Annual Servicing costs

Asi17 · May 5, 2017

Hi all, I'm looking to buy a rx400h and was wondering what the typical servicing costs are on an annual basis. The car in question has had full Lexus history with no expense spared e.g. Last year just over £1000, the year before £2000. I spoke to the servicing dept and they said you can spend as much or as little as you like. I would like to keep up the Lexus stamps in the service book but the costs are a bit frightening. My initial pull towards the Lexus brand was reliability but I don't want to be forking out a grand a year.

steveledzep · May 5, 2017

If you wish to spend less than £1,000 a year on servicing costs, don't buy a nine years old RX400.

Yes, Lexus are very reliable and don't go wrong a lot, but I think your budget is unrealistic for what is a premium luxury (expensive) motor vehicle. Good luck

Verbout · May 6, 2017

If you want to keep up the Lexus stamps in the service book you're going to have to pay Lexus dealer prices, it's as simple as that.

A discussion about Lexus dealer hourly rates recently on here put them at £150 and hour.

Another poster received a quote for new pads and discs on all four corners, £1700.

Wake up my friend and smell the roses.

If the car is nine years old as Steve suggests why would you want Lexus dealer stamps? I can't imagine it would add much to the resale value if you take into consideration the money you would pay for for the stamps.

Asi17 · May 6, 2017

Fair comments so far, just what I need. Are these motors easily serviceable by regular mechanics and would you recommend oem or non oem parts. I've been trawling the net for a week now trying to gather as much info as possible and typical problems are handbrake cable, pads, brakes and callipers seizing and radiators needing replacing. These have been replaced in the lifetime of the car but how regular do they occur. The car has done abut 150000 mls. Would the batteries be up for replacement soon as that would be a major cost.

sorcerer · May 6, 2017

It would be extremely rare for a hybrid Battery to fail altogether. What's most likely to happen is that individual cells will go faulty but they can be replaced individually, as and when they fail. Like with most things in life there are good independent garages/mechanics/hybrid Battery specialists out there and on a car of that age it would be stupid to not use them. The main dealers are not nicknamed 'main stealers' for nothing!

The Lexus Paradox - people are drawn to the brand because of the reputation for legendary reliability, and then often spend thousands of pounds in extended warranties because they are worried about the reliability of their car!

Lexus do indeed make VERY good and VERY reliable cars BUT - cars will, and do, go faulty. And the older they are and the more mileage they've done, the more faults will eventually crop up. It's as simple as that. Regular maintenance and looking after it well is the only thing you can do to minimise bad things happening.

I'm almost into a full year of ownership of my RX300 and I love it. It's 12 years old and done almost 93,000 miles but drives like new and with regular maintenance I hope it'll continue like that for many years to come. Unless it needs any parts that can only come from the main stealers, it will NEVER see the inside of a Lexus dealership again. I know a very good, fully qualified, self-employed mechanic who I trust and who charges very fair and reasonable prices, so it will always go to him for any work needed. If a car is 2 or 3 years old then yes, you NEED that dealer stamp in the book, but once they get past 7 or 8 years old, that stamp means nothing except that you have more money than sense (unless you're going to make it into a show car or classic, like some of the LS400 owners on here)

On the subject of maintenance and parts - if my mechanic was to say (for instance) that it needed new brake pads, I would just tell him to order them and carry on with the job. He would then contact his supplier and order them. I have no idea who his supplier is, but I trust his judgement that he will get me good quality parts from good, well-known suppliers such as EuroCarParts, BBC or whoever at realistic and reasonable prices. Remember that there is no such thing as 'Genuine Lexus/Toyota' brake pads/batteries/exhausts etc, etc, because Lexus/Toyota don't make those parts themselves - they just buy in from whoever does make them and stick their own badge on them.

And finally (because my breakfast is nearly ready ) just a point about hybrids. I'm assuming that you already know this but it's just worth mentioning that hybrids work well around town where 'milk float mode' means that the Battery does most of the work at low speeds. However, once you get up to 60 or 70mph then they become just petrol-driven cars that use a bit more petrol than they otherwise would, in order to drag around the extra weight of a very heavy Battery, so if MPG is a big consideration for you, remember to account for that. I initially thought about an RX400h but decided on an RX300 and had it converted to LPG, which works out better for us.

In summary - go for it but remember to ENJOY the car and don't worry!

