How Important Is Dealer Maintenance?

[maneshat]

I just got my 10K maintenace and it cost $220!! I was def. not expecting maintenance to cost so much. I feel like all they did was an oil change, tire rotation and wash my car. Am I missing something here???

How important is it to get maintenance at the dealership? I know my 15K maintenance is going to cost $480. This is my first lexus and I'm a girl - not very savvy with cars. If it's really necessary to go to the dealership, I will. Can someone please give me some input on this???

Thanks!

[cruznroadking]

There are good & bad dealers. I'd check around & ask other Lexus owners for recommendations. A 10k service in this area is $130-160. The dealerships use only factory parts & the techs are factory trained. Ive always had all my services done at the dealership.

[1990LS400]

I guess us guys are supposed to have an advantage since we (are supposed to) have mechanical knowledge and abilities. You have to consider that the service department at a car dealership provides most of a dealer's profit. I never take a car to a repair shop more often than at 15,000 mile intervals during the warranty period unless something is wrong. After the warranty period, I take cars in for service at most only at 30,000 mile intervals. When I do take a car to someone else for service, I am very selective about the services I choose to have performed. Dealerships and independent repairshops tend to dramatically over-maintain cars since doing so increases their revenues. Some may even try to intimidate you into having more services performed than your maintenance manual indicates is required.

Follow the maintenance recommendations in your manual. If the dealer or repair shop tells you that more agressive maintenance is required then politely tell him to f*ck off. Probably 99% of owners do not need to follow the "severe service" maintenance schedule since they do not use their vehicles as taxi's or commercial vehicles. If you take your vehicle to someone else for service, do not "order" service packages from the menu on the wall. Instead, order "alla carte" based on the requirements specified in your owners manual.

If you have a garage I would encourage you to learn how to change the oil yourself and to learn how to check and top off the few other fluids that need attention between major service intervals: coolent, brake, transmission, windshield washer fluid. Buy a cheap set of metric flat wrenches and a socket set. And buy a big box of surgical gloves to protect your hands from dirt and oil while working on your LX. You will spend only a few minutes each month and save an incredible amount of money.

Find a mentor to advise you on how to maintain your LX. Post your questions on this forum and we will try to help.

[Jim_Chow]

My father got charged $75 by the honda dealer for an oil change and tire rotation (no wash, though). Personally (and I'm speaking from experience from maintaining a 19 yr old Toyota 4runner), if you can change your own engine oil/filter, lube the zerks on the driveshafts, and rotate your own tires (need a good floor jack, 2 pr of stands, at least 1 pr should be 6 ton and taller), you can avoid most of the scheduled maintenance and have the dealer do the more difficult stuff. Assuming you can do this basic maintenance (d-shafts supposed to be greased like every other oil change, but I've gone much longer than that, and my driveshafts are the original ones w/ 180K mi, still no issues), you only need the dealer to flush your brakes every 2 yrs (brake fluid absorbs water over time), flush your coolant, flush the ATF. If you can change your engine oil, you can certainly change your diff/transfer case oil. I use synthetic for everything since I live in Arizona, and find everything (gears/transmission) runs cooler. At 30K mi, I'd make sure your tranny fluid/tranfer case/diff fluids are changed, check belt tension, maybe change the spark plugs. At 60K, get new plugs for sure, change belts. At 90K, change timing belt/tensioners, change water pump (preventative, as many leak at 80-90K; mine lasted 125K w/ no leaks, but I changed it when doing the timing chain), maybe change drive belts again if you wish. This t-belt generally requires pulling the radiator/belts, so you get a partial coolant change included.

One other benefit to rotating your own tires is you can easily inspect the pads for wear. The front pads are a cinch to change...5 min tops, no tools needed once the wheel is off. Make sure you torque the lugnuts w/ a torque wrench to the proper torque (prevents bolts from loosening, like when one is too loose, one too tight, etc.). As for other stuff like rotors, you replace those when they get too thin (they'll warp). Don't bother to have them turned since they'll warp again soon. When you change rotors (you should get at least 60K mi out of them, I'd think), you might consider a front wheel bearing repack (toyota dealer normally charges $350, but there is virtually no extra labor involved since you have to pull the rotor to access the inner bearing anyways. It's just another $30 for a pr of oil seals.

So the way I see it, up to 60K miles, there should be virtually no maintenance other than tire rotations (cross-rotating is better), engine oil, grease drive-shaft zerks about every 10K mi (when you rotate tires), tranny/diffs/transfer case oils and coolant every 30K mi (the stuff in my '01 honda is a long-life, rated for 5 yrs, so check your manual..you may be able to go 5 yrs before flushing the coolant the first time! Same for the spark plugs). 90K miles is really your big $$$$ service, assuming you still have the rig.

Another tip...I mailorder virtually all my toyota parts from out-of-state dealers. Since the engine is the same as in the 4runner/tundra, you can use the same oil filters, etc. This will save you from the Lexus parts markup. For oil, I normally use Shell Rotella T synthetic 5w40 at Walmart for $14/gal. The 5w30 dino is too thin, unless it's wintertime. The dealers tack on this bogus stuff like "inspect windshield wipers," "inspect exhaust system," " test drive," and so on when they perform their oil change and tire rotation. C'mon, get real.

[lonewolf69]

This was almost the same question I was going to ask, but Maneshat beat me to it! I'm getting ready to take delivery of a brand new GX470 in about three weeks due to backorder.

