writing this up because i read the S580 thread before i bid and it helped me.
i'm a nurse anesthetist, i drive Rochester to the Twin Cities a couple times a month and to my parents in La Crosse most weekends. was driving a 2016 ES 350 with 130k. i wanted the LS for the seats, and because it's a Lexus and i keep cars ten years.
first try went wrong. in August i bid 41,000 on a 2020 LS 500 F Sport at a yard in Arizona through lakeparkautoconnection.com and lost. it's a blind bid so you never find out what won, you just get an email saying you weren't the high bidder. that stung for about a day.
second try: 2021 LS 500 AWD, Luxury package, 31,400 miles, Nebula Gray Pearl, sitting at a lender yard in Commerce City outside Denver. i bid 44,900 and got it. dealer comps for the same car were 49 to 53k and none of them within 200 miles of me had AWD.
delivery was free since Rochester is well inside their 1,000 miles. it showed up on day 12 on an enclosed two car trailer, which i did not expect.
how's the 10 speed in town? the one i drove in Iowa City hunted between 3rd and 5th at 35 like it couldn't make up its mind.
ha, i've probably driven past that car. there are a couple of those fenced lots off 104th in Commerce City. did you get anybody out to look at it or was it all photos?
did you get anybody out to look at it or was it all photos?
after losing the first one i wanted to be sure before i went higher. i asked the lake park people if i could send someone and they gave me the yard contact. a mobile inspector from Denver went out for 225. scan showed no stored codes, front pads at 7mm, tires at 7/32, and a chip low on the passenger side of the windshield.
g90, yes, it hunts a little at 35 to 40. Sport mode holds gears longer and it's better. i can live with it.
that's about as well as anyone is buying a 2021 LS AWD right now, they're 43 to 46 in the lanes. AWD cars out of Colorado go fast because every dealer in the upper Midwest wants one before winter.
the August loss is the part people skip when they talk about sealed bids. how did you decide how much higher to go the second time?
i picked the number i'd be fine paying if somebody else bid one dollar less. that's the whole method.
three weeks in. first oil change at the Lexus store, 89 bucks. my insurance filled the windshield chip for free. one thing that wasn't in the photos: the lower grille insert on the driver side has a two inch crack, probably a rock. the part was 176 and it snaps in. at the price i paid through the broker in lake park i'm not going to cry about a grille.
