Kansas

Well, Steve, you are correct 99.9% of the time .... but not this time.

Let's divorce the whole Corolla loaner car issue from this thread since it never should have come up in the first place.

The real issue is that a Lexus owner should NEVER (yes, I'm shouting, LOL) have to take his vehicle anywhere for warranty service except to a Lexus dealership service writer. Dealer installed accessories are ALWAYS supposed to be treated like any other part of the vehicle. It is not responsibility of a person who has purchased a new Lexus vehicle to make it easy for a Lexus dealership - that's why you pay the "big bucks" for a Lexus. The OP bought a new Lexus and should be treated accordingly. I would never allow this to be done to me. My local Lexus dealer is close to where I live here in Kansas. Its body shop is quite far away in Missouri on the other side of the Kansas City metro area in what might be described kindly as a "rough part of town".

Kudos to you though for being nice to your Jeep dealer! ;-)

My recommendation to the OP is to diplomatically inform the manager of the Lexus dealership service department that the situation was improperly handled. If necessary, show the service writer the information on the link I provided. Maybe he'll give you a free coffee and donut!

Service writers are often clueless about procedures. Coincidentally, I am dropping by the Lexus dealership this morning to deliver a hard copy of a Lexus TSIB (i.e. service bulletin) that my usual service writer swears does not exist.

SW17LS

This is a completely different situation. In this situation the body shop and the dealer are at the same site. The OP was not asked to drive across town. You're telling me that if a Lexus dealer gave you the name of the woman in body...that is at the same location...or even a close by location to call and drop the car off to instead of the dealer's service writer...that you would refuse on "principal" because you're a "Lexus owner"?!? That really surprises me having known you as long as I have.

I'm not saying you're wrong about how it "should have been handled", but life is full of "should have beens". I guarantee you on any given day dealerships are doing business more efficiently than "protocol" would require. For instance I called the dealer and asked about refinishing a curbed wheel. They told me they had a guy who came to the dealer on certain days, they gave me his number. I called him, met him at the dealer when he was going to be there and he fixed my wheel for $30 cash. Now, that was a breach of protocol, the dealer should have had me come in and arranged everything, etc...but it worked out for me so who cares. Protocol would have cost me money.

What do you want the dealer to do about it now? The car is fixed...the situation is over. Complaining in some attempt to get something out of the dealership where the only damage he suffered was driving a Corolla for a day is classless IMHO.

Kansas

Yes, I am saying exactly that. I would deal only with the Lexus dealership service writer - not necessarily to get a nicer car but to ensure that all complaints and repairs are documented ... can be very valuable if future problems arise.

SW17LS

We'll just have to agree to disagree.

jetman

Last time I took my ES350 in for service I was given a GS350 as a loaner. Nice to be able to move up a step! This was on a Saturday, and when the shop got backed up the service advisor asked if I wanted to keep the GS350 over the weekend since my car wouldn't be ready until that evening. The GS350 was nice (really nice), but I declined because I still prefer to drive my own vehicle.

mcomer

Many customers at our Lexus store enjoy getting a different car type for the day. Someone at their work or home wants to see one (loaner agreements don't allow test drives). Exceptions of course where the child seats need to fit (SUV's) or business use requires comparable rear seat space. We have mostly Nav cars but a couple non Nav CT, IS and RX's are in the 75 car fleet.