Lexus approved used car prep standards?

[corpjones]

Hi All

Was hoping for some advice, I picked up a approved used 2014 IS300H from a dealer on Sat, when I had initially seen it it hadnt been prepped at all so I was advised it was in its worst possible state and they will make it pristine if I buy and before I pickup, unfortunately on the day of pickup it was raining heavily so could not see bodywork properly, just the interior which was fine.

The next day I noticed various scratches on the bodywork and the laquer is peeling off on one of the alloys, to me it doesnt seem right that already I need to spend money on the alloy to prevent further corrosion on a approved used car, I did e-mail them photos but they advised it meets Lexus standards and there is nothing else they can do. I've purchased various approved used from different marques and the prepwork has been a lot better then what I've experienced here to be honest, the car also had a expired puncture repair kit, the MOT was not done as they promised either, their only offer is they'll do the MOT as that was missed.

Its a shame as other then that I am happy with the car so far, its very comfy and I feel like its a upgrade from Mercedes 🙂

The dealer is part of the steven eagell group, has anyone had results from complaining to head office etc? Advice appreciated and photos attached to get a second view..

[Ian M]

"Meets Lexus standards" sounds like the first email response.  I'd pick the phone up and talk to the salesman, then consider going in to see him and the sales manager so they can see the car and understand your concerns.  I certainly wouldn't be emailing head office just yet.

 

[corpjones]

2 minutes ago, Ian M said:

"Meets Lexus standards" sounds like the first email response.  I'd pick the phone up and talk to the salesman, then consider going in to see him and the sales manager so they can see the car and understand your concerns.  I certainly wouldn't be emailing head office just yet.

 

Yep I did speak to the Salesperson initially and got no where, then sent a polite e-mail to one of the managers and his response was it meets Lexus standards, so I think next step would be going higher up the chain I'm guessing 🙂

[PCM]

... how was it described in the advertisement? 

I agree, the wheels look sad.

[Mincey]

44 minutes ago, PCM said:

... how was it described in the advertisement? 

I agree, the wheels look sad.

I'm slightly concerned now, as I was told that all the alloy woes were long since gone when I picked up my IS300h....

[corpjones]

47 minutes ago, PCM said:

... how was it described in the advertisement? 

I agree, the wheels look sad.

It was a pretty standard advert listing car features etc, nothing about condition, I was then told on the day it's not been prepped for selling so it will look pristine once prepped, I put down a deposit on that basis, it was unfortunate it was raining so heavily when I picked it up as if hid the issues.

[PCM]

Did you receive the Multi-point quality check list?

Does it reference wheels...?

[Hangie]

To give some fairness to the seller, you can't expect to buy an used car without any cosmetic issues. Like small paint scratches seen on your pictures. Do you expect they will re-paint whole panel because of those scratches ? To be honest I would prefer a small scratch on original Japanese paint rather that UK pre-sales job 🙂

alloys does look pretty nasty but again it is cosmetic only and maybe car was priced accordingly. 

I believe it is all up to the price. After all dealers are taking almost anything as part-ex. Those with cosmetic issues will be cheaper compared to more those in better condition.

 

https://www.lexus.com/documents/brochures/cpo/Lexus-Certified-Pre-Owned-161-point-checklist-brochure.pdf - this one looks like US version checklist but UK one is probably similar. Still no definition what is "Lexus standard".

 

PS. As for the alloys they looked like re-painted in the past already. Maybe before previous sale;)

[doog442]

I can understand your disappointment. Ask to speak to the dealer principal if they don't play ball. A few scratches are to be expected on a six year old car and are easily rectified so would ask for them to be done. It may not be a perfect repair, say a touch up. The alloys are totally unacceptable for a used approved, I wouldn't have collected the car with them in that state. 

It really wouldn't cost them much to sort out those issues so make it politely clear you're unhappy and if they want future servicing, MOT's and possible purchases from you ask them to rectify it. 

I've taken a few vehicles back with previously unnoticed things (scratches on bodywork / cigarette burn on upholstery etc) over the years and within reason they've been sorted.

[Barry14UK]

alloys look poor.  I suppose an idea would be to go to a different Lexus dealer group with the car (if there is one not too far away) and ask them what further they would do if selling the car to bring it up to approved Lexus standard.  In need you are going back to original dealer for MOT anyway, you could say car was not prepared to a satisfactory and you want your money back.  That might get some compromise. 

[Inazone]

How many miles and what did you pay? This will give us a better understanding as to whether you have been done... As an example I paid just over £17k for 21k miles on a 64 plate. My body work was pretty good, had a couple of little scratches here and there. alloys in good condition, although some do have scratches on them. I didn't buy from lexus but the car supermarket was very good and had some very nice prestige cars. For the money I was happy.

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[corpjones]

Thanks all, £14,350 for 63 plate with over 62k miles

[Inazone]

Thanks all, £14,350 for 63 plate with over 62k miles

Reasonable money for a reasonable condition car in my opinion. Especially from a lexus dealer. Not sure you will be able to get all of your issues resolved, however you are looking at 300 quid to get the wheels refurbished to new and I would ask the dealer to supply a paint touch up kit free of charge, and sort the small scratches out myself...

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[corpjones]

Spoke to another dealer with the photos and they advised they would never send wheels out in that condition regardless of price as they will deteriorate pretty quickly in their view which goes against the peace of mind of approved used, I'll ask for the complaints process.

[Jayw13702]

At the very least I would expect the wheels to be refurb’d and cost to be met by the dealer.
Scratches and dinks are disappointing and as has been said the very least they could do is supply a genuine touch up.

