I just picked up my 04 LS430 last week from a local dealer. Not pre-certified, because it's still within factory warranty with 40k miles on the car.

I was cleaning the car over the weekend, and realized that the full size spare tire in the truck has the wrong size tire. All 4 tires on the car are 225/55/17 dunlops, the spare is a 235/50/17 michellin. The spare also has sign that it has been used before. I had a friend jacked up the car, and found the orig spare is on the left rear of the car as it's the shiniest wheel out of the 3. No big deal I thought, just have the dealer swap it.

I called the fleet sales guy that I dealt with (who was very pleasant, patient, and overall great buying experience for me), I left 2 VM for him in the past 2 days, explaining what happened, and asked for a return call but no call back. I called again for the 5th time today (3rd/4th time, his collegue took a message and told me that she will pass the mesage on) got him on the phone, and he asked what I wanted like he has no clue what's going on.

I had to explained again my finding, and his response was "For pre-own vehicles, we are only responsible to ensure a spare exist, not the condition, tire size..etc. Plus, there is nothing I can do after the sale now, any question or problems, you'll have to talk to the pre-own manager to get authorization."

I am completely shocked at this response. I did not expect any dealership, especially coming from Lexus to tell a customer that there is no after sales customer service. I believe I also have a 30 day warranty on this car, and the least I'd expect from this guy is to talk to pre-own manager for me to work something out. It's a spare tire for goodness sake. i am not asking for a brand new one, I just want to swap with one that has the correct size tire on it.

This is a bit of dilemna, as I am going to speak with the pre-own manager on Monday. But not sure what to expect with now with today's outcome. I had a very pleasant buying experience, and would have highly recommended other friends to this dealership. This has completely turned it around for me, and at this point, I am thikning of calling lexus customer service and have a chat with them about my experience.

I am a very reasonable person, and anger aside, I believe this is out of the norm for Lexus, and wanted to know what you would do in this situation?

 

I talked to pre-own manager, and was told that I can wait for them to have a same exact wheel to come in through trade or lease return, then they can swap it out. Or I'd have to pay ~$70 (this the internal cost that he claimed what he'll have to pay for) for mounting/balance for them to swap the tire out. Either way, there is no concrete solution, and I feel I have been blown off by the sales guy and the manager.

I don't think this is reasonble or good customer service. Any thoughts?

 

ummm..... ok.... here's my take

it's a used car, so i don't think the dealership is officially be responsible of anything. if the spare is missing then yes they are responsible. but if the spare is used or it's the wrong size tire in your case, i think it's more of a "as is" condition, since technically the wheel will fit.

think of it this way. it's like if next week (knock on wood) your hid headlights blew, and found out that the bulb is not factory but instead of cheesy replacement bulbs from taiwan. i don't think the dealership is responsible.

however, given that, if it's a good dealership and salesperson/manager who cares about service and customers, they should, and would, go out of their way and make you happy by replacing the spare regardless. that's called good will. it's actually nothing more than a few paperwork for them as far as i know.

so it's more about a not-so-good party you have dealt with i would say i wonder which dealership is it.

good luck and keep us posted!

 

Sounds like under the glitz and BS, they are just used car salesmen. I suspect the problem is when you buy a new car, Lexus foots the bill for any problems, and if it's a used car, it comes out of the dealer's pocket. They probably knew about it before you bought it, hoping you'd never check. Don't count on them swapping it out. They want your ~$70.

I'd check that rim for being bent too. It may have been the best of the former set of tires, so they kept it as the spare.

I think I would contact Lexus and tell them of your experience, and hint that "maybe in a couple of years you were thinking about a LS460, but not so sure now". They are going to say that it is a used car and they aren't responsible either but I'm sure the reputation of their dealers is important to them, but who knows. The LS460 thing couldn't hurt.


Edit for spelling corrections

 

Yes they blew you off. I am afraid this is NOT a good Lexus dealership to deal with. Lexus prides itself on its customer service, so I suggest you contact Lexus Customer Service. I am sure they'll have a chat with the dealership on your behalf. BUT before you contact LCS, please call to meet with the dealership GM or owner. Explain to him what the situation is and see what he does about it. If he blows you off too, then by all means call Lexus and see what they will do.

When I bought my 1999 LS used from a Toyota shop, the outside mirror stopped tilting down in Reverse. Although the car was out of warranty, Lexus Customer Service fixed it at no cost to me. The mirror cost was $400 + labor + tax.... I paid ZERO out of pocket. That's good wil, and have made me return to Lexus to buy an LX470.

 

Thanks to all for your inputs. At this point, I am not sure if I want to waste my time with the GM. It's such a small matter in my opinion to swap out a tire. The chance of me actually using the spare is pretty slim, in addition, this is not me gauging the dealer, and I don't think this should be considered as good will.

