Thoughts On This LS400?

[GibletPH]

Went to view a local LS400 today. 

1999, 3 former owners. Existing owner has had it for nearly 2 years now. He had it serviced at the time of purchase and has covered a few thousand miles in it. 

Cambelt was done in 2006 at 58k so it’s due a new one. Bodywork is a tad tatty though.

Purpose of the car is for a ~6500 mile roadtrip across 2 weeks and 3 continents. Thoughts?

[The-Acre]

What did it drive like, any knocks or groans?  Headlamp washers I believe are an MOT failure if they don't work with the HID lights.

[GibletPH]

Seemed to drive fine, I let the seller drive whilst I sat in the passenger seat. No abnormal sounds etc. Gearbox seemed to work fine too with kickdown etc. No clunks from that either. 

[Tinonline]

Few dents and dinks? You should see mine...

Get a full MOT on it before buying...check cambelt history and elec and air con. 

Get price right down.

[GibletPH]

2 minutes ago, Tinonline said:

Few dents and dinks? You should see mine...

Get a full MOT on it before buying...check cambelt history and elec and air con. 

Get price right down.

What sort of price do you think it’s worth?

[MLW]

96 k = belt and water pump etc need to be done.

[Tinonline]

That’s a good and very direct question.

Half the asked amount. Given only the belt needs changing.

But it won’t be: you would change the drive belt and pulleys, thermostat, water pump, cambelt pulleys plus labour. You are buying so factor Lexus pricing for OE parts...they should pay you for taking the car.

[GibletPH]

It was the strangest test drive ever, the owners insurance policy had lapsed but he still took me for a test drive. I sat in the passengers seat. Just as we were getting back the unmarked X5 that was behind us put his lights on and pulled us over. 

Car was impounded on the spot!

[mrdoofa]

Been for sale for quite a while, my nephew was interested in it as it’s local to us, it was £2,000 then. These are some pics of the spare wheel well that looks a bit manky which put him off.

 

[mrdoofa]

It’s interesting that the last set of front springs lasted less than 10,000 miles unless extremely cheap parts were used.

[Newbie1]

The manky boot is pretty common and a £25 boot seal from eBay fixes that. 

The day's of the late model/FSH/clean LS400 for under £2000 seem to have disappeared. For a cheap one now it's a case of balancing required mechanical works with the level of bodywork you can tolerate. 

If anyone is going to hold on to one of these you have to get a look at the rear subframe. Even sticking a phone under there and getting some flash photos can give you an idea. 

[Z28DUNC]

13 hours ago, GibletPH said:

It was the strangest test drive ever, the owners insurance policy had lapsed but he still took me for a test drive. I sat in the passengers seat. Just as we were getting back the unmarked X5 that was behind us put his lights on and pulled us over. 

Car was impounded on the spot!

So I'm guessing its not for sale again until he pays to get it back!

When are you going on your trip?

[Cotswold Pete]

If he does not pay I assume it is one for the crusher

[royoftherovers]

5 minutes ago, Cotswold Pete said:

If he does not pay I assume it is one for the crusher

A letter signed by the " seller" authorising the "buyer" to collect/ remove it would presumably be sufficient after the seller agreeing to sell it for £750  ??

[GibletPH]

2 hours ago, Z28DUNC said:

So I'm guessing its not for sale again until he pays to get it back!

When are you going on your trip?

Yup. He’s said he plans to get it back in under a week but he’s still looking at recovery and storage costs in the region of £300, plus whatever his fine ends up being on top of the 6 points.  

I made him what I deem to be a sensible offer (a lot higher than others have suggested on here) and he refused. 

I’m off on my trip at the end of March. Will start a thread on it once I’ve got a car. 

[Z28DUNC]

Some people eh! Its annoying waiting to find a decent car. I thought I'd have to spend months waiting for something to come up but got lucky. 

Its always the same if you need it quickly you can never find it!

I'm surprised that no one one here is thinking of selling their car and contacted you, but I guess most people on here have bought one to keep. 

[bobmc]

There's an IS300 for sale on the forum - not big enough?

