Buying an IS300H F sport (out of warranty vs in)

Adj209 · September 2, 2022

Hi guys,

I'm pretty settled on wanting an F-sport IS300H - Anything from 2013 onwards. At the moment I am conflicted - £15k is the top end of my budget. My annual mileage is very little probably 3-4k. My next car is expected to last me as long as possible.

£15k gets me a 13/14 IS300H probably around 60-90k miles - which is fine but lout/almost out of warranty. Is this a big deal? - If this was the case I would NOT service it at lexus given the expensive servicing cost but instead get it done cheaper at an independent (FSH doesn't matter as I won't be selling it afterwards)
£17k or so can instead get me a 15 IS300H around the same mileage but with a good warranty i.e. 2-3 years or so - But I would be obliged to pay for the expensive yearly servicing at lexus which you guys peg as a minimum of £300.

What do you guys recommend?

Thanks.

DBIZO · September 2, 2022

It really depends on your comfort zone with having a car in or out of warranty. These cars should last well beyond 150k+ miles, so with your 4k per annum, it will take 15 years to get there even from 90k.

If I were in your position, I'd go for an older, higher mileage car (as long as its in nice condition, I can't stand scruffy cars), from private seller even to get a lower cost, but get on a negotiated Lexus service plan to get a rolling 12-month warranty. It's mental hygiene for me. If you've got a garage you really like and trust with a hybrid car, that's probably different. I don't.

royoftherovers · September 2, 2022

36 minutes ago, Adj209 said:

Hi guys,

I'm pretty settled on wanting an F-sport IS300H - Anything from 2013 onwards. At the moment I am conflicted - £15k is the top end of my budget. My annual mileage is very little probably 3-4k. My next car is expected to last me as long as possible.

£15k gets me a 13/14 IS300H probably around 60-90k miles - which is fine but lout/almost out of warranty. Is this a big deal? - If this was the case I would NOT service it at lexus given the expensive servicing cost but instead get it done cheaper at an independent (FSH doesn't matter as I won't be selling it afterwards)

£17k or so can instead get me a 15 IS300H around the same mileage but with a good warranty i.e. 2-3 years or so - But I would be obliged to pay for the expensive yearly servicing at lexus which you guys peg as a minimum of £300.

What do you guys recommend?

Thanks.

Warranties can now go to 150,000 miles.

agent_dess · September 3, 2022

Personally I would avoid 13/14 from my observations they seem to have had the most issues and by 15 plate they had ironed all the links out.

Adj209 · September 3, 2022

10 hours ago, agent_dess said:

Personally I would avoid 13/14 from my observations they seem to have had the most issues and by 15 plate they had ironed all the links out.

Can you elaborate? I haven't heard of this at all

IS300FSPORT · September 4, 2022

For the life of the Hybrid Battery go with 15 reg onwards.

If you go for a 13 reg in 2023 its 10 year old, the main dealer Service only covers Hybrid Battery upto to 10 year old providing you get it serviced from Lexus they extend the warranty for 1 year, something to think about although to be fair the failure rate is low.

Certain people may disagree but with higher mileage examples comes wear & tear regardless of age. Maintenance record is critical & let me assure a full main dealer service record does not mean anything. Having been in the trade they can skimp on certain elements alot of the time it is a checkup the technicians undertake not doing actual preventative maintenance. The following items likely need replacing or require attention after >100k+, Hybrid filter clean, Oxygen sensors, corroded exhausts usually back box, lower control arms, drop links, tie rods, ball joints, shock absorbers, MAF/MAP sensors, coolant flush 100k, spark plugs 60k interval, differential fluid, CVT gearbox service, brake fluid 2 years, belts, water pump, etc & if your not handy at DIY this is where it gets expensive. There is no lifetime fluids for long term ownership buy around 60k and maintain it yourself if possible just my 2p on it.

wharfhouse · September 4, 2022

5 hours ago, IS300FSPORT said:

For the life of the Hybrid battery go with 15 reg onwards.

If you go for a 13 reg in 2023 its 10 year old, the main dealer Service only covers Hybrid battery upto to 10 year old providing you get it serviced from Lexus they extend the warranty for 1 year, something to think about although to be fair the failure rate is low.

