SMC

I just called Exact for the pricing on 90K service for my LS430. The standard answer was $1,400 for the recommended (which includes water pump, tensioner and timing belt) and $550 for the service without the water pump, tensioner and timing belt.

In comparison to Magnussen Lexus, the standard 90K service is $577 (withouthe water pump, tensioner and timing belt).... WITH a loaner!

So what am I reading wrong? Why is Exact so popular? Why am I not asking right?

SBMGS4

Did you mention that you were a CL member and that you were referred to them through CL and by other members that service their cars there regularly?

SMC

Yup, I mentioned it!

rominl

iTrader: (4)

did you compare all the work done between the two and see if everything is identical? 90k service is nothing more than just a name. what's involved is the key. get a list and see if exact is doing more than some dealerships before balantly calling them a rip off....

SMC

Yes, Exact stated that their 90K is essentially a 30K, which sounds less than that of a dealership's; but let's assume that Exact is the same as a dealership. The dealership is replacing all fluid (oil, steering wheel, transmission, differential, coolant and brake), rotate and balancing the wheels plus full car inspection.

The biggest difference I found was that Exact wanted to charge timing belt, tesioner, water pump ...etc by default (which increaed the price by about $950 on top of the $550 they quoted), while the dealer stated that they will check and let me know if need be.

All in all, I feel that I'm getting a more honest and fair treatment from dealer than Exact Motorsport.

Has anyone else done 90K at Exact? What car? How much? I've not done service at Exact , but by this comparison, I feel Exact's service and practice is very different from what I read in this forum and I feel that they are dishonest and greedy. If that's the case we should not keep referring members to that shop.

Just thought I share my experience.

FunGuy

I second that notion. I hate exact motorsports. I too been ripped off each and everytime I go there. I too take my car to Mag Lexus of Freemont as often As i can. They are cheaper than anywhere else.
John is the owner but his wife sandy drives up all of the prices.

NO MORE EXACT!!!!!

RMMGS4

iTrader: (5)

GO TO POST #22 for the LOW DOWN





Hey guys, Exact Motorsports charges what work you get done. What they do at the 60 or 90 k IS NOT the usually the same as a dealer will do. I think Exact may need to do a better job communicating this to customers as it appears there may be some level of mis-understanding.


We don't mind hearing complaints about Exact, but lets be fair and hear your experience and then give Exact a chance to respond.

Please state exactly what you don't feel is right and I will look into what the reason is for the pricing.

If you want to start threads with X is a rip off or Y are crooks etc. you stand a chance that your own integrity will be on the line. State some FACTS and real information instead of just accusations. A LOT of times we see negatives from the newbies, so their credibility is not established within the CL community.. Kind of what you see on Ebay. A lot of negative feedback comes from in-experienced bidders.

There are TONS of satisfied people who have had 30, 60, 90 service done at Exact. If you do a search you will find some of those who have shared those experiences. Now if you expect those same people to come back and defend Exact to you now , well as human nature has it, most either don't want to get argumentative or some of them don't read the forums on a daily, weekly, even monthly basis.

What I can say is that there are MANY locals who have their work done there for 3 to 4 years.

No business is perfect, but your complaints have been far from the norm. Let's see if there is not some mis-understanding. But I will not tolerate bashing without stating a worthy complaint, so please state exactly what your experience was so we can discuss it.

When I get a chance, I'll look into your issues.

I'll take what I've heard so far and see what Exact has to say.

I'll respond when I get a chance, so that could be about a week from now at the longest.

Be patient, stay cool.

Whatever the outcome good or bad, I'll report what I find

SMC

RMMGS4,

Very kind of you to offer the extra work for the club. Thank you.

I do want to assure you that I have read the forum and that's the only reason I called Exact for the quote. The fact that I live less than 1 mile away from Exact also make them very desirable for me. However, I'm being fair to myself by doing a bit of shopping comparison. I have presented all that I discovered through this experience. (OK, one last thing, I talked to the female, assuming John's wife).

That said, picking the dealership over Exact, driving further to the dealership, getting a loaner for $5 (the flat fuel charge) and paying $27 over the cost of Exact is my choice. I made my choice because I didn't have time and from the facts I've gathered, I felt more comfortable not picking Exact. I'm merely presenting a discussion opportunity to prevent other readers from having to go through the work I went through, just like I've benefited from the information others have shared in this forum. I could have held my discovery to myself, but that would be less beneficial to this forum. I'm glad that I am not the only person with this perspective, and I'm even happier of your effort to find out what's going on.

Thank you very much! You are a great asset to this community.

RMMGS4

iTrader: (5)

Your input is valued here on the forums. Your comparisons for a loaner, convenience are all known reasons why some people may or may not choose to go to Exact. I don't think there is a single business that is everything to everybody.

It is only your title of "Exact being a rip off" that sends a lot of newbies down the wrong path. Many key off of titles like that, never read your complaint and yet you will see them comment on other forums (such as IS300.net) or maybe post a comment 6 months down the road saying "I heard some people said Exact was a rip off." I have been watching this type of thing going on for years now and I know how bad it can get. Shades of Salem witch trials.

It is this type of mis-information I would like to avoid on the forums. So I don't find your post in itself troublesome, but I take great concern how others might take the title at face value and spread essentially what is only hear say and make it into fact. This is a peave of mine on all public forums, ClubLexus or otherwise.

