I'm Impressed

[Lacebug Sydney]

Well friday is here in sunny Australia, the day of my baby's big 50,000 service. I woke at 7am to have the fellow from Lexus turn up right on time. He leaves me with a brand new RX350 for the day. man am I impressed. I've driven around listening to Chris Issak on the Mark Levinson stereo (is this the music system God himself/herself listens to or what!). Anyway lexus service centre ring me at noon to ask if they have permission to install some new wiper blades. Go ahead I tell them. The they ask if they can run it on a machine which will clean out all the gunk from the fuel lines. Go for it. And they reckon the power steering fluid wasn't changed by the previous owner (who never had the car serviced at lexus). Fair enough I reckon. At least they bothered to ring and ask me.

They are washing and vacuuming it before returning it to my house this evening.

I'll post later to let you know how much.

As I am a motoring writer, they said they will charge me a trade price. We will see. But so far so good.

[Lacebug Sydney]

Okay, Just got the car back. It ended up costing $985 Australian dollars (I suppose that's about $800 ish in your money) so I'm pretty happy with that, ewspeically considering that they also removed the front seat to replace a piece of trim.

I think for smaller services I'll just take it to my local Toyota garage, but all in all a good experience.

Cheers

Stephen

PS: As they used my damn expensive Mobil 1, do I need to change it as often???

[SW03ES]

I would still change it every 5k miles.

[mburnickas]

PS: As they used my damn expensive Mobil 1, do I need to change it as often???

Depends. If you are going "blind" 5 to 6,000 miles is a avg guess; however, I would pull a UOA (oil test). 10 to 1 you can go longer if you see what you have. Pull a few tests then you do not need to test anymore. I know I could not test anymore in my ES and while using Amsoil, I would go 10 to 11,000 miles no issues.

[Toysrme]

985.00 AUD = $798.444 USD

Exactly why noone goes to Lexus for service.

5,000-7,500 miles seems to be the sweet spot for filter life. Some oils can go longer, but you get into doing other things in the process.

[SW03ES]

I think $798 is a deal for everything they did, especially when you take into account they picked up and dropped off the car and he got a loaner.

PLENTY of people go to Lexus for service, including me.

[Toysrme]

You're paying $150 for services & $600 to rent a car for afew hours. That's not very smart if you ask me.

Services rendered? They put a can of BG44 in the tank, changed the wiper blades, changed the oil & powersteering fluid. Then wrote checks by some parts.

Then they have somebody getting paid $7.50 an hour to "clean" the vehicle? Ew. Those are the same guys that use rotary buffers with year old wool pads on them to "wax" a car.

[djspawn00]

You're paying $150 for services & $600 to rent a car for afew hours. That's not very smart if you ask me.

Services rendered? They put a can of BG44 in the tank, changed the wiper blades, changed the oil & powersteering fluid. Then wrote checks by some parts.

Then they have somebody getting paid $7.50 an hour to "clean" the vehicle? Ew. Those are the same guys that use rotary buffers with year old wool pads on them to "wax" a car.

Hey just because I make $7.50 and hour to wash your car with gray water and dish soap doesn't mean I don't know what I'm doing. :D I agree that lexus service is overpriced, but to many its worth the satisfaction of knowing the had lexus brand air put in their tires. Anyone that needs that service done here can see me, I'll only charge you $599 and I'll even throw in a little tree air freshner!

[Lacebug Sydney]

You're paying $150 for services & $600 to rent a car for afew hours. That's not very smart if you ask me.

Services rendered? They put a can of BG44 in the tank, changed the wiper blades, changed the oil & powersteering fluid. Then wrote checks by some parts.

Then they have somebody getting paid $7.50 an hour to "clean" the vehicle? Ew. Those are the same guys that use rotary buffers with year old wool pads on them to "wax" a car.

Hey just because I make $7.50 and hour to wash your car with gray water and dish soap doesn't mean I don't know what I'm doing. :D I agree that lexus service is overpriced, but to many its worth the satisfaction of knowing the had lexus brand air put in their tires. Anyone that needs that service done here can see me, I'll only charge you $599 and I'll even throw in a little tree air freshner!

Hey guys I thought the price was quite reasonable when you consider they:

* Removed my driver's seat to reattach a piece of trim that had been kicked off the back of it.

* Changed the oil and filter (okay, I supplied the oil).

* changed the power steering fluid.

* tightened the drive shaft bolts

* replaced the engine coolant

* replaced air conditioning filter.

* replaced the brake fluid.

* replaced front differential oil.

* replaced the windscreen wipers

* carbon cleaned throttle body, oxygen sensor, intake manifold, fuel lines etc.

* adjusted the handbrake

* Rotated and balanced the wheels.

* Checked just about everything.

* Carried out a digital brake test and road test.

* Supplied a brand new RX350 for the day.

* picked up and returned my car washed and vacuummed.

* FREE CHOCOLATES!!

[SW03ES]

You're paying $150 for services & $600 to rent a car for afew hours. That's not very smart if you ask me.

Services rendered? They put a can of BG44 in the tank, changed the wiper blades, changed the oil & powersteering fluid. Then wrote checks by some parts.

Then they have somebody getting paid $7.50 an hour to "clean" the vehicle? Ew. Those are the same guys that use rotary buffers with year old wool pads on them to "wax" a car.

I really don't care. I'm too busy to worry about it, I know it will be done right at the dealer and I know they will be accountable. I know that I'll always have a computer trail of my service and come trade in time, 100% serviced by the dealer with records is a selling point. I drop the car off the night before and pick up the loaner, whip in and drop it off, I like my service adjuster and enjoy the experience. Its absolutely zero inconvenience to me, and thats whats most important. BTW, I don't let them wash it.

By how busy the dealers are, I'd say MOST new Lexus owners use the dealer. Could I save money somewhere else? Absolutely, but there are things more important to me than saving money.

As far as money. I pay $190 for the 5k services (oil change, tire rotation, inspections etc). Lets say that cost me $90 somewhere else, I STILL would have to rent a car or sit around and wait which I don't have time to do. Remember since I like to drop it off the night before and pick up mid afternoon the next day, I would have to pay for two days car rental, and what would it cost to rent something like a Lexus? $80 a day for a Caddy or Lincoln? PLUS I'd have to drop the car off and somehow get to the dealer, pfft I don't need the aggrivation.

Everybody has a different idea of value, value to me at this stage in my life includes more about the experience and the ease of the task than it does it costing as absolutely little as possible. Its that way for the majority of luxury carbuyers as well.