Aron9000

Take your car to the Toyota dealer, they'll do a synthetic oil change and rotate your tires for about $50 to 80 including tax. Should take about an hour of your time.

lesz

For my last oil change and rotation on my ES at the local Toyota dealer, I paid about $50 (with a coupon) for a full synthetic oil change using the same oil and filter that the Lexus dealer would have used, and I paid about $10 for the tire rotation. Other inspection items which would be included in Lexus service were done at no additional cost.

Several years ago, there was a leak in the air conditioner system on my GX. The Lexus dealer said that the entire refrigerant line needed to be replaced, and they quoted me $1800 to do the job. The Toyota dealer quoted me $800 for the same work, but they said that, rather than replacing the entire line, they were confident that just replacing the bad fitting where it was leaking would do the job. They replaced that fitting for about $150, which included recharging the system to replace refrigerant that had leaked out before the repair was done.

That has been typical of my experiences comparing the cost of maintaining my two Lexus vehicles at either the Toyota dealer or the Lexus dealer. As I said in a previous post, the Lexus dealers seem to rely on there being a high number of Lexus owners who have more money than brains.

Aron9000

I had a similar problem on my 1992 SC300, refrigerant leaked out through a bad fitting somewhere in the system. The local independent shop I used converted it to R134a, fixed the leak and charged me $300. Sometimes it pays to shop around, depending on the service.

Oh and sometimes the dealer is cheaper for some things when you factor in your time to do the service. $50 for a synthetic oil change is pretty good, considering an oil filter is $5, $25-35 for synthetic oil from Wal-Mart(because Advance Auto charges double what wal-mart does for oil). Then you have to go to Wal-Mart for the oil, I hate going there, then you change the oil which takes 20-30 minutes, then you have to dispose of the oil every few months, yeah its easier just to pay them the extra $10-15 labor charge than to do it yourself.

SLH

Take it to one of those 30-minute places, and watch them do the work. If you want to rent a car, it takes 30 minutes just to do that paperwork. It's quicker to just wait for the short services.

Freds430

I never go in a say I want the 10,000, 20,000 or 50,000 mile service. Every 10,000 miles ask for an oil change and tire rotation at the Lexus/Toyota dealership. This should be less than $80. Every 30,000 miles the brake fluid needs to be changed and about $100. Every 20,000 miles change the air and cabin filters. This combined takes five minutes and the air filter can be bought on line at Lexus Parts World for $18. The cabin air filter can be bought at Walmart for $18, It is the Fram Fresh Breeze #10285 with carbon and baking soda to filter the air. Wiper blade inserts again can be bought at Lexus Parts World for $20 for both refills and takes five minutes to replace. You are done until 100,000 miles. At Lexus Parts World use cl5 in the promo code for 10% discount. If you go in an ask for the 10,000, 20,000 30,000 maintenance you will be paying big bucks for a lot more items you do not need checked and inspected. Once a year replace the key fob battery cr2032. Keep receipts for everything. I take my oil filter bought at Lexus Parts World and 5 quart jug of Mobil 1 purchased at Walmart for $24 to my local Toyota dealer and they charge me $15 labor for the oil and $20 for the tire rotation.