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PREVAILING TIP #1 - Hire a professional to look at the car first. Maybe this can be a megathread, if there's not one specifically about this already. I searched but only a thread about buying tools came up. I don't know how to return only 1 thread title instead of the same thread title with every search hit for 87 pages. My specific situation: - I'd like to buy a 1998-2000 Lexus LS. - I'm kind of car literate, I'd feel if something was wrong while driving; but probably couldn't identify non super-obvious issues just from opening a hood or inspecting the undercarriage. - There's none for sale in my town where I could just bring the car to a trusted mechanic for pre-purchase inspection. So I've been looking nationwide, and would be willing to fly out and drive the car back if it all checks out. What are your thoughts on PPI services like Lemon Squad (lemonsquad.com (lol)) or Your Mechanic (yourmechanic.com)? All other advice appreciated. The following topics I think would be beneficial to a megathread: (with my thoughts in parenthesis until this gets rolling and better ideas come in) ? How to research appropriate value (Take and average of various sites like KBB, Edmunds, CarGurus, etc.; look at completed sales on eBay in the past year) ? How to research make & model issues (read through make & model specific forums and sub-reddits as they often have these collected) ? How to determine who is a trustworthy mechanic for pre-purchase inspections (make arrangements with local official dealership service department, ask they don't share results with seller until speaking with you) ? Negotiating points (example: If I buy a car 5 states away with a built in dealership specific warranty, I'm not travelling back through 5 states again to get something fixed. Can I ask for a lower price because I'll never be back?) If/Once replies roll in, I'll edit this post and reformat to make it easier to read. obeyasia fucked around with this message at 16:48 on Mar 13, 2022 |
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Mar 9, 2022 21:15
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I’ve got to be honest here: I wouldn’t without hiring someone who does car buying professionally. Even when you’re talking about an enthusiast vehicle that has a lot of online resources and you are personally competent with said vehicle, it’s barely advisable. I bought a Land Cruiser from someone here on AI last year, and it was taken to a shop that has a good reputation with that model vehicle. Six months later I’m finding all kinds of things the ‘professionals’ did wrong. Am I happy with my purchase - I am. Would I suggest it to anyone else? Hell no - I’m a special case that expected to take the vehicle apart anyway. On my drive home, halfway between Butte and Missoula in the middle of Nowhere, Montana, I discovered that there was a bad seal deep in the transmission that had failed. It dumped half a gallon of boiling hot transmission fluid out at an interstate rest stop. I found receipts documenting a fix for that seal, twice, that both misdiagnosed the problem and fixed the wrong seal.
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Mar 10, 2022 00:46
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Advent Horizon posted:I’ve got to be honest here: I wouldn’t without hiring someone who does car buying professionally. Thank you for your advice, and I am taking what you say seriously. I actually agree with you very strongly; I would love to have a pro-buyer handle this for me. Do you have any recommendations on how to track someone down? Seems like this kind of thing would have to be a local; which puts me back to square one (which is fine).
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Mar 10, 2022 17:25
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Is this a practical car or a fun car?
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Mar 10, 2022 19:42
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I've bought 2 cars sight unseen, and would only do so again if they still have factory warranty remaining (and they did). In both cases they needed at least some mechanical work done and these were pretty new cars. My advice would be hire someone to look the car over. If it's good, fly out there, but be prepared to walk. A car of that age could have some pretty drat shady things done to it. The good news at least is a car like that is less likely to have be owned by an idiot. If you really want to make it a safer purchase, look for one that's only had one or two owners, with the second having had it for a long time. Odds are it will have been taken better care of. You could be looking at quite a wait however.
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Mar 10, 2022 19:45
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Just do it, YOLO
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Mar 10, 2022 23:21
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Don’t ask AI for car advice unless you are willing to swap in two v6s rigged into a v12.
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Mar 11, 2022 02:14
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Elephanthead posted:Don’t ask AI for car advice unless you are willing to swap in two v6s rigged into a v12. I mean, yeah, I'm *willing* to do that; I just don't have the means, money, and tools to do it.
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Mar 13, 2022 16:46
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Woolwich Bagnet posted:I've bought 2 cars sight unseen, and would only do so again if they still have factory warranty remaining (and they did). In both cases they needed at least some mechanical work done and these were pretty new cars. I appreciate the 2 owners advice- good observation.
