Id=S Dealer Being Nice Or They Are Trying To Conn Me :-)

Jamalaya · October 15, 2012

OK, I spoke to Lexus and mentioned the design fault and the warranty and they said because my car was not serviced by Lexus the the warranty is null and void. Can they do that? I am now calling the seller and explain the problem. My biggest worry is that if the head is warped then the warranty will not pay anything.

ChrisIS200SportTTE · October 15, 2012

This is also what they told my brother in law and it's the only reason he still gets his 220d serviced at Lexus. It would appear to be a loop hole for them!

jason61c · October 16, 2012

OK, I spoke to Lexus and mentioned the design fault and the warranty and they said because my car was not serviced by Lexus the the warranty is null and void. Can they do that? I am now calling the seller and explain the problem. My biggest worry is that if the head is warped then the warranty will not pay anything.

Its a good will gesture you see, so they don't have too.

Jamalaya · October 18, 2012

OK, 2 weeks on and the car still sitting in the garage and I am very disappointed :eerrrmm: with all involved. I think Lexus should have made an effort and earned a new customer. It is not something that is broken but a design fault that they are fixing for free. The car now is with the seller and I got a courtesy car a BMW 540I (not bad actually). Lexus refuses to budge, and they claim they are doing this to rewards customer loyalty .. eh????

My warranty people are willing to pay but Lexus is charging a great deal of labour. Ok, don't fix it for free, take the money from the warranty people (at least 2/3 of the cost) and make everybody happy. But the difference in labour was great.

There is a Toyota and Lexus specialist nearby so it might go there.

Compare this with VW, I had a passat, and that model had a fifth injector problem and VW was fixing for free. Car was bought second hand (like the lexus) and was never previously serviced with VW and yet they took the car and fixed with no questions asked. For this they earned 2 customers (myself and my wife).

I'll just put this down to bad experience and learn my lesson.

noby76 · October 18, 2012

All 'Luxury' car manufactures are the same be it (Lexus, Merc, Audi, BMW, Jaguar) when it comes to admitting and fixing recalls or warranty issues but Lexus has been known to do a good if not better job when it comes to customer service and satisfacion than all the above combined. but I dont think they are doing a good job in your case as this Headgasket problems on thier diesel engines is a design flaw. but one cannot blame them as they stated in the conditions 'the car needs to have been serviced by them' to have any chance of them doing the work for free. log onto Merc, BMW and Audi forums and you will see endless threads of unsatisfied owners bashing the brands for not fixing problems under warranty or charging huge amounts to carry out minor works.

this might be a hard pill to swallow but if you do like the car bite the bullet and pay the labour to have it fixed and keep it or have it fixed and put it up for sale. or the other option would be to trade it in the way it is at another Lexus dealership for a 2007 IS250 as petrol/ hybrids are Lexus's strengths not diesels hence its been discontinued and wont be sold anymore from new models up. If you want to a Diesel the Germans do it best but that does not mean they also dont have thier problems but for smooth silky petrol engines non beats a Lexus in my opinion

Jamalaya · October 18, 2012

I agree with what you are saying. Initially I was going to foot the bill myself but then I changed my mind (as you said because it is a design flaw.) and it became a matter of principle. As I said they could have taken most of their cost from the my warranty (so it won't be free really more than 2/3 of their stated cost) and did a great good will towards me, as customer :-),

You go to a restaurant and no matter how fantastic the food is, if the service is crap you will never go back. I am sure they won't blink an eye but that is not the point.

Jamalaya · June 27, 2013

OK,I should have updated a long time ago. :megaangry: I finally managed to fix the car and it cost me nothing. The dealer fixed at Lexus specialist but not Lexus themselves. that was 6 months ago.

Now I am warm

Maybe not related but recently I started using Shell diesel Nitro and the power and saving I am getting in unbelievable. Swindon to Blackheath I managed 55mpg Tank average (driving 60+). For work Swindon to Abdingdon it does not go below 43-44 mpg tank average (trip mpg is 40+) and here I drive 70-80mph but I use six gear a lot. The trick with 6th gear is not to accelerate but to keep it at constant speed. I don't know if the fix affected the car performance!. Because seriously much more powerful and economic than before even from stand still. No loss of power whatsoever.

That is it, just wanted to say I am happy now.