no2faber

I would have all copies of your receipts made. Have the names of all the guys that "helped" - shafted it sounds like - with your car ready. I would call them, and follow-up with a letter/fax enclosing all the receipts and names of mechanics, managers, and whoever you talked to. I've never had to go through this, but i have a friend who has a '99 RX. Their transmission went out last year. They had to pay for the fix b/c it was long out of warranty, but corporate sent them a letter saying they were sorry, and that transmission problems are uncommon on the RX. If they company's going to send letters to people like that, I have confidence that they'll help you.

I wouldn't sit on it either.

Good luck.

Kaius88

In California, the buyback (or trade in) process works a bit different in terms of sales tax. Since the dealership pays the entire sales tax every time a vehicle is sold, that tax is passed on to the customer. None of the purchase price is tax exempt, meaning even if you trade in a car worth $20k to buy a $30k car, you pay taxes on all $30k. That was the majority of my loss when I traded in my brand new MSM. That being said, a california dealer will take a bigger loss if they give you the same treatment that Twister received on his buyback. I'm guessing this is a matter of several thousand dollars difference. If they really want to treat you right, they'll take the loss. But i suspect such sacrifice is rare on the west coast.

I read the lemon law section for california. The buy back only takes place after 3 unsuccessful attempts to resolve a safety-related issue. The tranny is well within that scope so no problem. However, the buy back value is at market value only... so it's almost like a trade-in minus dealer profits. This means you get less credit the more miles you put onto your vehicle. Ya kinda sucks.

I dont know what Lexus will offer... But you should try hard since you paid MSRP and you expect the finest from Lexus.

My 2 cents

mattvds

Thanks for the info.

I called Lexus and filed a complaint about my issues. I told them they the service department has been unable to fix them, and that I am fed up with my car. They took down my complaints and said they will have the rep that deals with my local dealership call me within the next few days. They didn't mention anything about a buyback or anything, but I guess I will discuss that with them when they call me back.

So now I guess I just have to wait.

If this all fails, being that I paid full MSRP on the ES UL, how much do you think I'm going to lose if I were to trade it in (although I would hate to have somone else inherit these problems with the car)

ES350Bob

Here is what you do about trade, if you are interested in either a GS or even IS. Call the sales manager at the dealer, not a salesperson, the sales manager, and talk over everything with him or her about your car and desire for another maybe in the very near future to get an idea of what they will do.

If you have a UL, who knows, they may get you in a GS for next to nothing the last few days of any month when the deals get even better.

Otherwise, you can take off 2,000 dollars for not getting the best price when you bought and another 5,000 depreciation elsewhere, as in not at a Lexus dealer. And that would be the better end of a deal, could be worse in trade. In a trade, the loss will be anywhere from 7,000 dollars to 10,000 or 12,000 even.

Kaius88

Here's the loss I took on my MSM (11 days old with 400 miles, problem-free):
$3500 depreciation
$3000 Taxes and license
But since I got $4800 below MSRP on my UL, the loss kinda balanced a bit. Plus I will write off the sales tax on my next tax return so my losses would eventually be bearable.

If you have a few thousand miles on the vehicle, expect more depreciation. You will not be able to escape paying the sales tax and licensing twice. The best that you can do is to get a really good deal on the new car, and hopefully the discount offsets much of your loss. Sorry to say, thats the way it is in california.

wanderer99

Matt - if you want a buyback you'll need to get the trans replaced. Yes, its painful. Until that's done I don't think they'll entertain the idea of the buyback as they haven't done "everything possible" to fix the problem. The posted success rate of a trans replacement is very low, so that probably won't fix your issue anyway. This probably also sets you up for the Lemon Law filing as well.

To give up at this point and trade it would be a bad decision I think.

mattvds

Grrr-- Just got a call from the service department. They said that they didn't find "anything abnormal" with the transmission. They said they did notice some "hesitation" between gears but described it as normal. They claimed that the computer didn't even show up an error so they arn't going to do anything about it, especially since I have the latest TSIB installed. Looks like i'm going to have to buy a video camera and film the flare up.

ES350Bob

I got the computer did not show story, not from dealer, but from Lexus tech reviewing my former car. My car slipped 2 to 3 and 3 to 4.

I think a video is a great idea. Unless you want to schedule another appointment with them, leave your car overnight at the dealer where they show you that you can park it, then meet them next am and you be the first to start and drive it with them riding along. Hassle I know, but darn well worth it to prove it does it.

mattvds

I'm kind of baffled how the techs were unable to see any flare. First time I drove my car cold i got a 500 rpm spike between 3-4. I took a video, along with a video to show the wind noise (although this is just a cheapo digital camera i'm using to capture video, so it might not come out).

The lexus service rep told me that there was some transmission "hesitation" but it was normal as it was also seen on another ES350 they used at the dealership.

I'll post the videos here as soon as I figure out how... Please let me know if ths rpm flare isn't evident enough, and if you think that this could be misconstrued as "hesitation".

I will continue to take videos, so that I am prepared when I got back next week.

On a slightly off topic subject. Would it be wrong to take the loaner car on my 1 week christmass vacation?

mattvds

Akk.. Link didn't work.. try this one.

There are 2 videos 1 of flare, 1 of wind noise.

tnedator

I couldn't get either link to work.

ES350Bob

ons posted both a light accel and heavy accel flare video link on your theoretical or practical thread, I think page 1 if you want to see them.

tnedator

I have seen those. The poster above me stated he didn't know if his links would work, and I was letting him know they didn't.

jeffofla

Matt, just out of curiosity, what was the dealer you purchased the car from in Southern California?

mattvds

I got the car at Keyes Lexus, however I have been doing all of my "maintance" stuff in san jose.