vipergts

Hi all,

I have a potential deal where I am getting a 2004 430 with 80K miles for $13,000. The car has modern luxury, nav, levison, etc and the interior is immaculate. Only issue and the reason for low price is that the car fax is not clean. Car has been in 2 accidents, both a few years ago and there has been some bodywork done to the front bumper and drivers side. That said, there is apparently no frame damage. All devices work, the car drives fine, but pulls slightly to the right side and the tail light needs to be replaced. This is not a salvage title or a totalled car. The deal is super tempting but I am not sure if I should bite. Body work is pretty decent. What do you guys suggest?

warminwisc

I'd keep looking it is not that good of a deal in my opinion. I would end up having buyers remorse looking at the imperfections every day.

2lucky

There are far too many nice cars out there that are great deals.
That said, if I were to consider a car that had paint work, it would have to have legitimate detailed receipts for the work.
Painted bondo will unwind over time. A well prepped and painted new body panel won't.

Jabberwock

pulls to the left - uuh-uhh - run away

I6turbo

iTrader: (1)

I would not buy it, but that doesn't mean it's the wrong car for everyone. If you are going to use and abuse whatever you get, and it's likely to get beaten up in the next couple years, anyway, and you aren't turned off by the current exterior/paint condition, it might be worth investigating further. I'd switch sides with the front wheels/tires, and if it still pulled the same direction (indicating it's not a tire tread separation, but an alignment issue) I might lose interest completely. If I were still interested, I'd then take it to a good frame shop or a good Lexus dealer and see if they could find why it is pulling. If they find that the frame is straight but the car just needs an alignment, I might still be interested. However, I always question why a car needs alignment. I can typically put >100K miles on a modern import car or truck without it ever needing an alignment, so it doesn't make me feel good to see them needing an alignment -- makes me wonder what the heck people have been driving over. But then, I haven't lived anywhere in recent years with $h!t roads....

The easy and safe thing is to keep looking though. Good luck.

warminwisc

I do not have time myself to drive all over to ensure the car is relatively well taken care of. Maintenance reciepts, reciepts for the body work and a price of 11,500 might be worth me driving around to mechanics to ensure a quality ride, if that is all your budget allows for a LS.

vipergts

It's not a matter of budget. The thing is that I love my Jaguar XJ8 and C5 vette and dont want to sell either to get the LS, so not planning to spend more than 16-17 at this time....

01LEXPL

iTrader: (10)

I would simply get it checked out at a body shop right off the bat to inspect the frame/other panels.

With that said, i have no idea what all these picky guys are talking about. That IMO is a fantastic price.

Even if you were to take off all the 'repaired' panels and replace them with used ones from the wreckers/new and repaint you would still be under the 16k$ budget. Even if you needed the alignment done, its a few bucks to do it...

I say do it by all means, if it clears out in terms of the frame.

GL!

vipergts

Yeah that's some good advice. I am not ultra finicky. It is shocking how many cars out there have been in some sort of collison. Between carfax, autocheck and my mechanic I have already rejected many 2004 models costing 18-25K that had some sort of accident before. Last week I almost bought a LS460 for 28K WHICH WAS CERTIFIED and being sold by a LEXUS DEALERSHIP. So it must be clean right? Wrong! Carfax showed 3 accidents and FRAME damage. Dealership tried to bs and finally admitted that there was body work on the car. All I am saying here is that if anyone is ULTRA finicky they ought to just buy a brand new LS instead.

usermel

I say run dont walk away. Run,Forest, run Forest, run!!!!!! Get out of there quick. And in the words of me, you know you dont need to by the bloody car!!!!Why,Why,Why,Why!!!

P.S: Dont buy that car, its a deal laid out for a sucker and any businessman like I am knows if you wait long enough, some sucker will come by and buy whatever is being sold. The signs are there buddy, 2 accidents. Never buy a car with known(cant avoid unknown accidents/problems of course) car accidents buddy,NEVER! When it comes to cars in the luxury segment the last thing a new buyer wants is accelerated problems meaning, the accidents and body work increase chances for potential issues sir.

Find a LS430 that cost a bit more with no PAST MAJOR issues and go with that. BE quick, but dont hurry in your decision and most important BE WISE. Its unwise to pay your hard earned money on a known problem vehicle. Dont want to see you with buyers remorse like the 1st responder to your thread said you may have and they are 1000% correct!
L.G.N.M

miniz

It sounds like a mess. But it may have been fairly minor accidents, that were repaired correctly. The car pulling one way or another may be another issue, not related to the accidents. If you can get it inspected by both a good mechanic and a good body shop, and it turns out alright, then make a low ball offer and buy it. If you overpay for the car now, you will never be able to get rid of this thing later on. Nobody will ever want to buy this for any reasonable amount of money. You will have to discount it sharply to sell later on, especially if it has over 100k miles and has been involved in 2 major accidents.

usermel

Very great points miniz and exceptional advice as well. I agree with you and 01Lexpl totally that buying a car with some work needed is cool. That said, this deal just gives me the creeps for our fellow member,and you said yourself he should ask for lower price because if issues arise after he buys it, nobody will want to take it of his hands.

I feel buying it is cool but, the risk seems to HIGH compared to the reward. And accidents of the unknow variety and other work that was seen with the potential buyers own eyes raise questions and suggest being wary. Not to mention the pulling to one side issue as well cause me to say stay away from THIS CAR and be PATIENT. In my opinion everytime I myself in experiences Ive actually had I have always done better when I waited until what I wanted in looks,value,issues and overall was how I wanted it to be in buying cars,homes,clothes etc.!

If he buys and takes miniz's advice and gets the price down a couple grand that would be great. I do overall agree with you and 01Lexpl miniz as far as what he can do if he buys to fix up the car. I guess at the end of it all if he takes the advice to buy or pass on the car either decision is good! Great advice fellow members on the opposite side of dont buy. L.G.N.M