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2005 Lexus Ls430


sdman

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I'm looking at an 2005 Lexus LS430 on Ebay Vin: JTHBN36FX55025861.

It has 21,040. A Fleet car

When I check with Carfax, there is a gap between 2006 to 2008

The 2006 miles is 7,237 and the 2008 is 21,040.

That's only 13,803 miles in two years roughly.

Being a fleet car you would think there would be more miles for this period.

Here's the Big question: Is there a way to roll back the miles on this model of

Lexus?

thanks,

Sam

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I think you need to look at the Carfax again. I'm seeing four reports for 2007 including a report from the NY Inspection Station that the mileage was 15551 on 08/18/2007.

I don't have much practice looking at cars on eBay but I'm can see this information on the eBay listing by selecting the "Print Version" of the "Vehicle History Report".

The "type of owner" I see is "Personal". I have no idea why it was sold at the auction as a "Fleet" vehicle.

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Correction: That was Auto Check and not Carfax.

I'm sort of leery about buying a car on Ebay.

I was told that the Odometer could be rolled back on

the newer Lexus after 2000.

This may be true or not but can't verify it.

Also thanks for the information.

Sam

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Correction: That was Auto Check and not Carfax.

I'm sort of leery about buying a car on Ebay.

I was told that the Odometer could be rolled back on

the newer Lexus after 2000.

This may be true or not but can't verify it.

Also thanks for the information.

Sam

Well, it is good to be leery about buying anything on eBay. But at least this is a "Buy it now" deal and not one of those bid situations that can be manipulated with fake bidders.

The Carfax report showing that the mileage was 7237 on 08/23/2006 and 15551 on 08/18/2007 should mean something to you. It sounds like the original owner drove the car about 7,000 miles per year. And the car was originally sold at the end of the 2005 model year -- did you see the original sale date of 08/05/2005?

I think the evidence easily supports the odometer reading.

The eBay seller has been in the biz since 1999 and has had mostly very positive feedback on a large number of transactions. Still, it's always best to view a car in person so that there are no surprises.

You are not all that far from Houston. Give the dealer a call -- it could be time for a Road Trip.

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I have bought our last 4 vehicles online, 2 from ebay dealers. I love flying in and driving home with the new family member!

The dealers who have been online for years with glowing feedback usually over-scrutinize their cars to make sure you are not surprised when you arrive. Their typical feedback reads something like "Wow! Better than expected" or something similar.

Instead of Carfax, I would recommend using the Autocheck vehicle reports. I believe that Autocheck is the service used by Mannheim and the other dealer auctions, and the data is much more complete. For instance, when the car is being sold at the dealer auctions, the auctioneer states that the car is fleet/lease, or private and also anything else major that is known like frame damage or flood damage. I have pulled carfax and autocheck reports on cars where the Autocheck reported flood damage and the carfax showed it as a clean one-owner. Shoot, if you are serious about a car, pull both reports!

One other thing you can do is log into the lexus.com site Owner page and add that VIN number as your car. That will allow you to look at the service history as Lexus knows it. That will let you know what, when and how often from the maintenance perspective.

Between these three sources, you should be able to piece together a pretty complete picture.

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Autocheck, Carfax, Lexus.com are all good sources for reports on a vehicle but do not necessarily have all the info that you might want. Nothing beats documented history and a physical inspection by a qualified tech/body shop. The body shop can spot work done on a car in seconds that you or I would miss. A good tech can tell you more about the car by listening to it than we can by pulling plugs or checking for leaks. If you trust the ebay setup and find a retailer with a good rating then it's your roll of the dice. I don't play the ponies or the crap tables, so it wouldn't work for me. But each to their own device. Good luck.

:cheers:

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Come on EUBT! I think you overstate just a tad. Good research and education can help you remove the gamble from the situation to the point where it becomes more of an informed risk.

Regional price differences for certain vehicles makes travelling to get one very attractive. For example, my Rubicon here in Utah would have cost more than 16k used. I managed to get one in Oregon for 12k and drove it home. Even if the Rubi was a dog's dinner, I could easily have sold it for 15k over a weekend and been none the worse for wear. I would have even made a grand or so for my troubles.

We bought our RX400h from a dealer I saw on autotrader or cars.com. It was CPO, had been originally purchased at that dealer and all services had been performed religiously according to service history. I flew into StLouis with my round-trip ticket (just in case!) and the car checked out to my satisfaction.

I too have a low tolerance for gambling, and I felt I had removed most of the gamble from the process through education, price research and a fat CPO warranty.

If I had your level of Lexus expertise EUBT, I would have no hesitation whatsoever in flying in and buying one.

