Something interesting for your opinions

M

Mike lambert

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I have a 2014 Lexus GS in the shop in straight black. Purchased about 45 days ago in New Jersey at a luxury car dealership, not a Lexus dealership. Really swirled a with a ton of multi directional scratches. After washing it had that " something is not right look" to it? If you`ve done this for awhile you know that feeling. Measuring the paint showed a minimum of 9.5 mils with a maximum of 11.0 mils, entire car. Lots of dirt and some sanding scratches. Now, I have found no evidence of body damage, panel gaps are consistent and cannot see anything underneath. Car fax showed it was a lease that went to auction after 2 years with 16k on it?
So give me your opinions as to why the repaint and why a low mileage car goes straight to auction? When I find out anything I`ll let you know.
 
Interesting Mike. Without the repaint, I would say it could have been a lemon car that was purchased back and `fixed`? The repaint is interesting...at least you have a ton of paint to work with!

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I can`t speak for Lexus, as I`ve worked only for GM Dealers my entire career, but all off-lease vehicles typically go to auction. Many years ago, we could cherry-pick vehicles returned to our location, but GM`s lease companies now run every one through an auction, either their proprietary electronic auction or various brick-and-mortar (or would that be asphalt parking lot?) sites across the country.

Bill
 
Does the car fax distinguish between lease, rental and fleet? I would guess rental/fleet, corporate executive lease, or repaired at port
 
Would you think there`s a record of repair if done by Lexus or the port? I worked on the first alpha Romeo 4c`s in the country and everything was documented.
 
If lease also means rental, ..... Lots of rental car cos do their own repairs and do not report to car fax etc.
 
Mike lambert said:
Would you think there`s a record of repair if done by Lexus or the port? I worked on the first alpha Romeo 4c`s in the country and everything was documented.
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Port repairs only need to be disclosed if they exceed between three and six percent of the MSRP -- the percentage varies by state.
 
Just curious, did you measure the paint in the door jams? I would be interested to see what they read.
 
Lease car, Lemon, regular customer or whatever that was returned or maybe in an accident in non-owner hands, it is sent to auction because they don`t want to deal with it, accident goes unclaimed for a multitude of reasons. Dealership you bought it from buys car at auction with damage and clean Carfax (which btw, are easily manipulated if you have enough money or know the right person, always go with the AutoCheck), fixes it and sells the car with a clean title and body damage. I see it happen all the time.
 
Mike lambert said:
Would you think there`s a record of repair if done by Lexus or the port? I worked on the first alpha Romeo 4c`s in the country and everything was documented.
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No, port work isn`t always documented especially by sites like carfax and autocheck. From Volvo to Toyota they all do port work, it isn`t pretty and there`s too many for them to document each one (Atleast to the customer). I`m 99% certain my S7 was resprayed on the hood, either at port or during the cpo phase. We bought it a year after they were released, guy traded it in for an Rs7. It had 3200 miles on it, yet the hood is painted and numbers show it...

BTW ~ Don`t ever by a car from NJ, unless you know what your getting into. It`s bad place to buy unless you really are a specialist.
 
My guess on why it went to auction from lease that early is that it was a payment default and repo`d. I represent auto financers and all of the repo`s my clients take back go to auction.
 
My guess is some guywent to town with a Rotary, got keyed, or hot hit with Acid rain. In any event he ruined the paint and went to a bargain pant shop just to get through lease return.
 
Update, car was auctioned by Lexus by internet auction for dealers only. Lexus report had no indication of paint work. Client called dealer who client believes was truly surprised by the news? Client is now taking car for inspection by Lexus dealership, stay tuned!
 
Mike lambert said:
I have a 2014 Lexus GS in the shop in straight black. Purchased about 45 days ago in New Jersey at a luxury car dealership, not a Lexus dealership. Really swirled a with a ton of multi directional scratches. After washing it had that " something is not right look" to it? If you`ve done this for awhile you know that feeling. Measuring the paint showed a minimum of 9.5 mils with a maximum of 11.0 mils, entire car. Lots of dirt and some sanding scratches. Now, I have found no evidence of body damage, panel gaps are consistent and cannot see anything underneath. Car fax showed it was a lease that went to auction after 2 years with 16k on it?
So give me your opinions as to why the repaint and why a low mileage car goes straight to auction? When I find out anything I`ll let you know.
Click to expand...

This doesn`t seem strange to me.


What makes you so sure it was a complete or even partial repaint? Can`t go by measurements alone. Could of been done at the factory during their QC process as this happens a lot more than people think. Before any assembly has been started and the repair is virtually undetectable.

Also, most leases are 2 years so what makes this jump out? Not everyone that leases cars puts the full mileage of the lease. Some are purchased as company pool cars and don`t get driven by a dedicated person.
 
Why do I feel it was repainted? Besides the measurements, dirt nibs, more texture than any other Lexus I`ve ever seen and a few sanding scratches under the clear. I`m well aware of problems that occur in the factory but a complete re spray is a little unusual.
 
Ok, but everything you`ve listed could be from the factory and doesn`t mean that it was done via refinishing in the A/M sector. Complete repaints get done at the factory more than most think and they`re pretty seamless.
 
The reason I am sure it was a repaint is not only measurements but the texture along with the sanding scratches that in 18 years are worse than any Lexus I`ve seen. Also after finding out the jambs are painted with the same process, they measured 4.5-5 mils. I think you can see why I come to that opinion. And I`m well aware that things happen at the factory. I worked on the first shipment of Alpha 4C`s that had a lot of problems and we sent a few back for reprints.
 
Jambs usually don`t receive the same kind of finish the exterior surfaces do and should have a thinner film build. You haven`t mentioned anything about tape lines? Any evidence present? The factory typically does a better job of concealing them than a body shop due to the car already disassembled.

Bottom line, there has to be a reason for this possible refinish and some kind of evidence leading to it? Very unlikely that the prior owner wanted a complete refinish for the heck of it then resulting in a poor end finish result with no signs of tape lines? Most times a complete refinish is done (post delivery) because of vandalism but this would show up on a vehicle history report. If so, there`s got to be some evidence of inconsistent paint readings (primer/filler). On the other hand, if it had a warranty paint repair it would not get reported other than the what the dealer has access to. The likelihood of this being detectable is very high though due to the manufacturer not paying top dollar for the repair. If not, my bet would be that it didn`t pass QC at the factory and they ran it through the paint line again. The latter not being that big of a deal if the defects can be cleaned up.
 
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