Asi17 · May 6, 2017

Thanks for the reply sorcerer. Most of time it's short stop start journeys around the town, that's why the hybrid side appeals to me. Its good to know they can be maintained locally. I'm coming away from a vw tsi engine touran which have timing chain issues as standard so really looking for trouble free motoring engine wise. I don't mind spending money on a car as long as I know it's coming and no nasty surprises.

rayaans · May 6, 2017

2 hours ago, Asi17 said:

Fair comments so far, just what I need. Are these motors easily serviceable by regular mechanics and would you recommend oem or non oem parts. I've been trawling the net for a week now trying to gather as much info as possible and typical problems are handbrake cable, pads, brakes and callipers seizing and radiators needing replacing. These have been replaced in the lifetime of the car but how regular do they occur. The car has done abut 150000 mls. Would the batteries be up for replacement soon as that would be a major cost.

Yes the car can be locally maintained as the hybrid system itself does not need servicing etc.

If the car has done 150k miles and is 9 years old, I would personally not be taking it to a Lexus dealer for servicing.

The only problem that these have are seizing calipers which are easily prevented. The other things you mention are few and far between and pure luck.

Batteries should be OK to be honest, there's cars with more miles with original batteries across the pond in the US.

In terms of brake pads, if you go with brembo or Pagid, you won't go wrong.

hprice1099 · May 6, 2017

12 hours ago, Asi17 said:

Hi all, I'm looking to buy a rx400h and was wondering what the typical servicing costs are on an annual basis. The car in question has had full Lexus history with no expense spared e.g. Last year just over £1000, the year before £2000. I spoke to the servicing dept and they said you can spend as much or as little as you like. I would like to keep up the Lexus stamps in the service book but the costs are a bit frightening. My initial pull towards the Lexus brand was reliability but I don't want to be forking out a grand a year.

How much is your budget for buying a car?

Asi17 · May 6, 2017

1 hour ago, hprice1099 said:

How much is your budget for buying a car?

I'm not too sure tbh. I currently drive a vw touran 7 seater. We use the 7 seats on the odd occasion but have come to the conclusion it may be better to have a goodsized 5 seater and a small runaround due to 90% of the time our journeys only last 15 mins around the local areas. So don't really want to go too high on either car. The Lexus I was after has been sold this morning much to my horror as it had all the extras, full Lexus history with no expense spared and in the right colour for me - black. It was also only a 15min drive from me. It was up for £6000. But it wasn't meant to be, I suppose the price I am willing to pay depends on all those factors if that helps.

Asi17 · May 8, 2017

Thanks for all the replies in such a short space of time. Seems like the Lexus forums members are just as reliable as the cars. I haven't had as many responses or interest from the vw forums which is quite surprising considering the number of vw owners versus Lexus owners. Anyhow, the hunt for a new motor continues.

passman53 · May 10, 2017

Hello,

how about Lexus Essential Care? Major service £425, minor is £225 and yes you do get the book stamped. Look it up on the Lexus site. It also gives fixed prices for things like brake pads.

Pete

rayaans · May 10, 2017

58 minutes ago, passman53 said:

Hello,

how about Lexus Essential Care? Major service £425, minor is £225 and yes you do get the book stamped. Look it up on the Lexus site. It also gives fixed prices for things like brake pads.

Pete

The book doesn't normally get stamped for an Essential care service. You get an essential care "certificate" with mileage and date on it stating its been done but they won't stamp the book

Having said that, some dealers work around it by discounting their normal service prices to Essential care prices and then stamping the book

However, looking at the prices, doesn't look that much cheaper than the normal servicing and it seems to miss certain things out like greasing doors etc (for some reason its not on the normal service either but I know for a fact it gets done)

DocT · May 13, 2017

On 2017-5-10 at 5:09 PM, rayaans said:

The book doesn't normally get stamped for an Essential care service. You get an essential care "certificate" with mileage and date on it stating its been done but they won't stamp the book

Having said that, some dealers work around it by discounting their normal service prices to Essential care prices and then stamping the book

However, looking at the prices, doesn't look that much cheaper than the normal servicing and it seems to miss certain things out like greasing doors etc (for some reason its not on the normal service either but I know for a fact it gets done)

Hi guys.

I've just had an Essential Minor (i.e. Intermediate) service done on my 2010 RX450h and the service book was stamped as normal. They just wrote "Ess Care" alongside the stamp. With the Gold Member discount it was £195, which is considerably cheaper than the normal intermediate service and seems to cover the same items. (Interestingly the Minor Essential service lists 38 items whereas the Intermediate service lists 34 items although I suspect this is just down to wording.)

There certainly seems no downside to the Essential service and it is acceptable to the Lexus Warranty team.