Certain people may disagree but with higher mileage examples comes wear & tear regardless of age. Maintenance record is critical & let me assure a full main dealer service record does not mean anything. Having been in the trade they can skimp on certain elements alot of the time it is a checkup the technicians undertake not doing actual preventative maintenance. The following items likely need replacing or require attention after >100k+, Hybrid filter clean, Oxygen sensors, corroded exhausts usually back box, lower control arms, drop links, tie rods, ball joints, shock absorbers, MAF/MAP sensors, coolant flush 100k, spark plugs 60k interval, differential fluid, CVT gearbox service, brake fluid 2 years, belts, water pump, etc & if your not handy at DIY this is where it gets expensive. There is no lifetime fluids for long term ownership buy around 60k and maintain it yourself if possible just my 2p on it.

The hybrid Battery is covered for 15 years and unlimited mileage by Lexus so long as you have a hybrid health check every 12 months or 10k miles (done automatically with a Lexus service or can be paid for). Also there is the Lexus 10 years plus extended warranty that can be taken out after 10 years / 100k miles until the car is 15 years old / 150k miles (whichever comes soonest) at around £500 a year (but requires servicing at Lexus). Of course more items need maintenance and sometimes replacement as a car ages but there are options to limit the risk.

royoftherovers · September 4, 2022

1 hour ago, wharfhouse said:

The hybrid battery is covered for 15 years and unlimited mileage by Lexus so long as you have a hybrid health check every 12 months or 10k miles (done automatically with a Lexus service or can be paid for). Also there is the Lexus 10 years plus extended warranty that can be taken out after 10 years / 100k miles until the car is 15 years old / 150k miles (whichever comes soonest) at around £500 a year (but requires servicing at Lexus). Of course more items need maintenance and sometimes replacement as a car ages but there are options to limit the risk.

Remember Phil, the Hybrid Battery is covered for 15 years but only 10,000 miles thereafter each year.test.

I do not believe it covers the Hybrid System, which is why I believe that the extra 150,000 mile warranty is so important for us owners of these older vehicles.

The Hybrid System embraces additionally,

the Hybrid Battery electronic control unit, the System central electronic control unit and the System inverter and converter.

Of course I would expect the now standard 10 warranty to cover these system items.

I am liaising with Lexus Customer Services for confirmation and will share my findings.

Spock66 · September 4, 2022

1 hour ago, royoftherovers said:

The Hybrid System embraces additionally,

the Hybrid Battery electronic control unit, the System central electronic control unit and the System inverter and converter.

And an electric motor or two 🙂

wharfhouse · September 4, 2022

2 hours ago, royoftherovers said:

Remember Phil, the Hybrid Battery is covered for 15 years but only 10,000 miles thereafter each year.test.

I do not believe it covers the Hybrid System, which is why I believe that the extra 150,000 mile warranty is so important for us owners of these older vehicles.

The Hybrid System embraces additionally,

the Hybrid Battery electronic control unit, the System central electronic control unit and the System inverter and converter.

Of course I would expect the now standard 10 warranty to cover these system items.

I am liaising with Lexus Customer Services for confirmation and will share my findings.

Yes that's always a good point, I have mine every 10k miles with the service as I do around 15k miles a year. I'll be interested to hear what you find out too - my 10 years plus extended warranty (this was the first year of it) will be due for renewal in November.

This link describes what is done / covered with the hybrid health check: https://mag.lexus.co.uk/lexus-hybrid-health-check-2/

royoftherovers · September 4, 2022

30 minutes ago, wharfhouse said:

Yes that's always a good point, I have mine every 10k miles with the service as I do around 15k miles a year. I'll be interested to hear what you find out too - my 10 years plus extended warranty (this was the first year of it) will be due for renewal in November.

This link describes what is done / covered with the hybrid health check: https://mag.lexus.co.uk/lexus-hybrid-health-check-2/

I will share whatever I receive from Lexus CS, Phil

That link is confusing and possibly misleading. It more than implies that the system is checked,but it only guarantees the Hybrid Battery !

Thus if an inverter fails,it will impact the performance/operation of the Hybrid Battery which itself is not faulty ! Hence the need for the 10 year plus extended warranty to be paid for.

Adj209 · September 5, 2022

On 9/4/2022 at 12:40 PM, royoftherovers said:

I will share whatever I receive from Lexus CS, Phil

That link is confusing and possibly misleading. It more than implies that the system is checked,but it only guarantees the Hybrid Battery !

Thus if an inverter fails,it will impact the performance/operation of the Hybrid Battery which itself is not faulty ! Hence the need for the 10 year plus extended warranty to be paid for.

