Thinking Of Buying This, But What Is A Fair Price?

[jpjsavage]

Hi,

I've posted about this in the newbie section but would welcome your advice here. I'm thinking about making an offer on this:

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/LEXUS-LS-400-4-0-V8-CELSIOR-4-DR-AUTO-FULL-LEATHER-GREAT-CAR-/120954009383?pt=Automobiles_UK&hash=item1c296bb727#ht_1264wt_984

Just wondering whether the consensus here is that the car is a good buy and, importantly, at what price?

Cheers,

Jonathan

[Rupert Dubreaux]

Jonathon ,hi

If it is fairly close to your location I would advise going to have a look . The MOT date in the header dosent match the one in the description , the body looks ok from the pictures but in the flesh may not look so good.

Being an import your insurance company might sting you a bit , also there is no mention of any history.

I would think the max its worth is about half what they are asking.

If you look around and are prepared to wait a bit you can pick up a reasonable Mk3 or 4 for that price or less even.

Good luck with your searching.

[Dale_V]

The difference with this car is that its a celsior with all the bells and whistles in the back, so its hard to judge value or even reccomend alternatives as there are not many about

Rupert is right though, nice mk3's can be had for around that cash which look fresher (IMO) , but its all preference

ps..I think colins crying... :)

Edited August 19, 2012 by Dale_V

[jpjsavage]

The difference with this car is that its a celsior with all the bells and whistles in the back, so its hard to judge value or even reccomend alternatives as there are not many about

Rupert is right though, nice mk3's can be had for around that cash which look fresher (IMO) , but its all preference

Thanks for the advice so far. I would certainly be interested in seeing alternatives. Do send me a link to your advert.

I hadn't thought about a LPG conversion but I guess it would save a bit on fuel! I won't be doing massive miles though.

[Bluesman]

Hi,

I've posted about this in the newbie section but would welcome your advice here. I'm thinking about making an offer on this:

http://www.ebay.co.u...7#ht_1264wt_984

Just wondering whether the consensus here is that the car is a good buy and, importantly, at what price?

Cheers,

Jonathan

There is every chance this has been bought by the dealer through an auction who has paid just a few hundred quid, that's under £500. They fetch very little in auctions as the trade are frightened of them.

You couldn't poss come to what sort of price would be fair to you but I can assure you the dealer wont think its a fair price to him.

I am sure this one has been around for some time and I am also sure that a forum member has already had someone take a look at this one and rejected it.

Definitely consider LPG

Mike

[jpjsavage]

Hi,

I've posted about this in the newbie section but would welcome your advice here. I'm thinking about making an offer on this:

http://www.ebay.co.u...7#ht_

Just wondering whether the consensus here is that the car is a good buy and, importantly, at what price?

Cheers,

Jonathan

There is every chance this has been bought by the dealer through an auction who has paid just a few hundred quid, that's under £500. They fetch very little in auctions as the trade are frightened of them.

You couldn't poss come to what sort of price would be fair to you but I can assure you the dealer wont think its a fair price to him.

I am sure this one has been around for some time and I am also sure that a forum member has already had someone take a look at this one and rejected it.

Definitely consider LPG

Mike

Thanks Mike. I will have a chat with Will about his LPG one. He got in touch earlier today. Cheers. Jonathan

[Bluesman]

Hi,

I've posted about this in the newbie section but would welcome your advice here. I'm thinking about making an offer on this:

http://www.ebay.co.u...7#ht_"]http://www.ebay.co.u...ay.co.u...7#ht_

Just wondering whether the consensus here is that the car is a good buy and, importantly, at what price?

Cheers,

Jonathan

There is every chance this has been bought by the dealer through an auction who has paid just a few hundred quid, that's under £500. They fetch very little in auctions as the trade are frightened of them.

You couldn't poss come to what sort of price would be fair to you but I can assure you the dealer wont think its a fair price to him.

I am sure this one has been around for some time and I am also sure that a forum member has already had someone take a look at this one and rejected it.

Definitely consider LPG

Mike

Thanks Mike. I will have a chat with Will about his LPG one. He got in touch earlier today. Cheers. Jonathan

Make sure it has an LPG certificate because if it hasn't you could get hassles trying to insure (around £100 to replace) also check with your present insurers that they will continue insurance for you.

Mike

[steve2006]

The 1990 Toyota Celsior was imported in 2005 so it spent the 1st 15 years of its life in car friendly Japan, it has had only one owner in the UK so they have probably had it since import.

