I have no experience in car repair or maintenance. I bought this 2011 Lexus RX350 pre-owned certified car and find there are lots of rust and corrosion underneath the car, some rust eat away superficial metal and the bolts head are all rusted. The outside and interior are all like new (dealer reconditioned). my question is do I need to do some preventive measure to prevent further deterioration? How and who can do it? Is this acceptable as pre-owned certified car? Do dealer only do the superficial make up to sell the car? Thanks.

 

Those two bolts are for alignment. I'd get the dealer to replace those. It'll only get worse, rust spreads.

 

Have you tried calling your Lexus dealer you bought it from. I have found Lexus to be very inclined to help customers who are reasonable. To me it seems that they would help you. You bought a CPO car and its rusting. I would give them a ring and show them the picture and explain it to them. I have never had a bad experience with Lexus. They have said no to me, but they always give me an explanation that is valid why it would not be covered under warranty. They have even tested 2 RX's back to back to show me that my car was operating normally. They are also the only brand that has ever made warranty repairs on their own without even me knowing their was problem. Ie my suspension had some problem and they called me to see if the car could keep the car for a extra day to fix it. I didn't even know a problem had existed in the first place. It's a testament to their integrity.

 

Rust doesn't sleep. In particular, as mentioned by wolverine, the rusty alignment adjustments may cause problems in the future if you need an alignment. The dealer, or any reputable independent shop, could switch out all the rusty bolts/parts with new. Whether this is acceptable or not is a matter of the seller's integrity. The bottom line is that a buyer should always inspect the vehicle they are purchasing. I see this as really no different than if the hood had a rusty spot and you bought the car only to notice it later. It's certainly worth bringing the rusty bottom side to the dealers attention. They may very well work with you from a customer service standpoint. Many times dealers will sell a vehicle without full reconditioning and hope the customer never discovers the issue(s) and save the money up front (ie - more profit). Many times they will go ahead and make it right if the customer discovers the issue(s) and makes it known. On the flip side, they could also very well say that it doesn't affect the car's performance and it was there when you bought it. It's not like the rust was hidden from plain sight.

 

If its CPO through Lexus, they will fix it with no hassle.