rent a large car or SUV for the day the night before. anything but b***h up your Lexus like a savage. i take care of my stuff because i remember when i had nothing. good luck.

 

Huh?!

I wouldn't put a lawn mower in any car I owned and cared about unless it was a vehicle were it could be safely transported without damaging it (an SUV or a truck).

 

Fancy Toyota is an inaccurate description. No way I would attempt to haul a lawn mower in an almost $50K automobile regardless of the make. I learned the hard way by trying just that in a MB E320 I previously owned. My laziness and cheapness left a pretty bad scratch on the rear bumper that cost much more to repair than a truck rental would have cost.

 

Well said. I'll guess that there are quite a few of us, including me, who have been there and done that.

I will also bet that, if I had a bulky and/or awkwardly-shaped object that theoretically should fit in the back seat or trunk of the car and if you gave me 5 tries to get it in, by the fifth try, I would have likely figured out how to safely get that object into the car without doing any damage to either the car or the object. But the problem is the first or second try. That is when I would be trying to figure out what to do and what not to do and when it would be more likely that some corner or sharp and protruding part of the object would scratch or otherwise do damage to the car.

 

OP, proceed at your own risk if you transport the mower in the back seat of your car. Very risky IMO. I'd be surprised if you can't find a repair shop or individual to just pick it up and deliver it back when done.

 

I've transported big boxes in my '03 ES by taking the rear seat out entirely. It's a bit of work, but you get a lot of space and you won't wreck your seats.

 

I think it's nuts, but it's your car and your money.

 

I would not transport bulky objects like that in a car. You will likely end up ripping your seats if you are not careful. You also don't want gasoline and other stuff spilling out into your car. A used lawn mower is VERY dirty -- pretty gross -- doesn't belong in a car.

Why not just hire a local landscaper to mow your lawn instead? One other option is to rent a mini-van. Depending on the day/location, sometimes you can rent a mini-van at a very reasonable rate for several days -- which will allow it to fit into your busy work/commute schedule.

 

To me, it's a luxury car.

 

Ok, I called 4 places other than the official service center.

# 1 doesn't do pick ups.

# 2 does pickups, but charges $80 an hour. It would take an estimated 24 minutes to get to my place, round up and that's $40 just to get to my place. Then if they can repair it, it would be another 30 mins to take it back to their place.

# 3 doesn't work on Black and Decker electric lawn mowers.

# 4, I left a voice mail.

After getting more responses, it seems like the best thing would be to rent a truck the night before. I still don't want to drive the truck during the morning am commute hours, so I'll have to take some time off work during the day to do this and take it to the official service center.

 

How did you take out all of the rear seats?

 

Should I rent a SUV or truck? Is it safe to transport it in a SUV rental, without damaging it?

 

U-Haul charges $20 + $1 per mile.

It's 8.5 miles from the U-Haul pick up center, to my house, to the lawn mower service center. So round trip, at least 17 miles.

How would I secure a lawn mower to an 8" pick up truck?

Add in taxes, and it's at probably at least $45.

Any other options?

Of course, this is only one way. If the service center is able to repair it, but I have to come back another day to pick it up, I'd double the charges.

So it would be $80 - $90 for both dropping off, and picking up on separate days.

At that point, I might as well go with the place that does pick ups. Right?

 

How can I do this?

I've never towed anything behind, so I hope the procedure is easy enough where I can do it, safely, in good conscious.

 

Don't tow it, you will kill someone. (and I am sure he was kidding)

To take out the lower seat, lift up on the lower part of the front of the seat. Move towards the middle about a foot and you will feel where it is secured. Yank straight up really hard. If it doesn't come up yank harder. And I mean really hard. There are 2 clips, one on each side. Once they are released, tilt the seat up and pull forward. No tools needed. Takes about 30 seconds once you get the clips to release.

The back of the seat is much more time consuming and not worth the trouble for this. But if you want to remove it, there are 4 bolts along the bottom. Remove these. Then with all of your strength, pop the seat up to release the clips. Then you have to release the seat belt retaining bars. Then you have to slide the seat out from the seat belts. It weighs about 4 times the bottom section and is difficult to maneuver without scratching something.

Honestly, just put a blanket on the trunk sill and try to slide the mower in. Electric mowers are pretty short. If it doesn't fit all of the way, place another blanket on top and tie the trunk lid down. It has worked for over a century and still works today.