Prescribed Maintenance

[demitasse]

I am a new Lexus owner. This past December I bought a beautiful 2000 ES 300 with 27,500 miles. It now has 33,000 miles and it's past time for the scheduled 30,000 maintenance. I called the dealer to get an estimate and was blown away. More than $500 for the "standard" maintenance package which only includes cabin and air filter change, tire rotation and oil change. This seems exorbitant. Can anyone offer me a compelling reason why I should have the dealer do this work? Is there some trick to changing the acc filter, for example? Any maintenance advice on this car will be appreciated.

[steviej]

I am a new Lexus owner. This past December I bought a beautiful 2000 ES 300 with 27,500 miles. It now has 33,000 miles and it's past time for the scheduled 30,000 maintenance. I called the dealer to get an estimate and was blown away. More than $500 for the "standard" maintenance package which only includes cabin and air filter change, tire rotation and oil change. This seems exorbitant. Can anyone offer me a compelling reason why I should have the dealer do this work? Is there some trick to changing the acc filter, for example? Any maintenance advice on this car will be appreciated.

they charge that because the average customer pays it. No you do not have to have it done at Lexus. Just keep all reciept that you had it done.

It is actaully a little more. It is a total fluid change service. Given you car is 8 years old, I would include a tranny flush, brake fluid flush, power steering fluid flush, oil and filter (if not done recently) and coolant flush. Check with a Toyota dealership too, they tend to be cheaper and use the same fluids. If you have a good inde mechanic, they are quite capable of doing it too. How good are you with a wrench. Most of the stuff can be done in your driveway (that's what I do).

steviej