Moving to Baltimore with my Lexus 250: service center rec's and other misc Q's
04-08-12, 02:43 PM
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Moving to Baltimore with my Lexus 250: service center rec's and other misc Q's
Any recommendations for quality/trustworthy Lexus service centers near Baltimore, MD? Lexus of Towson comes up on google search as the closest to Baltimore, but a couple of their reviews have me worried about taking my car there for servicing. For those that live in/near Baltimore, where do you take your car for servicing?
Also, would appreciate thoughts/advice on winter driving in Baltimore. Would it be wise to switch to snow tires in the winter months? If so, when should I make the switch? I'll be moving from where snow is a rare occurrence, and am concerned about winter driving.
Lastly, do you feel that driving a Lexus in Baltimore makes one more of a target for crimes? I will be parking in a covered garage both at work and home, but what about when out shopping? I'm probably being much too paranoid, but the crime statistics are a bit unsettling!
Also, would appreciate thoughts/advice on winter driving in Baltimore. Would it be wise to switch to snow tires in the winter months? If so, when should I make the switch? I'll be moving from where snow is a rare occurrence, and am concerned about winter driving.
Lastly, do you feel that driving a Lexus in Baltimore makes one more of a target for crimes? I will be parking in a covered garage both at work and home, but what about when out shopping? I'm probably being much too paranoid, but the crime statistics are a bit unsettling!
04-08-12, 06:36 PM
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I am looking for the same thing. Right now my car is a 2009 and i have only 18K on it so i haven't gotten too much on it done besides oil changes, and rotating my tires. Should I go to Lexus of Annapolis, Silver Spring or Rockville? I have heard not so good things about SS and Rockville?
04-10-12, 08:01 AM
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I've lived in Baltimore for 2 years now and have a 2007 IS350. I've had experiences with several dealers in the area, so maybe I can help out.
Let me preface by saying that in my assessments of dealers below, I'm operating under the assumption that you'll be an intelligent dealership customer, like I am. What I mean by that is I'm assuming you will learn about your car and learn about what it needs and therefore not get taken advantage of by a dealership. 99% of peoples' stories about "the dealership screwed me!" could be prevented by having a modicum of common sense. I can't tell you whether the below dealerships will take advantage of ignorant customers or not, because I'm not one and you shouldn't be either. For example, never call a dealer and say "I need the 30k mile service" because when you do, that tells the dealership you have no idea what that service requires so they'll charge you for things you don't need. If you're at 30k miles, open your scheduled maintenance guide and check what your car actually needs. At 30k, that's a brake fluid flush, oil change, and filters change. Therefore call the dealership and ask for those specific services, NOT just the "30k service".
Here are the dealers I've used:
1) Lexus of Towson - I work in the area so this is the most convenient to me. I've used them for a few things - general maintenance like brake fluid flush and oil change, as well as the fuel pressure sensor recall and the cam gear TSIB (under powertrain warranty). I've been happy with their service and haven't had any problems. If you look at reviews online, you're facing an adverse selection problem - the nature of online reviews means that you're going to get a higher incidence of extremes (extremely happy or extremely unhappy) than is truly indicative. I think you'd be hard-pressed to find a dealership of any make anywhere that doesn't have some very unhappy reviews.
I'm going to continue going to Lexus of Towson for my service until I move or have a bad experience.
2) Len Stoler Lexus - I went to Len Stoler once when I first moved here, and that was because Lexus of Towson at the time did not allow people under 25 to have loaner cars and Len Stoler did. My car's CPO so I'm entitled to a loaner car when having mine serviced and I need a car for work, so since Towson wouldn't give me one I went to Len Stoler which was the next closest dealership. I made a big stink and talked to the service manager at Towson and got a call a few days later that they were changing their age restriction from 25 to 21, so I've had no problems since with them. I went to Len Stoler when I had a CEL that ended up being a faulty gas cap. They replaced it under warranty and haven't had problems since. They were very nice and helpful, and everything went smoothly. The only problem is that the dealership is a little out of the way and is not in a good area. I didn't feel very safe in the area around the dealership so I wasn't going to return.
3) Lexus of Rockville - I bought my car from Lexus of Rockville and had it serviced there, so I have experience with both departments. On the issue of the sales department, I would NEVER buy a car from Rockville again. I bought my car CPO from their used sales department and when I test drove the car, the dash was rattling like crazy. The salesman said "Oh it's CPO, just buy it and they'll fix it later". Luckily I did my research and found that rattles AREN'T covered by CPO, and had them sign a sheet that they'd fix it after purchase anyway. There also happened to be a large number of other problems with the car that they hadn't addressed even though it was CPO. I was very unhappy with their sales department. You'll also find several other CL members have bought CPO cars from Rockville and later found they had significant undisclosed accident damage.
