I wanted a good relationship with local dealer because according to the carfax they had been servicing the car for last 5 years. I thought that since they knew of the car. I was not aware of service protocol and my first visit I was treated like a skunk at a picnic. My attempts to make it better has only been marginal. My last time was for timing belt and waterpump, and that will probably be the last. anybody should be able to replace the sparkplugs and do brakes. to visit lexus for service for me is like going to the dentist.

 

I recently took the '04 LS to my local Yota dealer for an oil change and tire rotation.

They forgot to torque the lug nuts (and lost one lug nut) on my right rear wheel. WTF!!

I picked up on the fact that it didn't feel right.....within driving 5 feet. How could they attempt to deliver that to a customer??

I demanded that the tech meet me in the parking lot with a floor jack and torque wrench. Then, he took it back to the garage and re-checked all lug nuts.

I am a little less than happy right now!! That could have been fatal at highway speeds.

 

For some reason as a whole the population gives car dealers too much leeway by nature. We get many estimates for a home repair, maybe even our healthcare and dental stuff we check, but car dealers can overwhelm guests, in their house, on thier terms on service work just like selling cars. Jabberwock is right on tell them you do not need fluff and know a little about repairs,

Find a good shop or dealer, stick with em, haggle and be reasonable as they have alot of overhead and don't be afraid to call around after they give ya an estimate and insist estimate be provided quickly if you drop the car off in the am so you have time to check around or/and walk.

I guess I learned from this thread don't go to LEXUS dealers and I have had bad experiences myself before I found my current yota dealer.

Latest experience I called on pricing on my t belt job looking at under 700 bucks with tax etc all Lexus parts. My p steering pump is marginal I have the part from a salvage yard and I asked what it would be to install it when the car is apart they told me on the house, again I see these guys every month or so for oil changes at least.

Now I did not balk at the t belt price I thought it was fair as it was the same price I dickered on last time I had my previouse belt done. If they ask to charge me for the power steering flush that is fine.

Kevin and Corey are the Lexus master techs that work there I will give em 20 bucks and shake their hand.

 

Plus also the guy from CA, who might tell me I am pathetic please save it so you can so graciousely dump it on someone else.

 

my dealer is really alright. I was the problem not them. My car only had a valet key when I bought it and I bought a smart key from PARTS. I asked if they could program it for me and they called the service department and asked. They agreed and I proceeded to drive in to service thru the exit door. Front door or backdoor my friends can come in anyway, but me and them weren't friends, yet.

 

Lexus of South Atlanta has turned out to be a good dealer for those in this area. I have met a few service advisers and made "friends".

I always get the parts myself through their online department and I also negotiate the labor rate. They will work with you. At least who I have worked with. Puts the cost inline with good independent shops. Works well for my needs. But I don't do my oil changes there. I still prefer buying the oil and filter myself and looking closely at everything every 7k miles or so. Visit the good ole boys and borrow their lift for $20. I enjoy it.

 

Sorry man but I call em like I see em. You really are throwing away your money by bringing your old Lexus to a dealer. Period. But, hey, the economy needs people like that.

 

I don't know if you talking to me specifically but everything I have done has been the same price as indi shops. The advantage is getting oem parts at their best prices and paying the same labor rate as the indi shop... What you guys can accomplish at your local dealer will vary. I actually pay less often as indi shops don't want you to bring your own parts. Oem or not. Much more pleasant experience at the dealer with what I do. It's all about negotiation.

 

Guess I am lucky to have a good dealer I trust for last 5-6 years.
680.00 for t belt water pump auxillary belt job, tensioners etc extra if needed but I can use a 20% off coupon for whole work order under 1000.00 bucks
Install my tirerack snows and store my summer tires for free all winter
Oil change 11 bucks with my Mobil 1
50 bucks labor to replace a power steering pump I got for 60 bucks from a salvage yard.
Prolly a lil ol corolla for a loaner.

I will toss the tech, a master Lexus tech, 25 bucks in appreciation

Aplogize for any disrespect earlier. Thanks

 

There are going to be dishonest people everywhere you go in life.

I started working at a VW dealer a few years ago because I wanted to do something that had to do with the auto industry, hoping I might be able to advance my way to a non-customer service related position at some point.

I have since left there, worked at a Toyota dealer in the same dealer group, and am now back to a different independently owned VW dealer.

For the most part all of the techs, and service advisors I have worked with were honest. They are just there to make a living and put food on the table (like me).

There were also a few bad apples in the mix (at the Toyota dealer).
Techs who would claim to do a service but in reality do nothing but pull the car on the lift and go outside for a smoke. One tech would consistently walk out with a box of parts at the end of the day that belonged on some poor customers car. Another one of the techs tool boxes were barely visable underneath all the (full) 0w-20 oil bottles he had accumulated.

The problem at this dealer was mainly management, and the fact that most of the time technicians are unsupervised by management or that the management simply doesnt give a crap.

Being a service advisor, I was in a difficult position.
What am I supposed to do? -Confront the dishonest tech? Not my place.

I tried to talk to the manager, it seemed that he knew about it but either didnt want to spend the energy to do something, or was afraid of confrontation.

But you can't assume all places are like this.





Another thing to take into consideration for you penny pinchers out there is to factor in all the variables from dealer to dealer, labor rate, knowledge of staff, etc.

One dealer might charge $800 for a timing belt service, and another might charge $1000 because they looked the time up wrong or added up two jobs that were overlapping. Maybe one dealer has a labor rate of $90 and one of $120. These are things people fail to realized when making wild accusations of thievery.

One thing that I can say about the perception of dealers in general, is that most people think that ALL dealer employees are there to rip you off, which is obviously not true.




#1 rule as far as service goes, BE NICE.

I will go out of my way to help out people who are nice, and dont act like they are entitled to the world.