KillaIS250

iTrader: (1)

Damn looks like some of you guys need to find another dealership. I love going to my dealership for service. They treat my car well while it's in for service. When I took my car for the dashboard rattle TSIB, the tech took it for a test drive after repairing it and heard a faint rattle just once during the drive....they called me and let me know they wanted to redo it and make sure it didn't rattle at all. When i went in for the fuel line recall, i told them I only use Chevron/Shell/Mobil 91 gas. The tech filled it up with 91 from Chevron and left me a copy of the receipt too. And every time I go in they leave me a card on my dash with the name of tech that was responsible for insuring the car was repaired properly so if there's still a problem, it doesn't turn into a finger pointing game, they know and I know exactly who messed up.

Stylnhonda

iTrader: (1)

The bumper looks great, they did a great job at replacing the headlights and everything seems to look and function well. I just noticed that one side of the front bumper makes the pop sound when it's pushed in. I only noticed this because I was my car often. It's never made a sound before, till this weekend when I went to wash it with the sponge and then when I dried off the front bumper with my "Uber Drying Towell from Detailers Domain" lol!

Not a big deal, I may bring it up when I go in for my first oil change. Just don't like my car to sound any different once I get it back!

I still however am scared each time my car is in the shop. Yes they will fix stuff, but who wants it broken or scratched on a brand new car. I'd hate to have to have something repainted because they messed it up.

Badsupra10

Everybody makes mistakes....the difference is that major dealerships have the buck to correct them...deff. A good value when spending major coin on a new vehicle that will get alot of miles.

Soap

I have no complaints about my local dealership as far as the service technicians are concerned, but then again I haven't had anything done that they would have worked on. I had a few oil changes done before I started doing it myself but a service technician wouldn't have been doing. If you ever have a question or concern you can always ask to speak to the technician yourself and cut out the service writer which in my own experience with all dealerships (not just Lexus) they typically are not as knowledgeable as I would like in regards to my vehicle and the ins and outs so to speak.

RTIS250 gave you the response he did because he appears to be a Lexus service technician and I can understand where he is coming from and why he was a little chippy in his reply.

mixa86

UPDATE: MY WARRANY COMPANY LET ME DOWN!!!!!!

so after the car being at the dealer for 5 days, me and the service manager got on really good terms at lexus englewood. He told me that there was previous work down to the timing chain cover, not by them. After he went exploring through records, the original owner took it to a dealer in ohio to do gasket work in April 2009. My warranty company got the estimate for $2950, and sent out the adjuster. The adjuster and the techs talked, dealer told them we didnt see this leak due to my initial visit to the dealer 1 month ago anti freeze leaking. The antifreeze was caked on right over the leak. So after them talking and saying they will cover they DENIED ME because this is a reocurring issue and was not fixed properly the first time and will not cover this repair. I had the Dealer manager and my service manager contacting my warranty company telling them its absurd (obivously they know im not going to go for the 3000 dollar fix so they want to make their service sale) but they still held their ground and said no.... I dont understand how i can be liable for buying a used car and purchasing warranty so this dont happen and i get denied??? i feel like suing the warranty company....

This is what my contract says:
"6. Any parts not listed in paragraph I (does not apply to Easy Street) or pre-existing damage to any
parts listed in paragraph 1. Non-covered parts causing damage to covered parts or any loss
occurring prior to expiration of manufacturer’s warranty, recall, or repair guarantee."


PS. I also apologized to the service manager for blaming them, they said we understand we should of caught the leak and noted it.

mixa86

So now my idea is this: Keep my eye on the oil level see how bad it drips out, my good friend is good mechanic but he works for firestone and his manager is an *** and doesnt let employees work on their cars. Im going to rent a garage with a lift for the weekend toward the summer time. Since the motor/trans has to come out, id rather save $$$ on labor and buy new parts such as waterpump, tstat and w/e else might be smart to change while this is out.

B16da9

iTrader: (7)

calvin2376, I respect you 100% as you bring a lot of knowledge to this forum but “Lexus” has do hire some morons to work on cars “least that’s the case in S.Florida”. So to put it lightly yes CL does have member that are more knowledgeable than the people who “Service” the cars.

Take my car for example, I brought it in as the engine developed a noise coming from the front of the engine right away I suspected the water pump bearing (FYI I was a mechanic while I put myself though school). I called my Service advisor and come to find out he quit great I had to deal with a new guy.

I take the car to the dealership and speak to the service advisor and tell him about the noise. I also figured that while it’s there they might as well look into my gearbox noise and the fuel pressure sensor recall.

