irishbrahm

As I noted on another thread, I'm back in the LS430 family after a 2-year hiatus. I've been looking for the right car for quite a while.

In my search I've encountered some questionable dealership behavior that inspired me to write this post for potential LS430 buyers.

Last week I was looking at a '06 LS430, one owner, with 60k miles at a Cadillac dealership. The timing belt and water pump had been done, etc. So I contacted the dealership. The story was that the car belonged to the dealership owner's mother who recently passed. Okay fine. So I asked for photos. The wheels were banged up and the bumpers were scuffed. I asked for a CarFax, I was told that the dealership only used Autocheck, which conveniently was also unavailable for this car. I searched the website and saw that CarFaxes were available for other cars. Inference: They were trying to hide something about the car. I understand that someone bought the car yesterday.

A high-volume Lexus dealership that I've purchased from twice before has a '06 LS430 on their lot. It has about 140k miles and has been serviced every 5k miles since purchase. Timing belt, water pump, plugs, etc. have all been done. There's an accident on the CarFax which made it a non-starter for me. But I searched the Lexus Service History and learned that the prior owner was starting to have tranny problems, which certainly played a part in ditching the car. This dealership's typical practice is to send problematic cars directly to the auction; however, there's a severe shortage of LS430s in the region these days. If a potential buyer doesn't look at the Lexus Service History, they could be in for an unfortunate surprise.

So to potential buyers, please do your due diligence. The ability to obtain the Lexus Service History (assuming that the car was serviced at a Lexus dealership post-warranty) can be an invaluable tool.

Johnhav430

I came across two things in my search, which told me that even at the new car level, there is still some shadiness.

One was a 2005 LS430 at a Lexus dealership. They emailed me a PDF which was an internal work order (looks just like a customer receipt) showing me everything they did to recondition. It had new shocks (struts) on the right side only (aren't these replaced in pairs?). 4 new Dunlop SP tires. Carfax clean. When I went to see it, it would not start, the entire left side was resprayed, the right rear 1/4 resprayed, and there was black paint on both right wheels, as well as the lower plastic on the right gouged. And, the tires were not Dunlop SPs, they were some knock offs with no brand. All at a new car dealership, Lexus of ******* ******* near me. The next day they agreed to include a timing belt job in the price (I wondered how would I know they actually did it?).

At the dealer I bought my car from--the online pics showed a armor all'd Dunlop SP with a mint rim, you could still see the red dots on the tires for mounting. Come to find, this is the barely used spare from the trunk! They took it out, mounted it for online pics, then put it back!! Well I did buy this car, and I didn't test drive it at high speed so the brakes pulsated and the driver door actuator did not work. Luckily, they did these for free, and per my request, used Lexus OE parts--I have the boxes to show.

What I've learned from my own travels is that there are many businesses with razor thin margins, unlike when something is being sold that's a concept (sorry guys insurance comes to mind) and say adding more customers and revenue is done with no additional investment. So humans come up with a lot of tricks...

Jbthompson

Romanova

There are still great examples out there to be had, but you need to be patient for it to come along. When it does come along, you need to be ready to act immediately. I had pretty strict criteria and looked at some real turds until the right car came along. I was lucky to get the right car locally. I spoke with sales managers at several dealers and told them what I was looking for and was lucky to have one contact me the moment my car came in on trade.

JJLS430

Yes, always be prepared to walk away.

TriC

Except for my very first car purchase in 1971, every one of the 50 plus used vehicles purchased since then have been from private owners for precisely the reasons (and others) described by the above posters.

We are indeed fortunate to now have resources such as Carfax and the Lexus website to easily determine service history. In addition, I prefer to meet and size up the owner, gauge his/her honesty, and learn exactly why a car is being sold. It is usually hard to go wrong buying an original owner car that's lived in a great neighborhood. Yes, it can be time consuming, but poor quality candidates can typically be weeded out by careful culling.

BMW7_LS430

At the risk of going off topic, I want to stress that sealed tranny on LS430 is not really lifetime. Do regular drain and refills. I did mine once at 70K and twice at 90K. It is little painful DIY but alternative is to do at the dealer. I have no shifting issues at 113K and hope will never have.

tallcaguy

I completely agree that buying directly from the owner is the best way. Good zip code always helps. The problem here is that most good 430's get traded in rather than sold privately. Maybe an LS seller doesn't want to deal with Craig's or local advertising. I looked for a private deal for months. I finally paid 13.5 to an Infiniti dealer for an 04 ML (103). The owner bought an expensive replacement which is a good sign. Bit the bullet because it was a one owner, full dealer service and all the usual problems had been fixed (ML amp replaced, both mirrors replaced w/in last 20k, driver's door lock, etc). Production date late enough that no transmission replace needed. Also a Sports which is hard to find (!). There was a waiting list to buy the car. Dealer has an excellent reputation and sales manager even drove my other car back to my house (30 mi). Yes I paid more but reputable dealers do have some nice cars.

caesosa

Iconic cars like these are worth what people will pay for them. Trying to explain to anyone that a car with 150k miles is a good deal is next to impossible unless they have owned one of these in the past or a Land Cruiser/LX470 or any derivative of. These cars are built different, and while you will spend on some maintenance they will last for a long time without catastrophic failures. So try to explain that...

that said, it’s a rust belt car so if there is any sign of rust underneath I wouldn’t touch it with a 10 ft pole at 16 years of age.

Striker223

When I went hunting for a 430 (I went four times so far, two successful) it's very easy to buy from private parties since as TriC said it's much easier to gauge the car based on who the seller is. I also tend to place huge priority on cosmetics since I don't really care if you sold me one that was absolutely pristine but with a blown engine and trans since mechanical stuff is easily fixed vs trying to bring cosmetics back to how impressive these cars were new.

weldthedif

I've learned the hard way - NEVER buy a car sight unseen. no matter what I will always inspect a car in person before I buy it. It's easy to spot repaired accident damage (there is almost always over spray somewhere) or just neglect- i.e. open the oil cap and look inside the engine, the cleanliness or oil staining of the inside of the engine will tell you exactly how often the oil was changed.