Misled By Dealer ?

[TundraRoads]

Hopefully this is OK here. The dealer forum appears quite dead.

I bought a new 2010 LX570 a couple of weeks ago. We'd looked at several demo & new vehicles at the dealer and none were right. Salesman called and told me that he had a 2010 that fit the bill. I stopped by and it looked good. I asked him what options it did NOT have. He said it had them all and was fully loaded. We negotiated a price and he said it'd be ready to pick up in a couple of hours. When my wife brought me by to do the paperwork and pick it up she asked the same question and received the same answer.

With busy holidays and travel I didn't have time delve in to the manual much until this past weekend. Found it is missing the follow cruise control (radar), something the sales guy had shown off in a test drive a few days earlier.

On the one hand I should probably have checked the features in detail to make sure it had everything, but that's a PITA. On other car purchases dealers have accurately told me what options a vehicle did not have (I usually buy fully loaded) so no problem.

100% my own fault for not checking item by item? Was I misled by the dealer? What would you do?

[pj8708]

Hopefully this is OK here. The dealer forum appears quite dead.

I bought a new 2010 LX570 a couple of weeks ago. We'd looked at several demo & new vehicles at the dealer and none were right. Salesman called and told me that he had a 2010 that fit the bill. I stopped by and it looked good. I asked him what options it did NOT have. He said it had them all and was fully loaded. We negotiated a price and he said it'd be ready to pick up in a couple of hours. When my wife brought me by to do the paperwork and pick it up she asked the same question and received the same answer.

With busy holidays and travel I didn't have time delve in to the manual much until this past weekend. Found it is missing the follow cruise control (radar), something the sales guy had shown off in a test drive a few days earlier.

On the one hand I should probably have checked the features in detail to make sure it had everything, but that's a PITA. On other car purchases dealers have accurately told me what options a vehicle did not have (I usually buy fully loaded) so no problem.

100% my own fault for not checking item by item? Was I misled by the dealer? What would you do?

Welcome to the LOC! We're glad your here.

I want to make sure your talking about the Dynamic Radar cruise control; $1500. MSRP. Taking the high rode for now, and after looking at the full list of options and accessories, I can see it would be an easy oversight in this situation. However, thinking of my own dealer, any dealer worth there salt would find a way to satisfy a customer over such a trivial amount. Have you talked to your dealer? Tell them what you want.

Paul

[TX1911fan]

I'd say you were misled. Sounds like you asked twice and were told it was fully loaded and had all features. Now you find out it doesn't. I'd complain.

[LEXIRX330]

Welcome to the Club!

I agree with Paul...first thing you need to call the dealer and see what they are willing to do. The can't do anything if they don't know. My X5 was supposed to have a disc changer in the back. When I picked the car up it was late didn't check until later. Guess what? No cd changer...called had one mailed to me the next day. Call the dealer I dont know if they can install it or if you would even want it but they will try to make it right more than likely.

[TundraRoads]

Thanks all! Paul, it is the Dynamic Radar Cruise (and pre-collision system). Does anyone here have it? Is is worth it or not really very useful?

[SW03ES]

100% my own fault for not checking item by item? Was I misled by the dealer? What would you do?

Welcome to the site. Sorry about your issue, but I think that you are probably out of luck on this one. What is one's definition of "fully loaded"? And with a lot of Toyota/Lexus models its actually impossible to buy a car with *every* option unless its a custom order.

Its a case of he said/she said as to what was represented to you verbally, and what opportunities you would have had to go over the equipment that was on the specific car you were buying. To me...its a HUGE purchase and deserves more than a cursory examination before signing on the dotted line and plunking over the better part of $100,000...

[Slickjay73]

I will tell you that the dynamic cruise w/pre-collission is very hard to come by. Not 100% sure if you were misled, but I do know in our region Lexus does not build many vehicles with that option. I just had to special order a RX with that option and it will take 3/4 months to get. Not sure why they don't put it on there vehicles, but did a national search and only one other car within 1000 miles had it, and I'm assuming that was a special order also. If you were looking to take advantage of end of year savings, and tax benefits there is no way they could of located that vehicle in that short period of time. That particular add-on is not part of any package and is stand alone. So from the dealer stand point, and the sales person your particular LX is "Loaded", in fact that is probably the only option your LX doesn't have...which like I said, is very rare without special order.

[pj8708]

I will tell you that the dynamic cruise w/pre-collission is very hard to come by. Not 100% sure if you were misled, but I do know in our region Lexus does not build many vehicles with that option. I just had to special order a RX with that option and it will take 3/4 months to get. Not sure why they don't put it on there vehicles, but did a national search and only one other car within 1000 miles had it, and I'm assuming that was a special order also. If you were looking to take advantage of end of year savings, and tax benefits there is no way they could of located that vehicle in that short period of time. That particular add-on is not part of any package and is stand alone. So from the dealer stand point, and the sales person your particular LX is "Loaded", in fact that is probably the only option your LX doesn't have...which like I said, is very rare without special order.

Is the option something that can be ordered an installed by the dealer, or must it be done at the factory?

Paul

[Slickjay73]

It has to be installed at the factory, it would be nice if it was a port-installed option or something that could be added at the dealership, but unfortunately it isn't.

[TundraRoads]

Update. I polled a number of people and it was nearly unanimous that if a salesperson says ‘fully loaded’ it should mean fully loaded, as in every option. Otherwise he should say fully loaded ‘except…’. And especially when asked ‘what options does it not have?’

Called the sales guy and he said he’d get back to me. He and his mgr called later that night. Mgr agreed that I’d been misled and said that he was going to talk to sales staff about being more honest. Unlike previous Lexus sales folks and managers I’ve dealt with who were fairly professional, this guy is kind of on the pushy side. His aim was clearly to just get this behind him, not make sure his customer was happy. Said they couldn’t install the option or get a vehicle with it in any reasonable timeframe. Wanted to know what I wanted as compensation. Should have told him I’d think about it and call back, but I was tired from several hours on a plane and just said ‘how about doing the window treatment stuff your finance guy had tried to sell me earlier.’

In hindsight I probably should have gotten more compensation like first two services or something, but that’s life.

Whole thing left a bad taste in my mouth. When we replace my wife’s RX330 this summer I think we’ll go elsewhere.

[SW03ES]

Or simply look at the vehicle you're spending almost $100,000 for to make sure it has what you want. No sympathy for you at all from me, sorry.

[TundraRoads]

Or simply look at the vehicle you're spending almost $100,000 for to make sure it has what you want. No sympathy for you at all from me, sorry.

Not looking for any sympathy, just trying to get others opinions on the issue and let folks know the final outcome.

[SW03ES]

Your statement though that it "left a bad taste in your mouth" and that you are going to look elsewhere implies that you're still assigning blame though. The lesson to be learned here needs to be learned by you, this is a huge purchase. Take 10 minutes and compare the equipment on the window sticker to the equipment you want before signing the papers.