ARISTOh

iTrader: (3)

Let me begin by saying this is my 9th Lexus vehicle and it is definitely not my last. CL I need help and advice..

I live in Orlando, FL and I purchased a 2007 GS450h on September 4th 2013 from Lexus of Tampa bay (80 Miles away).. car was clean ran beautifully, records showed Hybrid batteries were changed prior to my taking delivery of the vehicle.

I purchase a 3 month 3000 mile warranty just in case even though I had faith in Lexus reliability. A few days later the Check Engine light comes on I contact TB and they advise me to bring the car to their dealership to have it looked at. The GSh had a random cylinder misfire and it took them 7-10 days to get the car back to me after changing injectors, catalytic convertors, and spark plugs. 100 miles after that Check Engine light comes back on.. same random cylinder misfire..at this point i decide im not taking it to TB again its too much of a drive so I bring it to Lexus of Orlando.. same problem Random Cylinder misfire 1, 3, & 5. Orlando takes an entire 57 days to diagnose and decides to change all 12 injectors including the ones TB already changed... doesnt work then they decide to change VVTI gear assembly.. works for a little bit then misfire comes back. Orlando changes fuel pump, tests wires, test for cracked head and a bunch of other stuff flies engineers out from California numerous times to check the car out and decides to do a top end clean and flush out the gas tank. and gives it back to me.

Car runs great... for 7 days then i start feeling the stuttering again. I contact my service advisor and he said its probably just the cold weather if the check engine light doesn't come up. 2 days later light comes up now misfire in 1, 3, 5, & 6 so apparently this misfire problem is getting worse.

I contact Orlando and I was told Lexus corp is no longer willing to put money into diagnosing the problem and if I wanted them to check it i'd have to pay out of pocket. infuriated I contact Lexus Corp. and also Lexus of Tampa Bay..

TB general manager asks me to give them a chance to look at it and try to figure it out. I reluctantly agree.. I drop the car off to TB on January 3rd their shop foreman and certified hybrid tech is shocked and at a loss for words on the amount of things Orlando has tested on the car with no results. he finds a small leak in a valve and gets Lexus corp to cover sending the head out to a machine shop and repairs whatever needed to be repaired. The head was shaved and reassembled around February 10th. on the 15th I get a call from the foreman saying he isn't comfortable with the results because a misfire is still registering. today is now March 1st and Tampa Bay still has my car.

I asked the GM of Tampa Bay to purchase the car back from me and help me get into a 2014 GS Lux lease. They agree but only offer me $15k for trade in on a car I purchased for $21k in September that has been in service more then in my possession.

My payoff on the car is $23k which leaves me $8000+ upside down. Now my question for you my friends is considering Florida has no used car lemon laws.. what should I and/or can I do about this situation.

I dont mind getting into a newer model GSh or a 2013/14 GS350 Luxury model Lease but my 2007 GSh needs to get donated to science. Help

mmarshall

I checked Kelley Blue Book (http://www.kbb.com/) for an idea of what your GS might be worth on a trade-in. You didn't state the number of miles on your car, but I entered 75,000...that would be about average for a 2007 model today (about 12,000 miles a year). I entered one of Orlando, FL's zip codes, since you appear to live there. I entered fair condition because your car has a known defect. KBB's trade-in-value (what you can expect to typically get at a dealership on a trade for your car in that condition) is $15,998...not very far from what they actually offered you, though you might be able to ask for $16,000 if you showed them that figure.

ARISTOh

iTrader: (3)

I checked that as well and mentioned it to the GM in Tampa and he offered $17k. but considering the circumstances I think they should bite the bullet on this one.. Ive had the car for 6 months and its in service for 5 months.. in a PERFECT WORLD they would buy my car back from me, give me the 2014 model I want below invoice, drop my money factor down to practically nothing and beg me not to make a fuss out of this whole ordeal..

mmarshall

I agree that in a perfect world, Lexus would bite most of the the bullet. But you may not be quite as bad off as you think. By offering you 17K on a trade, given the condition of your car, that may be quite reasonable. You paid 21K for it in September, and even after only 6 months of ownership, you still have to expect at least some depreciation.....maybe not quite that much, but some. It's obvious that if this is a reputable dealership offering you that 17K, before they can re-sell it at a profit, even in addition to the usual reconditioning/detailing expenses, they are going to have to put even more money and labor into the car to find out why the misfire keeps occurring and why the other Lexus service departments couldn't totally repair it. And, yes, they will HAVE to try and correct it before they resell it, because at least some of your story will probably already be on CarFax now. They probably won't be able to just try and hide it and sell it to some unsuspecting future buyer (not than an honest dealership would want to do that anyway). So, while I agree that it may be a less than perfect deal, my somewhat reluctant advice, right now, is to take the 17K they will offer you, and either run with it or use it as a down payment for whatever you want as a replacement car. The only other viable option, at this point, is to talk to an attorney specializing in auto-liability. But he or she, of course, is going to want a cut out of whatever setlement you come up with, so I don't see you saving much there either.

And what vehicle would you want to replace it with? That, of course, is another whole issue, but, if you want, we can discuss that here, too.

ARISTOh

iTrader: (3)

I financed the car at 21k my payoff is 23k I want either another GSh newer or a 2013/14 GS350 Lux or FSport. $17k still leaves me upside down $6k that would get rolled into my next car deal. That's my whole dilemma. TB offered to give me a vehicle at cost which is great but they put it right back in with the amount I still owe

CK6Speed

iTrader: (1)

If you bought the car for $21K and financed $21K why is your pay off $23K. Where did that extra $2K come from? Just wondering. That sounds like an interesting finance deal.

FrankReynoldsCPA

Maybe the 21k didn't include TTL

Sent from my Nexus 4 using IB AutoGroup

ARISTOh

iTrader: (3)

Not sure exactly maybe interest or warranty I don't really care at this point I'm tired of being a 13' ES350

krava

Whatever happened with that situation and tired of the es350? doesn't say much for the es350's