I'll manage to grease the door hinges myself.

rynd2it · May 16, 2017

As everyone says, the dealers are just bandits - stay away. I use a local (Norwich) company that has serviced Lexus & Toyota for 25+ years and they are very reasonable indeed. Finding the right Rx400h took me a while but the wait was worth it (it's my second).

For Gods sake don't buy a black car - impossible to keep clean and they'll heat up in summer like a greenhouse. I learned this lesson the hard way and I'll never own another black car as long as I live. The Rx400h looks good in silver or light blue.

Cheers

David

royoftherovers · May 16, 2017

19 minutes ago, rynd2it said:

As everyone says, the dealers are just bandits - stay away. I use a local (Norwich) company that has serviced Lexus & Toyota for 25+ years and they are very reasonable indeed. Finding the right Rx400h took me a while but the wait was worth it (it's my second).

For Gods sake don't buy a black car - impossible to keep clean and they'll heat up in summer like a greenhouse. I learned this lesson the hard way and I'll never own another black car as long as I live. The Rx400h looks good in silver or light blue.

Cheers

David

Times are tough aren`t they David?

When we were young and wanted to save to buy a car, the only colour we could have....was black.

And we kept it clean and opened the Quarter Lights on a very hot day.

No infotainment system, heater or hazard warning lights either..

Regards

John

Enjoy the Lexus motoring

rynd2it · May 16, 2017

I repainted my first car (1934 Austin 7) turquoise blue, white leather-cloth roof and flames down the side ;-)

DanD · May 16, 2017

2 hours ago, rynd2it said:

For Gods sake don't buy a black car - impossible to keep clean and they'll heat up in summer like a greenhouse. I learned this lesson the hard way and I'll never own another black car as long as I live. The Rx400h looks good in silver or light blue.

I second that. My 450h is black and it is more difficult to keep clean than my other car which is white.

If you're lucky you might be able to find a metallic white RX450h or a metallic red one (mesa red?). These are difficult to find, especially the white one, but worth the search if you want to stand out.

rynd2it · May 16, 2017

1 hour ago, DanD said:

I second that. My 450h is black and it is more difficult to keep clean than my other car which is white.

If you're lucky you might be able to find a metallic white RX450h or a metallic red one (mesa red?). These are difficult to find, especially the white one, but worth the search if you want to stand out.

The red ones are rarer than rocking horse droppings but look brilliant. I wanted that colour in the States but it was a special order only. I got a colour called Bamboo Pearl - sort of a chameleon silver, my current one is silver.

steveledzep · May 16, 2017

Mine's a 2013 Luxury model. so a little younger than perhaps the OP is looking for. This is called Garnet Red, it really catches the light when the sun shines.

rayaans · May 17, 2017

20 hours ago, DanD said:

I second that. My 450h is black and it is more difficult to keep clean than my other car which is white.

If you're lucky you might be able to find a metallic white RX450h or a metallic red one (mesa red?). These are difficult to find, especially the white one, but worth the search if you want to stand out.

The white ones aren't hard to find, they're all metallic.

On a side note, mine is in for 5 year/50k service & MOT today.

DanD · May 18, 2017

The red one is a lovely colour. Saw one only last week and I think it is a little darker than Steve's 450h above.

I have only ever seen one white one in the UK and that was one of the sales staff own car at my local dealership.

cachaciero · May 18, 2017

On 16/05/2017 at 0:20 PM, rynd2it said:

For Gods sake don't buy a black car - impossible to keep clean and they'll heat up in summer like a greenhouse. I learned this lesson the hard way and I'll never own another black car as long as I live. The Rx400h looks good in silver or light blue.

Cheers

David

Could not agree more, the only car black is good for is a Hearse the occupant being long past caring about being kept in an oven.

Tonyd

doog442 · May 18, 2017

26 minutes ago, cachaciero said:

Could not agree more, the only car black is good for is a Hearse the occupant being long past caring about being kept in an oven.

Tonyd

Its a bitch I agree but when its clean it looks the dogs doodars..wouldn't change mine.

steveledzep · May 18, 2017

Only had one black car, a Saab 9-5 Aero about 10 years ago. I pamper my cars and it looked stunning when clean, but I vowed then I would never have another black car. It's very disappointing when it looks dirty again after only 10 minutes driving !

Spacewagon52 · May 19, 2017

On 17/05/2017 at 11:38 AM, rayaans said:

The white ones aren't hard to find, they're all metallic.

On a side note, mine is in for 5 year/50k service & MOT today.

Let us know how the service went and costings if possible. Thanks.