But you're both more concerned with service. Because of all the mistakes the sales department made, I ended up having quite a bit of service work done at Rockville and can say I was very happy with the people there. They were very helpful and nice and even offered on two occasions to drive my car upon completion of service up to me in Baltimore. That said, I had them fix my dash rattle and replace my rear lip spoiler (it was coming loose), and it took them 5 different service appointments to fix the rattle and they had to replace the lip spoiler twice to get it right. The dash rattle is notoriously difficult to fix so I can't say they were worse than any other dealer on that front, but it was a bit crazy to have to bring it in 5 different times to get the same issue fixed. For what it's worth, it's now fixed 100%, which is more than many 2IS owners can say who've had it addressed.
I would definitely return to Rockville for service but not sales.
On the issue of winter driving in Baltimore, your question really boils down to "Does Baltimore get enough snow that I should get winter tires?" That in turn boils down to two questions:
1) Does Baltimore get a lot of snow? - This question is impossible to answer because it varies widely. The past two winters have been extremely mild. Maybe one or two 1-2 inch snows that were cleared immediately, and another dusting or two here or there. Never had a problem driving my RWD 350 with all-seasons. But 3 winters ago (before I lived here), apparently they got several snowfalls of 8+ inches. So while Baltimore does get snow, it can vary significantly.
2) Are winter tires worth the money? - Simply put, winter tires hugely improve your car's performance in snow and wintry conditions more than any factor other than driver capability (including drivetrain). You can Google this and find tons of studies and tests that show this. That said, whether buying a separate set of winter wheels and tires is worth it in Baltimore specifically is up to you. It's not an insignificant expense, and for the last two winters they'd have been wholly unnecessary. I was able to drive every day each winter without trouble on all-seasons. But had I needed to drive in 8 inches of snow 3 winters ago, I'm sure that winter tires would have been a near-necessity.
Personally, given the expense and the fact that Baltimore gets such varying and infrequent snows, and that I have the flexibility of working from home if need be, I've decided to just stick with good all-seasons and not buy two sets of wheels/tires, and that's served me fine.
Finally, on the issue of safety. I park my shiny black IS350 with upgraded rims and exhaust on the street (uncovered street parking) in downtown Baltimore every night and haven't had a problem in 2 years. I've also known several people in Baltimore who've had their early 90's Camries broken into. What I've found is that crimes against cars are opportunistic and not driven by the car itself (unless that car happens to be known to be an easily stolen car or something, which the IS isn't). People around me park much nicer cars than mine on the street and haven't had problems either.
You're going to be parking in a covered garage at both work and home, which is leaps and bounds ahead of many Baltimore residents. I can't say you won't have any problems, but by being in a garage you're already in a much safer position. And I can tell you that I've never worried about my car when out shopping, etc - that's because I'm usually shopping in populated areas with many eyes and in the daylight. I'm worried about my car when it's parked overnight, and even then I haven't had problems.
Hope this all helps!
Let me preface by saying that in my assessments of dealers below, I'm operating under the assumption that you'll be an intelligent dealership customer, like I am. What I mean by that is I'm assuming you will learn about your car and learn about what it needs and therefore not get taken advantage of by a dealership. 99% of peoples' stories about "the dealership screwed me!" could be prevented by having a modicum of common sense. I can't tell you whether the below dealerships will take advantage of ignorant customers or not, because I'm not one and you shouldn't be either. For example, never call a dealer and say "I need the 30k mile service" because when you do, that tells the dealership you have no idea what that service requires so they'll charge you for things you don't need. If you're at 30k miles, open your scheduled maintenance guide and check what your car actually needs. At 30k, that's a brake fluid flush, oil change, and filters change. Therefore call the dealership and ask for those specific services, NOT just the "30k service".
Here are the dealers I've used:
1) Lexus of Towson - I work in the area so this is the most convenient to me. I've used them for a few things - general maintenance like brake fluid flush and oil change, as well as the fuel pressure sensor recall and the cam gear TSIB (under powertrain warranty). I've been happy with their service and haven't had any problems. If you look at reviews online, you're facing an adverse selection problem - the nature of online reviews means that you're going to get a higher incidence of extremes (extremely happy or extremely unhappy) than is truly indicative. I think you'd be hard-pressed to find a dealership of any make anywhere that doesn't have some very unhappy reviews.