 

[mrdoofa]

8 hours ago, Newbie1 said:

The manky boot is pretty common and a £25 boot seal from ebay fixes that. 

The day's of the late model/FSH/clean LS400 for under £2000 seem to have disappeared. For a cheap one now it's a case of balancing required mechanical works with the level of bodywork you can tolerate. 

If anyone is going to hold on to one of these you have to get a look at the rear subframe. Even sticking a phone under there and getting some flash photos can give you an idea. 

I know a £25 seal may stop the problem but all the rot and mould etc still remains unless you tear out the wheel well liner and clean it all out and hope rust hasn’t started underneath, also if you look closely the plugs are missing which means water can still get in from underneath. 

Is the choice purely restricted to LS400’s, wouldn’t you consider either an LS430 or even a GS?

[The-Acre]

33 minutes ago, mrdoofa said:

I know a £25 seal may stop the problem but all the rot and mould etc still remains unless you tear out the wheel well liner and clean it all out and hope rust hasn’t started underneath, also if you look closely the plugs are missing which means water can still get in from underneath. 

Is the choice purely restricted to LS400’s, wouldn’t you consider either an LS430 or even a GS?

Come on Martin, sell him yours😵

[steve2006]

18 hours ago, GibletPH said:

It was the strangest test drive ever, the owners insurance policy had lapsed but he still took me for a test drive. I sat in the passengers seat. Just as we were getting back the unmarked X5 that was behind us put his lights on and pulled us over. 

Car was impounded on the spot!

Was there a camera crew there...will it be on Police Interceptors soon?

Good job he didn’t suggest you drove it and serves him right with no insurance. I have bought a couple of LS400s in the past but always took out a one day policy which at around £40.00 gave me cover albeit 3rd party with the policy document on me.

[cruisermark]

1 hour ago, steve2006 said:

Was there a camera crew there...will it be on Police Interceptors soon?

Good job he didn’t suggest you drove it and serves him right with no insurance. I have bought a couple of LS400s in the past but always took out a one day policy which at around £40.00 gave me cover albeit 3rd party with the policy document on me.

I read today that a couple won 20k payout from channel 4 for invasion of privacy when can’t pay we’ll take it away stormed their flat and recorded everything 

[Tinonline]

9 hours ago, royoftherovers said:

A letter signed by the " seller" authorising the "buyer" to collect/ remove it would presumably be sufficient after the seller agreeing to sell it for £750  ??

That’s generous...save the owner a lot of bother and they’ll be storage and towage...lot of £s give them £100 and I’m not joking.

[Tinonline]

8 hours ago, GibletPH said:

Yup. He’s said he plans to get it back in under a week but he’s still looking at recovery and storage costs in the region of £300, plus whatever his fine ends up being on top of the 6 points.  

I made him what I deem to be a sensible offer (a lot higher than others have suggested on here) and he refused. 

I’m off on my trip at the end of March. Will start a thread on it once I’ve got a car. 

Ah he is one of the delusionals. Has over valued vision of the metal. He’d rather see it rot than sell for less than his perceived value.

Walk away. He should have done the cambelt by now...it’s scrap. 

[mrdoofa]

9 hours ago, The-Acre said:

Come on Martin, sell him yours😵

This one is staying firmly with me Phil. It’s a fantastic car!!! Unless of course I get made an offer I really can’t refuse but even then I’d think very carefully because I think I’d struggle to find another as good as this to replace it.

As for this LS400, I’d leave it especially as there is no movement on the price. To pay anything like that price I’d want the boot sorting and cambelt done at the very least.

[GibletPH]

No camera crew with the unmarked car sadly, would have made for good TV. 

Seller is definitely up the creek without a paddle so to speak. The recovery costs are £150 plus £30 storage per day. He has 12 days left to get valid insurance, pay for road tax and get the car released after paying the costs listed above. 

Legally he has to inform the insurance company of his pending 6 points too, which will make the premium skyrocket.

I’m waiting to confirm if WYP will allow me to purchase the car from the seller whilst it’s still in storage and then get it released in my name with my own insurance policy etc assuming he sees sense and agrees to a more reasonable price.

I’ve been given conflicting answers by them so far.