NoMoreES

First, I want to thank everyone that posted any item pertaining to the transmission issue. Without this information I truly believe that I would have never got Lexus to buy-back my car. While I never posted before, I feel that I should, in case the approach I used can benefit anyone else.

I am one of those that think if you spend $38,000 on a car, you should not have to settle for one that had a known defect when it was sold to you.

My vehicle was purchased October 2006, build date September 2006.

I won’t bore you with the details of my dealings with the dealership’s service department, the service manager (oops, he never had the time to call me so I never dealt with him!!), the dealership’s general manager, or Lexus customer satisfaction at the 800 number, only to say that I think I encountered everyone’s negative postings in my contact with them.

I will also say that a video of your flare is your greatest weapon. They stop giving you bull when they see it. (I bought a one-time use video camera for $30, plus $12 to put on DVD, from CVS pharmacy and it did just fine).

Early in the process I decided I would pursue the Massachusetts Lemon Law as soon as I was eligible. I saw it as an opportunity to expand my options, and I did not see that it as requiring me to do anything further, unless I opted to.

In all letters and conversations with Lexus I referred to the transmission defect as being present when the vehicle was manufactured and known to Lexus at the time they sold the vehicle to me. I wanted them to know I was aware that this was not a random defect I was dealing with.

I became eligible to send a required letter even before the transmission was replaced, and did so. The service department replaced the transmission while the certified letters were in transit to Lexus in California and a copy to the dealership (even though I verbally told them not to until Lexus told them to). Because of this possible unfair and deceptive act of the dealership, I thought I would have to start the whole process over again, because Lexus was possibly never given a valid opportunity to fix required under my state’s lemon law.

Lexus did promptly acknowledge receipt of the lemon law letter. They requested some very general information that I promptly mailed to them. Even before that information could have arrived to them I got a call from Lexus in New Jersey asking if I wanted a replacement or refund.

Please note that at this time I had a new transmission and it had not yet shown any flare, so under my states Lemon Law I believe I did not have any chance of recovering anything under it if I pursued the matter.

This leads me to wonder if Lexus will not take anyone seriously until they begin the lemon law process????

My thoughts are they do not want too many true “Lemons” and would rather have voluntary buy-backs, and are more likely to give you a buy-back if you make them notice you by starting a process that they must respond to.

I truly believe I would still be waiting for a call back from Lexus customer satisfaction if I did not send the lemon law letter.

Then again, maybe I was just lucky and my lemon law letter had nothing to do with it.

Don’t think this process is quick, even after I got their offer to purchase; it still took three more weeks to return the vehicle and get the check. I got a 100% refund, no discount for miles driven, all 3800 of them. They used a third party company to handle the buy-back which was done at the dealership.

Be careful if any of you are considering purchasing a used Tungsten Pearl ES350 with only 3800 miles!!!!!!!! SORRY!

wanderer99

Thanks for posting this information NoMoreES. I guess your first post here at CL is a positive one given your outcome! For those that have the trans problems, this is a real disaster. The only reason its not an epic disaster is because it doesn't affect all vehicles.

You already know they'll flip your vehicle and it will be put back into the marketplace. Then this cycle can begin again for some poor used vehicle customer somewhere, except they won't get a buyback.

I think the fact that you knew about the trans issues before buying the car probably helped. I'm glad our information here was helpful to you as well in your quest to get a result from Lexus.

ES350Bob

Nomore,

I'm glad that info here was helpful to you and thank you for mentioning the one use video and CVS as I am on the fence of waiting longer or just getting on with it and taking my car in for the transmission. Given my past experiences with Lexus corporate, I'm in no mood to be played this time and simply want to be prepared if I choose to take the car in to service and start all this. The one use video is a great idea, I don't need to inconvenience friends to borrow their's or assist me.

LexBob2

This is a good word of caution to anyone considering buying any brand/model of late model, low mileage used car. It should raise the question, "why is it for sale already?"

ES350Bob

Lex,

It raises questions when you look at other manufacturer's cars too when offering one in trade on another type of car. And the trade offer sucks big time as a result. They actually tell you that people will be very suspicious.

