Stu

No one likes to get poor service or ripped off, but tell me why are you going to the Lexus dealer for such a simple job that anyone can do - including you ! You know you can get it cheaper anywhere else.

Its hard to get good auto service. All maintenence is costly and not a pleasant experience anymore - even at a dealer. I bet an independent mechanic wont mind seeing you drive to his shop in your big Lexus.

warminwisc

My lexus dealer is 89 bucks and they test drive the car and rotate the tires. Mobil one is like 130 bucks. The whole deal is less if I just have them change the oil.

Valvoline is a pretty good synthetic oil. I can get it all day long for 50 bucks with a top of of all fluids and an undercarraige check of the car and the tires get rotated at the same time.

I can get a valv yota synthetic bulk change for 36.95. Even for me to get the oil and filter and change it myself to save 20 bucks or less is penny wise and pound foolish. I have had a hard time getting garages to take the oil. I am told the old oil is collected and tested and they do not want the liability of someone elses oil in their used oil drums.

Just my opinion I am 50 and changing my oil is dirty pidly work to me but I bet others like tinkering with their cars. To each his own!

AlexusAnja

Well... the LS you have to do additional steps of opening up the carriage cover, then closing when done. So that's where the extra $40 labor comes from... ha ha.

Also, the whole process in a shop should take no more than 10 min. (as the grease monkey's at Quiklube should know), but it takes me 30 min.+ because I like to let the oil drip out more.

Jabberwock

All good points and thanks to everyone for your input. I'm gonna be 55 next month. Getting under my car is the last thing I want to do most days. I just need to find a good independent Toyota/Lexus specialist to service my 430. Unfortunately there don't appear to be any nearby. Maybe I'll call Toyota next time. I can definitely agree with the post on how its getting harder and harder to find competent, high quality honest car service.

btw - the last time we were at the local Toyota dealer getting an oil change and tire rotate for $39 we saw a BMW 750 rolling into the indoor service queue. I bet he was there for the $39 dollar oil and rotate special...which probably costs $390 at BMW.

AlexusAnja

That was probably the manager's BMW, I guess the Avalon is not ritzy enough for him/her... I can't imagine a regular joe getting a BMW filter and then going to Toyota to get it changed, why not just change it at some garage?

LS430inDE.

I agree with you on factory documentation will add a slight increase to resale value, but disagree with your opinion on the logbook.

If I was buying a used car from an individual, and they had a logbook with the dates/service performed/and receipts, I would absolutely trust that documentation...let alone be amazed someone was focused enough to keep all that info organized and documented.

It would be a positive influence for me, to buy that car, and I would understand (but not like) the justification of the owner asking more $ than an "undocumented" Lexus.

tsslaporte

Yep, I do a lot of DIY For my car, I got a Word Document with Scanned Receipts with date and mileage listed, and it gets backed up on 3 different location when it gets updated.

Personally If someone is doing what I am doing, ill trust them alot more then what the dealer puts down. Dealers mess up alot of stuff. When you have someone taking care of there own car, most of the time they take much better care then a mechanic at the dealer who does a speed job.

Jabberwock

You can update your own service history for your car at the Lexus online site.

So if you do your own air filters, oil, buy new tires, etc - you can log it all with date and details right on your car's service history at lexus.

caddyowner

I will roll 35K miles this week. I'll have to see what the dealer wants for the oil change and tire rotation. I'm also going to see what it will cost to fix the steering column retract.

BTW, when I checked the oil this week, it was full and looked like honey after 4250 miles.

Gronemus

I don't generally like to resurrect 8 year old threads but I happen to stumble across this looking for something else and was curious as to what Jabberwock has done for oil changes since this incident?

Not to rub salt into an old wound, I'm a longtime DIY'er and changed my oil today using a 5 qt. jug of Walmart Supertech synthetic for a grand total of $18.45. I change with synthetic every 5K miles but only change the oil filter every other oil change.

This also gives me a chance to see if anything else might need servicing in the near future...

Johnhav430

Yeah I've been getting 6 jugs of synthetic, Pennzoil and Mobil 1, for about $25 minus $12 on Mobil, and $10 on Pennzoil (the limits were 2 and 4 respectively) yearly, then I get WIX XPs from rockauto maybe 6-12 at a time, those blue washers $6 for 10. So if you add it up, maybe $21, and I have settled upon 6,500 miles (not scientific at all, about as meaningful as monkeys picking stocks). wth now pennzoil is limit 1 rebate? times are getting tougher.

It's common knowledge that Lexus service is same or more than BMW, for like jobs. Often, the materials are not even as good.

Agreed oil changes force us to poke around and notice anything else as well. Another huge problem is when a car does not require synthetic, and the owner wants it. How often does it happen where the customer pays, and they use the dino juice instead? They either say hey, sorry, we'll give you a free car wash and key chain for your troubles, or, they say we did use it, the paperwork is just wrong (c'mon now).