Maintenance Ripoff?
Had the same thing happen with a new house - had a plumbing problem and the builder blamed the tile guy that I supplied myself. If I had used all his subs, he'd have no one to point the finger at and would have had to fix it.
"The maintenance information found in your Owner's Manual and Owner's Manual Supplement represents the minimum required servicing on your vehicle....If the minimum requirements are followed, your warranty coverage will not be affected; however, we do strongly recommend following the advice and servicing of Lexus certified and trained technicians at our dealerships to avoid any inconsistencies with your warranty coverage."
Ok, doesn't that pretty much sound like a threat to me that my warranty may be void if I don't have things done and done by Lexus dealership of trained professionals?
The other problem is, of the 4 dealerships near me, 3 of them are owned by the same ownership group and have the exact same servicing costs. The other dealership is the furthest away and at the same time, the cost was almost exactly the same as the other 3 (very marginal difference). *sigh*

It is a threat, don't buy into it, at least here in the US. I'm not sure about Canada.
Here is the law for you to read:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Magnuson–Moss_Warranty_Act
They threaten us here the same way. Your car needs to go to the dealer for warranty work only. Getting an air filter, oil service, it is completely legal to use anyone one you wish, as long as they use approved parts and you keep the receipts and have the date and mileage logged just to be on the safe side.
You can even do the work yourself and keep the receipts and save even more money. It's easy as long as you have a safe way to access the underside of your car.
They don't call them 'stealerships' for nothing.








