Lexus IS 250 (2007) What is the best way to sell this car?

Joolsd · August 29, 2023

Hello again.

Lexus IS 250 (2007

My dreaded MOT is coming up and I don't really know if it will pass at all. Not to mention underlaying problems that are not included for road worthiness.

My personal circumstances are still in the balance and I am not sure if I can keep the Lexus. It is the type of car nobody would touch unless they were a Lexus fan or have mechanic skills.

I may have to keep the car off road and declare it SORN until I get stable again or just sell it.

Just curious but Is there anybody who might be interested in buying it knowing there might be some issues that can be fixed? It has generally been great car but may need some work.

Spacewagon52 · August 29, 2023

I do sympathise with your dilemma. Older cars need some TLC, which costs money. It is deciding when to stop putting your money into a car, that is the issue. They are not cheap cars to run on a tight budget.

Linas.P · August 29, 2023

IS250 generally are solid cars if maintained, but if not maintained they can become real money pits. Parts are expensive, there aren't many experienced technicians that can work on them and Lexus diagnostics costs are extortionate.

What are the problems with your car?

I guess based on that, mileage, spec and how much you want for it would depend if anyone is interest to buy it. Overall, IS250 prices very much stable for last 8 years and for last 3 they actually have increased. I have bought 2008 IS250 SE-L with 120k miles in 2014 for £4000 (I believe it was £3950 to be precise), yet 2008 IS250 SE-L with approximately 120k miles, will cost more or less the same today, if not even little bit more depending on condition. So in summary - these cars are worth decent money and there seems to be demand for them, the question then becomes how broken is yours and whenever it would be economical repair.

As far as where and how to sell... It is slightly challenging to sell broken car. It is illegal to sell car that is not road worthy, even if it has MOT. You can list it as "spares and repairs" on eBay, in which case what you selling is technically are bunch of parts and not a car, but you will receive significantly less in such case. So it may be the case that it would be better to spend money to fix the car before selling if you want to get decent price for it (again depends on what is broken).

Spacewagon52 · August 29, 2023

10 minutes ago, Linas.P said:

IS250 generally are solid cars if maintained, but if not maintained they can become real money pits. Parts are expensive, there aren't many experienced technicians that can work on them and Lexus diagnostics costs are extortionate.

What are the problems with your car?

I guess based on that, mileage, spec and how much you want for it would depend if anyone is interest to buy it. Overall, IS250 prices very much stable for last 8 years and for last 3 they actually have increased. I have bought 2008 IS250 SE-L with 120k miles in 2014 for £4000 (I believe it was £3950 to be precise), yet 2008 IS250 SE-L with approximately 120k miles, will cost more or less the same today, if not even little bit more depending on condition. So in summary - these cars are worth decent money and there seems to be demand for them, the question then becomes how broken is yours and whenever it would be economical repair.

As far as where and how to sell... It is slightly challenging to sell broken car. It is illegal to sell car that is not road worthy, even if it has MOT. You can list it as "spares and repairs" on eBay, in which case what you selling is technically are bunch of parts and not a car, but you will receive significantly less in such case. So it may be the case that it would be better to spend money to fix the car before selling if you want to get decent price for it (again depends on what is broken).

Good advice.

Joolsd · August 29, 2023

1 hour ago, Linas.P said:

IS250 generally are solid cars if maintained, but if not maintained they can become real money pits. Parts are expensive, there aren't many experienced technicians that can work on them and Lexus diagnostics costs are extortionate.

What are the problems with your car?

I guess based on that, mileage, spec and how much you want for it would depend if anyone is interest to buy it. Overall, IS250 prices very much stable for last 8 years and for last 3 they actually have increased. I have bought 2008 IS250 SE-L with 120k miles in 2014 for £4000 (I believe it was £3950 to be precise), yet 2008 IS250 SE-L with approximately 120k miles, will cost more or less the same today, if not even little bit more depending on condition. So in summary - these cars are worth decent money and there seems to be demand for them, the question then becomes how broken is yours and whenever it would be economical repair.

As far as where and how to sell... It is slightly challenging to sell broken car. It is illegal to sell car that is not road worthy, even if it has MOT. You can list it as "spares and repairs" on eBay, in which case what you selling is technically are bunch of parts and not a car, but you will receive significantly less in such case. So it may be the case that it would be better to spend money to fix the car before selling if you want to get decent price for it (again depends on what is broken).

It will be hard to say until the MOT tomorrow. It needs a new rear right tire. The central exhaust was welded last year. I am not sure if it has held up to get through the Lambda emissions. I think the front light just need a clean. It hasn't had a proper oil change for a couple of years, apart from top ups. There is a bit of rust creeping in on the rear wheel arches.

I was wondering if 'we buy any car' might take if at £1200. It is valued at about £1350, but that is just a figure a website put on it.

