My wife and I just purchased our first Lexus, a beautiful Pearl White 2007 RX350. We purchased it from a local Lexus dealer. Everything went wonderful, until we got home and noticed a 299.00 charge for Lexus theft protection. I know it's not that big of a deal, but we were never once informed of this service, or asked if we wanted it. It seems to me to be one of those deals that they try to get you to purchase as an extended service. The crazy thing is, they never tried pushing anything on us at all, as far as extended warranties and such. They told us up front that the price only included a 150 process fee, and tax. I am okay with that, but not okay with an extra 300 charge without informing me of what it involves. When we called, the salesman told us it was a service that pays us 5000 if our car get stolen. Isn't that what insurance is for, lol?!?! Oh well, was just curious if anyone else knows of this service........And I know, we should have looked over the agreement before signing (was a little on the excited side ). It's just the principle behind it. Thanks in advance!

 

Never heard of it Did you purchase the car at a Lexus dealer? and is the charge explained in your buyer agreement too? I'd double check, if it's not, fight the charge.

 

Never heard of such a thing. Certainly not standard with any of my previous Lexi. I'd suggest trying to get your money back. Good luck. ...in any case, welcome to the Lexus family and forum.

 

never heard of anything like that before on any of my cars.

 

Yes, it was an actual Lexus dealership......They seemed to have good ratings when checking online. They also have a Toyota dealership that my parents have bought a half dozen vehicles from, and always been very satisfied.......My wife is bound to get it resolved, lol. This is "her" vehicle, and is going to call the manager tomorrow. It would have been totally different if it had been "offered" in my opinion. Just wanted to ask some other Lexus owners if they knew of charge.........Part of the reason I purchased from a Lexus dealer is that I assumed a no BS transaction, lol.

 

It's a common dealer add-on with lots of profit. (Probably about a $20 glass etching kit.) It should have been on the sticker addendum or clearly spelled out on the sales agreement. I notice that dealers are finding more creative ways of packaging these profit pigs, with the finance manager giving you a choice of like 8 payments, each of which has some combination of these. On a recent deal, I pushed it all back and had to firmly ask the finance manager to present me just the car with NO ADD-ONS.

I would go back to the dealership with the car and all your paperwork and have a calm discussion with the sales manager or owner. Granted, you should have noticed it on the paperwork before signing. However, most finance managers spend about 80% of their time with you selling and 20% printing the paperwork and hustling you through the signing. I would at least want some free oil changes or accessories as compensation.

I agree with you that a Lexus dealer should be above this level of slime. They should be aware that you will be getting a number of surveys that Lexus takes seriously.

 

Yes, I totally agree....They "briefly" offered us some other packages that we were not interested in at all. Which I can't understand, because all they talked about was "this Lexus is good for 300,000 miles". So, why do I want to buy your damn power train insurance then?!?!, lol....and NO, I do not want door ding insurance.......lesson learned, should have never fell for the "we work with 50 banks" line, and "we can get you great rates". Especially when we ended up going with our own institution.....As far as "spelled out", there is nothing in any of our paperwork regarding information for or about this service. This is what I found shady.

 

Was this issue ever resolved?

 

wth?! omb! dang i gotta look over my paper too..

 

yes it was and I must have missed this reply?!?! sorry.................after several conversations with the store manager they refunded the 300............I still think it was BS and could have been handles differently. still loving the Lexus though

 

Did you just follow up on a question about a resolution from a 5-year old thread? (asked by a member who's only post was that question--he felt SO rejected by not having an answer that he left ClubLexus never to be heard from again....).

I guess I should expect a reply in 2022.

 

I know this is an old thread and old issue, but, I'd like to point out something. Even if you did get screwed at first with the unrequested anti-theft service, the $150 processing fee the dealership charged you there in Indiana was MUCH lower than what is typically charged in the Northern Virginia D.C. suburbs where I live. Some of them are up to $700-800 now. Right across the river in Maryland, state law limits it to $200, but Virginia has no formal limit. The flip side, though, is that sales tax on a new car is a little lower in Virginia.

 

Who are you the forum "hall monitor"? Trolling threads to make sure everyone uses proper forum etiquette? Maybe someone will have a similar issue in the future and wonder if the issue was resolved?!?!

 

ok, enough guys. closed.