Trans / Warranty ?

[LOC99rx300]

I'm trying to advise a friend on the best way to proceed..

She has an 01 FWD RX300 with 78K miles and the tranny is done.. She had a 7yr/70k mile warranty. The kicker is, I guess she is on a lease, which expires in November. From what she has told me, she leased the car new in November of 2000, which makes this a 5-year lease, and a target mileage of 60k. Anyway we look at this she is upside down and sideways on this deal. The question is: Is Lexus known for providing any kind of warranty coverage on vehicles that are slightly out of warranty? What is the best way to play that card?

Lastly.. Is anyone interested in buying and 01 rx300 with a slight tranny problem? (Must have tow truck) :).

[RX in NC]

I have experienced multiple successes in requiring our local Lexus dealership to fully cover what I consider to be major problems after the various warranties expired. This type of concession is called "customer goodwill warranty" by Lexus service managers. I've done this by educating myself with as much information about the issue as I could gather (much of it here on this very site), meeting in person with the service manager and in one case the general manager, always conducting myself in a professional and level-headed manner, and sticking to my guns by refusing to accept no for an answer.

Your professional conduct along with prolifically educating yourself about the issue (transmission failure in this case) are probably your best bets going in. But you must also dig in your heels and refuse to cave.

Good luck and keep us posted. There's plenty of ammunition about transmission failures in the RX300 threads on this site, most of which involve all-wheel-drive models. Search using "transmission failure" as your key words and you'll find yourself with plenty of homework to do before you take on the Lexus folks.

[SW03ES]

If you can substantiate that the car has been maintained roughly at Lexus' maintenance schedule and you heed RX in NC's advice you've got a shot. If the car's never been maintained though its going to be hard.

Thats a lesson learned, 5 years is too long to lease a car. You don't want to lease past the point where you're out of warranty or at risk for required repairs or maintenance items because you're putting money into something that you don't own. Leases are best kept to 3 years, maybe 4, but not 5.

[LOC99rx300]

If you can substantiate that the car has been maintained roughly at Lexus' maintenance schedule and you heed RX in NC's advice you've got a shot. If the car's never been maintained though its going to be hard.

Thats a lesson learned, 5 years is too long to lease a car. You don't want to lease past the point where you're out of warranty or at risk for required repairs or maintenance items because you're putting money into something that you don't own. Leases are best kept to 3 years, maybe 4, but not 5.

←

Its good to hear there may be hope;

I agree that a 5-year lease is too long. I'm sure at lease origination she felt she was covered by buying a 7 year warranty on a 5 year lease, apparently she didn't allow enough cushion for mileage.

Thanks for the input..

[LexKid630]

I experience the tranny failure (AWD) on my old 99 rx300. It went just out of the warranty in 2003, so i was dead. and the dealer wouldn't do anything about it. :(

[SW03ES]

How hard did you try though?

[wwest]

I'm pretty sure that at this point in time Lexus is quite well aware of the problem of premature transaxle failures in this RX series. If you approach them carefully then I suspect they will make it right with you.

[SW03ES]

Thats certainly a role reversal for you...

[LexKid630]

How hard did you try though?

←

When i talked to the dealer that the tranny went they just asked me if it was under warranty, to which i answered NO, and they said well we're sorry.

I just said, well fix it and i'll pay for it. Which i did at $4400....

[jyou]

How hard did you try though?

←

When i talked to the dealer that the tranny went they just asked me if it was under warranty, to which i answered NO, and they said well we're sorry.

I just said, well fix it and i'll pay for it. Which i did at $4400....

←

I just found this club today.

Check with them to see if you are still covered under PowerTran Warranty. My 1999 RX300 suddenly jerked on me when swtiching between D and R, reliazed that I might still be under the PowerTran Warranty, I sent it to the dealer last Friday. Well, they said no problem with my transmission, but the engine mounts need to be replaced, first the guy asked me to pay $700, after I questioned "shouldn't this be covered under the PowerTran?", then he checked his list, "Oh yeah, guess you are all covered". However, today, he called me again, "we've replaced the motor mount, but found another problem, your throttle position sensor has gone bad, and it needs to be replaced too. We'll take care of the part, you have to pay for the labor." $90. Not sure if that part has a problem or they just want something extra out of my pocket.

[LOC99rx300]

What would be the typical breakdown on the "powertrain warranty" Assuming you had a 7 year 70k mile bumper to bumper warranty, what might the powertrain warranty be?

[SW03ES]

How hard did you try though?

←

When i talked to the dealer that the tranny went they just asked me if it was under warranty, to which i answered NO, and they said well we're sorry.

I just said, well fix it and i'll pay for it. Which i did at $4400....

←

You didn't really try then. A no is the first stepping stone to a yes, gotta work them. I bet you could have made them cover at least a portion of it.