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What's your thoughts on this vehicle?

CMontoya79 said:
ALWAYS use KBB.Com for fair vehicle value, or trade value ...and for comparison pricing use autotrader.com and cars.com. Just my .02 never get hosed on a trade it on used vehicle purchase price. A dealer makes money on used sales and hiking up the price. You usually have about 500-2000 worth of negotiating room. THEY ALWAYS call you back. Never take the 1st offer/price deal no matter how good. They always ask what is it gonna take? Take advantage that they need the sale more than you need the vehicle. Good luck.
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ALSO - ask your bank of credit union what the 'loan' value is. It's even lower than trade-in and give you an idea of what a dealer may have paid (at least that's how I look at it).
Now a dealer may do more pre-work...but they are still not going to buy at loan value!
 
Having owned Lexus's and considering owning them again in the near future I suggest having the GX taken to a trusted independent mechanic who specializes in Lexus/Toyota.
 
You will then know everything about what needs to be done to the car, so you can leverage that knowledge when it comes to the out the door price.
 
You will not be disappointed in the brand!
 
Lexus is an '03 with 137,xxx, fully loaded, leather everything, power everything, it has a suspension system that can be raised and lowered!  Who knew?!  They want 13,998 at the dealer.
I talked to the guy just now and told him I wanted to pull my camper around town to see what I thought.  They actually said yes! 
 
That's not a lot of miles for that vehicle. That's an average of12,500 per year. The only other thing that I would check for is rust underneath. I know that the older Toyotas were famous for this.
 
Bu11dog said:
Lexus is an '03 with 137,xxx, fully loaded, leather everything, power everything, it has a suspension system that can be raised and lowered!  Who knew?!  They want 13,998 at the dealer.
I talked to the guy just now and told him I wanted to pull my camper around town to see what I thought.  They actually said yes! 
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Great idea.  Just be safe, considering you'll be towing with it. 
 
GX has a towing capacity of 6500, give or take.  Subtract 10% for the safety margin, putting it at 5,850.  Remember to subtract all gear/equipment/food/people and you should come up with a pretty good idea what you'll actually be towing.  Keep in mind, tranny coolers will help out a ton as well.
 
Light this! said:
That's not a lot of miles for that vehicle. That's an average of12,500 per year. The only other thing that I would check for is rust underneath. I know that the older Toyotas were famous for this.
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Just surface rust underneath and I like to take rattle cans and black'en out everything yearly when I have "nice" vehicles.
Already have a call in to my bank about the wholesale/retail prices and my wife is all about doing the carfax so I'll leave that to her.

bfreebern said:
 
Lexus is an '03 with 137,xxx, fully loaded, leather everything, power everything, it has a suspension system that can be raised and lowered!  Who knew?!  They want 13,998 at the dealer.
I talked to the guy just now and told him I wanted to pull my camper around town to see what I thought.  They actually said yes! 
Click to expand...
 
Great idea.  Just be safe, considering you'll be towing with it. 
 
GX has a towing capacity of 6500, give or take.  Subtract 10% for the safety margin, putting it at 5,850.  Remember to subtract all gear/equipment/food/people and you should come up with a pretty good idea what you'll actually be towing.  Keep in mind, tranny coolers will help out a ton as well.
 
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I like the idea of upgrading the cooling system.  I also used to use some additives that when mixed properly would make my turbo'd vehicle run super cool even when hammering it down the road.  If I remember correctly from my trailer manual you aren't supposed to load the trailer over a total weight of 5,000lbs, it weighs 3,400lbs empty.  It's a dual axle and has brakes so that will help a little.  I run crews for the City of Omaha and we haul with F550's and single/tandem trucks so I'm a pretty familiar with all this but when you start talking about my kids and wife I get a little more concerned.
 
Bu11dog said:
 
 I run crews for the City of Omaha and we haul with F550's and single/tandem trucks so I'm a pretty familiar with all this but when you start talking about my kids and wife I get a little more concerned.
 
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Sounds like you're ahead of the game, but the above is 100% correct.  I've seen way too many people make stupid decisions when towing. 
 
Besides car fax I would recommend another vehicle history check service. As carfax has been known to not fully show everything, ie trying to pass off a salvage as no such historyz
 
Luckily when purchased from a dealer, he has a safety net as they cannot mis-represent (or at least shouldn't) the vehicles history.
 
An easy way to check for past accident not submitted to VIN record is to check body panels for the OEM VIN stickers that should/will be present on all panels/doors.
 
It also wouldn't hurt to take it to a well respected auto body shop, as they too will perform an inspection and will tell you what body damage if any has occurred. (respray/reskin/etc.)
 
Good luck!!
 
Talked to my bank and the numbers are pretty close but I'm gonna try like hell to get them under 10,000 with my crappy trade in, assuming everything else checks out.  I have a trusted mechanic down the street from the dealer that will go over it for $50 also.
Can't wait to try pulling it with the trailer in a couple hours!  I'm laughing at the thought of a dealer letting someone do that but I'm sure they have had crazier requests.
 
I hope that you didn't show your hand with the trade in yet. Always negotiate the deal first and then surprise them with the trade and say " you know after talking to the wife we are deciding to trade our car in."
 
If you talk about the trade too early they start to work numbers and loose you in the mix. By not telling them about the trade you force them to give you the best price and then have to give you an even better deal because of the trade is now screwing up their numbers.
 
Light this! said:
I hope that you didn't show your hand with the trade in yet. Always negotiate the deal first and then surprise them with the trade and say " you know after talking to the wife we are deciding to trade our car in."
 
If you talk about the trade too early they start to work numbers and loose you in the mix. By not telling them about the trade you force them to give you the best price and then have to give you an even better deal because of the trade is now screwing up their numbers.
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My wife LOVE'S bartering and negotiating.  That's all hers, she is going to do just that, bring them down as low as possible and then throw the trade in.  I'm shooting for 3 grand on the trade but its really only worth $1500 on a trade but like I said the wife loves this stuff so more power to her.
 
I appreciate all the help guys, everyone have a smoke on me!  
 
I just wanted to post a quick:
 
Thank You Everyone!!!
 
I bought a 2003 Lexus GX470, it's black with a creme colored leather interior and fully loaded.  The carfax was awesome told us a lot about the vehicle.  My mechanic found a couple things that the dealer is splitting the cost with me on fixing.  
This was wife approved even so win/win all the way around!!!
 
Glad you made the Lexus decision. I hope it lives up to your expectations.
 
I'm obviously far too late on this thread but my two cents is as follows. In MY OPINION, stay away if you need a reliable cost effective vehicle. Prior to my current job (started June 2012) I worked 2 years in a Land Rover genuine and after-market parts warehouse and let me tell you, any land rover part is tons more than a similar part in another vehicle. I don't find them reliable and they are (again in MY OPINION) for those with money to spare and status to showoff. Very capable off road vehicles and the older ones have a cult following but seeing how we even sold shirts that said "I'd rather push a land rover than drive a jeep" its gotta tell you something. You couldn't give me one because I could not afford the upkeep. I must admit though they are very nice. I drove my boss' 2013 Range Rover HSE Sport Supercharged and for a tank it flies and it rides real nice, but, for $120k you gotta expect that.
 
 
**Congrats on the car by the way!
 
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