I had purchased tire and wheel protection through the Lexus dealership for 6yrs @ a negotiated $1200. I recently came across AAA’s protection plan which is $770 and also covers cosmetic/curb damage.

Does anyone have any thoughts, opinions, experience with AAA’s protection plan and how hard it is to get claims approved?

I heard Lexus’s (or whatever 3rd party they use) claim process can be lengthy so wanted to compare to see if it’s worth canceling and going with AAA instead.

 

No need for either. Waste of money imo. Just a money grab and a grab on EMOTIONS at the time of purchase. Jmo on these thgs. 40+ yrs experience on buying vehicles.

 

Exactly. Driving is risky. I have real car insurance in case a big risk shows up. And for smaller risks...minor dings, windshield crack, damaging a tire or wheel, I'll self-insure. I can't see spending $1000+ for "tire and wheel" insurance. I've only badly damaged 1 wheel in 47 years of driving. And certainly the Lexus wheels are expensive. But it's a risk that, I believe, I can more cheaply manage over the long term by self-insuring.

 

A few years ago my wife hit a sewer grating and destroyed a tire and one rim/wheel and we had to refinish a second wheel. I didn't like the tires that came with the 2020 RX350, since they constantly pulled to the left even after a wheel alignment, so I decided to replace all 4 tires with Michelin tires. The total cost was about $2k, still less than typical tire and wheel replacement and it would have only covered one tire. Since the tires on each side of the car need to have similar tread wear, to avoid damaging the drive system, I still would have had to purchase a second one to keep matched tires on car. The refurbishing of the one wheel only cost about $150 at Lexus and might have been $100 or less at at independent shop. The vehicle drives perfectly straight with the Michelin tires.

 

Buy the coverage if you want to contribute to a 90%+ profit margin sale. Not tax deductible by the way😉

 

Yep, all this stuff has marvelously high margins for the dealer. Completely unnecessary. When we bought our Lexus years ago, the finance guy (don't get me started) went down the list of all the extra stuff they wanted to sell us: extended warranty, towing packages, scratch and dent insurance, on and on and on. The grand total bill to get all of them was $9800. We started laughing, and the finance guy did a marvelous mock-shock thing, could not possibly understand how we could pass up this opportunity.

 

Like Dad used to say "Warranties are a sucker's bet". Then again, he never owned a CHrsyler. Back in our minivan days, we had an AWD Grand Caravan with an extended warranty (due to my research). Cost was about 4K - paid out 18K in after warranty repairs.

 

It was a 1976 Plymouth Valiant that convinced me to never buy an American car again...transmission crapped out at 13k miles (warranty was 12k, one year)...among other atrocities, one day I was driving down the road and the fabric on the interior above my head dropped on top of me, lucky I could avoid an accident.

 

Well, our Nissan Pathfinder went through two transmissions. The Caravan still holds the record: three.

 

This is what got me buying a Lexus in the first place. We loved our Volvos, but our wallets didn't like the repairs, too much time running to the dealer to fix stuff, so we looked for a premium brand with an outstanding reliability rating, and I'm glad we did. Hence the (arduous) search for another Lexus right now.

 

How much are the wheel packages- I declined it without even asking how much. That was after the hard sell on lifetime oil changes for $1,000.

 

I have to go back and look for the exact cost, but it wasn't that much to add to the last 2 RX's and current TX. Each time I know the coverage paid for itself. Curbs keep finding my wife for some reason.

 

I think it was $1995 at my dealership for 5 years.

 

Yikes - is that even if you replace the tires before five years? In any event, we've had one flat in the last seven years. New tire was about $250.