Linas.P · August 29, 2023

Doesn't sound like anything unusual or horrible to me, EXCEPT no oil changes is very worrying. On these engine oil change is the upmost priority. Now I guess it depends of how many miles you did in 2 years time - if it is 10,000 then perhaps engine is still alright, event thought I would never recommend doing more than 6000miles or 12 months without oil change. You can neglect many things on these cars, but oil changes is not one of them. However, 20,000 miles without oil change could be situation where your engine is busted.

The tyres needing replacement, that is not an issue, it is part of wear and tear, so you simply can count it as a cost of 2 tyres off the price, say £180. Headlights, yes - that is £50-100 to polish them, not a big deal. Exhaust rotten - that is common on these cars and all the cars of similar age. Central section is ~£600, I assume rear section would need doing if hasn't been done already, so £750 altogether.

I think part which really makes your car uneconomical repair will be rear arches, I now remember another thread... so you looking at £500-£1000 per side to fix. Now if you were to keep the car for yourself, then I can see temporary repair as viable solution - sand it down to bare metal, treat with rust converter and spay with durable paint, does not need to be pretty, but will prevent it from getting worse. However, if you were to sell the car, this is generally what will absolutely destroy the value of your car.

Now when it comes to selling the car on types like "we buy any car", I think with all you described it sound like good deal if they offer you £1350, however they usually assume that your car was serviced and that it does not have any serious problems, when they see no service records for 2 years and rust on rear arches, they may say £400.

All in all, what you described - the most concerning part for me would be lack of oil changes and lack of service of any sorts. Generally when buying IS250 - service records showing regular services is the first thing to check and top priority. So if we assume that hypothetically car like yours is worth £5000 in perfect condition, then no service records makes it £4000. We can extrapolate the rest of the costs fairly quickly, -£750 for exhaust, -£180 for tyres, -£100 for headlights, -£500 for full service and let's say very optimistically £1000 for rear arches. So we arrive at very decent price of ~£1470, not considering anything else that may be wrong with the car. As such £1200-1350 would be good deal, if you could get it.

So I guess in summary I can see where you are coming from - car seems to be beyond economical repair. You would need to spend considerable amount of money to get it fixed and any potential buyer would still be very suspicious of engine condition, because it was run for so long without oil changes. In your position I would take the offer from "we buy any car" types if it is ~£1200-£1350, else I would try to get it trough the MOT as that alone kind of fixes the price of the car at ~£1000 in certain circles (so called "beaters" - buys cars with MOT, to run for a year then scraps them) and then try to sell it on eBay as spares and repairs. It is important that you note all the issues in the listing honestly and list it as spares and repairs. I would not be surprised if you can get slightly more on eBay, lets say ~£1500. As well I would be inclined to list the car on Buy-It now price with the option for offer e.g. £1600 and set offers to auto decline below £1350. You can even say you were offered £1350 by certain sites that buys the cars, so that is your bottom price. You may get more money with auction (as people get competitive), but there is common catch - people bid-up your car and don't turn-up to buy, or turn-up and start negotiating which is just plainly wrong if all the issues where described correctly. So instead, I would just list it as set price with "offers" enabled, then I would require £100 deposit before pick-up. In such case if person start negotiating on agreed price, you can decline and keep deposit (again provided you described condition of the car fairly).

Joolsd · August 29, 2023

3 hours ago, Linas.P said:

Doesn't sound like anything unusual or horrible to me, EXCEPT no oil changes is very worrying. On these engine oil change is the upmost priority. Now I guess it depends of how many miles you did in 2 years time - if it is 10,000 then perhaps engine is still alright, event thought I would never recommend doing more than 6000miles or 12 months without oil change. You can neglect many things on these cars, but oil changes is not one of them. However, 20,000 miles without oil change could be situation where your engine is busted.

The tyres needing replacement, that is not an issue, it is part of wear and tear, so you simply can count it as a cost of 2 tyres off the price, say £180. Headlights, yes - that is £50-100 to polish them, not a big deal. Exhaust rotten - that is common on these cars and all the cars of similar age. Central section is ~£600, I assume rear section would need doing if hasn't been done already, so £750 altogether.

I think part which really makes your car uneconomical repair will be rear arches, I now remember another thread... so you looking at £500-£1000 per side to fix. Now if you were to keep the car for yourself, then I can see temporary repair as viable solution - sand it down to bare metal, treat with rust converter and spay with durable paint, does not need to be pretty, but will prevent it from getting worse. However, if you were to sell the car, this is generally what will absolutely destroy the value of your car.

Now when it comes to selling the car on types like "we buy any car", I think with all you described it sound like good deal if they offer you £1350, however they usually assume that your car was serviced and that it does not have any serious problems, when they see no service records for 2 years and rust on rear arches, they may say £400.

All in all, what you described - the most concerning part for me would be lack of oil changes and lack of service of any sorts. Generally when buying IS250 - service records showing regular services is the first thing to check and top priority. So if we assume that hypothetically car like yours is worth £5000 in perfect condition, then no service records makes it £4000. We can extrapolate the rest of the costs fairly quickly, -£750 for exhaust, -£180 for tyres, -£100 for headlights, -£500 for full service and let's say very optimistically £1000 for rear arches. So we arrive at very decent price of ~£1470, not considering anything else that may be wrong with the car. As such £1200-1350 would be good deal, if you could get it.

