CARuiser

Hi, sorry if this is not in the right place.

Could anyone give me an idea of what I can expect to sell this car for? I listed the car online and I guess low ball offers for $1,000.00 which makes no sense. Considering I just dropped $2,500 in repairs. If I do the rear main seal that will be another 1,000.00

I have a 98 LS400 with ~275K miles. This is my Dad's car, I believe he is the second owner. After all these years it still drives like it floating.

Recent repairs:

​​​​timing belt and Water pump service.
camshaft seals.
front crankshaft seal
Tune-up
Valve cover gasket
Plus additional maintenance.

Issues with the car:
-Power steering pump bubbles: pump and/or hoses need to be replaced.
-navigation screen goes in and out. Touch is still functional but the LCD screen does not display anything. edit, LCD screen displays intermittently.
-Thermostat gauge is reading high. Let's mechanic states car is running at 180° so a part in the gauge needs to be replaced.
-exterior cosmetic issues.
​
Your help is appreciated.

Toys4RJill

Not worth $1000 IMO.

CARuiser

Ouch!, I see these selling for $5,000 plus online.

If I part it out. I can get $500.00 just for the front bumper cover.
​​​​​in addition, I see people buying these for a couple of grand and then spending another $5K.

Toys4RJill

It just seems there are quite a few maintenance and repair items.

RA40

iTrader: (6)

Values even on these oldies has come up a bit. $1K for the condition may be ball park up to about $2K. The power steering may be $ if it needs rack, PS pump or new lines. The instrument thermostat sensor which isn't big $ can be DIY.

What type of cosmetic exterior issues? A pic of the outside and inside would be helpful.

400fanboy

If it's in rough condition, ripped seats, faded paint and has a couple of gremlins that are difficult to fix (LCD, gauge cluster) you're looking probably at 3 grand or so.

You say "exterior cosmetic issues" so I'm guessing overall it will be a bit rough compared to the "grandmother, only driven to church once a month" car.

However, none of the issues really present a drivability issue. And in this market, if someone needs a car to just drive, I would see arguments about it being even stronger. If there are no clunks\bumps\rattles from the suspension that would validate 4, maybe 5 grand.

What you need to do is go to https://www.autotempest.com/ and do a nationwide search. Be honest about the condition of your car and see what similar examples are going for. The market for the car with ~150k on the clock and unknown mechanical issues seems to be about $5-8k. If your car is rougher than those I'm sure it's still not anywhere close to $1000.

Side note: the trouble with the navigation screen being intermittent is that HVAC is controlled through there, partially. You can adjust temp, but you can't adjust fan speed without it. That will be a sticking point for anyone wanting to buy the car.

deanshark

The value of all used cars has come up and stayed up for a while now. I agree with 400fanboy about checking nationwide prices for all conditions of LS400s to get a better ballpark figure. There's more people out there actually looking for an LS400 then you'd think, because they're such a good car. Price it higher and let someone talk ya down.
The temp sensor for the gauge is cheap, about $10-$15 and is a DIY but any little thing can turn into something bigger. As people have read about my problems with that sensor, $10 turned into about $500 with everything else I'm doing to the car after that sensor snapped. (Real cheap, Mike LOL)
If you plan on doing something with that before you sell the car, just check it to make sure that's the problem.

timmy0tool

iTrader: (7)

good thoughts here and what i bolded is very much correct!

i would address some of the small issues like the temp gauge which is easy (should be dean ), then you can likely fetch about $2k depending on interior condition.

a car as a whole is always worth less than the parts, so you cannot compare it that way. you're welcome to part it out to make your $1k (or likely more) but then eventually you'll be left with a shell of a car to dispose of.

RA40

iTrader: (6)

Agree that the parts fix can turn into some big $. Enough unknowns on this one at this point to really determine. If that temp sensor fixes the instrument gauge then it wasn't big $. The nav screen and modules for that can be expensive. Adding in suspension issues, any potential buyer may be into these fixes for $3K+. Some of the parts will not be Toyota so quality and price will vary for those. The overall condition is unknown other than what the OP disclosed.

YODAONE

It would be worth extracting the navigation LCD Module for inspection by an electronics technician to determine if any apparent cold solder joints , expired electrolytic capacitors or backlight (incandescent?) bulbs...

CARuiser

Sorry, I misstated that the LCD does work intermittently.

CLLEXUSS

Hello, with value, people generally like to see that work has been done, but generally they seem to omit that from the purchase price as it is seen as required maintenance. Even if you say add-on "upgrades", that doesn't always work in a persons favor regarding price either, not everyone likes modifications and do not see that as a good thing. These cars you can generally get a lot of miles out of them, but you have a lot of miles on this car. 275K miles is a lot of miles lets face it. Not that that you can't keep putting more miles on it because you can. But there are so many unknowns regarding what it's going to need next, on top of what it already needs now that it's very risky to buy. Yes you put 2500 into it but that is an expected part of owning a car. Just how things are. Your car may very well need 4-5K dollars of work needed within the next year. The person who buys it may have to put that much into it, I mean with that many miles who knows. Then the person that bought it, drives it for a while and then it has 350K miles then he wants to sell it and he has $7500. total into this car @350K miles. It's a very high mileage car, it scares most buyers because of that, not all, but most. It's just part of owning a car all this stuff. I can tell you what your car is worth, and its simple, whatever someone is willing to pay lol. It's one of those things, sometimes people get "stuck" with a car because they put so much into it, or they are willing to cut their loses and sell it. But 1K is kind of an insult imo, and 2K would be the absolute floor for me to sell it. It's a sellers market though, bid em high and stand your ground, never know just need to find the right buyer willing to pay up. Good luck with the sale!

Losiracer2

you need to post pictures of the car for us to determine value. Condition dictates price. To fetch top dollar, it not only needs to be mechanically sound and up to date with maintenance, but has to look the part as well. So a car with faded paint, peeling chrome wheels, torn leather, dirty carpets and high miles will no longer fetch the high prices you're accustomed to seeing on auction sites and low mileage, one owner examples.

Based on what you've mentioned, I would say 3000-4000 would be what a 98-00 facelifted 2nd gen LS is worth with that mileage. Before the pandemic, in 2019, I sold my 300k AZ, rust free completely up to maintenance and reliable 97' LS with a clean interior for $2500. I probably could've got 3500, especially in Michigan, but I sold it to a coworker for his son after upgrading to a 147k 99' for not much more, though it was a 1 owner Ohio example which needed some underneath restoration (y-pipe, and all rear arms had frozen eccentric bolts)

lextout

If you're a patient enough you'll get 1500 bucks

RA40

iTrader: (6)

Crazy times. People are buying cars in condition that in "normal" situations they would be passed over. If the basics are good then that helps tremendously for those that need basic transportation.