In my opinion it is much better to say titles such as "troubles with Exact", "So So pricing", etc. The way you state it you are alreay stating your opinion as FACT and I have issues with that. I say that because a lot of times those statements are made more on emotion and less with factual and verified information.

As I have said on this forum before, we welcome all comments about the local businesses. If there is a complaint or gripe we want to hear it, state the facts and we can discuss it. In return, I ask that we give those busineses a chance to respond with their position on the topic. I think everyone deserves a chance to defend themselves. That is the only fair thing to do.

My position is trying to stay as neutral as possible. That is difficult if not impossible, considering I do business with some of the recommended businesses as well.

As the moderator of this forum, my focus here is to keep the NorCal community well informed of the reputable businesses in our area and to make sure what is communicated on this forum is fair and balanced information.

I ALWAYS prefer people to merely present the information / facts and based on that let others decide on their own what the merits of Exact vs the dealer are. If a shop is a rip off, I think most people will come to that conclusion on their own, without you having to spell it out for them, but to state it up front strongly biases your information to the negative without allowing people to make their own conclusions.

At this point I don't agree or dis-agree with your reasoning. If anything, your comparison shopping might ensure Exact makes an effort to be more competitive price wise. But to call them a rip off IMO is a rather strong statement.

Stay Tuned.

Neo

iTrader: (3)

If at any point SMC wants to modify the title to something less inflamatory, just say the word.

SMC

I stand by my original title statement because it expresses what I feel based on the facts I presented here. It's ridiculous that I'm being pressured to state only the fact and NOT the conclusion that I draw from the facts; that feels like a newsreporter's job!

That said, I'm OK with writing just the subject as: Exact Motorosports recommends $1,400 for 90K service while Magnussen dealer recommends $577. BUT what IS the point?

The fact is that from my point of view, Exact is a rip off! Exact Motorsport claims that Lexus recommends and pushes for timing belt change while the 3 dealerships I called (Longo Lexus, Stevens Creek and Magnussen) do not even push me to change. Perhaps, I am wrong, others are getting better deals for 90K service on their Lexus before 1/14/2006, but are just not speaking up. But I am not making this claim out of thin air. Perhaps Magnussen will end up ripping me off with a bunch of repairs not necessary for my Lexus... who knows.

Neo

iTrader: (3)

Keep in mind that what service is recommended is one thing. What you want done is another. Just like with Lexus, you can ask them to only do what you want. WIth this pricing, it is not an apples to apples comparison.

The numbers you should look at are:

I will let RMMGS4 do a little more investigation into this issue but there is another aspect. For people who are only interested in the standard maintenance, Exact may or may not be a deal. We'll see what RMMGS4 comes back with.

For people who wants to develop a relationship with a Lexus experienced shop that will also work on aftermarket service, Exact brings this to the table. Most Lexus service departments will not deal with anything aftermarket. A few years ago when I had some L-Tuned parts, there were places that did not know or want anything to do with L-Tuned, even though L-Tuned is approved by Lexus.

SPORTcoupe

iTrader: (2)

Hmmm....I have never been to Exact so I can't comment on their service or their prices.
SMC: I hit the "reply" button in order to post a comment defending your side of the story, but after thinking it over a bit, I agree that your title is very inappropriate. Exact never ripped you off, so you have no right to call them a ripoff. "Exact gives higher quote than several local dealers" would be more appropriate.

The reason this thread has caught my attention is that I noticed that Exact has had quite a bit of praise, but as soon as someone says Exact has made a mistake (as every shop will at one point or another) a bunch of people jump in saying Exact is the best and the newbie is wrong.
I have gone through a similar experience with what was supposed to be a reputable shop, so I understand how frustrating it is to be screwed by a place that's highly regarded in the community.


Months and months ago I posted a thread here in the NorCal forum asking if there was a local exhaust shop that knew what they were doing and didn't charge rediculous prices.
The majority recommended a guy named Todd at a place called Exhaust Works in San Carlos.
I took the reccomendation and went to him. He did a marvelous job....twice. The third time he left my car in the rain with the window rolled down and the key in the exact opposite location of where I asked him to leave it. The actual labor this time was also ****-poor and I ended up losing an important bolt/washer on the way home because I assume it wasn't properly tightened.
After contacting Todd several times about the damge to my leather seat, I gave up because he showed no interest in getting the matter resolved.
When I posted about my issue with Todd, I got some mixed responses, with a few people telling me that they've been to Todd's place dozens of times and have had no issues.

The point I am trying to make is that although Exact has been good to quite a few CL members, it is still a human-run auto shop which will give higher-than-excected quotes, and will make a mistake here and there, and it's perfectly fine for somebody to bring these problems into public view. Without posts like this one (minus the inappropriate title ) people will go to Exact with expectations for an out-of-this-world service. They will then come here and post these threads, so they're unavoidable either way.

~Alan

SMC

Thanks for your correction SPORTcoupe. Indeed, since I've never paid Exact, I did not get ripped off. I changed the title of the thread to "Exact Motorsport is expensive".

I agree, that other members probably have had good experience with Exact, and for those who are offended, I apologize. And for the rest of us who are not able to get discount from Exact, ultimately, I hope that this thread helps.

SPORTcoupe

iTrader: (2)

I'm glad you've reconsidered the thread title. I honestly hope the dealer does the job for the quoted price and you come out happy with your decision.

Neo: Please modify the title accordingly.

Cheers,
~Alan