I'd agree with the poster above on taking the car in 'as is' condition IF I bought it off a private party. However, since the car came from a dealership, where I paid extra on their supposed "thourough 128 point inspection", and various other marketing fee...etc., I think it's reasonable to expect the car is in good standing condition, with factory spec parts. If not, then it should be declared to me, which they failed to do so. On a side note, the pre-own manager is VERY AWARE of the wrong sized tire, it's not an oversight by the dealer. I guess their hope is for the buyer not to notice and save themsevlves the $70 mounting fee.

Further, this is within 2 weeks after my purchase, and with the supposed 30 day warranty, both the sales guy and pre-own manager disregarded a simple request to correct their mistake. This demonstrated to me their general after sale service and attitude (lack of), in addition to bad business practice. With these reasons, I don't think this should be considered a 'good will', or a case in taking the car 'as is'.

I am planning on sending a letter to Lexus corporate, cc the GM and be done with it. I am just disappointed as I really enjoyed and appreciated my purchasing experience, and would have highly recommended them to any friend, family, associates, or even go back to them and pick up future lexus cars. For $70 saving, they lost out quite a bit of future revenue.

 

Guys, I think this is blown out of its proportion. Let me tell you what I think happened. The last owner had a flat ---> last owner takes the car to any tire shop ----> tire shop makes unnoticed mistake, and the tire gets there. I don’t think its LEXUS' fault for not checking the size of the spare tire and declaring it to you. Its not like they tried to hide it, because who actually goes to check, a 235 is very close to a 225, visually anyway.

Don’t take this personally, but its great the dealer offered they exchange it, or do it at cost. Its STUPID PR for them to let a small thing like this get in the way of a customer being happy, but technically, they don’t really have to change that tire since the car is used. Since the car isn’t pre-certified, Lexus isn’t really responsible, or the dealer.

Personally, I would keep the tire.

 

Let me put a little salt on the wound here...
What about the courtesy or the decency or the proper business etiquette to return his phone call and explain themselves?
Just that alone shows simple common sense/good customer service

Which one of the 3 socal (if socal) dealership is this?

 

Yes, please tell.... Which Lex dealership did this, I'd like to know so as to avoid them in future.

 

time to fwd this thread to your service manager.

 

Point taken, and I am being very objective without being personal. Let me clarify, and I have friend that works for one of the local Lexus dealer as the head tech, so this is confirmed in terms of the dealership internal process/procedure. ALL pre-own vehicles goes through inspection, and for every little thing that needs to be repaired, replaced, the pre-own manager will decide then approve based on the estimated profit margin they are expecting for the particular vehicle. On a side note, for pre-own vehicles, there are alot of grey areas in terms of "certified". Previous accidents do not exclude a car from being certified. Only if there are frame damage then it will fail certification.

So, from the pre-sale inspection, my own assumption is the pre-own manager knows about the tire being the wrong size before the car is put on the lot with a for sale sign. I'd expect any pre-own manger that is worth their salt to know about it! 2nd reason that I don't believe this was simply overlooked. From my own conversation with the pre-own manager, he IS aware of the tire size issue as he explained the history of the car, and how it got there. The previous owner had after market wheels on the car, and he picked the best tire out of the bunch, threw it into the trunk as the spare. Use the spare as one of the current wheel on the car, and bought 3 tires to match. This is a cost saving measure for the dealership, not an oversight, not an acciental mix up, it was done on purpose.

I don't think I am blowing anything out of proportion. All I asked for was to swap the tire out for a correct and matching size with the rest of the car, 1 week after my purchase. I did not demand or asked for a NEW spare wheel nor tire as I konw it's just a spare, and the chances of me using it will be slim. However, I still like to have the matching size as when the occasion does come up, I don't want to deal with any odometer, navigation system being throw off, potentially alignment issue..etc. I would think a semi-used , decent tread tire in the proper size shouldn't too difficult to find in a dealership (my own assumption, could be wrong, but I think it's a reasonable assumption).

The above are facts. I try not to interject my personal feelings, and try to be fair. I am not even going to start on the general business courtesy of returning phone calls, addressing customer concerns, and the double blow off.

After speaking to few friends that have more patience than I do, they've convinced me to give the GM a chance. I will be speaking with the GM in the coming week, and see if he/she is willing to demonstrate to me what Lexus customer service is. Like I stated before, it's such a small item to begin with, for mere $70 (seems to be on the high side for tire mounting anyways, and they asked me to pay for it ) saving, the dealership is willing to blow off a very happy customer.

If the GM route fails, I will take my regrets somewhere else. Potentially advise my friends, family, fellow lexus owners, potential and future owners of my experience.

Thanks again for all the feedbacks so far.