And adding insult to low trade offer injury, is when they call a Lexus dealer they give them your VIN (it is asked for by Lexus dealers in my area/state) and if it looks up as brought in for this issue or that,
it's even worse

wanderer99

I could not agree with you more LexBob2. That is exactly the question we should ask, and we all know the answer - for whatever vehicle - probably won't be the real reason it is for sale. In fact, I'm resigned to buying new from this point forward!

widlfiresd

The OP brings up a good point. Lexus, MW, MB, and all the rest are guilty of selling new cars everyday with known defects that require the buyer to come one or more times to get resolved.

Why is the industry allowed to get away with it? The warranty is suppose to address new issues that pop up along the way during the warranty period.

However, we are using our warranties to debug a manufacturers product. This infuriates me to no end.

If I were an attorney I would file a class action law suit against the auto industry and press for tighter laws.

Law #1 - No vehicle manufacturer can knowingly sell a new vehicle that is known to have a defect that:
a. would require the buyer to come back to the dealership immediately to get resolved
or
b. has no known remedy

Law #2 - All vehicle manufacturers and their corresponding dealer network must ensure all known TSB's at the time of a new vehicle sale must be performed prior on the vehicle BEING SOLD.

Cars have gotten so complicated that the lines are blurred between what is a recall and what is a system enhancement. As a consumer, when buying a new vehicle, we are entitled to a new vehicle that is congfigured with all the bug fixes the manufacturer has discovered along the way.

No more should we put up with the phrase "on a customer complaint basis, perform the following"

I know I am asking for too much. I am done ranting. I just think things should be better for the consumer dropping $50k on a car.

garsarno

As the resident e-bay motors monitor of ES350 cars for sale due to transmission buybacks, there are 6 out of 11 today. They word it so nicely:

4,897 miles "manufacturer repurchased vehicle"

2,600 miles / 3-06 build "The car was reacquired from its original owner by
2,000 miles / 3-06 build Lexus due to downtime associated with the
2,700 miles / 4-06 build installation of a new transmission under warranty"

1,200 miles "Was a manufacturers buyback for harsh shift and
transmission was replaced by Lexus"

3,014 miles "Best of all - as a reacquired vehicle (complaint -
harsh shift - Lexus replaced the transmission
assembly). As a RAV, the title is branded
"buyback".

Best of all?? The next lower thing to say would be "Salvage".......

coleco

I covered this in other threads so I wont expand too much but will add 2 cents for others that read this. I purchased a low mileage ES 350 (1100 miles or so, the previous owner wanted a larger car or I was told something like that) and found out about 10 days ago or so that when I purchased this car last August it already had a transmission replaced in it. So without going into great detail here I will just give an example of it could happen - meaning buying back and flipping. In this case right into my greedy little lap. Buyer Beware. I am going to try to remember that myself in the future. Also, no good dead goes unpunished (in this case trying to save a few bucks for the family) hehe.

garsarno

Probably the other five ES350s might have had transmission work too but the description does not give a clue. I e-mailed one of the dealerships last month and asked if the car for sale had a replacement transmission. Never received an answer.

e-man

So let's see here. If, as some say, it's the same 5-6 people always posting about the same issue over and over again, then NoMoreES must be the 7th.

NoMoreES -- nice job and great first post. I'm glad it worked out for you. Hopefully others reading this thread with the same problem will be armed with the knowledge they need to get the matter resolved to their satisfaction.

e

mel's-gs

All of this makes one break out into a bit of a sweat. I've had a weird feeling ever since I bought my car. What makes matters worse is, one person from the dealership went out of his way the other day to pointedly say that he is glad he didn't sell me the car -- that the mgr. was the one who made the final deal w/me. That's a strange thing for someone to say considering I haven't had any mech. complaints or a major prob. w/the car. Dare I say, "yet?"

e-man

I wouldn't sweat it Mel. There are plenty of people out there who own ES350s who haven't had any problems at all. For those who do have this specific problem, though, this thread is a great resource for getting a favorable resolution. If you don't have any of the problems that many CL members have experienced, then just sit back, relax and enjoy the new ES. It's a great car.

e

dunnojack

That's the most frustrating part. There's like a 50/50 chance you might get a botched car.

If they can't fix my loud rear glass rattle, and it turns out to be a body defect issue, I might even pursue a buy back. No one should have to turn the radio up loud to mask car noises.


that is why I record everything. It might come in handy later.

e-man

I feel your frustration Dunno. I was just trying to tell Mel that if he doesn't have any problems as of yet, there's a good chance that he won't.