AngryCustomer

I was told by the place I bought my Lexus from that you can go into any Lexus dealership and give them the VIN number of the car you are thinking about buying and ask them to print out the service history of the car for you. This does not include prices, of course, but you can find out if the car has been taken care of and if any major repairs have been done. The gas is the least expensive part of owning a Lexus. I have a 1997 SC400 and the gas mileage is not bad, really. Almost 30 mpg on the highway and around 20 in town. The maintenance is very expensive. Normal 5000 mile service costs around $200. Here is the rundown for the major service milestones: 30,000 miles: around $600 60,000 miles: $800 90,000 miles: over $1000 (timing belt gets replaced) If you actually need anything repaired/replaced (brakes, shocks/struts, wheel bearings, etc.), expect to pay $700 to $2000 or more. :chairshot: And don't forget about insurance!

Hi, I brought my 1997 Lexus SC400 to the dealership for 70,000 mile maintenance recently, and also asked that they take care of the Virginia state safety inspection. I got a call from the service guy a few hours later saying that my car failed inspection. He said the rear wheel bearings were worn out and had to be replaced. Price: $1920 ($2100 with the alignment). He said the price is mostly labor (I think they have to take the axle off?). Here's what I'm wondering: How can something so expensive wear out so early on this supposedly extremely reliable car? All of the regular maintenance (every 5,000 miles) has been done at the dealership, by the way. Isn't preventative maintenance supposed to make sure something like this doesn't wear out? How was this discovered during a safety inspection? It could have been part of the regular maintenance routine, but in that case why didn't they catch this (the wear) during the last time I brought it in? So the main questions I have are is it normal for the rear wheel bearings to be worn out at 70k miles, and should it cost $2k to fix this? Thanks for your input. -AngryCustomer