I have owned many new vehicles and I always seem to run into, at one time or another shotty workmanship. It never seems to be brand specific. From Porsche to BMW from Cadillac to Ford. It just seems like no one really cares about quality anymore.

Although Lexus is a brand that prides itself on quality I find that you still need to fight to have things done the right way. If they are charging a premium for the name then when a failure occurs with that vehicle there should be little stress with getting it fixed. I have yet to find this to be true with any brand.

My rims on my truck failed. There is a defect that Lexus knows about and yet it took me almost 1 month to have them replaced instead of painting them. Now this should not occur when you are dealing with this type of vehicle. 17 phone calls and 6 people later what should have been done in the first place is now taking place.

We are really particular on how our truck is kept and how we take care of it. But there has been many times when our trucks had to be service that when we got them back there was more problems then when it went in.

When dealing with Atlantic City Lexus although not perfect and there were some things that should have been done better, they still are by far one of the better Dealerships that we have dealt with.

I have just lost my interest in purchasing a new truck. I'm just tired of dealing with people that just don't do their jobs. Buying the truck is easy but trying to find someone to service it with little or no headaches is dam near impossible.

How do you feel about having your vehicle service and why did you pick this brand?

 

Are your rims chipping?

My parents 4runner had this problem. It was out of the warranty period so there was nothing they could do.

If something happend to the vehicle during the warranty period then Lexus (not the dealer) should get the warranty repair done no questions asked.

 

My rims are blistering and rusting. I am still under warranty 25,000 miles 3 yrs old. They felt it wasn't a warranty issue and that it wasn't covered.

I felt that it was a defect and the 14 other brand new trucks that I had, never once did I have a problem with my rims.

Being that this is Lexus I felt my dealership or service dept should have handle this. I should not have had to fight to have a problem fixed that Lexus was aware of and knew it was a problem. Instead my dealership said it was my fault for leaving brake dust on my rims. "I said are you telling me that Lexus does not make a rim that can with stand brake dust?" He had no answer other then it's not covered.

Yes Lexus should stand behind their product but your service AS should be the one to get it done. Not me. To me it just means that they didn't feel like doing their job. If your paying a premium for the product then give a premium service. I have yet to receive this. Better yes but not premium.

 

Try getting service with a Ford!! Sure I did not pay Lexus pricing on my last Ford Explorer (lost job and needed to replaced a company vehicle so the Ford was the best option financially at the time), but the hood is made of aluminum. I guess it is "new" technology for them as they painted the hood and right after the warranty expired the hood started to chip and flake the paint off to the bare metal. I had a 2 inch by 2 inch paint chip and it looked horrible. I took it back and they said there was nothing I could do as it was out of warranty. They gave me a bill of $1000 to fix it. Word on Explorer forums is this is a common problem (like the GX rim bubbles) and that in the paint process the metal was not cleaned properly and the paint would not stick. I ended up buying a $30 bug deflector to hide the chip and traded it in on my GX.

Good news is the GX is a 05 and the rims are perfect. The 04 I looked at had the same bubbling you mention so I passed (same price as the 05 when it was all done).

 

JASP615, I dont think those other brands would have replace your rim even after a 1000 call

 

Totally agree.....

 

All dealerships are ran by people (last time I checked) and as it goes, there are people and there are a$$#013$. I had a similar experience in NY. One dealership, totally unprofessional people extracting as much money as they can from customers. There I found out that my truck needs fuel injectors cleaned, cooling system flushed, brakes changed, wiper blades streaking, etc. after only 20K miles. These people would not return phone calls, and they tried to give me KIA Rio as a rental in place of my truck. Go figure. Another dealership (same owner), totally different. They always call back or email. There's never a problem with loaners (RX350). And they don't BS. My truck has 35K now, and they haven't tried to sell me any BS last few times I was there. I also had a similar experience at a dealership in CO. They didn't sell me the truck, they never saw me before or the truck, and they still serviced the truck (change oil, filters, etc.) without an appointment, and on top of it, they did it as a complimentary service. Now that's Lexus quality.