I would ping the dealer principle an email with your complaint, also add that another dealer has commented that they would have dealt with the wheels before collecting.
If that doesn’t work then I would be talking direct to Lexus.


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[Barry14UK]

I would have thought that the Lexus dealer who bought in this car, doubtless as a part ex,  would have allowed the owner at the time a lesser amount on it on the basis they would either to have to do some work done on it (at very least the wheels) or sell it on to a garage with lower standards or even to auction..  Quite frankly, I am surprised that a good Lexus dealer would put it on display int this condition.  Maybe he saw how keen you were and thought he would have a quick sale by doing minimum work.

[m4rkw]

As far as I can tell “approved used” means nothing other than “we approve of you giving us money for this”. Treat it as such and do your due diligence as you would when buying a car anywhere else.

[200h]

when the dealer gave the previous owner a PX valuation the price would of been

reduced due to the scratches on the body and the state of the alloy wheels

so they should have the money to repair the damaged areas

personally i find you can do a far better job of getting your car looking good

over the dealer as they get a 3rd party in to give the cars the quickest clean possible

i have never been happy with lexus pre delivery prep

[sanjb]

Sorry to hear that.

I am having same issues with Lexus Cheltenham (Listers Group) with the condition of my car when i received it. When i went to purchase it , it had marks and scratches everywhere and the bumper protector was hanging off. They marked the cars faults with white wax and said they will all be sorted by collection to Lexus standards. So bought it and transfered money.. Collection day was when the lockdown started 23rd. So a 2hr train journey took took 4.5hrs. When i got there i nearly cried the car hadn't been even washed properly.

Everywhere the white marks where , they're was light scratches. The top of the bumper now had 2 chips on each side where they removed the protector. I took a video and sent it to my detailer who just by video said about £500-600 to repair the damage they had done. I had to wait 1hr for them to clean it (which i should have got a supermarket car wash to do)

I said this to the sales man who spoke to his manager and said literally "we will not be spending any more time on this and are happy to cancel the sale as others are interested.

I had no way home really and due to my last one being stolen my heart said ill take it as it was an upgrade to my last one.

I have twice claimed on insurance for the repairs to the bumper. I sent them an official report from my detailer ref paint thickness etc. Everywhere the marked and worked on had degradation. I sent an email to ask for them to at least pay for the paint correction as they caused the damage. Thank god i took a video of damage with white marks on and proves what i said (don't think they know i got the video).

The reply "He explained that the car had been prepared to an acceptable standard for its age and mileage and that we would not be carrying out any further work on the car." 

The difference in standards is unbelievable when i got the first one from Croydon i could eat my food off any part of it, Listers Cheltenham i don't think so

I will now go to head office with this as have no other solution really.

I love my 2nd Lexus it's now the car i wanted!!!  minus ceramic coating (for now) next month hopefully.

New sound system and rear spoiler just waiting until i can use my number plate again and voila!!!!

 

[200h]

i bought my car 2nd hand it was 11 months old and on a pcp

and what lexus dont do is document any damage on the vehicle

when you took ownership of it ,this is very important incase you

hand back the car as you will get billed for ALL damage even

the damage before you owned the car or the car should be prepped

to a standard that lexus would accept if you returned the car now

[Spottedlaurel]

Sorry to hear of your issues.

When I bought an RX last year I made the mistake of thinking the Lexus approved scheme meant I didn't have to check it too carefully.

When I was cleaning it at home a week or two later I noticed the plastic undertrays were damaged and held on with cable ties and the exhaust system had a reasonably sizeable dent in it. Seems like it had been off-roading (intentionally or not).

I got into a rather protracted debate with the dealer principal, he was an idiot and got rather upset, admitting at one point that he didn't know much about cars.

In the end they agreed to replace the plastic undertrays but wouldn't do anything about the exhaust (probably because it wasn't a warranty item and would cost them ££££s). Fortunately I was within the period where I could exchange it for something else, luckily they'd had something better come in and I had that instead.

The car then turned up at an independent sales place and I believe has now been exported.

All in all not a great experience. I shall certainly be more wary next time.

[PCM]

Always had great service from Stoke, Coventry and Ipswich.

 

[Mikey B]

My experience with Cheltenham was also pretty poor- Lexus asked me for feedback and I scored them fairly (think I gave them 3/5 in one area for the scratches they promised to repair but didn't) - dealer principal called me and left a slightly irate message wanting me to explain my score and call him back.

Tried to call him on 2 occasions and both times he was busy but would call me back - never did

[royoftherovers]

2 minutes ago, Mikey B said:

My experience with Cheltenham was also pretty poor- Lexus asked me for feedback and I scored them fairly (think I gave them 3/5 in one area for the scratches they promised to repair but didn't) - dealer principal called me and left a slightly irate message wanting me to explain my score and call him back.

Tried to call him on 2 occasions and both times he was busy but would call me back - never did

Poor service as you say, Michael.

It is a pity that you did not email the Dealer Principal to remind him that he had twice forgotten/overlooked to call you back and showed clearly on your email that you were copying Lexus Customer Service.

Lexus Cheltenham will reap as it sows!

[Mikey B]

4 minutes ago, royoftherovers said:

Poor service as you say, Michael.

It is a pity that you did not email the Dealer Principal to remind him that he had twice forgotten/overlooked to call you back and showed clearly on your email that you were copying Lexus Customer Service.

Lexus Cheltenham will reap as it sows!

Took my opportunity to remind them when they called to say it was due a service!