My Dad went into his lexus dealership today to have some warranty work done on his RX. When they gave him a loaner car, they told him he had to fill the gas tank back up to the level it was when he left the dealership. Is that standard Lexus policy? When I had my Infiniti G35 worked on, Infiniti never told me to fill the gas tank back up in the loaner car they gave me.

I know this isn’t that big of a deal but, I just want to know what to expect if I ever have to take my IS in for warranty work.

Thanks in advance for your help.
Erock

 

I took my car in at 1000 miles to have the personalized settings done, and they gave me a loaner RX because I came came in at the end of the day. I returned it nearly on empty and they were ok with that.

 

My experience is just the opposite. No gas refills for Lexus loaners, but refill expected for Infiniti.

 

Different dealers have different policies and even different loaner cars. A *few* dealerships use Toyotas or sometimes rental cars for their loaners, most use RX and ES models. Mine also used to use IS Sportcross.

My local dealer does not require the tank to be filled and they always give Lexus loaners.

Do a search on the forum for 'lexus loaner' and you'll find lots of different threads on this same topic to give you some good broad experience.

Examples among many others:


https://www.clublexus.com/forums/sho...t=lexus+loaner
https://www.clublexus.com/forums/sho...t=lexus+loaner
https://www.clublexus.com/forums/sho...ghlight=loaner
https://www.clublexus.com/forums/sho...ghlight=loaner
https://www.clublexus.com/forums/sho...ghlight=loaner

 

I have been dealing with the same Lexus dealership, Lexus of Silver Spring (Md.), for over 10 years and have NEVER been asked to refill a loaner (always a Lexus) vehicle. Most recently, my wife had to use a loaner for over 2 weeks because the service department was awaiting a part for the moonroof on our `04 GX470. In the instance I am referring to, rather than have us refill the tank and be reimbursed, the service department staff told my wife to come and get another loaner when the tank was empty. In my opinion, that's taking good care of your customer and that's the reason why I have purchased 5 Lexus vehicles from this dealership.

 

LeslieRC - I live right down 29 from Lexus of Silver Spring and want to setup an order for a new IS350. Do you have any names down there for whom i should talk to?

 

My salesman was a guy named Mike Murphy. Mike is still at the dealership, but switched jobs and is now in the Service Department. If it were me, and I was in the market, I would call Mike and ask him to refer me to someone at the dealership. [It was my former salesman, from whom I had previously purchased 2 Lexus cars, who referred me to Mike.]

Here's an experience I had in `04, to give you some sense of this guy. I was driving my old `02 SC430 home when I hit a pothole and blew both front and rear tires. I telephoned Lexus Roadside Assistance and requested a flatbed tow. 5 hours and repeated telephone calls to Roadside Assistance later, and the tow never came. I telephoned the dealership, spoke with Mike and told him what had happened. He called another towing service and told me to call him in 15 minutes if the service did not arrive; he added that if the service wasn't there in 15 minutes he would personally come with a loaner for me and wait with my car. The tow truck arrived, took me and my car to the dealership where Mike had a loaner clean, gassed, and running for me.

Call Mike and let him know that I told you about this experience. Good luck!

 

Now that is good service....wish there were more salesman and saleswoman like that out there...I am sure there are you just got to find them (and this board is the way to do it)

 

i think it is safe to assume that policy is set by the dealer. I dont see whats the problem though - if you had your car, you would still fill it up...

 

my dealer always gives brand new RX and ES with a full tank or close and they tell me not to pput gas in it.

 

I have never gotten a loaner vehicle from Lexus so far. But I have got a FX35 from an Infiniti dealer, and the guy told me to refill it to the orginial level when I returned the car. I guess it is understandable.

 

My dealer (Bell Lexus in Phoenix) asks $5.00 for the loaner. No need to fill gas. All things considered, especially with the price of gas being so high, not really a big deal. They usually give ES, RX or IS.

 

i guess i am just lucky, i have gotten TONS of loaners before, but i have never had to fill up the gas at all (they come in all different level, you just fill it up if you have to), and i have never had to pay a dime for my loaner. heck, it's not like they pay me back for the time my car is in the shop anyway.

as long as it's a reasonable service (not an oil change...) it's all good

 

yeah, it varies by dealer. san diego has one dealer that charges a flat $15.00 for loaners, no gas refill needed. but i still think it's bogus and don't go there for service or for sales, because i don't like them anyway.

the other two dealers have free loaners but when you sign the form it says you should refill it, otherwise they'll charge you $5/gal. even though they say it, i never do it, and they never charge me for it. so don't worry if they say it or make you sign the paper. one time my sister brought back a loaner for me and picked up my car when i had to go out of town. not knowing, she filled up the loaner and when she got there she asked the guy if she could have left it empty, and they said yeah, you didn't have to fill it up.

 

I never had to put gas in at LEXUS of glendale they have always been good to me.