I'm in Iowa (rust belt) however the car has been in Florida all but 4yrs of its life. i would say a rust-free car with some typical undercarriage surface rust at best. nothing on the body, door sills etc. They wanted 7500.00 which is too much, and I offered him 6200.00 he countered at 6500.00. however, the car needs new plugs/coil packs because it's never been done and the vehicle has 178k so it's overdue. The car runs well no goofy noises had brake pulsation when the foot was applied to the pedal other than that nothing out of the ordinary. I'd give the car a c- as far as cleanliness smudges on the windows dash had some kind of sticky residue on it, and the steering wheel buttons coating were all faded to white. the sun must of baked it off or something. other than that it's solid. door ding and some minor scrapes that's it...any thoughts on what's a fair offer???
08' Lexus es350
- Thread starter earthbound
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$6500 sounds about what they're selling at. You know you're paying for that nameplate but I'd say it sounds like it's worth being Fl car most of it's mileage. But prepare to spend $800 or so on that maintenance, like brakes pads, rotors, brake fluid, coils, plugs, air filter. It adds up. How old are the tires? Grab the DOT date on them.
That vehicle is too old really to know what a fair value is as its entered what I would call "beater" territory. As you discovered if the spark plugs have never been done, assume it needs alot more then that. Good luck.
i shot a 5200.00 offer i'd say this is fair for both of us...i mean this crazy market is just so unpredictable.
Maybe get a PPI before spending that much if you can't diy most mechanical repairs.
What about coolant change, transmission fluid and filter service, air and cabin filters, brake fluid service, struts and shocks, ball joints, exhaust system, etc. $800 just scratches the surface. Think more like $2,000-$3,000. I assume it doesn't have a timing belt, but the timing chains may be getting worn a little.
If you do buy it, get it rustproofed so it doesn't rust 
It's better to tell the buyer of this vehicle than me...
. As pointed out as "It all adds up" endpoint & all part of buying an older vehicle w/180k. I've done my own spreadsheet analysis & in my situation I wanted to ask the question I had "if it was financially better to have an extra car as a gas saver or just one vehicle". It was quite revealing & with all the maintenance/repairs it ended up being a wash but no real saving worth the hassle of the extra repairs. I only gave $1750 for that Saturn too. $6500 would never pay back w/a V6 engine. Now I've gone back to two vehicles since, in the sig, but definitely not for the "Fuel Savings".- Joined
- Jun 8, 2022
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At that age its 100% about condition. I would say the range your in seems appropriate dependent on condition which we can't see from here. Private party I assume? Individuals always feel their car is in better shape than it is, which is why I don't even consider private party sales unless someone has something for $2K they just want gone.
$300 is not a big difference. It’s a stretched v6 Camry, which is excellent. It’s also going to need a good bit of love. Seems high miles for what it is, but I haven’t bought used in a while. C- condition isn’t great though. I think for me at this point I’d step back and ask if I “love” this car. If not, I wouldn’t push it.
Miles do matter. If you remove a time deadline and just take a month you can probably find one with 70k miles for not that much more.
Just something to consider.
I've backed out...
