Greetings, all. I’m a prospective ES300H buyer. I believe I’ve found a good deal however the only issue is there is no documentation of the initial (5 or 10k) service on record. The car is CPO and dealer assures me it was done but yet can’t produce any paperwork. The car has 20k miles and is otherwise in immaculate condition.

1. should I proceed?

2. if I do proceed and the engine blows before warranty expires, is Lexus going to deny the claim due to lack of documented oil until 20k miles?

I understand these are reliable cars, but if I’m gonna drop 40k+ I want peace of mind this won’t be an issue. I’ll never understand people who don’t keep maintenance records for their vehicles especially ones that cost 55 new.

Appreciate your time.

Edit: It’s not documented on CarFax

 

Check it on CarFax maybe.

 

I'm just guessing here . . . since it's CPO, I'm guessing you can't be held responsible for failure to maintain that preceded your ownership. But the question for me would be - what happens after the cpo warranty expires? I did this with a CPO Hyundai. Car did not seem to be well cared for and it was one of the few CPO's available during the pandemic. No record of any oil changes! I actually assumed that given the lack of care from the previous owner that it was unlikely that there had been any oil changes. However, that had a 10 year 100,000 powertrain warranty, so I felt fairly comfortable with that.

 

Considering buying new, Lexus covers the first two services, I'm surprised there's no record. They don't change the oil until the 10k mile mark and the fact that the dealer can't produce the paperwork to prove the oil change occurred while in their possession, I'd be a bit skeptical. That being said, if you're worried about it now, your mind won't be at ease if they changed the oil now at the 20k mark. Skip it.

 

You have arguably the most dependable car on the road. I wouldn't lose sleep over that. Even if one oil change was skipped at 10K miles the engine isn't going to blow up. If they said it was done well I guess you have to take their word. I assume they would change the oil at the current 20K miles anyway.

 

If you can get the VIN for the ES300h you're looking to buy then you can lookup the service history on it for all the service performed on it by a Lexus authorized service department. You can do that by going to My Lexus and under "SIGN IN" click the "CREATE ACCOUNT" to create an owner account if you haven't done so already. Then add the VIN to your owner account. Once you've got the VIN added, you can view:

1) the factory and port installed features/packages/options for the vehicle to verify the dealer advertised features match up with the real as-built features (click through on the "VIEW SPECS" buttons until you get to a page with "DOWNLOAD VEHICLE SPECIFICATIONS" button that also has an expandable list of the same specs) and

2) the vehicle service history (on the initial vehicle page scroll down to the "SERVICE MAINTENANCE & INFORMATION" section heading and click on the "LEARN MORE" button and then on the subsequent page click on the "SERVICE HISTORY" to get an expandable list of all service visits which lists all service/maintenance work including oil changes).

If you're looking at a 2020 model year ES 300h be aware there were a small number of engines with an engine block casting issue (see DEFECT INFORMATION REPORT - RMISC-20V064-0396.pdf for details); however, if the ES you're looking at did initially have that issue it should have been inspected and corrected in the years since the problem was discovered.

 

Steer away. I think the owner just kept going. 20000 miles without an oil change, especially with the first oil is criminal.

 

Thanks. I checked the site and there was no section for service history.

 

Whoever got my ESh got lucky as I did three oil changes before 13k miles. If there's no record of it, assume it never happened. Stay away.

 

Agreed. Some lessees are irresponsible and some owners are stupid!
I paid for first oil change at 3,000 miles, used Lexus complementary one at 7,500 miles and paid for third one at 10,500 miles. All required because of passage months rather than miles and kept service records. If no records available, look for another car!

 

People are not going to find any maintenance records on my ES300h either. All maintenance items are done by myself and I have a binder where I keep all my records. Assume that the previous owner did not do any maintenance, I would still buy the car because Toyota 0w16 oil is a fully synthetic oil and wouldnt cause any problems in 20,000 miles. I have taken my favorite synthetic oil royal purple upwards to 15,000 mile OCI's and never had any issues.

 

On the Lexus driver's account, i logged all my DIY maintenance records. i nearly logged what color socks i wore that day. the record stays forever.

 

Those records may be invalid if you actually excluded your socks color - did you really forget to do that?

 

I had the same thought. It's highly probable that the previous owner either conducted their own maintenance or had it done by a third-party. This is especially evident given the excellent condition of the vehicle, and the fact that any significant issues would have been detected during the CPO service checks. However, if your mind remains unsatisfied, it is possible that doubt will persist indefinitely.

 

I'd buy it, change the oil, and enjoy my new car...