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stanq

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Everything posted by stanq

  1. ;) I used to be a car dealer (Toyota and Nissan). Extended warranties are a significant profit center both for the manufacturer and the dealer. The manufacturer knows to the penny the average repair costs for its vehicles. It prices, and marks up, the warranty accordingly. The dealer marks it up further (perhaps by a lot!). If you watch your fluid levels and have your car serviced regularly (or service it yourself), you are overpaying for that warranty. (If you don't have your car serviced regularly you may be voiding the warranty.) In short, never buy an extended warranty. In my opinion the manufacturer's original warranty on all new cars is quite sufficient. The situation is different for used cars. You should always buy a used car from a major new car dealer who has a reputation to protect. If there is something drastically wrong with a car he sells you the dealer may fix it even if it is not under warranty. I think every dealer should offer at least a 30-day warranty on all used cars as a matter of course. Whether you want to pay for something more depends on the age and price of the vehicle.
  2. My wife put her earrings in front of the center console, and one of them slid back underneath it. I have fished around with a bent wire, but am unable to retrieve it. Any ideas?
  3. Is it possible to peel the annoying airbag warnings off the visors? If so, do the visors look worse afterwards? Perhaps someone makes visor covers?
  4. <_< The manual says 87 octane is good enough. That's what we have been using in our 330 for the first few thousand miles, and the vehicle has not complained. A recent blurb in the Wall Street Journal advised that you might as well use the lowest octane that the manufacturer recommends. Higher octane might get you better gas mileage; whether it is worth it depends on the price spread. You might also want to use higher octane if it is really hot outside, in order to prevent knocking (I hope I don't have that backwards).
  5. Lexus Fremont is the largest Lexus dealer in the Bay Area. Always deal with the volume leader. Ask for Mike (or submit a bid request on edmunds.com or cars.com). Ask for $3K off msrp, unless you want black in which case ask for $3.5K off msrp. If you get exactly the package you want, accept $2.7K off msrp, which, with holdback, will give the dealer a profit of about $3K. I believe Stevens Creek Lexus is owned by Penske, who is not known for giving people swell deals.
  6. :( I just bought an RX 330. A funny thing happens when I shift into reverse. The outside mirrors rotate downward (on reading the manual, I find that I can prevent this from happening if I set the outside-mirror adjustment switch to the neutral position). The odd thing is that the left-hand mirror really cranks downward so that I am looking at the pavement--the right-hand mirror moves only slightly. It seems obvious that this mirror rotation is designed to allow the driver to see the curb when parking. But the curb is normally on the left-hand side only in countries where they drive on the left, such as Japan! My dealer says he cannot/will not fix this. Any comments?
  7. :D I got Neptune Blue with ivory leather, which was my first choice. The discount was decent. If you can tolerate Black, you will get a better deal.
  8. Rely on the manual. If the dealer could have his way, he would have you bringing the car in every 500 miles.
  9. It's a little too late to ask the question if you have already bought the warranty. Extended warranties are an additional profit center for the dealer, and also for the manufacturer. (If a dealer tries to sell you something, it is not because he likes you.) The manufacturer knows to the nickel how much the maintenance cost of a vehicle should be, and it prices the warranty accordingly. The manufacturer's estimated cost of the standard warranty is built into the price of the car. If you are the kind of driver who abuses a car, then maybe an extended warranty makes sense. If you watch your fluid levels, do not race, and do not go off road, it is a waste of money.
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