It is also the CF package so has the rear AC, massage seats and seperate audio controls.

They rarely come with any service history from Japan and no UK history is mentioned.

As mentioned before insurance can be a problem although there are specialist insurers around but the mainstream ones don't want to know. Mine is around the same as a UK specification model.

The MOT is short so I would ask for a fresh ticket or maybe the car needs a major suspension rebuild, this model will probably have air suspension which is great until it fails when it costs £££s to either repair or replace with conventional springs.

It's worth a look but too much money.

[Bluesman]

The 1990 Toyota Celsior was imported in 2005 so it spent the 1st 15 years of its life in car friendly Japan, it has had only one owner in the UK so they have probably had it since import.

It is also the CF package so has the rear AC, massage seats and seperate audio controls.

They rarely come with any service history from Japan and no UK history is mentioned.

As mentioned before insurance can be a problem although there are specialist insurers around but the mainstream ones don't want to know. Mine is around the same as a UK specification model.

The MOT is short so I would ask for a fresh ticket or maybe the car needs a major suspension rebuild, this model will probably have air suspension which is great until it fails when it costs £££s to either repair or replace with conventional springs.

It's worth a look but too much money.

Didn't like the wheels anyway. Mike

[jpjsavage]

Ok, thanks for the advice. The search continues!

[Bluesman]

Ok, thanks for the advice. The search continues!

I am sure now we know your looking we will all keep our eyes open for you. Nothing more we like than matching a man to the new lady in his life.

Mike

[steve2006]

There is plenty of choice out there for LS400s but the condition of them from my experience varies considerably.

When mine was accident damaged I looked at a 2000 LS/Celsior and it looked like it had been used as a golf buggy, all mud caked underneath and the white paint was ingrained with dirt and moss.

I also went with another LOC member around Yorkshire to look for one, the 1st was a 1999 model which looked nice in gold but after looking underneath the exhaust was jointed everywhere and the height sensor rods were made from nylon cable ties!

The other one was on a lot but there had been no effort to make the car look saleable, didn't even bother asking to have a closer look.

Eventually a good one was found but he told me if I had not found the problems with the gold one he would have bought it.

Moral is either take someone with you that knows something about these cars or have an inspection carried out.

The problem is that these cars are now "pocket money" prices to buy but can cost more in repairs and servicing than the purchase price.

There are still some well cared for examples out there just bide your time, be picky and one of them will be yours.

[jpjsavage]

Thanks Steve and others for your excellent advice. I will take heed! There's no desperate rush.

[Malc]

I bought mine from a member on here last year .......... beautiful example too .......... trying to keep it that way ..................... now my third LS and 10 years of main motoring with the LS400 and I KNOW what I would be missing if I didn't keep it being in good condition ( forever ??? )

Malc

[ambermarine]

Thanks Steve and others for your excellent advice. I will take heed! There's no desperate rush.

The answer to your question depends on your perception of a Lexus Ls400 and value for money.

I owned a Mark1 1990 for sixteen years which cost me £19k when it was 6 years old with 50k on the clock and have had all the experiences with repairs and niggles that model threw up.but when I sold it last month for £600 it did'nt owe me a penny.

During its latter years I being Lexus forever mulled over the 430 and the 460 as a replacement but could'nt see the improvements that justified the 460 sitting in my garage losing thousands when I only do 3000 miles annualy.The 430 was a step too far in its development for my liking.So I set my stall out to look for a Mark4 .Lo and behold one appeared last month with 18k on the clock and in factory condition I paid £3750, thats about 1500 over top book price but it cost £52000 when new and its no different to when it was new and if anything serious was going to go wrong it will have shown by now.The amazing part of this story is that this car in the states in exactly the same condition would attract a price tag of $15000 and they are cheaper there initially.

There are examples of well kept 400s but they only come up rarely as like me when you have a good one you don't want to let it go.

[Bluesman]

Thanks Steve and others for your excellent advice. I will take heed! There's no desperate rush.

The answer to your question depends on your perception of a Lexus Ls400 and value for money.

I owned a Mark1 1990 for sixteen years which cost me £19k when it was 6 years old with 50k on the clock and have had all the experiences with repairs and niggles that model threw up.but when I sold it last month for £600 it did'nt owe me a penny.