I noticed that most of the replies are explaining HOW to perform the maintenance, and while it is good information, it didn't really seem to answer the initial question. (flame retardant suit on)

If I may restate/re-phrase the question:

1. How important is it to get scheduled maintenance performed at the dealer as opposed to the local Pepboys, Sears auto-center, local mechanic or do it yourself. In other words, is your 4yr/50K warranty voided if you go out of "network"?

2. What about the other options recommended at the time of server, (eg, Tire Rotation, air filter, etc...) if these aren't performed will this also void the warranty if you opted "out" of a particular Lexus recommended maintenance.

3. If you were to select a service from the full complete package, how would you know which service to choose from? I mean if you're a novice/layperson/non mechanically inclined, how in the world are you suppose to know which service is good to skimp on until the next service date?

Please understand that I have owned about six cars now (all 2nd hand/pre-owned) and this is the FIRST time I'm buying a BRAND NEW Car! Although, I've been changing the motor oil and filters performing tire rotation, etc, in the past, on my other used vehicles, I'm a little hestistant to do so with the new GX470.

Bottom line I don't want to ruin the warranty but at the same time, I don't want to waste money either. I don't want to "ruin" the GX because I was penny wise, & pound foolish.... :)

Thanks for your help/advice in advance!

[SW03ES]

lone- I know how you feel, I'm not interested in doing any of the work myself...

1. How important is it to get scheduled maintenance performed at the dealer as opposed to the local Pepboys, Sears auto-center, local mechanic or do it yourself. In other words, is your 4yr/50K warranty voided if you go out of "network"?

It isn't important, and having the vehicle serviced outside of the dealer network can not by federal law void the warranty. You are free to service your vehicle anywhere and by yourself. That said, I'd stay away from PepBoys and Sears and places like that. The people that work there are more accustomed to working on Escorts than they are a Lexus. You want to do some research and find a good independent mechanic in your area that specializes in Japanese vehicles. Talk to several of them and get referrals, when you find the right one you'll know it.

2. What about the other options recommended at the time of server, (eg, Tire Rotation, air filter, etc...) if these aren't performed will this also void the warranty if you opted "out" of a particular Lexus recommended maintenance.

Probably not, but its a good idea to do. Rotating the tires prolongs tire life and tires are expensive. Air filters can get dirty fast depending on where you live and drive. Its easy to check and replace an air filter.

3. If you were to select a service from the full complete package, how would you know which service to choose from? I mean if you're a novice/layperson/non mechanically inclined, how in the world are you suppose to know which service is good to skimp on until the next service date?

Basically if the package doesn't include things your maintenance schedule doesn't include, go for it. If it does, then skip those items. When you find your independent mechanic show him the maintenance schedule and say "this is what I want done".

You're not going to void the warranty, just keep your reciepts and you'll be fine. Luckily, unlike Mercedes, BMWs, Audis etc there is nothing really special about the mechanics of a Lexus and basically anyone can work on them.

[strindl]

Does having a Lexus dealer do all of the maintenence have any effect on trade in values when that time comes? I see the "Lexus certified" used cars that lexus dealers have at premium prices on their lots...does where the service was done have anything to do with that?

[cruznroadking]

If you plan on trading your car in with a Lexus dealer, they certainly take it in consideration on trade in value. Also if all your maintenence is done at the dealer they can retreive the service history from their data base. This saves you the trouble of searching for your receipts at trade in time. I've had my last 3 Lexus serviced at the dealership & have gotten good trade in for them.

[Jim_Chow]

A friend of mine with a '01 Landcruiser has done no maintenance (not even greasing the driveshaft) other than changing the oil every 7.5K mi, air filter, and tire rotation. So technically, you could do nothing for 60K miles and I bet it would still run well.

The GX470 is really a toyota truck, and Toyota trucks are built tough. Check out this video on the hilux pickup (yeah, the white ones you saw Sadaam's troops zipping around in with machine guns mounted in the bed). This red one the bbc demolishes in the video has the older live front axle suspension w/ front/rear leaf springs (sold in the US until 1986, more durable than independent suspension, but a much harsher ride), the same 1-ton rated frame as used on toyota pickups/4runners until 1995 ...they put the truck through a series of tests. After each test, a mechanic is allowed to work on the car using only basic hand tools and cannot replace any part. Each time, he's able to start the truck up, and it's driven to the next test. After crashing into a tree, submerging it in the ocean for 7 hours, dropping it, dropping a rv trailer on it, hitting it with a wrecking ball, lighting it on fire, and setting it on the roof of a 200'+ tall building and demolishing the building, it was still able to run under it's own power...

http://www.bbc.co.uk/topgear/downloads/

[SW03ES]

Does having a Lexus dealer do all of the maintenence have any effect on trade in values when that time comes?  I see the "Lexus certified" used cars that lexus dealers have at premium prices on their lots...does where the service was done have anything to do with that?

←

It can, but I doubt many buyers would care as long as you keep the reciepts. Say "No, I didn't use the Lexus dealer because of problems I've had in the past with quality and cost, but I had all scheduled maintenance done by my private mechanic who specializes in Japanese cars, here are all the records" they're not going to care. The one draw is that Lexus service goes in the database but who needs the database when you have paper statements for EVERY service?

Plus lets say you keep the car 5 years and 75,000 miles. Lets say the resale is hurt by $1.5k at the end. Do you think you saved more than 1.5k by not having it serviced at the dealer? Probably.

Its all what you want to do, I have my car serviced at the dealer because I like the free loaner. When I figure in the cost of renting something like an RX300 for a day when its in for service Lexus service aint so expensive. But, thats me.