 

My truck went in on a flat bed because of the Alternator but while there they did replace the rims and did the 36 month service for free OK can't complain but then yesterday I got a call from someone else telling me I needed a front end alignment, new tires (Dunlop) hate those tires, front brakes. I was shocked but because we were in a bind we did the brakes. We are going to go to Costco and get the tires there. Their Road hazard warranty is great not to mention about 3-4 hundred dollars cheaper for the same tires as Lexus quoted me 290 a piece for. We were already going to do that because hubby does not like the tires that the GX470 came with and they are wearing on the outside of the tread but the middle looks like new. They have been doing this since the day we got it. We rotate our tires every 6 months.

Hubby drives an 2007 F250 extend cab 8 foot bed. We bought this new also and you are so right. His driver and passenger window is getting scratch every time he puts the window down. We googled to see if it was a known problem and yes it was. So far they have replaced the windows twice and told us that they would not fix it again. I told them they WILL fix it again if need be until they can fix it right. Their incompetence is not my problem but it will be theirs.

Hey getting the rims replaced was no walk in the park. I had to really be a B*tch in order for it to get done and once done the women @ Lexus said when all thing were said and done she had met her match and that was no small deal since she had been with Lexus for 18 yrs. Secret is, know what your talking about and have your facts in order do this in a respectful manner but be firm. No was not an option for me.

 

You've become quite active on here... I like it This forum needs some life brought back into it.

Anyway, all dealers have their problems it's a symptom of poor management. Sounds like you've just had a bad experience with a poorly run dealership which unfortunately has soured your taste for the brand and that's to bad.

Generally speaking my experience with Lexus of Rockville has been steller and a cut above the other dealers I have dealt with in the past - Acura, BMW, Volks, Jeep, etc. My dealer has bent over backwards at times to make me happy, but that could be because I am just VERY particular and they know that by now. In either case it's a well run dealership and it shows. Visit a Volkswagen service dept sometime; you will be begging and screaming for Chuck and Lexus!

 

VW has to be one of the worst!! My brother-in-law had a 06 Passat, loaded with everything and it needed constant service. The service dept was so bad he went to another VW only to find the same thing. The 3rd one was NOT the charm, and he ended up selling it for 1 reason, the service dept was the worst he has ever seen. Unfortunately for him his Passat seen the inside of the service bay more times then the inside of his garage, so he got to know the poor service alot.

 

+1 cssnms, thanks for the heads up on the good service you receive at Rockville Lexus

 

JASP615, must be a female thing unfortunately.

I have had more than my fair share of bad experiences with no less than 5 dealers when I had my Ford Explorer Sport LEMON back in 97-98. Moved over to Lexus because of the reputation. I tried but the local dealers were horrible. I don't understand why dealers in northern NJ are so bad, and not just Lexus. Anyway, I wound up going with a dealer 40 miles to the south, Lexus of Bridgewater. Love, love, love them. My service advisor, Mary, is the best. She goes above and beyond every time. She sets me up with a loaner most of the time and has only the best tech work on my car. She also tells the tech to make sure he takes care of my baby. And for the few times I've had a problem (o2 sensor, battery), she took care of everything from flatbed to repair.

Lexus of Bridgewater was the first Lexus dealer in NJ, 20 years this year. Mary has been there for about 19 years but she's only a day over 21 I would definitely recommend them.

 

I needed to become active on here because you can't trust the dealerships to give you the correct information....

We are back from the shore and the truck was delivered to us at the shore house. It was a bit confusing but in the end it worked out. I first had a rental that I had to return on Thursday because they wanted to bring me a loaner to use until my truck was finished. At this time they didn't have a firm date for the part.

They sent two gentlemen up with a 2010 RX350 for us to use to go to the shore. This was back and forth. First I was just going to keep the rental then they were going to have my truck back by Thursday then they said to return the rental and they would bring the loaner because the truck would not be done. It would have been less confusing if they just brought up the loaner on Monday instead of Thursday. I had to call 4 Enterprises to get a rental on Tuesday.

Rims were replaced and look great. Brakes were put on (I called around and got other prices from Lexus Dealers) Asked Chuck why Cherry Hill Lexus charges 339.00 (Cherry Hill is their sister dealership) Thompson Lexus charges 295.00 and another which I forgot the name charged 329.00 He told me each dealership charges what they want. I thought they worked off a book which told them how long and what to charge???? Well anyway Chuck lowered my bill from 365.00 to 339.00. Parts for the job cost 89.00.

Truck looked great and I'm glad to have it back.

Thank you all for all the help. This is why I read this site all the time. Sure wished there was a bit more action on it.