So I guess in summary I can see where you are coming from - car seems to be beyond economical repair. You would need to spend considerable amount of money to get it fixed and any potential buyer would still be very suspicious of engine condition, because it was run for so long without oil changes. In your position I would take the offer from "we buy any car" types if it is ~£1200-£1350, else I would try to get it trough the MOT as that alone kind of fixes the price of the car at ~£1000 in certain circles (so called "beaters" - buys cars with MOT, to run for a year then scraps them) and then try to sell it on eBay as spares and repairs. It is important that you note all the issues in the listing honestly and list it as spares and repairs. I would not be surprised if you can get slightly more on eBay, lets say ~£1500. As well I would be inclined to list the car on Buy-It now price with the option for offer e.g. £1600 and set offers to auto decline below £1350. You can even say you were offered £1350 by certain sites that buys the cars, so that is your bottom price. You may get more money with auction (as people get competitive), but there is common catch - people bid-up your car and don't turn-up to buy, or turn-up and start negotiating which is just plainly wrong if all the issues where described correctly. So instead, I would just list it as set price with "offers" enabled, then I would require £100 deposit before pick-up. In such case if person start negotiating on agreed price, you can decline and keep deposit (again provided you described condition of the car fairly).

Thanks for that, that is good advice.

I do very little driving in the year. Maybe 3000 miles every year for the past 3 years. Before that I had a service every year. That said, lack of action doesn't probably help as well. If the MOT is better that expected I could get an oil change. I don't think the Cam chain/belt has been changed ever. I don't think it has, as I bought it second hand with 44000 miles and it has now got 14400 odd miles.

The oil change is on my mind. And also the filters that might need replacing.

Linas.P · August 29, 2023

Cam chain does not require replacement - it generally considered "life-time", but otherwise good for 300k miles. Regular oil changes obviously required.

10 minutes ago, Joolsd said:

Maybe 3000 miles every year for the past 3 years.

Well that is relief then - 3,000 miles extra miles probably haven't done that much harm. Generally, oil breaks down with both time and mileage, so it is still not good idea to keep it for longer than 12 months. But 6,000 miles in 24 months is still much better than 20,000.

I would advise doing oil change before MOT, because that in itself could be reason passing vs. failing emission test, with fresh oil car will run more economically and cleaner.

So is the car ~58,000 miles, that would be remarkably low, so you perhaps can add 30% to the numbers above.

Joolsd · August 29, 2023

6 hours ago, Linas.P said:

Cam chain does not require replacement - it generally considered "life-time", but otherwise good for 300k miles. Regular oil changes obviously required.

Well that is relief then - 3,000 miles extra miles probably haven't done that much harm. Generally, oil breaks down with both time and mileage, so it is still not good idea to keep it for longer than 12 months. But 6,000 miles in 24 months is still much better than 20,000.

I would advise doing oil change before MOT, because that in itself could be reason passing vs. failing emission test, with fresh oil car will run more economically and cleaner.

So is the car ~58,000 miles, that would be remarkably low, so you perhaps can add 30% to the numbers above.

Thanks for the advice. All the horrors will be revealed tomorrow

Joolsd · August 30, 2023

Well, it passed, but there were a few advisories. Just the tires are getting worn and the rear brake pads. But very pleased. I am going to get a oil change and the filters done soon if possible.

I did clean the headlights with smokers toothpaste then rinse off with bathroom cleaner then soap and water. I think it help a bit. Or the MOT examiner wasn't too bothered. They didn't mention them it at all. Not mention of the rust on the arches. My biggest fear was the exhaust systems, which has three quite large parts to it. But ok for now. The welding from last year has held up.

Thanks for your help.

Linas.P · August 30, 2023

No problem and glad to hear it passed. Your headlights were not too bad, body rust is not generally MOT concern, unless suspension mounts and other critical structural parts starts to rust (which on IS250 is not common).

Just take care of the car from now on and I am sure it could last few more years. Timely maintenance is cheaper in long run than breakdowns. So if you wait for it to fail before fixing it that may turn out very costly.

J Henderson · August 30, 2023

Congratulations on the pass.

Rear brake pads are a very cheap and easy fix. £20-30 and something you can easily DIY.

HighlandJohn · August 30, 2023

1 hour ago, Joolsd said:

...I did clean the headlights with smokers toothpaste then rinse off with bathroom cleaner then soap and water. I think it help a bit....

Congratulations on the ticket - always a relief! :yahoo:

Someone here recommended a product called Duxback headlight restorer which I bought [ex amazon iirc]. Follow the instructions and it 'does what it says on the tin'. :thumbsup:

MartinH · August 30, 2023

My dilemma the opposite...inexorable maintenance by Lexus Edgware Road, car been on the Lexus database since new staff car in 2007, runs so perfect I completely missed the diary entry for MOT. In June. Can I get an MOT appointment now, at the registration breakpoint of September? Of course not! So it's the bus for me until the end of next week 💩