To Buy Or Not To Buy, that is the question?

[Burroo 67]

Morning All,

I went to see a (March) '08 RX400H on Monday, it's the version with the wooden steering wheel inserts and wooden facia inserts.  It has 107K on the clock but is in pretty stunning condition throughout, especially the bodywork.

This vehicle is in a Lexus main dealer and was literally just in the day earlier so it has not been through their workshop and I have not yet had a test drive, but I am VERY interested.

Can you please advise of what you believe would be a fair asking price for this model and year with the stated mileage and could you also suggest things I should be asking the dealer about the vehicle?  I've read somewhere that the cam belt should be replaced at 90K so I've asked the salesman to check this for me, but are there other important things I should be checking - waterpump etc.?

From what I can gather so far the car has full Lexus service history apart from two stamps, one of which (80K) is missing and the other (90K) was an independasnt garage and was a bit "late" according to the salesman.  However what I find a bit disturbing is that the last MOT was completed on 03/05/17 when the car only had 86,112 miles on it (with no advisory notes - details obtained via the 'vehicle Smart' app).  If the Lexus data is correct that means it has done 21K in less than a year!!!   I'm gonna chack with the showroom.

As usual guys, your advice is invaluable so please do not hold back......

[ColinBarber]

Belt should have been changed at 100k miles, and ideally the water pump at the same time as a precaution.

Underside corrosion and water leaks in the boot are two things to watch out for.

[Rutlandlex]

I would imagine that a main dealer would be asking around £8k-£9k for a car of that age and mileage.  If there is no evidence of the belt being changed then ask them to do a full service with belt and waterpump of course for peace of mind as part of the deal.  It'll cost them peanuts so no reason that they won't do it to get the sale.