I've been deciding on whether or not to say something, trying to decide how moral this post is. Am I being rat? LOL

I figure there are plenty of people out there who purchase new cars and want to follow the break-in period with their own judgement. The problem with that is that the cars that come off the lot are driven rather hard when they are transferred between storage and the dealer lot. I work where they store their cars and I'm around frequently enough to notice how they are driven.

I see the drivers push the cars pretty hard in the parking lot and then frequently MASH on them as soon as they are out on the streets. I don't know the conditions of these cars nor the mileage. Who knows? Maybe some of them already have 30K+ miles on them and the hard driving isn't so bad? Some of the cars look pretty darn new and I cringe everytime I see them transfer the cars in and out.

I can't blame all the drivers either, and there are so many different guys that I couldn't name one of if I saw one. So I'm not trying to say EVERY car is driven hard but quite often they are. This post isn't meant to pull business from SM Lexus either, just a fair warning.

 

yes they do. i used to work at a new car dealership.. everytime a truck comes with a load of new cars, they do get abused. ive seen brand new cars doing burnouts, donuts. everything you can think of

 

Why do dealerships put up with this? If it were a place I was running those guys would be in the bread line....I don't take kindly to car abuse.

Another problem is that dealerships SAY they check and inspect new cars but often they DON'T.
I've seen many cars with way over-inflaited tire PSI's at delivery. 40 PSI is very common and occasionally 50 and up........I test-drove a brand-new Avalon sitting on the lot a week ago that semed to have a pretty stiff ride for that kind of car.
......53 PSI in all four tires.

 

Honestly, thats with just about every dealership. Its not shocking to me because at my dealership just about everyone floors the cars right onto the highway and every dealership next to mine(Nissan, Ford, Chrysler, Dodge, Jeep, MB, Acura, Honda, Lexus).

 

Because cars are just inventory to them to be sold for a profit. The damage, if any, done by such abuse will probably not be apparent anyway until way down the road when it's not possible to trace the source

 

the worst is when they actually crash a customer car and try to blame the owner.
"you brought it in like this"

 

All of this just illustrates one more reason why here at CL ................(and I speak for MANY of us, not just myself, but ALL of us who are car-saavy and know what we are looking at and can spot damage and defects ) ..............we have at least a moral if not legal duty to help those people who would otherwise be taken by unscrupulous sellers and dealers and to shop with them and inspect the cars they are going to buy. Yes, there is an old saying........." Let the buyer beware " ...........but that is no excuse for some of the things that go on. Some people don't know how to "Beware". They are not good at spotting defects during an inspection or test-drive.....nor do they know when a dealership is just taking advantage of them with the second " Additional market Value" price sticker......they think that comes from the factory. Yes, the Internet can help with some of these things, but not all people have access to it or know that they are doing.

And if you guys think flooring it or locking up the brakes is bad...I have heard of dealerships actually SELLING cars that have FALLEN OFF THE TRANSPORTER....frame damage and all. ( Fortunately, I have not actually seen it )
How or why people buy stuff like this beats me unless it is really cleverly disguised....usually you can tell a repaint, new sheet metal, or other repairs if not done REALLY well.

 

I used to work at a Lexus dealership as a detailer and there have been IS300's coming back from getting their keys coded and people sliding into curbs (dry out), I know of a guy who took a new IS300, removed the airbox and took it out to the street races that night, taking a brand spanking new LS430 on a 1 hour round trip to get something from their house...the list goes on and honestly I think it's because we had too much acccess to the cars, I felt bad for the ones that got abused.

James

 

Interesting car topic Lvangundy. I've also seen Lexus loaner vehicles (particularly the ES and RX) from the dealership driven hard to the point where they're pretty close to being classified as "beaters". The interior of these cars are no better: Lots of garbage found, drink spills and stains on the seats and carpet, scratches and tears on the center console and dashboard, misaligned cupholders, etc.

 

I can understand your feelings, and it must have been a real problem with a tug-of-war between this and the knowledge that if you spilled the beans you might have gotten fired.

 

There are so many people that lack respect for other peoples property.

 

I'm suprised so many people reacted to this post.

My goal isn't to give SM Lexus a bad rap.I think there's probably a better way for their management to handle this, if they're interested in doing so.

Besides, are break-in periods REALLY that important? Any engine heads want to answer that?

 

I think so. And I believe the dealerships (at least mine does) think so. When I was looking at my IS, I wasn't able to test drive it; we took a demo out (which I'd rather do anyway), same for my RX (mine wasn't born yet when I was test driving).

After I got it, I didn't accelerate or brake hard and never went faster than 60 for the first 1K. But now after 20K...

 

I've seen similar from a variety of dealers also. There is a small body shop that I frequently drive past that does some minor body work for one dealer. I see some of these guys ferry the cars over and they just nail them. You know it is a new car because it has the white protective coverings on the hood, roof and such. It is shocking.

Was at Trader Joes and there was a newish Q45 with window stickers parked well away from the other cars. I was wondering who would be driving around let along shopping with the window sticker still on. As I entered Trader Joes, a guy wearing one of the Infinity service type uniforms was walking out with a bag of "stuff".

I'd like to think that this isn't common but seeing this thread....

 

I had an incident like that when I took my GS430 to the dealership and I went the next night to pick it up at around 9 and as I was walking to my car ( my keys were at the front desk since service was closed) I inspected my car and I saw all this black stuff right behind my back wheels so I go down to check it out and it smells like burnt rubber.

Turns out someone did a brake torque on my car and as u all would be, I was sooooo pissed off I went back to the dealership and the guys there looking at me like im crazy. I made them replace both of my back tires but in reality I felt like finding whoever did it and whoopin him down so bad. But I know that wouldn't happen cuz I probably wouldn't be able to find out who drove my car.