Daspyda

iTrader: (1)

I use a Southwest CC for my utilities and purchases and pay it off every month. I think I've paid for one or two flights out of about fourteen since 2014.

I look at credit bureaus all day for a living. I am amazed at the level of debt older folks have.

If you do not have debt, you can use your money to help others.

Leave a legacy when you go, and not debt for your family they have to work through which may involve diminishing their standard of living.

tallcaguy

LOL this is an LS forum (not Finances 101). Honestly dream houses (for most of us) are great way to waste money or go broke. Now "good" debt could be adding a 5 car garage (for soon to be larger LS collection) to your existing house right? Having a garage that's the same ft2 as the house is success right? Separate HVAC, insulated ceilings, double panes, security system, epoxy floor, something to lift at least one car, bookcases for original manuals, soft cushioned chairs so you can admire the collection and good sound system of course

Cash vs loan for an LS? Lots of different ways to drive down that road. Paying off the credit card monthly is great. You're waaaay ahead of the game. Cash back is ok but if the 6k/mo goes to new iPhones and dinner 3x/week? Ha ha, premium gas for the 430 is a must of course. Agree Southwest is a good card. No debt so can help others isn't something we hear very often.

Johnhav430

Anyway back to the prices, I distinctly feel that prices are falling, and mileage is not going up for said price. When I bought in Oct., it seemed like tons were in the 16's, then you'd see "price drop!" It'd be 15's and you'd buy in the 14's. We're talking 60-80k miles. Today, the price is in the 14's prior to price dropping. We are a tiny niche, the general public doesn't really want this kind of car. We've even seen on this forum where someone is given the car, and they don't even want it after driving it for a month.....I like the car a lot myself, but would question whether I really would want to get another. But I truly enjoyed taking it 800 miles for work, feel like I got used like a Dominos driver, but then again, if the car can last 300k, what's 800 reimbursed miles, right?

edit what seems quite different, on Toyota products, would be the SC430 and Land Cruisers, of the same vintage. Those prices seem to be the same, with mileage going up.....been meaning to ask a woman in the office if she still has her SC, haven't seen it in a long time.....I'd be willing to pay 14k for one of those with low miles and mint, but I know apples to oranges

tallcaguy

Agree falling but pretty slowly for a 15+ year old car. Here it's holding at 10-12 for a private sale, 100'ish k mile, ML level car w/ good service. There's a nice 04 Flint Mica Sports (113) in Mesa AZ for 11/BO. Tempted but that's a long drive. Interesting on SC430. More woman owners? Vintage Land Cruiser? Killer 4wd? Impossible to find and instant sale if listed. Looked at a dealer 430 for 14. Sales guy looked worried when I asked if I could use a credit card to buy (just wanted to shake things up a bit). Yes and I would have paid it off at the end of month of course

williamcc

$5500 - 2002 LS430 119000 milies. I'll be the fourth owner, first owner was a lease, less than 1000 miles driven in the last year, no maintenance records, clean, no leaks, wrong coolant, suspension tight, already found a few common problems with DIYs here.

tallcaguy

Congrats on your purchase. Which model (Base, Prem, ML, etc)? Timing belt done?

williamcc

Base model as far as I can tell, no upgrades at all.

Johnhav430

Actually when I bought mine used, I asked what the most I could put on the credit card was, and I was pleasantly surprised...$5k. So I put $5k on my Citi Double. $100 in cash rewards--when you get a reward from a bank it's taxed as ordinary income, so not the full amount (just opened a Key Bank acct for $400, it's on a 1099 now subtract maybe 35%). $100 is $100. But it was disheartening to get the bill, there's no way around it, it's got to be paid off in full. I call it the Jack in the Beanstalk factor....that $5k that would have been in the cashiers check, has got to stay in the bank earning at the time 1.05%....if it gets spent, now there's a whopping bill to be dealt with....when I see SC430's on the road, there is something about them that sets them apart....

Johnhav430

congrats, another low miles gem....

p.s. what do you mean wrong coolant, green? Hopefully not orange...

Bocatrip

no not green or orange. Yours is probably Toyota Red with the 50/50 mixture. Early LS430s suggest Toyota Red.

jimisbell

I got my 2004 with 51K miles, in showroom condition for 10K from the first owner, a friend of mine, a month ago. I would not have gone looking for a "Brick with wheels", its an ugly car but ugly is only skin deep, but I knew the car from new and knew that it had never been out at night and not even any "hangar rash", not one mark on it. Regardless of terrible esthetics I knew it would be a keeper forever.

XJSFan

These are great cars and are hard to let go of......... I inherited my mothers 2006 GS430 with all options and 38K miles. Trying to decide, do I sell my mint 2006 LS430 92K miles with all servicing done or the lower mileage GS? Hard decision but I have to make it. I already have too many vehicles and one of these may be sold. It is difficult because the discussion here is on values and if they are holding or dropping. As usual, if the vehicle is maintained well the value will be higher. Both cars are as good as they can be with all maintenance being performed and babied. It will be hard to sell either car because they both run like new but it sounds like the values are under $15K. You can not get anything nice today for $15K or less...

tallcaguy

Follow up. I've been keeping an eye on the car. Price is now 14. No bells and whistles except the parking sensors. Needs new tires (Pilot Super Sports are pretty harsh). TB replace because of age? Maybe 12.5?

airchomper

I had my car listed - an '01 with 109k miles, a very extensive service history, with a set of winter tires, but some rust - at $6,500 and got one bite in about a month (along with a lot of offers for straight trades on 2005/2006 Suzuki GSXR600s - hard pass). I arranged a test drive with my prospective buyer and the night before I had a terrible nightmare about my life after ridding myself of the car - I canceled the test drive the morning-of (if you're the person and you're reading this, I'm sorry but once you get your own LS you'll understand).

I'm a little disappointed, I bought the car for 10.5k in 2013 (with 69k) miles and with 1.5k in maintenance and (probably) 5k in depreciation, I think a cheap lease car would have been more cost effective to drive over the last 4-ish years. But no leased car would have been as enjoyable to drive.

I'm envious of the youngings these days, gas is relatively cheap, part-time jobs pay relatively well ($13/hr at my local subway), and there's a lot of 1998-2003 LSs around for less than 5k. When I shopped for my first car, I couldn't find a VVTi LS400 for less than 16k (way outside of my budget) - I think the VVTi cars get 'good enough' milage that you'll spend less on gas than any comparably priced SUV which is important. Although they're not Prius-like fuel sippers. I'm disappointed my car is worth what it is but it's a good deal for society. When I sell my car, the buyer is going to get a very nice deal and the surplus value hopefully will get invested in the future.

Without getting too political here - I really like it when I see a see a new Lexus / Toyota driving around and I think 'what a waste' when I see a new Mercedes/BMW/Audi. Barring a crash, that Toyota/Lexus is probably going to give its owner 20 years of cost-effective transportation. The BWM/Mercedes/Audi will probably slurp down a lot more resources to provide the same.

However, I have a deposit on a Tesla model 3 (believe the hype re: autopilot but if you hate the idea of a self driving car, this isn't going to change your mind) and the LS is perfect because I can drive it indefinitely and I'm very pleased to have experienced such a fine machine. I daresay no one prior to 1989 ever got to enjoy a car as nice.

Bob04

It's going to be hard to sell either of my 430s. You won't get a lot of money for a car that is a very good car. Hell, a new Toyota Corolla starts at $18K. No way I would pay that with so many nice used cars on the market for way less.