riknchar

From your original post, you weren't too concerned with the minor bumps and bruises on the car's exterior. The "guts" of the car (the mechanical condition) seem to be just fine, and with such low miles are likely to stay fine for a long time. I do know that many of these LSs are owned by elderly people who are prone to "bumping" things when they park, leading to lots of repainted front and rear bumpers and other minor body work. If the work is done well, those things don't bother me. For you, planning to keep the car a long time, you will probably be pretty happy having this low mileage, less-than-100% condition exterior car for a great price ($31-32K). It sounds to me from reading your posts that you really do want to buy this car, but you don't want to get a bad deal...

And I totally agree with you about the value of the semi-aniline leather!

Good luck!

satiger

iTrader: (1)

I would care less about minor paint scratches etc. It would do nothing to long term reliability of that car.

Do you know what caused first body work?. Was it an accident or due to negligent driving habit? Is car #2 has one or two previous owners?

On car #2, I would care more about how that was serviced and cared (read driven) and the cause of vibration. If all these paint repair work was due to negligent driving practice and if it has only one previous owner, I wouldn't be interested in owning as a long term car. I hate passenger cars to be treated like racing cars. When sold new, there is a break-in period and I believe in that.

If car #1 is well cared and has only one owner, regardless of it little high miles, I would choose that as for long term trouble free ownership.

sprtent

iTrader: (1)

Knowing now all the cosmetic repairs to car2 (basically everything but the right fender, right doors, right quarter panel, trunk, hood, and roof), I would not buy this car regardless of price. Replacements of both headlights also worry me, as well as multiple painting jobs will later yield inconsistent shade of faded paint surfaces.

I would find something else that both you and your husband would be happy.

Shad034

My advice MBarron is decide whether you want THIS car. If you want THIS car, then buy it. There is nothing wrong with it except it being overpriced in most of our opinions. If you can get past the fact that you are paying more for it then you should to get the car you want, then go for it.

I bought my LS at Carmax, paid more than I probably could have negotiated at a Lexus dealer, but I got the car I wanted when I wanted it with the features I wanted. In essence, I paid a few dollars more to not spend time hunting for a more perfect deal. There is dollar value in convenience, how much is a personal decision.

Mbbarron

I appreciate everyone's differing opinions! My main question (for today) is IF I decide this is the car for me, then what do you think is the current retail value of this specific vehicle (Car #2)?

Shad034

Blackbook retail value on that VIN in average condition is 36k, in rough its 32k. So good market value is between those two numbers for this car since it has some repairs (making it average) and has some aesthetic issues currently. Priced at 34k, its probably priced correctly for dealer pricing. Anything below that and you're probably getting a deal.

This is setting aside whether its a good idea or not to buy the car with its history and just talking about the actual value of said vehicle.