On 9/4/2022 at 8:31 AM, wharfhouse said:

The hybrid battery is covered for 15 years and unlimited mileage by Lexus so long as you have a hybrid health check every 12 months or 10k miles (done automatically with a Lexus service or can be paid for). Also there is the Lexus 10 years plus extended warranty that can be taken out after 10 years / 100k miles until the car is 15 years old / 150k miles (whichever comes soonest) at around £500 a year (but requires servicing at Lexus). Of course more items need maintenance and sometimes replacement as a car ages but there are options to limit the risk.

It seems very excessive to pay for 1. Extended warranty at £500 a year 2. Lexus servicing at £300-700 a year - I was hoping that annually I'd only have to pay £10 road tax, £200-600 on servicing and MOT and £1000-1200 on insurance.

Sounds like I'm better off getting a car within the 10 year warranty?

royoftherovers · September 5, 2022

29 minutes ago, Adj209 said:

It seems very excessive to pay for 1. Extended warranty at £500 a year 2. Lexus servicing at £300-700 a year - I was hoping that annually I'd only have to pay £10 road tax, £200-600 on servicing and MOT and £1000-1200 on insurance.

Sounds like I'm better off getting a car within the 10 year warranty?

Look at it from the point of view of us oldies who wish to keep the car we know and love and cherish.£500 for an (almost ) all embracing warranty on a 10 year old, perhaps 130,000 miles vehicle is a small price to pay ?

IS300FSPORT · September 5, 2022

They generally dont go wrong unless you buy one with high miles thats not been maintained. Your maintenance in theory is your warranty, but it is good insurance if you have the spare cash to take out a warranty.

Its not your typical German models that require parts thrown at them frequently. Lexus owners sleep well at night :yahoo:

serbarry · September 5, 2022

£500 every year for 5 years until the car is 15 year-old is £2,500. How much would it cost to replace a faulty inverter? Is it more than £ 3,000? Considering how usually reliable these cars are I am not sure if it is really convenient to pay £500 a year for the extended warranty.

Spock66 · September 5, 2022

1 hour ago, Adj209 said:

It seems very excessive to pay for 1. Extended warranty at £500 a year 2. Lexus servicing at £300-700 a year - I was hoping that annually I'd only have to pay £10 road tax, £200-600 on servicing and MOT and £1000-1200 on insurance.

That's the top of the range solution with greatest peace of mind.

At the other end of the scale if you are only doing 3-4k a year you could probably get away with a service every 2-years, the intermediate MOT should spot any major issues, but obviously less protection and peace of mind.

wharfhouse · September 5, 2022

2 hours ago, Adj209 said:

It seems very excessive to pay for 1. Extended warranty at £500 a year 2. Lexus servicing at £300-700 a year - I was hoping that annually I'd only have to pay £10 road tax, £200-600 on servicing and MOT and £1000-1200 on insurance.

Sounds like I'm better off getting a car within the 10 year warranty?

Personal choice - for me I've had an extended warranty since I bought the car at two years old in 2016 (before Relax came in) and have made two claims in that time - one for a screen wash sensor (that was quoted to me as £400 for Lexus to fit a new one) and the other for both front wheel bearings at 80k miles (not sure what that would have cost but wouldn't be cheap in comparison to a year or extended warranty). No arguments about either - Lexus handled everything for me. As such I consider the extended warranty (which includes full uk/euro breakdown for both my wife and I) a cost worth paying (I would get the car serviced by Lexus anyway).

But YMMV - always a personal decision - there is no right or wrong.

wharfhouse · September 5, 2022

1 hour ago, IS300FSPORT said:

They generally dont go wrong unless you buy one with high miles thats not been maintained. Your maintenance in theory is your warranty, but it is good insurance if you have the spare cash to take out a warranty.

Its not your typical German models that require parts thrown at them frequently. Lexus owners sleep well at night

But they do still sometimes go wrong - depends on one's appetite for risk...

ganzoom · September 6, 2022

13 hours ago, wharfhouse said:

But they do still sometimes go wrong - depends on one's appetite for risk...

.....and this forum is littered with posts about out of warranty failures ;).

Our 2015 IS300H is by far the most reliable car we have ever owned, that includes previous Nissan and Hondas.

