Folks,

I recently bought a used Lexus( after driving a camry for 5 years) it drives nicely and I like it. I just took it to dealership for 15000 mile service. I was a bit surprised by the service charge of $250. The dealer mentioned that the minimum cost even for a oil change is $150. I did anticipate a difference in price between a regular car and a luxury car but I didnt expect the delta to be so much. It is nice to get loaner cars and all that but I dont know if the premium that I had to pay is worth the money....

Again, I am not an automobile person and dont know much about the cost of components and stuff...but have any of you tried servicing the car outside the dealership and how big is the risk of doing it? If you have serviced outside, are there any places you suggest?

Also, brakes in the car need to be replaced and I know typically dealerships are very expensive places to replace breaks but I dont know which other company is good at this. Any suggestions?

Thanks in advance
-S

 

So now you understand why only *the* most retentive Lexus owners go to Lexus dealers for anything. Lexus charges $30+ for a $4 Denso Camry filter. (Toyota's only use two basic size filters) Most of the time for small stuff, it's a 2-5x price mark-up & labor is 150-200%.
Trust me... They don't do $50 worth of parts & labor cost for any amount of routine maintenece.
Time to start changing it yourself. At the very worst, when you *must* go to a dealer. Toyota dealer.

Brakes are not complicated. 1 bolt per caliper, the caliper flips up, the brake pads come out.
In a nutshell, any moron that's *just* smart enough to tighten all your lug nuts when they put the wheel back on is smart enough to do brake jobs.

 

That is rip off . In $20 I do oil change and flushing . I guess for flushing and oil change Lexus dealers will charge 200 dollars. DO IT YOURSELF is the only way for people like me ( just earning 44K / year ) to afford lexus .
I feel satisfaction by doing things for my baby Lexus .

 

Thanks again!

I will probably take it to the Toyota dealer from next time until I learn how to do it myself!

-S

 

THere are SOOOO Many DIY(DO IT Yourselfs) here it's like highway robbery. use the Search and you will save about a few thousand dollars.. or until you break something..

 

Hmm this scares me.. I just baught a 06 Lexus and the dealer told me that I will not have to pay more than $75.00 (includes oil change, tire rotation and car wash) unless there is anything else like probably changing fluid but again in a 15000 mile service, what do they usually do? I mean 15,000 miles is too early to flush any fluid.. I may be wrong but $250.00 is a alooot of money..

 

let places like a dealer wash your car, work on the paint, etc...
Autopia.org

btw it's never too early to flush any fluid.


I always suggest flushing transmission fluid every other year, or drain & fill with an oil change (& still flush it every now again).

 

Wow... that's a strong statement... well I am assumming if I had the capabilities of flushing the fluids myself.. then I will be doing it every other year.... but since some of us don't.. what is the correct interval for replacing/flushing fluids.. I am sure there is a standard mileage for certain required services to be done under regular driving conditions.

Car.. wahs.. thats good to know pheonix.. hmm I have my first service comin up soon... will let the dlr know I will take care of the wash ... should read more in autopia on the reason behind it..

Thanks for the info Bud..

 

And if you aren't comfortable being a DIY, but don't want to concede your hard-earned money to the d(st)ealer shop, find an independant/local auto-shop (usually ethnically run, ie. Italian, Indo-Pak, S.Asian, Hispanic, etc'...) and go there: negotiate a price for work to be done BEFOREHAND, buy/order the parts yourself to be delivered there! You can also get them to do the service interval as per your Lexus service book.

In a nutshell...

- Buy parts online w/ appropriate discounts from ClubLexus affiliation...
- Take your Lexus to Luigi, Raj/Habib, Yuko, or Juan's Import Service...