Courtesy car

KentColin · May 25, 2023

I had my UX serviced yesterday by the excellent Lexus Maidstone and they provided a courtesy car as requested. Usually I get another UX but yesterday I was given a RX350 for the day. Beautiful car but a little large for me. I've been charged £10 before but strangely enough no mention of it yesterday. One point about the RX is that I'm 5ft 8 and struggled to see all of the head up display as it appears at the bottom of the screen. I wondered if it is adjustable?

Barry14UK · May 25, 2023

17 minutes ago, KentColin said:

I had my UX serviced yesterday by the excellent Lexus Maidstone and they provided a courtesy car as requested. Usually I get another UX but yesterday I was given a RX350 for the day. Beautiful car but a little large for me. I've been charged £10 before but strangely enough no mention of it yesterday. One point about the RX is that I'm 5ft 8 and struggled to see all of the head up display as it appears at the bottom of the screen. I wondered if it is adjustable?

would have expected it to be so. It is on my 2015 RX450h and the button for this is beside/below steering wheel. The degree of illumination of the HUD is also variable on mine. If nobody replies that has the exact model, you could always ring the dealer.

Ken R · May 25, 2023

Yes it's certainly adjustable on the NX450H so expect similar on RX.

Bluemarlin · May 25, 2023

2 hours ago, KentColin said:

I had my UX serviced yesterday by the excellent Lexus Maidstone and they provided a courtesy car as requested. Usually I get another UX but yesterday I was given a RX350 for the day. Beautiful car but a little large for me. I've been charged £10 before but strangely enough no mention of it yesterday. One point about the RX is that I'm 5ft 8 and struggled to see all of the head up display as it appears at the bottom of the screen. I wondered if it is adjustable?

The £10 charge is usually for the insurance excess waiver, so if they don't charge just make sure you're not liable for any insurance excess if you crash.

KentColin · May 25, 2023

I don't think think they would lend me the RX without the excess waiver existing so I guess they absorbed the cost.

Linas.P · May 25, 2023

Why not... it is not their problem, it is yours. So it is really simple deal - you either pay £10 and have £0 excess, or you pay nothing, but in case you get into accident and it is your fault, then you may need to pay £500-£1000 excess from your pocket. I would assume it would be £1000 for RX. This £10 supplement is actually relatively new thing, they introduced it maybe 5 Years ago, previously you would always be liable for excess, so they just giving you the option to waive it now for a fee.

I have crash one of Lexus courtesy cars, it was CT and it had £500 excess on it... but it was not my fault and Lexus were very relaxed about it, they didn't even bothered to go after the person who crashed into me. For them it was probably cheaper to use their own body shop to do PDR (it was rather small accident, paint wasn't damaged, but door was dented), than it was to go trough business insurance which must already cost fortune and risk of the price of it increasing next year.

Anyway - my point is Lexus would absolutely let you have RX without excess waiver, because it is your risk and not theirs. I am not sure how well you could argue that you didn't know about the excess, technically you should read what you signing for, but argument could be made that they should have explained to you that by taking courtesy car you are liable to pay excess in case of an accident. That would certainly be nice thing to do, but reading contracts is your responsibility.

wharfhouse · May 25, 2023

It's always been £15 excess waiver at my Lexus dealer. I always sign to pay it when taking the courtesy car but a couple of times Lexus have waived the fee when I've come to pay the bill for my service after returning the courtesy car.

Jgtcracer · May 25, 2023

48 minutes ago, Linas.P said:

Why not... it is not their problem, it is yours. So it is really simple deal - you either pay £10 and have £0 excess, or you pay nothing, but in case you get into accident and it is your fault, then you may need to pay £500-£1000 excess from your pocket. I would assume it would be £1000 for RX. This £10 supplement is actually relatively new thing, they introduced it maybe 5 Years ago, previously you would always be liable for excess, so they just giving you the option to waive it now for a fee.

I have crash one of Lexus courtesy cars, it was CT and it had £500 excess on it... but it was not my fault and Lexus were very relaxed about it, they didn't even bothered to go after the person who crashed into me. For them it was probably cheaper to use their own body shop to do PDR (it was rather small accident, paint wasn't damaged, but door was dented), than it was to go trough business insurance which must already cost fortune and risk of the price of it increasing next year.

Anyway - my point is Lexus would absolutely let you have RX without excess waiver, because it is your risk and not theirs. I am not sure how well you could argue that you didn't know about the excess, technically you should read what you signing for, but argument could be made that they should have explained to you that by taking courtesy car you are liable to pay excess in case of an accident. That would certainly be nice thing to do, but reading contracts is your responsibility.

I certainly think they use their discretion with the waiver, at my recent recall visit they said they weren’t going to charge me for use of the hire car. Didn’t even get the option to pay it.

Linas.P · May 25, 2023

Could be that, but I suggest you read the contract, because you may find there is clause saying that excess is £1000. But as I said, even if you technically liable, Lexus may just absorb it anyway and not pass it on. Especially if they feel it was genuine accident. In other hand if they feel it was negligent or malicious, then they may enforce it.

But Lexus isn't some nasty rental company where 90% of their income is coming from charges on scratched alloys, which were already scratched and they just trying to rip you off for the same scratch 20th time. I had accidents in rental cars where it was not my fault and they still tried to go after my excess...

BarneyTT · June 11, 2023

I had my RX450h in Lexus Bristol recently for a major service and opted for a courtesy car which was £12 for the insurance, so it seems this price varies across dealerships.

The courtesy car was an ES300h which looked smaller than my 2005 GS430, I was quite surprised to find it's longer than both the GS and RX as it didn't fit in my garage (it would if I removed the rear shelving)!