An Alternative To Lexus Of Rockville, Md

[Ryviusx]

I think someone posted about this before on a couple of forums, but I would like to acknowledge and thanks that person's post which led to my post.

This is going to be a testimonial and a review of the LXT Automobiles at MD.

Recently the “Ignition Key Lock” problem struck my 2003 IS 300 which rendered my car useless as the Ignition hole was firmly stuck at the “Accessory” spot. I’ve called AAA for help and they first sent down a “car lock smith” who claimed to know what to do in situation like this and demanded $130 for his trip. AAA covered $50 through my membership but I had to cover the rest. The guy wiggled my transponder key for about 5 minutes and then determined that there was nothing that he could do and I had to get the whole unit replaced and left in a hurry…

AAA then sent for a local tow truck and transported my vehicle to Lexus of Rockville. While I have to say that the service was superb and they’ve even given me a 2009 RX 350 as a loaner “free” of charge for the duration of the time that my vehicle was with them, they were more than ready to make up for it from the premium charge of their services. The whole bill came out to be $1,100!!! The breakdown was roughly this:

$400 for the Ignition unit

$550 for the 5 hours of labor?!?!

the rest were for the programming of the existing key and all the rest of the locks.

As if my day wasn’t bad enough already, I knew there was no way that I was going to dish out more than a grand for a simple ignition key hole. So I started my search on the net and found this article.

The owner of LXT Automotive is Nelson Guevara, he has 16+ year of experience dealing with specifically with Toyota and Lexus and he claims other types of vehicles. I’ve only needed to describe briefly to him over the phone about my problem and he immediately knew what the problem was. He only wanted to charge me $300 total for parts, labor and the programming of the transponder key. He also noticed that my old key was part of the problem as the grooves were grinding against the cylinder of the key hole which caused it to break. He sent for a new key and only billed me $200 for what an earlier dealership estimate came out to be $300. After he had received all the parts, it only took half a day to get the job done and I got my IS 300 back in less than 2 business days. Needless to say that had saved me a lot of headache and money.

So I highly recommend this vendor as an alternative to Lexus of Rockville in MD. If you’re around the MD, VA and DC Metro areas, definitely check them out when you’re in trouble with your beloved luxury vehicle that likes to break your wallet. Here are some info:

LXT Automotive

12273 Nebel Street

Rockville, MD 20852

301.881.4033

It is an obscure location and it is right around a busy train track. There are a series of auto shops there but look for this spot at the end of the plaza.