More tales from the used car purchase (last time that happens).

Driving the other night and the radio goes nuts. Changes stations, asks for a disc, changes source and stops playing. We turned the radio off and a few minutes later it turned itself on and started acting crazy again. Called the Lexus dealer this morning and have to take it to them (in another city) so they can pull the radio and get the serial off the back to submit to Lexus to see if they will pay for a replacement.

Any other ideas?

Also, curiously, they put my VIN into the Lexus system and could not find it. Freaking strange. I am starting to see a Mercedes in my future...

 

Let me get this straight, you have bought a used Lexus (?) and it has issues with the radio. It must be out of warranty since you're getting a replacement approved, and the dealer is willing to work with you, but you're not happy they were unable to validate VIN that you had provided for them.

Your overall experience of buying a used vehicle and getting warranty work done on an electronic component is leading you to replace it with a brand new Mercedes. I am going to assume there is a Mercedes dealer closer to home.

 

Wife loves driving the Lexus. Dealer is 70 miles away. The powertrain warranty is a few miles out and the overall mechanics of the car seem fine. It's little annoyances that are driving her crazy. All of it is being addressed but it is a pain to deal with as it is half a day every time I take it to the dealer.

The Mercedes SUV's are built here and the dealer is excellent so I will probably look at that route. I hate to do it but if things keep going wrong with the RX I won't have a choice. Unhappy wife is no fun.

 

3 years ago i had similar issues with my ML audio system,ejects original CD's (not burn CD's) intermittently especially when temperature is hot, I'm not even listening to a CD. It changes FM channels randomly by itself,I recorded a video and show it to a local lexus dealer and they agreed to replace it with a new head unit for free, no more "gremlins" since then. Good luck.

 

Have you run your VIN through CarFax or AutoCheck? I wonder if it is a totaled or flood car with a wiped title. Where did you find this vehicle? You have not provided the year and mileage.

 

this sounds more like a clerical error by a mistype. You can also enter your vin on the Lexus.com site to check out the service history for any reported service events.

 

The 2010 RXs had problems with their radios. Mine was replaced when I had the 2010.

 

what kinds of issues are you experiencing? So far our pre-owned 2010 RX is doing well and hopefully no issues will surface.
The only issue i had was that the previous owner's XM radio subscription ran out lol

 

FWIW, beyond unscrupluous reasons, this can happen if the Lexus was originally delivered to Hawaii or another non-US country and then came into your possession. If the VIN is genuine, a dealer can (with extra work), have it placed into the US system. I had that done when I purchased my new SC300 in Hawaii while I lived there, and the dealership I took it to in Arizona after I moved back to the mainland had to go through the process of registering my VIN in their systems as if it came in from out-of-country (issue is all Hawaii Toyota/Lexus dealerships have a direct relationship with Japan HQ, not with US HQ like mainland dealers.)

 

VIN issue is resolved. No word on whether Lexus will replace radio yet.

This is a 2010 RX 350 AWD with 70,000 miles.

 

My dealer found it for me. AWD is damn near impossible to find used here. Autocheck and Carfax were perfectly clean. It was a clerical error with Lexus. They had a number transposed even after i verified it with them twice.