During its latter years I being Lexus forever mulled over the 430 and the 460 as a replacement but could'nt see the improvements that justified the 460 sitting in my garage losing thousands when I only do 3000 miles annualy.The 430 was a step too far in its development for my liking.So I set my stall out to look for a Mark4 .Lo and behold one appeared last month with 18k on the clock and in factory condition I paid £3750, thats about 1500 over top book price but it cost £52000 when new and its no different to when it was new and if anything serious was going to go wrong it will have shown by now.The amazing part of this story is that this car in the states in exactly the same condition would attract a price tag of $15000 and they are cheaper there initially.

There are examples of well kept 400s but they only come up rarely as like me when you have a good one you don't want to let it go.

I will always be happy to pay a premium for such an example as you have, No matter what you are buying or selling when something as rare as that comes up it will attract a premium over and above what book prices say are correct.

Get a half a dozen of you wanting the same thing and up goes the price the first rule of economics "Supply & demand"

Enjoy it. Mike

[jpjsavage]

Well, by way of an update, I've had an email exchange with the guy selling the blue one on the Wirral. I noticed that this had featured in another thread on here. He bought it from the Sheffield trader for £1950 so is selling at a small loss. There seem to be legitimate reasons for this given his work etc. The car has an immaculate service history and the cambelt was done at 126k. There are few other receipts but his argument is that given that the servicing is spot on other parts would have been replaced as required. I guess it is hard to tell without going to view it. So, given that it is 40 miles or so from us here in south Cheshire I'm wondering if it is worth a trip over? Or perhaps I should hold on for a lower mileage, perhaps LPG, car to come up? Did anyone view the car when it was for sale in Sheffield?

[MNP]

As I started the other thread, I am thinking of going to look at it as I am only in North Shropshire. It is probably worth a look but I don't feel that I am familiar enough or qualified to spot the major potential and costly pitfalls. I will let you know how I get on. I think I need to look at a few to get the feel before getting the cheque book out!

Mark.

[noby76]

this looks good for a late model LS400(bulletproof) version of the 400's. you can haggle to £1500 -£1800. worth the travel from cheshire. low mileage ,long MOT and Tax service history etc..

http://www.autotrade...age/1?logcode=p

[jpjsavage]

As I started the other thread, I am thinking of going to look at it as I am only in North Shropshire. It is probably worth a look but I don't feel that I am familiar enough or qualified to spot the major potential and costly pitfalls. I will let you know how I get on. I think I need to look at a few to get the feel before getting the cheque book out!

Mark.

Thanks Mark, it will be interesting to see what you make of it. The earliest I could view it would be the weekend.

[jpjsavage]

this looks good for a late model LS400(bulletproof) version of the 400's. you can haggle to £1500 -£1800. worth the travel from cheshire. low mileage ,long MOT and Tax service history etc..

http://www.autotrade...age/1?logcode=p

That does look like a nice example. Thanks for the link.

[MNP]

I've decided to pass on this one, just a feeling from another thread that it's been through the auctions and round the block a bit. I have plenty of time to keep looking. Good luck for the weekend.

Mark.

[jpjsavage]

I've decided to pass on this one, just a feeling from another thread that it's been through the auctions and round the block a bit. I have plenty of time to keep looking. Good luck for the weekend.

Mark.

Fair enough. I had some reservations too hence my question about it here and a hope that someone more experienced than me had been to view it! Good luck with your search.

[Bluesman]

I've decided to pass on this one, just a feeling from another thread that it's been through the auctions and round the block a bit. I have plenty of time to keep looking. Good luck for the weekend.

Mark.

That dash looks awful. mike

[Bluesman]

Well, by way of an update, I've had an email exchange with the guy selling the blue one on the Wirral. I noticed that this had featured in another thread on here. He bought it from the Sheffield trader for £1950 so is selling at a small loss. There seem to be legitimate reasons for this given his work etc. The car has an immaculate service history and the cambelt was done at 126k. There are few other receipts but his argument is that given that the servicing is spot on other parts would have been replaced as required. I guess it is hard to tell without going to view it. So, given that it is 40 miles or so from us here in south Cheshire I'm wondering if it is worth a trip over? Or perhaps I should hold on for a lower mileage, perhaps LPG, car to come up? Did anyone view the car when it was for sale in Sheffield?

He bought it from the Sheffield trader for £1950 so is selling at a small loss.

And of course car dealers always tell the truth. Dont they?

Mike