I'm going to continue going to Lexus of Towson for my service until I move or have a bad experience.
2) Len Stoler Lexus - I went to Len Stoler once when I first moved here, and that was because Lexus of Towson at the time did not allow people under 25 to have loaner cars and Len Stoler did. My car's CPO so I'm entitled to a loaner car when having mine serviced and I need a car for work, so since Towson wouldn't give me one I went to Len Stoler which was the next closest dealership. I made a big stink and talked to the service manager at Towson and got a call a few days later that they were changing their age restriction from 25 to 21, so I've had no problems since with them. I went to Len Stoler when I had a CEL that ended up being a faulty gas cap. They replaced it under warranty and haven't had problems since. They were very nice and helpful, and everything went smoothly. The only problem is that the dealership is a little out of the way and is not in a good area. I didn't feel very safe in the area around the dealership so I wasn't going to return.
3) Lexus of Rockville - I bought my car from Lexus of Rockville and had it serviced there, so I have experience with both departments. On the issue of the sales department, I would NEVER buy a car from Rockville again. I bought my car CPO from their used sales department and when I test drove the car, the dash was rattling like crazy. The salesman said "Oh it's CPO, just buy it and they'll fix it later". Luckily I did my research and found that rattles AREN'T covered by CPO, and had them sign a sheet that they'd fix it after purchase anyway. There also happened to be a large number of other problems with the car that they hadn't addressed even though it was CPO. I was very unhappy with their sales department. You'll also find several other CL members have bought CPO cars from Rockville and later found they had significant undisclosed accident damage.
But you're both more concerned with service. Because of all the mistakes the sales department made, I ended up having quite a bit of service work done at Rockville and can say I was very happy with the people there. They were very helpful and nice and even offered on two occasions to drive my car upon completion of service up to me in Baltimore. That said, I had them fix my dash rattle and replace my rear lip spoiler (it was coming loose), and it took them 5 different service appointments to fix the rattle and they had to replace the lip spoiler twice to get it right. The dash rattle is notoriously difficult to fix so I can't say they were worse than any other dealer on that front, but it was a bit crazy to have to bring it in 5 different times to get the same issue fixed. For what it's worth, it's now fixed 100%, which is more than many 2IS owners can say who've had it addressed.
I would definitely return to Rockville for service but not sales.
On the issue of winter driving in Baltimore, your question really boils down to "Does Baltimore get enough snow that I should get winter tires?" That in turn boils down to two questions:
1) Does Baltimore get a lot of snow? - This question is impossible to answer because it varies widely. The past two winters have been extremely mild. Maybe one or two 1-2 inch snows that were cleared immediately, and another dusting or two here or there. Never had a problem driving my RWD 350 with all-seasons. But 3 winters ago (before I lived here), apparently they got several snowfalls of 8+ inches. So while Baltimore does get snow, it can vary significantly.
2) Are winter tires worth the money? - Simply put, winter tires hugely improve your car's performance in snow and wintry conditions more than any factor other than driver capability (including drivetrain). You can Google this and find tons of studies and tests that show this. That said, whether buying a separate set of winter wheels and tires is worth it in Baltimore specifically is up to you. It's not an insignificant expense, and for the last two winters they'd have been wholly unnecessary. I was able to drive every day each winter without trouble on all-seasons. But had I needed to drive in 8 inches of snow 3 winters ago, I'm sure that winter tires would have been a near-necessity.
Personally, given the expense and the fact that Baltimore gets such varying and infrequent snows, and that I have the flexibility of working from home if need be, I've decided to just stick with good all-seasons and not buy two sets of wheels/tires, and that's served me fine.
Finally, on the issue of safety. I park my shiny black IS350 with upgraded rims and exhaust on the street (uncovered street parking) in downtown Baltimore every night and haven't had a problem in 2 years. I've also known several people in Baltimore who've had their early 90's Camries broken into. What I've found is that crimes against cars are opportunistic and not driven by the car itself (unless that car happens to be known to be an easily stolen car or something, which the IS isn't). People around me park much nicer cars than mine on the street and haven't had problems either.
You're going to be parking in a covered garage at both work and home, which is leaps and bounds ahead of many Baltimore residents. I can't say you won't have any problems, but by being in a garage you're already in a much safer position. And I can tell you that I've never worried about my car when out shopping, etc - that's because I'm usually shopping in populated areas with many eyes and in the daylight. I'm worried about my car when it's parked overnight, and even then I haven't had problems.
Hope this all helps!
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