I am not sure if everyone knows this so I apologize if it too 101 for you all, but one AWESOME feature of the www.lexus.com website I've been using for a long time is the online maintenance history and owner's manuals along with the recommended service intervals and what they entail.

As our beloved SC's get older, knowing which maintenance and at what intervals are important as well as logging in your DIY or non-lexus shop service is a GREAT feature for those of you who are handy or just want to save a buck or two.

All you need to do is log into www.lexus.com

Then in the bottom left corner, select owners.

Then you will need to create a username/password.

Then you can go to "add a vehicle" and add as many cars as you want by their VIN and not only will it tell you the services performed but also the original inservice date, recall information, recommended service, etc.

If you are shopping for cars like I am, you can see their maint history too.

****If anyone needs help, just PM me or post here. This is a great FREE resource****

One other neat benefit is that if you live where competition is robust between dealerships and non-lexus luxury car shops then you will get coupons in the mail for your next recommended service!

So, if you do your own A/C filter you can log that in yourself, or if you take it to a Toyota dealer you can do the same...or tires or whatever.

The GREAT benefit of course is when you sell her, you can print off in PDF format all the maint history, like this:

Dealer Reported 08/30/2007 Dave Mungenast Lexus 36156 0190204 FRONT/REAR BODY
Dealer Reported 08/30/2007 Dave Mungenast Lexus 36156 0190204 NON WARRANTABLE OPERATION CODE
Dealer Reported 08/30/2007 Dave Mungenast Lexus 36156 0190204 35000 MILE SERVICE NON WARRANTY-NON OEM
Dealer Reported 08/30/2007 Dave Mungenast Lexus 36156 0190204 AIR CONDITIONING
Dealer Reported 08/30/2007 Dave Mungenast Lexus 36156 0190204 NON WARRANTABLE OPERATION CODE
Dealer Reported 09/22/2006 Plaza Lexus 32401 0442618 30000 MILE SERVICE NON WARRANTY
Dealer Reported 09/22/2006 Plaza Lexus 32401 0442618 NON WARRANTABLE OPERATION CODE
Dealer Reported 07/11/2005 Plaza Lexus 25476 0352138 25000 MILE SERVICE NON WARRANTY-NON OEM
Dealer Reported 09/24/2004 Plaza Lexus 19540 0296023 WHEELS & TIRES

 

That's good information scdroptop. thanks,

 

How closely do you follow the maintenance they recommend?

 

pretty close...within 5k miles, definitely take care of the big ticket items. IMHO you get the money back when/if you ever sell the car because a car that has all the maint records and all services are up to date is worth SOOO much more! I know...I am looking at a lot of 2005's and 2006's that have not been properly maintained for thousands less than a CPO properly maintained SC at a Lexus Dealer or individual owner. There is a lot of "fluff" on the "inspect and re-torque flange bolts" and crap like that, but a lot has been posted about ways to do the 30k, 60k services MUCH MUCH less at a toyota dealer or compare prices and shop around. My lexus dealer I love wanted like $375 to install plugs and the other one in town wanted $250. I told them that, and they matched it!

 

INteresting. Good info. Thanks. What about like at the non-big services and they want you do all the other inspections and such over the oil change? Do you go for those as well?

 

nah....just as long as you don't have any problems, squeeks/rattles, etc. Of course as with anything if you do any extreme driving (extreme temps, lots of stop and go and lots of miles or the car sits for a long time) you may want to watch the lubrication of chassis, hinges, flanges etc etc.

 

Good stuff. Thanks.

 

+1, thanks for sharing the info, scdroptop you're the best

 

Great site intel and tip......thanks.

I did find out much to my amazement that my car when new had a fender repair and it was not told to me back in 02 when I bought the car. I asked if there were any repairs and got a NO...........Wonder what recourse after all these years I have with my dealer..............even Lexus Dealers withold facts.......interesting.

 

It's all in the wording...before I buy my next car, I am going to lay out the carfax, service records and a plain sheet of paper. On that sheet I will have them initial next to "no paint work", "no non-oem chopshop parts" and "no flood" and initial as part of the buying process! It's a wordsmithing thing! Essentially, they didn't lie, but they didn't diclose and probably figured you would never know thinking you would just look for overspray or tape marks...not realizing that VIN stickers are on each body panel!

 

+1, great idea, they'll probably think you're a lawyer