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Come on EUBT! I think you overstate just a tad. Good research and education can help you remove the gamble from the situation to the point where it becomes more of an informed risk.

Regional price differences for certain vehicles makes travelling to get one very attractive. For example, my Rubicon here in Utah would have cost more than 16k used. I managed to get one in Oregon for 12k and drove it home. Even if the Rubi was a dog's dinner, I could easily have sold it for 15k over a weekend and been none the worse for wear. I would have even made a grand or so for my troubles.

We bought our RX400h from a dealer I saw on autotrader or cars.com. It was CPO, had been originally purchased at that dealer and all services had been performed religiously according to service history. I flew into StLouis with my round-trip ticket (just in case!) and the car checked out to my satisfaction.

I too have a low tolerance for gambling, and I felt I had removed most of the gamble from the process through education, price research and a fat CPO warranty.

If I had your level of Lexus expertise EUBT, I would have no hesitation whatsoever in flying in and buying one.

Thanks for the vote of confidence. I was speaking in general terms that you have to beware of what's on ebay. Not every listing is worth buying. Not everyone is as diligent as you and a lot of buyers can easily be convinced by the shine and price. Of course we know there's a lot more to check before you turn over your hard earned cash. I agree about an informed risk. CPO is also definitely an advantage and something I would look at first. Flying down to pick up a car is exciting to be sure. Reminds me of a buddy that flies down to the southern states with a crew and drives back with a slew of classic Caddys. He does what's needed to certify them then sells them. Does really well. Would buy one from him if I was into caddys because I know how he checks them out and preps them to spec before selling.

Guys like you have an advatage over the regular buyer because you're knowledgable enough and willing to make sure you don't get ripped off. My posting was a warning for buyer to beware. Don't rely on Carfax, etc alone. If you aren't confident enough that you can assess a good deal by yourself, get some expert help. The satisfaction of biting into that nice glossy red apple wears off pretty quick when you find the worm inside. :P

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Reminds me of a buddy that flies down to the southern states with a crew and drives back with a slew of classic Caddys. He does what's needed to certify them then sells them. Does really well.

What your buddy should do is take a slew of pickup trucks down with him when he goes. When I lived in Atlanta, pickups were in huge demand and it was worth flying North and West to get one. Funny, I thought of doing just that sort of thing for a living at one point: moving vehicles from low demand to high demand locations.

My posting was a warning for buyer to beware. Don't rely on Carfax, etc alone.

That is a good point. Old wisdom but especially poignant in the internet scammer age.

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What your buddy should do is take a slew of pickup trucks down with him when he goes. When I lived in Atlanta, pickups were in huge demand and it was worth flying North and West to get one. Funny, I thought of doing just that sort of thing for a living at one point: moving vehicles from low demand to high demand locations.

Since the recent oil fleecing, the large classics haven't been in demand by the ordinary buyer, so he's moved up to scouting for collectors. I even think he's had contact with Leno. Haven't seen him lately because he's mostly south of the border now, so I'm not completely up to date, but I'm sure he's doing very well. When you move up to working with the uppercrust, the payrate makes an corresponding adjustment upward. ;)

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In October 2007 I bought a 2003 LS 430 with 31,000 miles off eBay from a dealer in Tampa. They had a Buy it Now price of $25,500. Book for this car was $32K so I expected something to be wrong. I offered $25K Plus they pay for my airfare and 1 night motel and gas home. So they knocked another $250 off. But I expected to find something wrong adn decided I'd better be willing to pay $1K for something I'd find later.

They picked me up at the airport on time about noon on a Friday. I spent 2 hours going over a 53 point checklist. All looked ok to me except I didn't check the cd player (Mark Levinson) since I forget to bring a cd with me. I ended up buying the car, drove 1/2 way home that night then the rest of the way on Saturday.

Once home I discovered the cd player would accept cds or eject any if they were stuck. Also the subwoofer was rattling. My local Lexus Dealer changed them both out under warranty even though time-wise they were out of warranty. That saved me a total of over $1,100. Then I found where the left rear bumper had been bumped and repainted and not very well but well enough to not show that day to me. I've always said you should wax a car before you buy it. That way you'll see everything. Anyway, the parking sensor had a cracked rim so I had a professional shop repaint the bumper and put a new sensor in. Cost = $800 including $225 for the sensor.

So, you can see I did spend the $1k afterall. Would have been more except for the Dealer's help. They are a great Dealer, too!

Plan on some surprises and have the cash to fix them right away.

BTW, the mileage they adertised was 400+ lower than what was on it. They explained that the owner had been taking it home at night. Oh, well. I now own a 2003 LS430 with 42,000 miles and run like a charm. Great gas mileage, too.

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