment .

So you can understand how I am a bit antsy by now.. I would call and try to hurry it up,.. but that would only discourage him to just finish up before doing all the things he would do if given the time. Arghh -- Patience is a virtue, indeed.

I'm sorry if I sounded really defensive there in my earlier post, but It really is a unique situation, and I certainly hope I don't regret it. Though if I was to buy any car with 200k , a Lexus LS400 would be the best bet (considering its reliability record)

Take care,

RXGS

iTrader: (2)

when are you getting the car? and if you could pics would be great

Neofate

iTrader: (1)

When am I getting the car..

Hah! That has been the question of the month.

I put down a downpayment Jan 31st. -- I first looked at the car and showed interest a week before that. So here it is Feb 12th, and no car.

Through this thread you get the idea the seller is a mechanic, and he was 'fixing up' some things on the car.. (IE: Power steering leak) before it sold. I got caught up in the middle of the fixes, and I am waiting for it to be done.

With all that said.. according to mechanic the car will be ready once the Climate control comes back from Jim Walker and he installs it. (Simple process I've read the guide).

Jim walker emailed me last night, said my mechanic forgot to include a check with the Climate control he sent in. (we decided it best just to let Jim do the work) -- I said, thats fine, I will go ahead and pay the 175$ for the job, plus an extra $20 dollars for overnight shipping. (I paid instantly via paypal).

Jim emailed me back this morning said he was finished, the unit is shipped and will arrive tommorow (Wednesday).

So now it is up to the mechanic to get it in the car, and to really have finished up everything he said he was going to do.

So it is 'possible' I could pick the car up Tommorow -- But Thursday seems more likely. That gives the mechanic a full day to get the Climate control taken care of, and any odds and ends he was going to do after that (though supposedly the climate control is the last step).

I am taking the $175 out of the price of the car, the mechanic was paying for that out of his pocket (part of the deal) -- So that simply makes the taxes on the car a little less because the total sell value will be less.

Trust me I am anxious to get this car, I have big plans for it.

Yes,.. I will post pictures as soon as I get it.

For I have immediate questions about how/if I can make the leather look better.

It has no holes/rips etc -- But has these wide lines on the creases that are a lighter color. (Tan leather). I'd like to smooth those out to blend a bit better. If that was smoothed, the inside and outside would be just about 100%.

It is champagne in color, with the tan/brown leather interior.

I like black on black, but this isn't bad. Especially when I tint the windows, and get an aftermarket headunit put in.

Take care,

zokustyle

holy crap your posts are huge.

but welcome, and post pics when you pick it up!

Neofate

iTrader: (1)

Yup, my posts are always huge on most every forum. I am very wordy. Some people get annoyed by it but its just the way I write. If it bugs anyone just skim to the bottom or ignore my posts

Thanks for the welcome, I hope to be able to contribute to the forum as I learn more about my car.

PureDrifter

iTrader: (10)

u let the mech do the rest of the work

id ask for the parts and a better price...

Neofate

iTrader: (1)

I'm mechanically inclined but I don't have a shop/lift/and tools that he does.

I'm getting the parts at 15% below cost and free labor. Not to mention these were things he was doing to the car regardless of who bought it, if anyone bought it, etc.

The only thing extra was the motor mounts/tranny mount. He did it for parts only.

The climate control was coming out of his pocket -- I suppose I could have told him to take it out of the price, but I wanted it fixed. So either way it was the same price

I don't see why not take advantage of a master mechanic doing labor for free, and especially paying for parts out of his own pocket, when the negotiated price of the car was established before all of this happened.

To each their own, but I'll let the man who's had the engine pulled from the car before handle the work right now, and who's bread and butter is the ability to make any problem on any type of car go away

Once it is in my hands, I already have a good bit of work lined up I'm doing. Though 99% of it is just modifications (audio, visual etc) --

In other words, the price wouldn't have changed if I asked him not to do the work he was already in the middle of doing when I first went to look at the car (it was on the rack the first visit). I would have just lost free parts/labor for no reason. Though I would be driving it right now, (with a few grand worth of parts/labor that needed to be done) More labor than parts though.