As I noted above, we purchased a Lexus Certified 2018 RX 350 after looking at several at different dealers and lots. We made our decision on a vehicle and were brought to meet with the dealers financial guy to determine how we would be paying and to sign the necessary paperwork. Our vehicle had about 5mos remaining on the original factory warranty and two years on the Lexus Certified warranty. Little did I realize that we were about to receive a somewhat lengthy sales presentation for the various extended warranty (insurance) plans that Lexus offers. Now, I've been around long enough to not be surprised by this, but I was a little surprised by the intensity. It started with the rep offering the Platinum Plan for $3,000 and I informed him I was not interested. After several minutes of additional "sales" points the price suddenly dropped to $2025, IF.... IF...I agreed to purchase the plan today!! Well, my BS alarm went off immediately at the URGENT need to make a decision and I explained I would not be making the purchase at this time. The rep indicated that he was really surprised at my decision as it was "very expensive" to get a lexus repaired and continued to press for a bit longer until I stated I was not going to make the decision until I could look into it further.
Since that initial encounter I have done some research on different sites and have come to realize a couple of things: First, It is not necessary to purchase this product at the time of vehicle purchase. In fact, by bundling this cost into your purchase price you will be paying interest on the cost of the insurance and what if you sell the vehicle before you get out of the factory warranty? Secondly, you can purchase these insurance plans from other Lexus dealers and it may pay to "shop around" a little bit. The insurance is tied to the vehicle, not the dealer and will be honored by Lexus dealers regardless of where it was purchased. My plan is to make sure my vehicle is regularly maintained and near the end of my current warranty I will make the decision to purchase or not. Maybe this will help someone else going through the decision-making process.
