Cost Of Service Plans At Different Dealerships.

[Technoman]

Reading through some of the earlier posts on various forums i get the impression that the cost of a service differs from each Lexus dealership. With this in mind can i assume that the cost of the service plan differs between dealerships?

Also being of a suspicious nature you are given the sales patter that by paying monthly you will not have a hefty bill when the car needs servicing. Is this just a hook to get you into their service centre then they can hit you with additional items like brakes, calipers etc? Do any of you use this sevice plan option and what is your experience?

What is the opinion on the second hand value of a used car wit a full lexus service history or independant garage service stamps. for example would the car be worth more if it had a full lexus service history and is it therefore a false economy in the long term to have it service more cheaply locally?

Bought car from Tunbridge Wells but i suppose Canterbury ( same group but offer Gold member discount) or Guilford may be options?

[stevet]

I've had all my cars on a service plan and negotiated the cost down. Very rarely had to pay extra for anything. Not sure if a main dealer car is worth more but if I had the choice of two cars at the same price I would choose the main dealer serviced one.

[hunslet]

My experience is the same as Steve's: I have always been able to negotiate the price and have hardly ever paid anything extra. This has included some things outside of the warranty and on one occasion they even threw in some free wipers.

My impression is that the service plan is through the dealer so the costs will vary a tad. It isn't as though it is a standard plan through Lexus. I'm sure the service plan is a bit of a con as there has to be something in it for the dealer but it gives me some peace of mind. I don't know why as it isn't as though i would have to go and mug a granny to pay for the Lexus to be serviced if i didn't have a service plan.

[Technoman]

Thanks Steve and Malcolm.

So at the moment my car is 3.5 years old and if i have the next service done at 5 yrs and one month then i assume the price of the Full service would be £299. I could at that point take out the essential care 2yr package at the fixed? prices see link. Is this correct?

http://www.lexus.co.uk/owners/servicing-and-maintenance/index.tmex#/ServicingYourLexus

Thanks

[stevet]

How many miles has your car done?

[Technoman]

24K Miles

[stevet]

So you should have 3 stamps, 2 intermediate & 1 full. The next will be the 4 year full then 5 year intermediate. I would get the 2 year package now (so not including the big 6 year).

[Technoman]

Thanks again Steve but here is my dilema. On average i will only do 5-6k miles per year so i do not plan on having the car serviced by the dealership until it reaches the 5 years of age period when the 'Essential' servicing pricing kicks in. I do already have the 3 stamps, the last one being 6 months late if we are talking registration dates. I would rather spend money only paying for work that needs to be done and why they should have to charge £49 for an MOT when a service is being carried out beats me.

I remember the old 20w 50 oils in my first cars that needed changing every 6K miles but i thought the idea of the synthetics like the magnetec and Mobil1 had around 20K useful life.

Dont get me wrong im only stating an opinion not criticising what you do with your own oil changes.

All i am trying to do is strike a balance between keeping the vehicle well maintained and the service stamps within the mileage criteria not necessarily date criteria at a minimal cost.