I'm in the market for a Lexus GS300 and have the chance of what seems a good deal. My only reservation is that is it does not immediately have a full service history, although as ever, that may be forthcoming if Lexus have it on their computers.
It only has 45k on it, and I'm satisfied that is genuine, although as it's a 1997 car it hasn't done much.
Obviously a full Lexus history is ideal, and full non-Lexus service history I would be ok about. My gut reaction is that this car is ok given the other documentation I've seen, and a Lexus should be reliable enough; that's the point of the things. Everything else about the car is fine; I've checked it over and driven it and it all "feels right".
I'm saving about a thousand quid because of the current lack of documentation. How much of a flyer am I taking on this, would backroomers think?
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Dipstick
Is it really such "a good deal" for you if it's just a thousand quid off book value? Without a full Lexus service history I'd have thought its value would be diminished by more than a grand both now and when you come to sell it on. IMHO I'd wait to see what Lexus tell you about the car.
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Well it is a six year old car... I might try and push it down a bit more because the service history is not full main dealer, but it's going to be getting to the stage where it's too old to be retailed by a main dealer and so more and more cars of that age won't have it.
By the time Dipstick comes to sell, FMDSH will be the excpetion on a car that age so I doubt it will knock a grand off a car that's worth maybe £5k in three years...
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Thanks guys. From the monetary angle, I think I tend to go with DavidHM, but maybe I can get a little more off book. Can anyone comment on whether this might be a bad move mechanically? I know it's had at least ONE service at 20k; if this is the only one it's had, should I steer well clear or are these things so bullet proof it will recover if looked after well?
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A six year old car that's only had ONE service? Run, don't walk away! They are tough cars but anything that's been neglected to that extent would be too much of an unknown quantity for me.
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Have it inspected either buy the AA or better still a Lexus/Toyota dealer if you are not sure of what you are looking at.It will save you money.GS300 is a great car.
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Well, thanks for your replies folks. On mature reflection I've decided to ditch that one. I've found another WITH f.l.s.h and I'm feeling muuch happier about it, so I'm prepared to fork out the extra dosh required. It's 4k more (asking price) but then again the first one was too cheap really and this one has satnav.
Thanks again.
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I think you're wise to go for FLSH. Lexus's tend not to go wrong, but they're hardly cheap when they do.
Peter
PS You'll love the car!
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