SW03ES

This was a issue with the 01 LS430, I believe Lexus released an updated windshield gasket. I'd get into the Lexus dealer quick before 50k miles so its still under warranty.

vcv10- Thats all car dealerships in general. If you care about your paint/have a dark colored car NEVER let a dealership wash your car. Its just some kid with an old dish rag. I have problems when detailers wash my car... I got it sorted out with them. The service manager wasn't as accomodating as I thought he would be which dissapointed me. I first started out with the service advisor (who as I said is a good guy, none of this is his fault) I called him Friday on my way out to get an estimate and said I was going to drop the car by and let him and the service manager (Peter's his name, the service advisor's name is Shaun). So I met shaun out there and he looked at the car, noticed the damage and apologized. He looked at the estimate and here's where the trouble started. The shop I chose is probably the best in the DC area, but they do charge 2 to 3 times more than other shops and their charge was $690 for the repaint plus I insisted on $90 reimbursement for 3 days of an enterprise economy loaner (which I don't think is unreasonable at all, I didn't ask them for a Cadillac). Thats a lot to repaint a bumper, but they do excellent work. Shaun said that for an amount like that he would have to have it cleared with his service manager. Fine. So I sit down in his cubicle while he talks to Peter. He comes back and sits down and his voice is uneasy, so he knew what Peter had told him wouldn't go over well. He says "unless you want to let us fix it, all we can do is reimburse you after the work is done when you show us the invoice. So I said: "So what you're telling me is I have to come out of pocket $800, at christmas, because you guys couldn't park my car without banging it into something? Look, I've been very understanding about this. I was very understanding last time when you washed it against my wishes and swirled it. I paid out of pocket, continued to give you my business, and waited until the next service for my credit refund for the $140 worth of detailing. I get home and see that my car has been damaged, I don't yell or scream like most people would, I calmly call you and let you know what happened and treated you with fairness and respect with good faith that you would make amends with me for your carelessness. I realize that this is just some other ES300 to you, but I work very hard for my living and it holds a lot of value for me. Thats why I pay you $100 an hour to service it, because I thought that it would be treated with the respect it deserves. You guys make me feel like I'm a difficult customer, but I'm not. All you have to do to earn my business for life is 1. Don't f' up my car, and 2. Don't screw me over. Thats all. I would think that a dealership that services $30-75,000 cars for $100 an hour could do that. You can't wash or park my car without damaging it, why on earth would I let you paint it? I simply refuse to come out of pocket one dime for your incompetence, you will pay to repair my car one way or the other. Whether you do it now, or whether you do it after being served with a subpoena from my or my insurance company's lawyers." He just kind of froze for a second and suggested that I talk to Peter, which I thought was an excellent idea. I gave him the same speech. We agreed that When the car is complete he would courier a check over to the body shop. He faxed it to me in writing. No apology or remorse from him whatsoever, All in all I'm dissapointed, and when this is over I will draft a letter stating that copied to Shaun, Peter, the GM of the dealership, and Lexus corporate.

I would have but I forgot!

I like Infiniti's interior, not as nice as the Lexus but its definately nicer than a Nissan.

Yep, Lexus dealership. Don't let them wash it, they WILL swirl it.

75MPH speed limits on country roads? Sheesh.

bailey- The FX is supposed to have a stiffer ride than the RX, its sportier. Its supposed to be an SUV version of a sports car. Thats the rationale behind the interior design too, its supposed to be sporty and high tech more like a sports car. My parents have a 35 and my dad said it best, the FX is the family vehicle a dad buys to drive himself, the RX is the family vehicle the mom buys to drive herself. The interior isn't as posh as the RX, but its not supposed to be. RX- Thats interesting because I've heard just the opposite. The 45 has the 20in wheels that have a lot of owners screaming about the hard ride. Thats why my parents got a 35 with the 18s.

Well, I got my car back from the shop, the same shop that washed it last time and swirled it all up and had to credit me $140 for my trouble. Well, they'd serviced it 5 times before and hadn't washed it as per my request so I really didnt think they would this time. They wrote a big sign and put it up on the dash. Well, no wash. But they did back it into something and now the rear bumper has to be repainted. Unfortunately I didn't notice it until I got home and traffic was too bad for me to go back. So I'm getting an estimate at 9 tomorrow and I'll drop it by the dealership then for my check. I'm furious. I like the service rep, he even went down and parked the car himself to make sure that it wasn't washed, and I don't think he damaged it. It had to have been one of the porters. I've never had a car dealership damage a car, and these guys have done it twice, in a row. I mean, come on. You're servicing $40-70,000 cars you have to be careful with them. I'm not paying $94 an hour for service to have them banging my car into things, I might as well have it serviced at a gas station. In good news, the moonroof gasket is installed and so is the catalytic converter. A rearview mirror (the source of the rattle I thought was the cowl) is on order and so is the intermediate steering shaft for the steering clunk, but they're never going to service my car again...

