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Thank you everyone for all your help. Today I went to look at a 2003 Lexus RX 300 on Facebook from a small dealer. I know private sellers are best but for some reason I'm just having problems even finding many private sellers on Facebook, Craigslist, etc. In fact most "private sellers" seem to be dealers posing as private sellers.
This is true. I've been buying used cars from private sellers since 1975 and currently in the market for a used truck but it's rare to find a truly private seller, the kind who is just trying to sell the vehicle they have driven the past few years. And I'm living in a metro area of 4 million and using a distance range that includes 10 million.
Autotrader, CarsGuru, and others are 99% dealers. On FB and CL, most "owners" are car salesmen pushing cars for a lot or flippers working on their own. Most don't even try to hide it but those that do are easily spotted. Just click on the profile and see a bunch of other vehicles they are seeing. You have to be very wary and check VIN. Many say "clean title" but VIN turns up a salvage history.
Yep that is what really ticks me off. Both situations could've been avoided if I'd gone and seen them myself first. Definitely a ($260) lesson learned lol. Ugh I feel so dumb.
Life lessons.
I can guarantee you that everyone offering advice learned at least one lesson in their life the hard way. Don't get discouraged!
I can guarantee you that everyone offering advice learned at least one lesson in their life the hard way. Don't get discouraged!
That’s for sure. I was looking for a car about 1.5/2 years ago. I walked away from 98% of them. Just absolute trash bs and time wasted. If I even get a whiff of bs i walk
I’m currently shopping for a car. My budget is only $4,000 so obviously my options are going to be limited and all the cars in that range are gonna be older. I know nothing about cars and don’t know anyone who does so I’m having to pay for cars to be inspected before I purchase. I paid $130 to have the first car inspected. It was from a used car dealership and the car ended up having a ton of issues including a bad starter. For the second car, my guy contacted the dealer to set up the inspection appointment and apparently the dealer was acting super shady and not wanting my guy to inspect the car even though he’d told me he was fine with it. I had already paid for the inspection but my inspector told me he didn’t recommend I pursue that car bc the dealer seems shady and he also recommended I don’t buy from a dealer and instead go for a private seller. We decided to apply my payment to an inspection of a different car. So car number 3. This time I found a private seller. A nice older woman selling her Scion. When we were messaging back and forth she told me the car had 129k miles and no mechanical issues she could think of. When my inspector went out to do the inspection he informed me the car had 209k miles and a ton off issues including a cylinder misfire issue. I am so frustrated at this point and don’t know what to do. Does anyone have any suggestions? If I choose a new car and pay for a new inspection I’ll be out almost $400 so far. I’ve considered finding a cheaper place to inspect for me but when I google I see that what I’m being charged is actually on the lower end of how much these inspections usually cost.
That was actually $400 well spent, but, you can pre-inspect the cars yourself. That Scion, you could turn the key and read the miles, you could start it up and see that the Check Engine Light (CEL) stays on. Only when a car passes your own "ha-ha" test, do you bring in the actual professional inspector.
People like you who don't really know cars have to "rent" the expertise.
It can pay to be able to triage things like body damage or rust (you walk away, regardless of price) and various running issues (you don't *know* what it will take to correct an intermittent misfire, but you can get a good guess, you can beat the price down to where it can still be a good buy) and condition of obvious wear items like tires (never reject a car just due to worn tires - you can get a firm price for a new set of tires, and you *do know* that this will correct the issue) (but at the same time, don't pay too much for a car that has needs, even simple to meet needs). On most cars, replacing the starter is not an expensive repair.
Most all cheaper, older cars are going to have some needs. Figure out what needs you are going to be OK with.
Estimated values
2003 Lexus RX 300 Fwd 4dr SUV (3.0L 6cyl 4A) with no options
Values based on 12,000 miles driven per year, with no color or options selected
Condition Trade-In Private Party Dealer Retail
Outstanding $998 $1,616 $2,646
Rough $251 $619 $1,242
Clean $998 $1,616 $2,646
Average $456 $897 $1,637
Thank you everyone for all your help. Today I went to look at a 2003 Lexus RX 300 on Facebook from a small dealer. I know private sellers are best but for some reason I'm just having problems even finding many private sellers on Facebook, Craigslist, etc. In fact most "private sellers" seem to be dealers posing as private sellers. Anyways the Lexus is in my price range and has 124k miles. I wrote some notes of things to look at like the tires, fluids, etc. I was nervous about looking things over myself and it didn't help that my mom who was with me has 0 faith in me to do anything on my own. I had her start up the car while I had the hood up to see if the motor mount was bad bc I heard if you start the car and the motor shakes badly it means the mount is bad. I took it on a test drive and also took it on the highway. I did the test where you go fast and then hit the breaks kind of suddenly and everything seemed fine. I also did the thing where you let go of the wheel while driving and see if the steering wheel wanders to one side and all seemed well there too. I made sure it was really quiet in the car while I was driving and also when I stopped to listen for any noises and didn't hear any. Not gonna lie, i should have done more research on what fluids should look like because I kind of went blank and didn't really know what I was looking for. I didn't notice any corossion or burnt smells anywhere though. Anyways I have set up an appointment for a mechanic to inspect it so if everything is good I will be purchasing. It's a nice little car. I have been without a car for 8 months and just trying to save up for something half decent. If this car doesn't work out I think I'm going to just continue looking while also saving up some more so I can open up my options a bit more.
Sounds like you are learning through the process and from some good advice here. I recently was looking in the same price range as you for an additional vehicle for the family and it can be daunting, even for someone that works with vehicles for a living.
Okay so the vehicle inspector got back to me with his report and lots of photos and while the car runs well and no codes came up, he found a lot of corrosion and we're in Texas so while he didn't find any proof of this being a flood vehicle the amount of rust makes him think it could be. Is this just a huge no or can this rust be fixed?
Are you in the Northeast or Midwest? This is typical under-hood corrosion in those areas.
Owning a car in these heavy-salt winter areas is a depressing experience.
You seem to know so little about cars, and have not exhibited much enthusiasm for learning - can you just take the bus?
To answer your question directly, while it's possible given an unlimited budget to fix anything, this sort of corrosion (and corrosion on the inside of body panels, which you can't see - yet - is not really practical to fix.
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