The car spends almost three weeks at the dealership as they confirmed the gearbox needs to be replaced and they had to special order it. After they claimed they fixed everything they called me and tell me my car is ready to be picked up. When they bring my car up I right away still hear the bearing noise….great they fixed everything except my main concern about the car. Take it I’ve been without my car for three weeks and been stuck driving my wife’s Isuzu Rodeo (I gave her the RX350 loaner as we are planning on buying one) and I want my car back already. I walk over to the service adviser and explain to him the situation and he gets the tech that worked on my car which I had to wait an hour but I did not mind as l know that it sucks to be pulled away from a job.

The tech comes and we speak and I point out the noise coming out of the front end and that I believe it to be the water pump. He acknowledges the fact there is a noise and he says they have to keep the car one more day I tell him thank you and shove a 20 into his pocket (The shop I worked for did not let us take tips).


The next day the service advisor calls me and tell me my car is ready and this is how the conversation went down.

Advisor: Good afternoon Mr. XXXX I wanted to tell you that your car is ready to be picked up.

Me: Great…may I ask what the noise was.

Advisor: yeah it was the water pump…..silence

Me: hmmm….pause, I’ll be over later today to pick up my car.

Stylnhonda

iTrader: (1)

Who was your warranty through?

I kind of feel like the Tech's do know a lot about stuff, but most of the service advisors, sales people, service managers etc. don't know much more than the average joe. They just go off what the tech has told them. This is just from my experience. Sounds like they need to get rid of the service advisors and pay the techs more mula!

B16da9

iTrader: (7)

X2, my last service advisor did not know what the powertrain warranty was.

mixa86

My service advisor was not bad, he didnt charge me for anything for keeping hte car 5 days, or driving the loaner, or he found the source to the leak. I think he felt bad for me that my warranty company did it want to pay for it.

calvin2376

iTrader: (2)

I won't go into how one anecdote from you doesn't disprove a general statement because the main issue with your post is that you missed the point of my post entirely. The point of my post, which should have been very clear, was that it's extremely foolish to forgo having recall work performed merely because you think a dealer might make a mistake. I then proceeded to outline all the reasons and I won't repeat them here.

You chose to pick up on one aspect of one line in my post and spun it in a way not relevant to what I was talking about. I was talking about RECALLS. Reread the post and you'll see that all I talk about are RECALLS. I stated that it was foolish to ignore Lexus's safety recalls because recalls are only issued when they are important and safety-related. I stated you should trust Lexus, the people who make and design the cars and the ones who know best about safety issues with the car, when it comes to deciding whether to get a recall performed or not.

Notice nowhere did I say you should always trust Lexus dealer service technicians, something you inexplicably extrapolated from my post. I agree with you that there are a lot of inept service technicians around and that by no means should you just blindly trust them. However, understand how merely relating an anecdote about a bad experience at a dealership in no way counters my simple main point that you should go get recalls done.

calvin2376

iTrader: (2)

Who is your warranty through? I got the impression it was a Lexus warranty but obviously not. Aftermarket warranty companies unfortunately are going to be a lot more difficult to work with, though I've had experiences with several and have had both bad and good ones.

Almost every aftermarket warranty contract will expressly state it will not cover pre-existing damage or faults, as this sounds like it is. And I doubt you'll have any luck trying to go back to the dealer in Ohio who apparently screwed up in 2009. My question is, if it was really related to faulty work done in 2009, how is it only now manifesting?

In any case, I unfortunately don't see a clear way out of this. Suing the warranty company won't do much good, as the contract explicitly states it doesn't cover pre-existing faults and the dealer identified it as such. Plus, I should point out that I can almost guarantee you that your warranty contract requires arbitration as opposed to lawsuits, which puts you in a disadvantaged position as well because the warranty company is likely the one appointing the arbitrator.

As far as "how i can be liable for buying a used car and purchasing warranty so this dont happen and i get denied???": unfortunately buying a used car is caveat emptor. There will always be risks buying a used car. You can do everything in your power to mitigate the risks, like buy a warranty, but it can never protect you 100%. Did you have a pre-purchase inspection done? If this is such a significant issue, I'd have expected the pre-purchase inspection to have called this issue out.

mixa86

Calvin, the leak is very minor i been even thinking that Lucas Oil Stop might even work. I drove 1000 miles since my last oil change and i lost maybe 1/5 of the dipstick. All the quotes im getting for this type of job is 2500$, so i do not think my case is severe enough yet to go through this process. I want to try some "bandaid" remedies.

calvin2376

iTrader: (2)

That's I think your best option, try to find some other solutions that might not cost as much. Also, are independent shops giving you quotes that high as well?

mixa86

oh ya, the labor is 22 hours for this type of work. You need to pull engine/trans out, the gasket kit is about 550-700 dollars (depends where they purchase from)