blackangus

I bought a CPO es350 at Lexus of Tulsa a few months ago. Just took it to my local Lexus dealer yesterday for the first time, for 25,000 service.

While the service writer was checking me in, I mentioned that while I figured it would be nearly impossible to ever fix because of the intermitent nature of it, that at highway speeds, depending on how the wind is blowing (or at least that is the best I explanation I had been able to come up with), there is a definite, highly annoying, continual rattle or clicking noise that seemed to eminate from the exterior of the car and seemingly on the front passenger side.

After servicing the car, the service writer tells me that the rattle is due to the fact that several parts are missing from the underside of the car. Basically cover type parts - not mechanical - and this results in the remaining parts being loose and just flapping in the breeze - and allowed the tires to rub holes in the remaining parts.

I immediately called and talked to the service manager at Lexus of Tulsa. He was very courteous and helpful, but said all he could really do was relay the info to the salesmanager. He gave me the salesmanager's name and transferred me to his voice mail. I left two messages for the guy on Saturday and have not heard from him.

Obviously, the entire situation is highly disappointing since the CPO program is touted as providing cars that are, "Like new." I take that to mean not missing parts. Also disappointing because until the moment the service writer told me the car was missing parts and it will cost about $800.00 to make the car complete, I had been completely thrilled with my experience at the Tulsa dealership.

I will, of course, be calling Lexus of Tulsa again first thing Monday morning. I will post how this all turns out for everyone else's benefit. Lord allowing, they will make good and I can continue to consider them to be among the best of the Lexus dealerships.

If anyone has had any similar CPO experiences with any dealer, I would like to hear about your experience.

Thanks.

Diogenes

Your car is just shedding. Cars do that sometimes. Like dogs.

garsarno

Got my '07 back in 10/06 and as of recent, has not shedded parts like that. Maybe your car was in an accident and in the repair, small parts were not replaced.

Dave Mac

I don't believe a CPO car should be missing body parts and would hope that your dealer would make this right. For those parts to all be missing is unusual and I would have someone check it to be sure it was not in an accident. I also would get a CarFax report on the car before even going back to the dealer.

Dave Mac

miniz

And why exactly didn't you catch this before you took delivery of the car? All cars should be inspected prior to purchase. CPO is nothing more then a car that was purchased at auction or traded-in, it may or may not have passed an inspection, and then they slapped a CPO sticker on it, jacked the price up 10%, and sold it to you. It sounds like this car skipped the inspection part by both you and the dealer. Not good. Have it inspected by an independent shop ASAP to see what type of accident it was in and then you can demand that they dealer exchange it for another car that was not involved in an accident.

SteadyEddy

iTrader: (1)

It may have not been in an accident, but rather had some maintenance done to something that needed other things removed to replace the broken part. When putting back together they just didn't do a very good job of it. I agree that they should have caught it when they did their inspection for the CPO. Our first ES was a dealer loaner and at the time the extended warranty only extended the miles and not the time, so we didn't get the CPO, but was told the inspection was done. Anyway we drove the car but didn't buy it that day, it was like 1 weeks later, After we brought it home there was a rattle coming from the front of the car. We were ready to take it back, because the reason for buying the Lexus was the quietness of it's ride. Well I did some investigating and found that the left front inner fender was loose and making all the noise. Tightened the fastners and was good to go for another 50K before getting the 07.

overclock

CPO cars are supposed to be the cream of the used car crop but are far from it. If I were to buy a car again I would make sure the CPO car lived up to my standards because as the OP and myself have found out, CPO cars do have flaws.

The "checklist" doesn't check for crap.

miniz

OP, can you let us know what the end result was? I would like to know the end to the story.

blackangus

Thanks everyone for your replies.

Great answer, Diogenes! Hopefully the shedding is not an annual event. Your comment that cars do that sometimes reminds me of a Jetta I bought many years ago, and the car oozed causoline continously from every perforation and joint in the body panels. The dealer actually had the gall to attempt to convince me "it is supposed to do that".

miniz: your reprimand is well deserved. I have no defense for not being familiar enough with what the undercarriage of an ES350 is supposed to look like to know when something is missing. But, truth is, even if I had crawled under the car before purchasing it, I would not have realized what was missing. Axles, wheels, transmissions - things like that I would recognize as missing, but plastic shrouds, etc. I would not have known about. You are right though, I should have been that knowledgeable. I appreciate the bluntness of your response.

When the service writer first told me of the situation, I had the same initial reaction as you, miniz, garsarno and Dave Mac in regard to this being a signal that the car may have been wrecked. Definately something I am going to check out. For what it is worth, though, I did look at a carfax before buying it. I also know, though, that carfax does not catch everything one would assume it does from the advertisements.

SteadyEddy: I an SC430 as well. No performance mods on either, yet. Someday....

To update, I left 3 or 4 voice mail messages before the GM at Lexus of Tulsa called me. Almost took a week just to talk with him. He said they would take care of the problem, but wanted to check with his people it find out how it occurred. Took almost another week and another voice mail message before he called me back again to re-affirm they are shipping the parts to my local Lexus dealer and that they will pay the labor to have them installed. Parts are supposed to arrive before Christmas. I will post again to update on the final result. I do have to say that the GM was very courteous in his responses - if not particularly prompt.

EJC

Call Lexus Customer Satisfaction and complain.
May want the zone rep to look at it as well

rikkus256

^ yea I second that. Call Lexus corporate office and complaint.

Diogenes

That dealer may have been an old Air Force maintenance tech. The SR-71 supersonic reconnaissance jet routinely flew at mach 3 and above. As the aircraft skin heated up the skin panels expanded into a seamless fit. On the ground they had not contracted and there was a characteristic fuel seepage at certain seals and joints. Like your Lexus "it was supposed to do that."

Tazzman

Question, Did this rattle noise happen from the day you drove away from purchase?
Or did it come on days or weeks later?

overclock

You had to bring up the SR-71 Blackbird. I love that jet. Only jet in service history to never get shot down. The Russians would just blindly launch missles at it. One time one got within a couple hundred feet. The pilot said it looked like a telephone pole came out of nowhere. The plane would take off so fast that the landing gear had to be immediately retracted upon takeoff otherwise it would shear off. I use to want to pilot the SR-71 but I got glasses in 7th grade and then they retired it when I was in 12th grade.

Back on topic. I've had my CPO car in twice now for warranty work. The chrome molding on the rear driver's side door keeps coming up. Seriously, why can't they fix it. I love my car but have been less than impressed with the CPO status. At least I have another 49k miles/2 years left on the warranty.

blackangus

UPDATE: Thanks EJC, rikkus356, Diogenes, Tazzman and overclock for your comments and suggestions. As I said in my last post on this subject, although I was not impressed or pleased with how slowly Lexus of Tulsa responded, bottom line is, they did come through and pay for all the parts, labor and loaner car fee that my local dealer charges. The new parts were installed 4 weeks after they were discovered to be missing. Except, the dealer found while installing the new parts that they had missed a couple more that were also not in place. Supposedly, they have ordered them and Lexus of Tulsa has agreed to pay for them as well. So, although it was aggrevating and an expenditure of my time that should not have had to occur, all's well that ends well. I have to give credit and appreciation to the service manager at my local dealer, though, because it seems like things started happening a lot faster as soon as she volunteered to get involved and contact the other dealer.

Amusing anecdote about the SR-71, Diogenes. I had heard that about the body panels on it before but had forgotten about it.

To answer Tazzman's question, it is about a 250 mile drive from the dealer where I bought the car to my house. Did not make the noise during the test drive or until about 150 miles into the trip home.

Happy motoring, all!