Yes it's down to appetite for risk, but as a former BMW owner, and current Tesla owners, I can assure you there is little 'risk' in owning an out of warranty IS300H.

ganzoom · September 6, 2022

13 hours ago, wharfhouse said:

Personal choice - for me I've had an extended warranty since I bought the car at two years old in 2016 (before Relax came in) and have made two claims in that time - one for a screen wash sensor (that was quoted to me as £400 for Lexus to fit a new one) and the other for both front wheel bearings at 80k miles (not sure what that would have cost but wouldn't be cheap in comparison to a year or extended warranty).

In the last 12 months I've paid £800 for a new PTC heater on our Tesla, had to wait 2 weeks for parts, another £150 for a new door actuator, and currently waiting for a new wiper motor to be fitted for around £570. I still don't/aren't going to buy an extended warranty for the Tesla, because it costs £1500/year for one!!

Trust me, there are plenty of cars out there with reliability issues that may just about justify an extended warranty, the IS300H isn't one of them, that is a GOOD thing :).

Though we were forced just to keep one car, the IS300H would be sold in a blink of the eye. For me anyways good reliability isn't at the top of the wish list for what I want in a car.

To be fair to our Tesla though, the 'alternative' similar cars are things like a RangRover, Q7, Caynne, and if owned any of them an extended warranty seems like a no brainer 🙂

https://cardealermagazine.co.uk/publish/revealed-the-top-10-most-unreliable-used-cars-in-the-uk/270724

wharfhouse · September 6, 2022

44 minutes ago, ganzoom said:

.....and this forum is littered with posts about out of warranty failures ;).

Our 2015 IS300H is by far the most reliable car we have ever owned, that includes previous Nissan and Hondas.

Yes it's down to appetite for risk, but as a former BMW owner, and current Tesla owners, I can assure you there is little 'risk' in owning an out of warranty IS300H.

I don't disagree that Lexus are probably the most reliable brand but they do occasionally have an issue. Yes the forum isn't littered with reports of problems like some other brands but there are reports of occasional problems and they do tend to be expensive to fix, at least if you want to entrust it to Lexus - even parts can be very expensive and can often only be sourced through Lexus. As I said it's all about personal choice and if people are happy to run a Lexus without any extended warranty then that's fine by me but I think it would also be negligent not to point out the options that exist for those who might prefer paying a small amount of money for peace of mind, especially if they found out about it all later following an expensive repair.

wharfhouse · September 6, 2022

39 minutes ago, ganzoom said:

In the last 12 months I've paid £800 for a new PTC heater on our Tesla, had to wait 2 weeks for parts, another £150 for a new door actuator, and currently waiting for a new wiper motor to be fitted for around £570. I still don't/aren't going to buy an extended warranty for the Tesla, because it costs £1500/year for one!!

Trust me, there are plenty of cars out there with reliability issues that may just about justify an extended warranty, the IS300H isn't one of them, that is a GOOD thing :).

Though we were forced just to keep one car, the IS300H would be sold in a blink of the eye. For me anyways good reliability isn't at the top of the wish list for what I want in a car.

To be fair to our Tesla though, the 'alternative' similar cars are things like a RangRover, Q7, Caynne, and if owned any of them an extended warranty seems like a no brainer 🙂

https://cardealermagazine.co.uk/publish/revealed-the-top-10-most-unreliable-used-cars-in-the-uk/270724

That's why I actually think - at least for me - the Lexus 10 year plus extended warranty is such good value! £500 per annum and that includes full breakdown cover for owner and partner driving any car - that alone is over £100 of the warranty so the actual cost is only around £400 per year. And it can be paid monthly interest free. For me I'm pleased Lexus offer it and have no hesitation in taking it out. As always we must all make our own decisions based on our own personal circumstances - no rights or wrongs.

Lex_1988 · September 6, 2022

I have a 64 plate IS300h f sport which I've owned for 3 years.

Apart from servicing at Lexus Gatwick (who always provide great customer service) I haven't spent anything. Very solid cars.

I would say the 2012-2019 BMW 3 series isn't terrible on reliability, but they are very common. I still look at my usb f sport and think it's pretty decent looking for an 8 year old car.

Adj209 · September 7, 2022

Can anyone clarify if the Lexus relax warranty Ie. 10 years/100k miles as long as serviced at lexus, costs?

I'm kind of confused as I've seen some stuff online saying it's included as long as it's serviced at lexus for 12m until 10 years/100k aka 'free warranty'

Or do you have to pay for both the annual warranty and servicing which is expected to be £1000+ PA?