Buyer Beware

[Chris Skelton]

Good idea; buy from LOC members!

[Maduggo]

is it just me or has anyone else noticed that alot of the 430s for sale especially the older ones tend to be abused examples - the 400s on the other hand even though older tend to be more tidier

You should find more 430's for sale than 400's, nearly double the ampont of 430 to 400 are registered, interestingly though, sorn records for the 430 to 400 are 5 times higher for the 400.

Are those sorn ones the kind we see in the corners of dealers who can't shift them, i know of 2 dealers local to me who have 400's and to be honest they have seen better days and they not asking much either, may get one for the running gear alone.

Some people do buy big luxury cars and not just Lexus and they don't realise the costs of keepning them in good condition when any kind of issue or service comes up, this then lets the car go unloved and slowly starts the road to the scrapper.

Another reason for sales could be due to running costs, admittedly fuel is lower at the moment which we all can benefit from, but i'm thinking of parting ship for better economy.

[Bluesman]

I recently went to look at this one on eBay after winning the auction for it: eBay item 171629284469. The owner is based in Norwich and I drove with my brother the 240 miles (4 hours) to get to the car with the view of me driving it back and my brother driving the car back we drove in. He had insisted for some time that I fly to Norwich to collect the car - good job I didn't as I would have had to fly back.

We arrived and were invited to view the car with the owner showing us around it. He was trying to concentrate on the electric bits that worked rather that the car itself. Anyway, we opened the door and the first thing to hit me was the poor state of the inside. The driver's seat bolster was worn away with leather hanging off. There was a tear in the seat which had an attempted fix using glue. The outer layer of paintwork around the SatNav was completely worn off. The arm-rest looked as though an elephant had been leaning on it for 500,000 miles - not the 208k miles showing on the dash. While talking quite loudly he started the engine - however, this did not hide the low end rattle coming from the engine. I tried to raise the suspension to the high setting, a pump could be heard but did not stop and the rear of the car stayed where it was. Moving to the rear seats, these were not secured as the mounting clips were all broken and the seats just slipped out of position. The driver's door outer skin was not fully secured to the door at the bottom and there was no rubber seal - looked as though the door skin had probably been replaced at some time. At this point we got back in our car and drove away.I ended up buying a really niece one from a dealer in Reading.

As such, be warned if bidding for this car. The pictures he has taken very cleverly hide the faults.

Chewy

Great headsup. Lets hope everyone reads this first before travelling hundreds of miles only to be dissapointed.

Remember even though this is an auction if the description of the item varries wildly or huge chunks of info are missing you dont have to complete the sale, its a shame you cant get recompense for a complete waste of time and money. Mike

This is the answer to why on both occasions the sale didnt finalise.....

first never turned up after saying collect 1 week, second arranged after xmas then said too far to come from wales.regards

peter.so cancelled both sales

[ChewBakker]

So he is telling Porkies to any potential new buyer. There's a surprise....

[mikeyv]

is it just me or has anyone else noticed that alot of the 430s for sale especially the older ones tend to be abused examples - the 400s on the other hand even though older tend to be more tidier

You should find more 430's for sale than 400's, nearly double the ampont of 430 to 400 are registered, interestingly though, sorn records for the 430 to 400 are 5 times higher for the 400.

Are those sorn ones the kind we see in the corners of dealers who can't shift them, i know of 2 dealers local to me who have 400's and to be honest they have seen better days and they not asking much either, may get one for the running gear alone.

Some people do buy big luxury cars and not just Lexus and they don't realise the costs of keepning them in good condition when any kind of issue or service comes up, this then lets the car go unloved and slowly starts the road to the scrapper.

Another reason for sales could be due to running costs, admittedly fuel is lower at the moment which we all can benefit from, but i'm thinking of parting ship for better economy.

I posted this last month on another thread, did you get your figures elsewhere, as we seem to disagree on the numbers registered?

"There are still more 400s on the road than 430s, so there must be another reason, no idea what though.

How many left website says the following

LS400 - 2831 taxed and 674 SORNED, LS430 - 2153 taxed and 84 SORNED, so approximately 50% more 400s."

[steve2006]

I feel really lucky to get hold of the one I did, bought from a part time dealer in Blackpool ( used to run the Mornington Hotel) and he was the most honest guy I've probably met (for a car dealer :) ).

Took the train up and after a long test drive around Blackpool decided to buy it with a cerified conversion mileage of 38,000.

His next door neighbour had even bought one off him.

Not wanting to carry the cash on the train he then took me down to Lytham in his personal Nissan GTR to collect the £3750.00 I paid for it and after 9 years of ownership it has been and still is a peach.

Apart from regular DIY servicing I replaced the blacked out LCD and replaced the original ICE system, no PS pump leaks ( I check regularly but now needs the IACV replacing as it initially puffs a little white smoke out of the exhaust when its been stood a few days).

Dash is original and never had the flicker problem, trunk hinge loom never failed.

Starter motor done a few years ago with a contact/plunger set and cambelt replaced around 5 years ago.

Lucky maybe,happy yes,ever selling it....doubtful especially with my latest insurance premium :)

Good examples must still be out there but rarely come up for sale unless at the crazy prices we have seen recently on eBay.