Price difference

[is200 Newbie]

Just got round to booking the car in for the fuel seal recall - next gear box oil change and decided to get the plugs done as well

Just wondering what the price difference is between dealers or is there (should there) be a price cap

Cost to change the spark plugs - bearing in mind they are doing it along with the fuel seal recall is £300 - I am guessing plugs are approx £150 and the rest is labour so is this an average price?

[steveledzep]

A couple of years ago I had the identical vehicle to you Noo bie, but a 2008.  I was needing the plugs at the same time as the fuel recall too.  It is my understanding that a similar dismantling of the top part of the engine is required for both jobs.  I spoke with the service manager at Lexus Cardiff and he agreed to do the plugs at the same time.  Didn't charge me for fitting and discounted the price of the plugs to around £90 IIRC.

[johnatg]

You are being ripped off there, my friend. The plugs have been listed for ages on eBay by Lexus Birmingham at £79.99 - presumably any other Lexus dealer could sell them for that. (I've had them in my eBay watch list for a long time - they keep coming round. Now says 'last one' but I bet they'll be relisted). I would have thought that it would be half an hour's extra labour tops beyond the fuel seal recall.

[messi]

I used to get Denso irridum sparkplugs from rockauto, all 8 for around £34 including delivery.

But this year I thought I'd get all the parts from Lexus dealers here, 6 litres of oil, oil filter, washer, air filter, cabin filter, 8 irridum sparkplugs, all for £93, took it to my local garage, watched them do the service and was charged  £30 

[aly-g]

Had my plugs replaced back in April when the car went in for the fuel gasket replacement recall , the Lexus dealer at Edgware Road , I enquired if the inlet manifold had to be taken off to do the fuel gasket, the answer was yes so I asked what would be the charge to fit new plugs being as the top end would be stripped anyway... I was told a extra half an hours labour plus the price of the plugs so I agreed to having it done .... Take Johns advice and get the plugs from Lexus Birmingham on eBay because you will save approx £35.00 on the price of the plugs, the dealer will charge you around £115.00 Why one dealer can charge £80.00 and another £35.00 more is beyond me. 

Also like to mention  while my car was being serviced the fitter said one of the clips to a coil pack was broken and should be replaced they wanted to charge me .... Wait for it     £327.00 to replace it !!!!!!!!!!  I knew that wouldn't happen ,there is no way I was paying that much for a plastic clip ! When I got the car back I fabricated a new part for the clip to secure it to the coil pack, the cost was a piece of plastic laying around from my model making and two hours off fabrication cost to me £00.00 another few pounds saved ,they also said they thought my  radiator might ? Be leaking that will be another £1000.00 thank you very much ( by the way they never did a pressure test on the rad ? ) I had owned my car for 3 years at this point in time and never had to put a drop of coolant in it . The price paid for my basic service, mot and plug replacement was about £520.00 the bill to do everything would have been £1900.00 , I decided then that I would sell the car get myself a nice classic to replace it !

 

Allan

[madasahatter]

14 hours ago, is200 Newbie said:

Just got round to booking the car in for the fuel seal recall - next gear box oil change and decided to get the plugs done as well

Just wondering what the price difference is between dealers or is there (should there) be a price cap

Cost to change the spark plugs - bearing in mind they are doing it along with the fuel seal recall is £300 - I am guessing plugs are approx £150 and the rest is labour so is this an average price?

£300.00 for plugs is not right i payed circa £150.00 last year at Lexus Bradford. All the bits have to come off anyway to do fuel seal. 

And by the way that is free its a recall. Gear box oil is not replaceable its a sealed unit. Plugs are about £80.00 a set from Birmingham Lexus.

So inform your dealer to undo 6 coil packs and replace the plugs is circa £150.00 robbing t****

[johnatg]

12 hours ago, messi said:

I used to get Denso irridum sparkplugs from rockauto, all 8 for around £34 including delivery.

But this year I thought I'd get all the parts from Lexus dealers here, 6 litres of oil, oil filter, washer, air filter, cabin filter, 8 irridum sparkplugs, all for £93, took it to my local garage, watched them do the service and was charged  £30 

Unfortunately SC430 parts prices are not relevant to IS250 part price discussions - all parts are completely different. Rockauto don't even list plugs for IS250 - you have no choice - they need Denso FK20HBR11 and you won't find them anywhere for less than £79.99 a set (of 6). I reckon they are so expensive because there are no equivalents (whereas there are lots of equivalents for SC430) and as far as I can tell they are only used on IS250/350, some GS and LS and some big Toyota saloons. I don't know SC430 prices for filters etc, but they will be different from IS250 prices because they are different parts.

The other thing about Rockauto is that unless you are buying a lot of stuff the postage cost means a real hit. But they are sometimes useful for things you can't get elsewhere.

 

[peachy]

14 hours ago, aly-g said:

Had my plugs replaced back in April when the car went in for the fuel gasket replacement recall , the Lexus dealer at Edgware Road , I enquired if the inlet manifold had to be taken off to do the fuel gasket, the answer was yes so I asked what would be the charge to fit new plugs being as the top end would be stripped anyway... I was told a extra half an hours labour plus the price of the plugs so I agreed to having it done .... Take Johns advice and get the plugs from Lexus Birmingham on eBay because you will save approx £35.00 on the price of the plugs, the dealer will charge you around £115.00 Why one dealer can charge £80.00 and another £35.00 more is beyond me. 

Also like to mention  while my car was being serviced the fitter said one of the clips to a coil pack was broken and should be replaced they wanted to charge me .... Wait for it     £327.00 to replace it !!!!!!!!!!  I knew that wouldn't happen ,there is no way I was paying that much for a plastic clip ! When I got the car back I fabricated a new part for the clip to secure it to the coil pack, the cost was a piece of plastic laying around from my model making and two hours off fabrication cost to me £00.00 another few pounds saved ,they also said they thought my  radiator might ? Be leaking that will be another £1000.00 thank you very much ( by the way they never did a pressure test on the rad ? ) I had owned my car for 3 years at this point in time and never had to put a drop of coolant in it . The price paid for my basic service, mot and plug replacement was about £520.00 the bill to do everything would have been £1900.00 , I decided then that I would sell the car get myself a nice classic to replace it !

 

Allan

At least d1ck turpin wore a mask.

[aly-g]

Sorry to say Lexus have stuffed themselves, I've now gone and got myself a BMW e30 cabriolet and I'm  loving it, I've spent over £3000.00 on my 250 in the 3 years I have owned it and enough is enough. That was the most expensive car I had to maintain, mind you I don't think the e30 is going to be cheap ! But it is a lot more fun to drive.

Allan

 

[aly-g]

And I haven't  the worry of safety recalls that don't seem to be a very high priority !!!

[steveledzep]

Time to migrate to the BMW forum methinks.  Enjoy your new drive .

[aly-g]

As much as like the e30 I must say I did enjoy my is2 not as much as my is 200 though, and if I ever get fed up with the e30 I would replace it with a is200 without hesitation , that was the most reliable car I have ever owned and not expensive to maintain for the 12 years that I owned it, just to add I think this forum is one of the best and will still be lurking around, all the best,

Allan

[dougie175]

If you have a friendly Toyota parts guy who is willing to give away all his discount you can get IS250 plugs through Toyota, I get 90% of my parts through my Toyota dealer because we have a great relationship with them.

As for costs yes £300 is ridiculous, I did the job myself and following a youtube video it was very simple and easy to do providing you have the tools available on course! If you need the fuel seal recall however there is no way anyone can justify more than a half hour labour additional for the job