Bad Idea Fairy: Lexus Edition

Kinja'd!!! "Snuze: Needs another Swede" (markg)
09/26/2019 at 16:10 • Filed to: None

Kinja'd!!!0 Kinja'd!!! 8

The bad idea fairy visited me at lunch today in the form of a post on Nextdoor (for those unfamiliar it’s like Facebook, but limited to small geographic regions ). A neighbor wanted to know what to do with her 2008 Lexus RX350 with only 106k miles that needs “$13k in repairs”.

After wading through the comments, most suggesting she donate it, I learned the following:

Kinja'd!!!

When our RX330 got totaled last year, we got almost $10k for it. So I’m thinking that there’s some value here for someone willing to put in the work, but I can’t do 2 projects cars at once.

I offered to trade her the Volvo for it.

Also, wasn’t there an Oppo who had an offroad Lexus RX that he lifted slightly and put on some BFGoodrich A/T KOs, a safari rack, lights, etc. ? 


DISCUSSION (8)


Kinja'd!!! E90M3 > Snuze: Needs another Swede
09/26/2019 at 16:20

Kinja'd!!!4

Register as an uber driver and drive as is. 


Kinja'd!!! Ash78, voting early and often > Snuze: Needs another Swede
09/26/2019 at 16:22

Kinja'd!!!1

$13k in repairs usually translates into “$500 in parts and someone willing to put in a couple hours each weekend for a month or two”

It always kind of amuses me when people have a 100k-mile car and act like it’s surprising that it needs shocks or brakes. That’s just deferred maintenance, not some kind of unscheduled repair.

Finding a new dash for an extremely common car probably isn’t too hard, either. BAD DOG! BAD DOGWALKER!

In the olden days, you could donate this to a high school auto shop or something. This sounds like a great learning project.


Kinja'd!!! promoted by the color red > Ash78, voting early and often
09/26/2019 at 16:25

Kinja'd!!!0

This sounds like something that could be fixed with the help of Craigslist & RockAuto. 


Kinja'd!!! Snuze: Needs another Swede > promoted by the color red
09/26/2019 at 16:33

Kinja'd!!!0

That’s exactly what I’m thinking. I mean, so far they haven’t let me down with the Volvo and I think I’m going to finish it under market value and actually make a little money.  


Kinja'd!!! Snuze: Needs another Swede > Ash78, voting early and often
09/26/2019 at 16:37

Kinja'd!!!0

Yeah, I haven’t had time to price everything out, but I think it’s going to be a bit more than $500, probably closer to $2k. But still, based on what we got for a totaled Lexus RX330, this thing has to be worth easily $10k.

There are still some high schools / career tech centers that work on cars, and several people suggested going that route.


Kinja'd!!! BrianGriffin thinks “reliable” is just a state of mind > Snuze: Needs another Swede
09/26/2019 at 17:13

Kinja'd!!!0

How much do they want for it? I agree with everyone, most of the bad stuff is normal maintenance for a 100k car and the rest is easily found in a  junkyard / forum. 


Kinja'd!!! Snuze: Needs another Swede > BrianGriffin thinks “reliable” is just a state of mind
09/26/2019 at 17:28

Kinja'd!!!0

Haven’t gotten a number yet. It’s a community discussion board and a guy was already throwing out numbers before I stumbled on it and she hasn’t said much to him beyond “I’ll keep you in mind. ” She didn’t even respond to my offer of the Volvo. 


Kinja'd!!! I like cars: Jim Spanfeller is one ugly motherfucker > Snuze: Needs another Swede
10/02/2019 at 14:34

Kinja'd!!!0

...How is a control arm 8 shop hours? What the fuck, Toyota