Free Maintenance on 2008 Models!
 

Anyone else here pissed that their recently purchased 2007's aren't eligible for free maintanance for the first 48 months??


http://www.lexus.ca/lexus/experience...plimentary.jsp

I haven't read anything about this program in the US.

There must be some competitive activity in Canada that is driving this offer. It's great if you're buying an '08!

You're probably right. I think it's called "dollar parity'. You see, I paid just under MSRP for my base ES350 in June ($41,900 CDN- they took off a thousand dollars).

If I'm not mistaken, that's about how much the Ultra version goes for in the US. The base is $33,170 in the states. By the way, CDN dollar pretty much matches the US dollar these days, and has been pretty close for the last six months.

So their solution? Here's maybe two grand worth of "free" maintenance. Still doesn't explain an almost $10,000 difference between buying a car here versus over the border.

they are making so much more $ on rides up in CAN now. you guys should come down, buy a ride and drive it back up. even after tax, you can still save a lot more

The problem with buying a US car compared to a car originally bought in Canada is the speedometer and odometer reads in kilometers, fuel and other fluids are measured in Liters, plus a few other things that are different, of which I'm not aware of. :)

yea.. my friend lives in vancouver. his dad got a land cruiser in the usa and drove it back up. some of the rides comes with km/m in the speedometer anyway. if not, just go easy on your foot. :)

FWIW - this is reverse the situation between Toyota USA and CDN and totally unrelated to cars... I'm into sleds and think maybe this sheds some light on "running cross the border to buy."

Bombardier tells U.S. dealer to stop selling to Canucks
No more buying rec vehicles with hot loonie

Mon Oct 15 2007

By Aldo Santin


Ron Thompson says he wasn’t protected from Americans heading north to buy when the greenback was strong.

A Grand Forks snowmobile dealer said he's been ordered by Quebec-based Bombardier Recreational Products Inc. to stop selling snow machines, ATVs and watercraft to Canadians who are looking to take advantage of the rising value of the Canadian dollar.

Ron Thompson, owner of Gateway Sports in Grand Forks, said over the course of the past two weeks Bombardier -- which manufacturers the popular Ski-Doo and Sea-Doo vehicles -- ordered him to impose a surcharge to Canadians of several thousand dollars on sales, and ultimately to not make any sales at all.

"Canadians want to buy a Canadian product but I'm not allowed to sell it to them," Thompson said. "I had more than 35 calls from Canadians last week and another 10 calls this week," adding he had to turn those inquiries away.

Thompson said Canadians can save several thousands of dollars on the purchase of a snow machine. The Renegade X 800 model sells for $10,000 at his shop, he said, adding it would go for $13,000 to $14,000 in Winnipeg.

Thompson said Bombardier's standard policy had been for its dealers to impose a 7.5 per cent surcharge on all sales to Canadians. Then two weeks ago, Bombardier altered the surcharge fee to 7.5 per cent or $1,250, whichever is greater. Last week, Bombardier imposed a $3,000 surcharge on sales. And earlier this week, Thompson said a Bombardier representative told him not to sell to Canadians at all.

"They said it's to protect the Canadian dealers but when the Canadian dollar (was at 70 cents) and Americans were going north to make their purchases, nobody was protecting my interests," Thompson said.

Thompson said Bombardier will void the warranty on any craft purchased by a Canadian in the United States -- even if the purchase was initially made by an American -- and it has threatened to cancel dealership arrangements with dealers who sell to Canadians.

"I'm paying $5,000 a month interest on the inventory I have but I'm not allowed to sell to Canadians who are trying to save some money," Thompson said. "It's just not right."

Bombardier spokesman Pierre Pichette, vice-president of communications and public affairs, said the Quebec-based firm has always assigned geographic boundaries to its dealerships and financial penalties to enforce the terms of the agreements.

Pichette said dealers are not allowed to sell to citizens of another country, adding the policy is based on market analysis and ensures that dealers can not only sell but also service the products they sell.

Pichette said the penalty was repeatedly increased in the past two weeks to prevent American border dealers from buckling to pressure from Canadian customers.

"We've had to make adjustments (to the penalty) for today," Pichette said, adding in the past dealers had to get permission from the company before it sold a product to someone from outside its boundaries and a financial penalty was always imposed.

Pichette said the company policy also applies to Canadian dealers, adding they are not allowed to sell to Americans.

Phew! I bought my ES on the 3rd this month. Good thing my salesman told me to wait for October because he believed the rates will go down. Now I'm also eligible for this maintenance also:D

Did you buy an 08 or 07 model. I picked up my 07 on October 2nd, i hope this applies to my vehicle.

Demand that it does. If they say no write to Lexus Canada president, Mr.Yoishi Tomihara and demand it. You bought your car in 07, same price point as the 08, same car and the only reason Lexus is doing this is a lame attempt tp draw attention away from the mega differential between US and Canadian pricing for the same cars.:thumbdn:The ES and the IS is about $10-12000. difference...pure gouging/ripoff.:thumbdn: I bought a 07 IS350 in Feb.07. I plan to write and demand the no-cost maintenance.
Let us know how you make out.

Thanks for your advice, i am righting to Cutstomer Service right now, and then take it from there.

I bought a '08 model :D

Writing in is a great idea. Does anyone have a direct email address for someone fairly high up? All that's on their web site is a form, which I'm sure will just go to some lower-level call center flunky to reply back to with a canned response. This is one case where going up the food chain will help, and if enough of us send to one person we may get heard!

Yes, I'm replying to my own post. The email address is lexus_feedback@lexus.ca. They don't have any specific individual or department that handles these types of complaints. It's worth a shot..