Chardo

First two scheduled maintenance visits were free for my ES300h. According to the manual, the third one is just a tire rotation, smart key battery replacement, fluid check, and general inspection. What is typical cost for this service? Can it be performed elsewhere or should I stick with Lexus dealer?

I have a 27 month lease, coming up on 15k miles. I will need oil change at 20k (according to manual), which will be about 2 months and 2k miles before my lease ends. Since I will need one more oil change anyway, would it make sense to delay my 15k a bit and just do the 20k service early?

Mike728

Yes, just get an oil change at 20k. You may want to have your tires rotated, but I would probably take it to a tire shop, where you'll save some money, or they may even do it for free.

ilexusown

I am in a similar situation. So my 3rd maintenance (15K) is due. Called the dealership and they are going to charge $70 for that. My local shop quoted me $60, but they said they will also do oil change with it. They said that even though lexus recommend every 10K, but it is a good idea to do every 5K. So I am thinking going with the $60 which includes the synthetic oil change too.... what do you think?

Dave Mac

I would take your ES to Discount Tire or whatever local tire shop nearaby and probably get the tires rotated for free at 15,000 and probably skip on the keyfob battery replacement on a 27 mo. lease. If you do want to replace the battery you can get one a most drug stores, online or Radio Shack. It is easy to replace following instructions in your owner's manual.

Dave Mac

Mike728

It's your money. I did my 1st at 5k, 2nd for free at 10k. I'm now going with every 10k, or every year, which is probably more likely right now.

lesz

I agree 100%. For decades, I've rotated tires at 10,000 mile intervals and, sometimes, at 12,000 mile intervals, and I've always gotten excellent tire tread life. If you are not hitting potholes and if you are not noticing any steering issues with regard to things like drifting and need an alignment, 10,000 miles is more than sufficient for a tire rotation. And, even though a smart key battery isn't likely to last as long as the battery in a conventional key fob, it should still last for well over 15,000 miles. My strategy is to pick up and have on hand a spare battery and to change out the battery myself when the one in the fob dies. Everything else in the 15,000 mile recommended service is in the category of inspections, and it is very unlikely that those inspections are going to reveal any issues, especially if you are at all paying attention to how your vehicle is operating. The intermediate service intervals are basically just significant profit generators for the service department, and that is especially true with Lexus service department prices. If I were inclined to feel compelled to have all of the items done at 15,000 miles, I would be having them done either by a Toyota dealer or by an independent shop at significantly lower cost than what it would be at the Lexus dealer.

Arty101

I just went through 15K on my ES. Instead of the 15K inspection, tire rotation and key battery replacement for about $80 from the dealer, I got a e-mail special that included the inspection and synthetic oil/filter changer for $70. Although the intermediate inspection may catch things, it's also just another potential sales pitch for the dealer. Other than the tire rotation, I got the same service + the oil/filter change for less, and it's on their computer data base of all services performed. Not too bad .

ilexusown

So the three options I have
- go to dealer and pay $70 which does not even include oil change
- go to local place and pay $60 which will include oil change
- do nothing and just skip the 15K service?

any other option?

based on the feedback I have gotten so far, seems like skipping the 15K service should be just fine.... (except for the maintenance reminder thing...

lesz

You can reset the maintenance reminder yourself in no more than 10 seconds by following the simple procedure explained in the manual.

bc6152

I have found, in all my years of buying and trading cars for new ones, that when you turn your car in for a new one or finish a lease, the dealer only cares about the appearance inside and out, and the mileage. I have never had them research a service record. They are interested in reselling the car and looks are everything. The only question I ever had was "has the car ever been hit?". So skipping one, two or three service intervals will not matter at all IMO.

lesz

That has been my experience, too. Since I have always gotten most of the maintenance done at somewhere other than the dealer, whenever I've gone to trade a vehicle or to sell one privately, I've always made sure that I've had copies of all of my maintenance records, and no one has ever asked me for them or even wanted to take a look at them when I have offered to give the records to them. I agree that, the only concern of dealers with regard to a trade and also of most private used car buyers is whether the car's appearance is good.

I thought it was amusing, when I traded in my 2006 ES. After doing so, I looked on-line to see what the dealer's asking price for the vehicle was. When I read their description of the 2006 ES, it said that all recommended maintenance had been done. While I had all major maintenance done during the course of my ownership of the vehicle, none of it was done at a Lexus dealer, and, at the time when I traded it in, it was in need of the the major maintenance that is supposed to be done somewhere around 100,000 miles. It was going to need new tires and brakes soon, and it also needed a radiator flush. I feel sorry for the person who bought it because, even though it needed no major repairs, the new owner of the vehicle was quickly going to have some major bills for routine maintenance and for replacement of normal wear-and-tear items.

Chardo

My wife has a 2003 Passat. Last year the car failed state inspection due to front tread depth. I couldn't believe it as tires had been replaced 11,000 miles earlier. I thought they were trying to con me into buying new tires, so I let them fail the car and I took it to Goodyear. Sure enough, failed again. Front tires were worn out after just 11,000 miles. She doesn't drive much, and apparently I forgot to rotate. The rear tires were fine. Moral: with a front wheel drive car (like ES), I would stick to the 5,000 mile rotation.

lesz

Unless you have exotic ultra high performance tires, no normal passenger car tires should be worn beyond the level of usable/safe tread depth in 11,000 miles regardless of whether they were or were not rotated during that time. On my ES 350, I have the Michelin Primacy MXV4 tires, and I skipped the 5000 mile rotation. I just went out and checked the remaining tread depth. The fronts have 8/32 of tread left, and the rears have 8.5/32 of tread left, and I've got about 8000 miles on the odometer. (Note that the Primacy tires start out with about 9/32 of tread and will be usable down to 3/32.) While the fronts are wearing a bit faster than the rears, I expect that, after I do the 10,000 mile rotation, the wear difference between the fronts and rears will even out and disappear. While the front tires are likely to wear faster than the rears, if the difference is dramatic, I'd suspect that something else is a miss with the alignment, steering, or suspension.

Kijug

I've always gotten my tires at Discount Tire. You get free rotations on occasion, too. I just bought my 2014 ES. That said, I talked to Lexus and they mentioned, quite casually, that if they rotate tires, replace tires, etc, and break the TPMS valves, they'll replace them for free. They said (and I haven't verified) that Discount Tires won't do that and you'll be out $200 or so for a new TPMS sensor. Haven't verified it all out, yet, but just another comment for thought.

don1

I'm surprised that you need to have the smart key battery replaced so soon. My previous 2 cars had smart keys and after 4 years of serve for each of them I never needed to replace the batteries. Although they had two smart keys for each car I only used the one to coordinate with the seat and electronics settings.