Lrobby99

I thought maybe it was a Paid Professional Inspection.

Absolutely a thorough inspection. And two things jump out; one the car is fully loaded which means dozens of functions to test. From trunk lid motor, to all the interior gadgets, to all the exterior lamps and LED's.
However, it is the underside of any used vehicle where the real story is. Main seal leaks, valve cover leaks, wet struts, coolant, ps fluid, all those things you're not going to see hiding behind the engine cover. To get that car up in the air is the thing.
Thanks,

Lrobby99

Close call, but not this one. More miles than I will accept, 171k, and burn holes galore on the upholstery. Front and back. I not only question how many were smoking, but what they were smoking.
<130 140k< is tops for me. And no burn holes from burnouts.

430SLOwner

Here is one that was perfect with 102,000 miles https://www.barrett-jackson.com/Even...S-LS430-249023 Hope this may help you....

Lrobby99

Thanks for the interest. Crazy how that '06 sold for $11k, but a couple days ago an '04 with slightly lower miles went for $18.5k on Bringatrailer.
This must be a particularly bad time to buy an LS430.

bradland

Barrett Jackson events are FAR from reality regarding market value. They are wonderful events, a first-class operation at every level, but a 430 would go largely unnoticed by the majority of attendees. There's actually a cottage industry of sorts within the circuit itself. Savvy auction goers have been known to buy cars in Fla or Vegas knowing they will bring a premium at the Scottsdale event...

Lrobby99

Can't confirm it hasn't been sold until tomorrow Saturday, but flint mica and black interior. 124k miles. NAV, Modern Luxury and Sport Packages. Timing belt 74k Nothing about the water pump.
Typically for these, plenty of brake jobs. Drivers door lock actuator. The Y-pipe has been repaired a few times including recently. O2 sensor.
And get this: Replaced LF & RR struts 86k. (So now replace the 2 others?)
Replaced the CD deck.
Replaced the starter 64k miles/6 Y/O. I haven't had a starter go bad in decades.

I hope this isn't the Japanese version of the Monday morning car.

The used car lot is trying to get an extra grand, or so, over KBB for this beast.
I plan to call in the morning. Hope it's not snowing.

Lrobby99

I did not see the car above but did confirm the driver's door interior is broken. the door panel including the pocket would all need replacement. It doesn't seem real promising to me.
And an '05 I went to see for $8995 looked too rough.
I'm doing a great job eliminating the LS430 inventory around here.

lextexrr

I can recommend YodaOne as an expert on cars in the Chicago area. He knows the dealers and has extensive experience with Gen 2 and 3 cars.

Lrobby99

+1 on the Yoda advice.

430SLOwner

This was not a local farm auction the existence of which was published only in a local community paper and attended only by the locals who read the local notice or heard about from someone locally who did.
If one wants to bid at a Barrett Jackson event and cannot make it to the auction there multiple ways to bid absentee: online, phone, and by proxy. As 60% of the world has an internet connection, over 4 billion people could have accessed the action's inventory well before the auction and bid on a vehicle up to and until the hammer fell.
Yes, car dealers have been known to buy cars and then sell those same cars; for over 100 years now. (A dealer may even buy a car appearing to be selling at a lower price than the higher price the dealer believes can be obtained at a later sale.)
Anyone serious about buying an LS430 who was searching the intrawebs before the event would or could have seen the 2006 LEXUS LS430 https://www.barrett-jackson.com/Even...S-LS430-249023 which was being auctioned and could have bid on it. (I seem to recall reading about that one and same 2006 LS430, either in this forum or another Lexus forum, well before the auction took place.)
As this forum often has people who may recommend buying an LS 430 from areas which do not have harsh winter weather because of potential corrosion from chemicals and therefore advise interested buyers to buy vehicles not local to them, if someone was interested in acquiring an LS430, this one which also may not have been local to the buyer, was one which may have interested a serious protentional LS430 buyer even if most actual attendees at the physical auction were not interested in an LS430.
Am no longer surprised when an LS430 enthusiast on this forum will write that the actual agreed upon price between a buyer and a seller is not an indication of the market, but that "real" prices are actually higher, when an apparently very nice LS430 with low mileage sells at what may seem to be a decent price for an apparently exceptionally nice LS430. (And, am not surprised when some LS 430 enthusiast here also may write that what may appear to some to be a huge price for perhaps a rare LS430 (unicorn?) example at BAT may be a good indication of the market price for all LS430s.)
The market is the market. Particular model years of used cars which are advertised for weeks without selling may likely indicate the market demand for those model cars is not robust (or perhaps for that car in particular if most of the other same model cars sell quickly).
When a car at an auction of all very nice cars, about which any interested buyer across the world could have known about, sells at a price and for which any interested buyer world wide could have simply and easily bid at that very same actual auction, could that sale price actually be a pretty good indication of the true market?

Lrobby99

**Update**
Found another one. This one is good, but weird. '04 Base, 106k miles. At a used dealer with a lot of Audis, Acuras, Beemers.
Two owners per Carfax. I found the Lexus service history. The Owner1 was heavy on oil changes and did all the flushes of PS, coolant, brakes. Took real good care of it except one thing:
7 batteries between 3/08-2/13
24k miles to 42.6k miles
I don't know what happened after that b/c the history goes blank until 9/17 84.4k miles, which was just a basic dealer service.

The pictures look good. Silver paint and that cream-gray color interior. No NAV, does have sunroof. Interior is fair to good. The button emblems look good, not rubbed off. Seats look used, but not bad.
Overall there are wear signs, but the silver metallic still looks good.
This car was sold in Tucson, AZ and moved to No. IL 4/13 44k miles where the Carfax recordsshow service at cheap repair shops.
And last August it took a hit on the R. Side. "Minor" it says. The pics look clean to me, not that I'm an expert.
Looks like it was repaired and immediately put up for sale at this used lot in 11/21
My guess is in need of timing belt, pump.
About a 2 hour drive. Could the battery problem be owner error?

TominPT

^ battery replacement could be owner error - for example if they habitually left their doors ajar, internal lights on, draining battery and ruining it, or something related to the AZ heat. But that would be extreme and I think unlikely. To me, more pressing concerns would be the last 9 years in Northern Illinois and the onset of corrosion in the body panels or the accident, it may say "minor" but I would take that with a big grain of salt.

To my mind, if you want to get into this car, you want an accident and rust-free example, with full maintenance history, and simply pay more for that. (there is a what looks like a museum quality, low mileage 1 owner 2003 CL for sale in Portland OR for about 14K - that would be what I would be looking at, but that is just me...)

Lrobby99

I know what you mean, TominPT. Definitely I do. OTOH, this one is nice low miles, and will be snagged for under $10k. Theoretically, that leaves some budget left over for the bigger ticket repair items like timing belt.
And I agree on the climate aspect too. I come from up here and what all this salt and ice does to cars is not pretty. On the LS430 it seems to cause failures of door lock actuators, and play havoc on struts and air ride parts. I think I would have $12k into this one in no time at all, and still have things leftover. They will need to knock it down to an even $9k To me a damage report on the history is significant. It will never go away. And it brings down the price.

430SLOwner

Here are some sources which may be of help to you in your search carsdigital.com/most-popular-cars-websites

squeege

This 2003 finishes tomorrow.