Essential service versus normal service

[Ala Larj]

My GS300h is now six years old. It's service time and I'm thinking of going for the essential service. The cynic in me thinks the dealer will find problems to increase the price. Have others have experience of the essential service both positive and negative. Is it worth paying the extra for a normal service? Thanks.

[Hangie]

Some dealers wont stamp a service book with essential service. I'm also not sure if they will provide a courtesy car but that probably it will change from place to place.

I was using standard plan till the end for my 2012 GS.

[Ala Larj]

Does essential service affect the extended warranty?

 

[Vlady]

From what I remember when I was looking at it couple years ago even for Essential service the price Lexus charges you can't be justified but this is only my opinion.

[rich1068]

I've had Essential and regular services from the main dealer on both the IS and RX. Nothing was ever added on unnecessarily but I guess that depends on your dealer. There are fewer checks made on the Essential so it's not quite as complete and I've found that "Essential" is often written in the book next to the stamp. However, when I had Gold membership on here my local dealer would offer the discount on the regular servicing but not Essential. This made the price comparable and the need to go for Essential unnecessary.

[johnatg]

There are very few differences between normal service and essential service - the stand out item is spark plugs but they charge a ludicrous price for that and it depends on mileage. If your car has done significantly less than 60K miles you don't need the plugs replacing. If more, OK you should replace them - but if you've ever changed a spark plug on any car you can do it on a 300h..

They use the same service check list (document LEX-ALL-SS-003) for essential and normal and you can check the lists of service content on 'mylexus' web site. They checked my wheel alignment on my essential service even though it isn't on the essential content list.

Other items on full list, not on essential:

Check alarm and immobiliser (you do that every time you start the car)

Inspect glass and light lenses (that gets done at the MoT) - L Stockport did it anyway.

Replace Battery in remote ( you can do it yourself for peanuts) - L Stockport did it anyway

Remember that essential only applies after 5 years old and then you have to get an MoT as well, so you get a double dose of checking each year.

Lexus Stockport didn't write essential in my service book - just 'no plugs'.

I cannot see any justification for the big difference in cost between normal and essential and essential is really an outrageous price anyway.

Maybe you can justify spending the full whack on a £40K car - but by the time it is 5 years old and more the value has greatly reduced - can you really justify spending such a lot for service over and above the essential on a 5,10,15K car? Your decision!

 

[Hangie]

Everyone find value in different things. I personally prefer to pay extra for "the experience" of Lexus showroom vs Halfords or garage in Park Royal in London.

As someone has mentioned standard service can be discounted - I was normally getting 10% off (being a loyal customer for 5 years)  so for major that was £470 vs £455. Even without a discount it is £65 difference on major and even less on minor. What you got for that (in Guildford at least) was a stamp a courtesy car. In my books it is worth the extra £15 🙂

Another topic which I believe is more interesting is main dearer vs independent servicing. Just to start with you need to deduct £59 for hybrid health check as that is just unwise not to do it for the warranty itself. Now to do a full service in any chain (ATS/Halfords/whatever) I guess you easily will spend £220. I'm almost certain it wont include rear diff oil change so that is let's say extra £50. As far I remember air/pollen filter is also included in main so that is another £50 easily if not more if OEM is used.  Adding all up £360. So yes you can save £100, a bit more if you go to indy and maybe even more if they wont give you a recipe and "save/steals" on VAT 😉 

Anyway for me £100 is worth the extras like:

- A nice courtesy car for a day

- Only one trip as I don't need to do Hybrid check separately (time + fuel saved)

- Stamp in the book which is always useful when you sell

- Quite good vac and clean

Some will get blinded and go by service names. Major service at XXX is £200 and Lexus is £500, but lets compare apples with apples. Not all major services will be equal (check previous paragraph).

There is also a reason why expensive car deprecate much more than cheap ones. As they are more expensive to maintain/repair. What is even worse with age and depreciation repair bills will just go up. Most peoples don't want to spend £500 for major service, or replace 6 iridium spark plugs if they can do 3 standard ones in theirs Jazz/Polo/Fiesta/.... 🙂

So to wrap it up. Yes Lexus servicing is not the cheapest one but in a some way it is justified, at least for me. 

[LexIS200Sport]

Well said @Hangie

[J Henderson]

I think if I had a newer car and especially a hybrid I would stick with Essential Care servicing and keep the book populated with LEXUS stamps. If nothing else it ought to make your car more desirable/easier to sell when the time comes.

My IS250 though, is nearly 10 years-old with uncomplicated mechanicals and I'm unconvinced that the dealer stamp is worth the extra £££ anymore, so I'm done.

My last bill for a Major Essential service + MOT in 2019 was over £400 and felt like poor VFM. So this year I sourced a service kit from LexusPartsDirect and got a local Lexus-savvy independent to do the work.

[Sundance]

21 minutes ago, J Henderson said:

I think if I had a newer car and especially a hybrid I would stick with Essential Care servicing and keep the book populated with LEXUS stamps. If nothing else it ought to make your car more desirable/easier to sell when the time comes.

My IS250 though, is nearly 10 years-old with uncomplicated mechanicals and I'm unconvinced that the dealer stamp is worth the extra £££ anymore, so I'm done.

My last bill for a Major Essential service + MOT in 2019 was over £400 and felt like poor VFM. So this year I sourced a service kit from LexusPartsDirect and got a local Lexus-savvy independent to do the work.

So John, as I've just joined the marque ownership in buying a 2006 IS250 SE-L ... I take it you would be confident in recommending that a good knowledgeable Indy will be the route to take regarding maintenance? It's very VERY low mileage (29k) but even then probably not likely to be worthy of a Dealer stamp would you say?.

I have to say that with all my cars I always end up with an experienced Indy, I just don't trust Dealerships to give good value for money, especially on an 'older' car.

I've never bought a new car, I'd rather find a low-cost but well kept good value older vehicle and thus far (bar one awful/risky purchase that I'd rather not talk about! 🙄) I'm grateful that the policy has worked.

[J Henderson]

@Sundance

It does sound like that would be the route to take for you, Rowley.

Don't get me wrong, when my car was newer I did take it to the Lexus dealer for servicing and quite enjoyed the "experience". I had toyed with the idea of getting an extended warranty at some point, so maintaining FLSH was something I could justify, plus the chance to drive a current model hybrid courtesy car was also something I quite looked forward to.

With each passing year though, it became apparent that barely anything goes wrong with these cars and that the servicing routine is also pretty basic - a chain-driven engine with no complex stuff like valve clearance adjustments or what have you on the schedule. Basically just fluids and filters every time apart from spark plugs at 60K, and a coolant change at 100K.

I'm not opposed to spending money on my car - I plan to keep it for a while yet and will buy & fit OEM parts no matter how old it is. It'll also always wear a matching set of premium tyres during my ownership. For servicing though, I would rather now give a local garage the work and put any money saved towards detailing products or something else that'll make better use of the money. 

[Ala Larj]

Decided on the essential service at Lexus Lincoln and received the usual excellent experience. No extras were advised. They even stamped the service book with normal stamp. The only downside during this visit was coffee in cardboard cup and no croissant or pain au chocolat. But I guess I can live with that to not get covid!

[johnatg]

Was it an 'Essential major'? Were the plugs changed?

Downgraded tiffin was due to Covid precautions.😒

[Ala Larj]

No it was an intermediate. Plugs were changed last service.