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Mar 13, 2022 16:47
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I recently did this Bring a Trailer (BaT) has a really good chart of recent sales graphed by date and price. This is super handy, I can see that a classic Toyota FJ-40 jeep thing runs between $22 and $70k, with some outliers at $18 and $100k. Condition, features, paint color, other history have significant impact. Air cooled porsches have a similar pricing structure I looked at Citroen Traction Avant and they run $18.5 to $45k based on engine, condition etc. In Europe they run as cheap as $8.5k in poor condition because they're way more common there Found one in Oregon on the west coast for $18.5, looked like it was worth more like $25k, as there's one for sale in Las Vegas for $30k in identical condition with about half as many miles and red stitching on the seats Called my cousin in Portland, he checked with his hot rod loving boss, who recommended a classic car shop. Called them. They said "we don't get involved in third party transactions -wait what kind of car did you say it is? A French one? Hang on, you need to call Serge the local French car expert, he's got a thick French accent I can barely understand him. Here's his number, tell him Bob from XYZ classic cars sent you" So serge goes to look at the car, it's about an hour away, he proposes $100/hr; 2 hours travel + 1 hour inspection time $300. I PayPal him the money. That Sunday he sends me a YouTube video + about 100 Dropbox photos and we chat on the phone Ended up offering the seller full asking price because well it was a screaming deal for a car that had recently been taken fully apart and all the seals replaced. Arranged shipping Another time I saw a car online (e39 5 series BMW) in Austin, flew down from Dallas test drove it and then drove it home 200 miles, this was at the very dawn of smart phones But yeah, good pricing info on BaT with great data of each car, local classic car shop can probably put you in touch with someone If you were buying a 328 or Honda Type R I'd be extremely wary, Lexus owners are less likely to super drifto them so you're probably More Safe
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Mar 28, 2022 23:39
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I've bought too many cars without seeing them. Biggest advice is get a pre-purchase inspection from a shop that knows the cars. If you can't fly out to look at the car yourself see if you can find someone in the area. Worst case lots of pictures and/or video from the seller, good sellers won't balk at a video call or going through the car with you over something like zoom. Doesn't Lexus keep a full service history tied to the VIN? Or maybe I'm thinking of a different company. Rules 1-5 of buying a car without seeing it first are "Get a PPI" I say this as I'm waiting for a car to be prepped for shipping with no PPI done
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Mar 28, 2022 23:48
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NitroSpazzz posted:Doesn't Lexus keep a full service history tied to the VIN? Or maybe I'm thinking of a different company. They do. This generally captures info on services done at Lexus and Toyota dealerships though I have seen notes entered from other large repair centers. The information available is far more granular than what you'd get from a carfax report, and is free. https://drivers.lexus.com/lexusdrivers Sign up, "Manage Garage" then "Add a new vehicle". Enter the VIN. Once you've added the car click "Service by Lexus" and select "Service History" from the dropdown. Boom all the data you'd ever need, and some you don't.  I've used this as a research tool for the 2 LSxxx cars I've bought and one which I didn't. (Owner claimed oh I had the brakes, timing belt and waterpump changed at the dealership right near 100K and it was so expensive! but so worth the peace of mind. Car was a 2003 LS430 with ~160K. Immaculate inside and out. I inspected it and couldn't locate the sticker detailing the timing service. Checked the lexusdrivers site and found the notes which indicated that the closest service the car had to 100K was indeed have a brake service and an oilchange done at 101K but declined the timing belt service and signed the waiver. Took a pass on that one.)
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Apr 1, 2022 15:44
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I've bought 4 cars sight unseen now (2 where I flew to pick them up, 2 where I didn't actually see them until they rolled off the transport truck). 1 of them was a new car from a dealer, the other 3 were enthusiast cars. I'll echo the PPI, which may be a bit harder to do on a 20 year old Lexus. A lot of this is buying the seller as much as the car. For the three enthusiast cars, I found them via a dedicated forum. It's not always the case, but you'll probably find that the average car is of a bit higher quality on a forum full of people dedicated to them.
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Apr 1, 2022 21:02
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Auto broker I used without any hassle. I make no claims that you'll have a good experience with them. Prior results do not guarantee future outcome open car, quoted $2000 for coast to coast spring 2023 quote:A-AAA Auto Transport LLC covered, quoted $2795 for coast to coast spring 2022
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Jun 28, 2023 19:04
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