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I Need Major Advice!


saabkyle04

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my friend was RUSHING to get out of the car, slammed the door, caught the seatbelt, and it RIPPED the door handle leather! I was so mad, I mean c'mon really?!?!?! I don't get it, so now lexus probably isn't going to warranty it and I'll have to try to get money out of him, great! Does anyone know what I should do, how much would it be to replace the leather? Will they warranty it somehow? Please help, idk what to do!

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Actually you can probably fix that yourself for around 20 bucks. Talk to Lenore over on the RX 300 forums. He did a review of a leather repair kit and he said it looked awsome. You couldn't even tell where it was. And for you rip, it's not like it's in an area that gets worn and flexed.

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That is tragic. :(

You will only feel better about this by applying a couple head-slaps to your friend. :D

Honestly, I don't even pull punches with people anymore. When we get in to go somewhere, I remind them that this isnt a minivan and they need to treat it nice or we will pile into the F150 extended cab to go wherever.

I have seen much worse tears repaired invisibly by upholstery shops. Don't worry, you will be whole again!

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That is tragic. :(

You will only feel better about this by applying a couple head-slaps to your friend. :D

Honestly, I don't even pull punches with people anymore. When we get in to go somewhere, I remind them that this isnt a minivan and they need to treat it nice or we will pile into the F150 extended cab to go wherever.

I have seen much worse tears repaired invisibly by upholstery shops. Don't worry, you will be whole again!

Haha, I wish lol! I think I'm going to have to start doing that, people just don't get how you should treat the car ;) thanks a lot, I'm not positive what I'm going to do yet but hopefully something soon!

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Sad to see that :cries: Have it repaired by a pro and you will never know it happened :cheers: Still head-slap your friend though :lol::lol::lol:

Haha will do will do :chairshot: ! Where would I go to get it fixed? Does the dealer do it? How much would it cost? :rolleyes:

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Yeah, that's really a bummer. I've had similar situations. I've had a passenger release their seat belt and rather than hold it until its recoiled back up, they let it fly and the metal clasp flew into door window and nicked the window tint!! It's a little thing, but I noticed it all the time and it bugged me.

As far as a friend and having them pay for it. Accidents happen all the time. If one of my friends (only got a few) had accidently damaged my beautiful car, I would never ask for them to pay for it, and I know that they would insist on paying for the pair, but I would hold my emotions back and make them feel "it's OK, no big deal", even though in my heart I'd be upset that it happened. Your friend probably is feel badly enough. If you are like most people, you may only a few real true friends.

Good luck and let us know how things work out.

That's very true, I mean 2 of my friends had help in breaking the screen on my macbook last year, but that was a 500 dollar screen haha, they split it and it was all good. It probably won't be very bad to fix this because it's a small hole lol, I mean it was a total accident, he just needs to know that they need to be more careful. I'll wait and see about it and I'll make my decision then. depending on how expensive the fix is, it might be better to just let it go idk lol. Great advice, I'll definitely take that to heart and let everyone know what happens. It'll be a good 2-3 weeks before I'm able to go home so it will be eventually haha!

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If you call the Service Advisor, you should be able to get the name of the people they use for upholstery repairs. Who knows, if you talk to the SA just right, they may decide to do a warranty repair on it, especially if the seat belt buckle caused the damage.

Just explain to them that you do not want to be able to tell it was ever torn and if they can't do it to let you know.

Worst case scenario: you order the new trim piece and, bam. Done.

On talking to friends: Just say kind of apologetically that the Lexus is your baby and you try to keep it nice and to please be gentle with her...most people get the point. The ones who don't are savages and need to take the bus. :D

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Thought I would add my two cents. Sorry about the rip and accidents do happen all the time. Like you, I would want it fixed correctly.

I have no qualms about asking people to be careful - we have very high curbs here in Indy and I am always telling people to be careful when they open the doors. One of my good friends, not two seconds after me saying "that is a high curb, don’t hit the door on it" ran the bottom of my door into the curb; the paint and plastic piece was scraped, etc.

I would never ask a friend to pay for something of this nature; a situation like this really becomes a problem if the 'friend' does not immediately offer to pay for the damage.

Learning experience for all; when you damage someone’s shizz….. you offer to pay for the damage immediately.

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Yeah, that's really a bummer. I've had similar situations. I've had a passenger release their seat belt and rather than hold it until its recoiled back up, they let it fly and the metal clasp flew into door window and nicked the window tint!! It's a little thing, but I noticed it all the time and it bugged me.

I remember a co-worker telling me that his wife broke in his new Mercedes by leaving a bag of groceries in the back seat..... for seveal hours...... a pound of butter melted and ran into the seat!! :cries:

As far as a friend and having them pay for it. Accidents happen all the time. If one of my friends (only got a few) had accidently damaged my beautiful car, I would never ask for them to pay for it, and I know that they would insist on paying for the repair, but I would hold my emotions back and make them feel "it's OK, no big deal", even though in my heart I'd be upset that it happened. Your friend probably is feeling badly enough. If you are like most people, you may only have a few real true friends.

I would tell the perp that he has to ride in the trunk from now on!!

Good luck and let us know how things work out.

That's very true, I mean 2 of my friends had help in breaking the screen on my macbook last year, but that was a 500 dollar screen haha, they split it and it was all good. It probably won't be very bad to fix this because it's a small hole lol, I mean it was a total accident, he just needs to know that they need to be more careful. I'll wait and see about it and I'll make my decision then. depending on how expensive the fix is, it might be better to just let it go idk lol. Great advice, I'll definitely take that to heart and let everyone know what happens. It'll be a good 2-3 weeks before I'm able to go home so it will be eventually haha!

See, you feel better about it already. :D

:rolleyes: Yeah, And I'll bet the back of his hand hurts a bit also :lol::lol::lol:

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Not that this matters, as the damage has been done. But, I bet it happened when the passenger was manually retracting the seatbelt (quickly) and went a little to wide and the tongue of the male end of the belt was forced into the leather. I bet it happened before the passenger got out of the car or as they were getting out. I tried to figure out how closing the door on the seatbelt could cause this damage and had no luck.

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by the way highly suggest repairing it, the dealers dont do the repair they set it up with an independent that comes to their dealership and does the repair. That is why it cost around $100....I practiced on a piece of paper and was happy, then moved on to the car. Color matching was easy, they tell you to mix the colors and smear it on the door...if it isnt perfect you just wipe it off. The key was moving the little iron a lot and not concentrating the heat in one spot and also to keep the repair as small as possible...My wife was amazed when i did ours, my first time and she could not find the repair spot...Maybe I was lucky....By the way it has been quite awhile and and the repair is still perfect....Good luck... One other note when I called around they would not guarantee a perfect repair, that is when I decided why would I give them $100 for no guarantee....

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I'm glad that everyone says that it's not a hard fix! That's what I was really worried about that I was going to see it and be like ewww :lol: . when i finally am able to go home I will go by the dealer and see what they say about it. I had no idea that it was vinyl haha :P I really appreciate everyone's input on this, it's helped me feel a lot better haha!

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Yeah on the ES, everything but the seat surfaces, the steering wheel, and the shifter knob is vinyl. I'm actually surprised that tore that easily...

Wow that's really surprising, I never would've noticed :lol: It would be nice to be covered under warranty even though it probably won't be, but like you said I cannot believe it tore so easily!

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