I have one as a loaner right now, I really like them I always request one. One thing I've really noticed on this one though is the rattles, that thing rattles like a Chevy, its terrible! Only has 3500 miles on it too. I always tell everyone I talk to that is looking at the RX to check out the Infiniti FX35 though.

No problem, just shoot me a PM.

Agreed, most car owners make dealing with dealerships and manufacturers more difficult than it has to be because they're playing their own games and being unethical. I personally don't see what the big deal is, using the Toyota fluid INSURES that Lexus will stand behind your transmission AND its cheaper! Even if you should have a failure and the Amsoil wasn't the cause, you can bet money they'll say it was to avoid paying out for the repair.

I think thats a fine idea, we can encourage that to a point but past that it will do more harm than good. A lot of internet forums (including other Lexus forums that shall remain nameless) are very into regimenting and standardizing the way members post and behave, postings MUST go in a myriad of complicated different model specific forums and posts MUST be worded a certain way or they get edited or removed. You look down the forum page and 1/4 of the posts in any given forum have been moved, often for reasons that aren't transparent to the members. We prefer to let our members have as much freedom in posting as possible, and in order for that to happen the forum choices must be simple and we are pretty friendly and lax about posts neccisarily being in the right forum. For instance often general discussions are allowed to continue in the model forums because we realize that members like to address their immediate forum-mates who they know the best etc. This thread for instance really belongs in the feedback forum but we're content to leave it here as it is RX specific. We prefer to leave people alone when we can, unless they're being rude, advertising or something is OBVIOUSLY out of place. SO I think the best idea is for key members who agree with this idea to begin posting this way and including the model in your post title (Most posts seem to do this anyway) but we're not going to get on members for not doing it.

Yes, the warranty starts on the in service date. Thats only fair otherwise people who buy cars in late model year would get screwed out of their warranty.

Yep, mine's in for the repair as we speak.

Thank you ;)

Even if they did double credit you for the $1400, thats tough woo-hees on their part. They messed up, you can't just renig on a contract 3 months later because there was an error made in its drafting. If thats the case, then you can renig on it now and the whole deal is dissolved and you should get a refund. Thats total BS, I'm shocked the dealership GM would be stupid enough to try to get away with such a shady ploy with a customer who has the smarts enough to be able to afford a $50,000 vehicle. He needs to fire whoever drafted that contract and see it as a $1400 lesson. He's responsible for the mistakes of his employees, not you.

Check out www.american-stitches.com ;)

He doesn't seem interested in doing so ;)

My3rdRX- Its your perogative to spend less time on the site, but this is how the site is set up, and its set up this way for good reason. There have been successive versions of the ES far more different from each other than the RX300 to the RX330 also and we don't have seperate sub forums for that model, or any other model. This has nothing to do with us prefering one model over the others, NO models have subforums for different generations. We simply don't have the manpower or the desire to do something like that, sorry.

You know you're wrong, so you're right not to press the issue. I am interested in how I flip flopped my perfect driving record view with my statement, I don't see how I did that. The truth hurts, the fact of the matter is you were severely breaking the law and you got caught. Nobody wronged you, the cop wasn't out to get you, the American judicial system isn't out to get you, you got yourself. Maybe the fine and the 50-75% hike in your already $300 a month insurance premiums will teach you a lesson. If you're gonna break the law, don't get caught. If you get caught, its your fault because you chose to break the law. Thats called responsibility. Sorry, I have no sympathy for people who do crap and then try to blame it on other people. You'll have to get that somewhere else.

I'm not protecting you at all, I'm calling you a moron for doing 72mph in a 35 and complaining about getting a ticket. You got nailed, get over it and be glad you're not in jail and still have a drivers license. If it were around here you'd be in the slammer and licenceless for at least 6 months. The speed limit isn't meant to be followed when there are "people around". For all he knew you were some drunk looney. You didn't take it like a man, you're whining about it. 6 years of driving experience? HA. You are aware that its commonly accepted that it takes 5-7 years of driving for a person to reach AVERAGE competence level with the majority of the driving public right? Thats why you pay $300 a month for insurance until you're 25. I pay it too. I've taken advanced driving courses that lower mine somewhat though. Your SC400 doesn't make you a race car driver, niether does your 6 years of driving experience. You've never wondered why you pay more than older people? You're a higher risk because people our age have almost half the accidents when we make up only about 20% of the driving public. Did you think that was the insurance company out to get you, just like the cop? A perfect driving record doesn't mean you drive lawfully or safely, it just means you haven't been caught. Stay perfect for 25 years then come talk to me. Go to court with that explanation, make the judge's day.

Oh yeah, thats just a orbital buffer. Perfectly safe for applying and removing waxes but its not going to have enough oomph to do any kind of polishing or swirl removal.

I do agree that the tranny issues aren't as prevolent as some would think, but its still wise to use the Toyota fluid. You don't want to give them any excuse to deny you a warranty claim.

I'd love to find one too... I had a good one in Bethesda, but he changed his specialty to sweedish cars.

If you go into the menu screen you'll see choices for color, there are 4 choices and then a "AUTO" button where it changes based on season.