Do I Really Need To Pay £910.55 For A Service?

[anubis1068]

Hi all,

I have just been quoted £910.55 for my annual service on my X reg (2000) gs300 s

It has covered 85K miles, has been serviced annually by Lexus and never had a problem.

They say I need to have the cam belt changed, do I really need to have this done on a car with only 85k miles on the clock.

Does anyone know of a cheaper (reputed) service agent, around the herts/beds/n london area?

Thanks!

Steve

[dave1]

Hi all,

I have just been quoted £910.55 for my annual service on my X reg (2000) gs300 s

It has covered 85K miles, has been serviced annually by Lexus and never had a problem.

They say I need to have the cam belt changed, do I really need to have this done on a car with only 85k miles on the clock.

Does anyone know of a cheaper (reputed) service agent, around the herts/beds/n london area?

Thanks!

Steve

Lexus Coventry informed me recently that Lexus dealerships were now servicing GS over 5 yrs old for £119 "A" service £199 "B" service. I would have thought that cambelt, waterpump, tensioners etc would not take cost to £910.

I was quoted over £900 for "B" service and cambelt etc on 96 GS300 Sport about 4 years ago in Coventry but Lexus Leicester did it for around £500/£510 including vat.

Your car is 10 yrs old so the cambelt etc is due for replacement, it would be false economy not to have your car serviced as per specifications. Wave goodbye to your Lexus if the cambelt goes.

Try emailing several Lexus dealers for quotes on service and qoutes on cambelt. If you get a quote say £400 less in Midlands it would be worth travelling.

[Mike246]

Steve,

Have a word with Lexus Hatfield. I use them for mainstream servicing on two GSs and always found them to be fair. No quality issues with their work.

The cambelt on the 300 is a bit of a sod but not as much as replacing the spark plugs and there is little commonality in the work to accomplish both. The last plug is almost impossible to get to.

Having said that, I hope it wasn't Hatfield who gave you the heavy quote!

[Rory]

Toyota may be much cheaper too as labour is much less

[Mike_B]

Hi all,

I have just been quoted £910.55 for my annual service on my X reg (2000) gs300 s

It has covered 85K miles, has been serviced annually by Lexus and never had a problem.

They say I need to have the cam belt changed, do I really need to have this done on a car with only 85k miles on the clock.

Does anyone know of a cheaper (reputed) service agent, around the herts/beds/n london area?

Thanks!

Steve

Yes, it definitely needs the cambelt done. The interval is 100k or 10 years, which is actually quite long. Most cars specify a new cambelt every 4 or 5 years. Cambelts don't have 'problems' - they are fine until they snap, and when they snap, you need £000s of work done to fix it...

You could do worse than Albin B Motors, though they are in South London which is further away than you asked. I had a cambelt service done there in Feb which cost something like £700, though that did include some other work. A few people on here recommend them and I've used them happily for about 4 years now.

[anubis1068]

Steve,

Have a word with Lexus Hatfield. I use them for mainstream servicing on two GSs and always found them to be fair. No quality issues with their work.

The cambelt on the 300 is a bit of a sod but not as much as replacing the spark plugs and there is little commonality in the work to accomplish both. The last plug is almost impossible to get to.

Having said that, I hope it wasn't Hatfield who gave you the heavy quote!

[anubis1068]

Sadly it was Hatfield Lexus that gave me the quote!! I was staggered to say the least!

[Dilbert D]

I think you need to find a reputable non-Lexus garage which will work on your car.

I do that myself. I get the parts myself, quite often from Lexus, then take the parts to my local garage who have worked on cars for me for years. That keeps the labour charges down.

On the subject of the cambelt, it will definitely need changing.

My IS200 owners manual said the cambelt should have been changed at 100,000 miles, and I had it done at 102,000.

I then found out that Lexus had reduced the mileage to 60,000, but me and my owners manual did not know that !

When I had the belt changed I asked them to keep the old parts so I could see them.

The belt was frayed 25% through the width so would have failed soon !

If a belt snaps it will right off the engine completely then that is the end of the car.

Get it changed soon :winky:

I got the genuine Toyota cambelt kit myself for £110 and took it to my local garage to fit for a further £120 labour.

£250 all in.