Approaching 30,000 miles on my LS, I'm going to have my independent mechanic do this service but just for grins I thought I would call around and get some prices from local dealers for giggles. Oh, I giggled.

So so what is the service? Oil change, tire rotation, flush brake fluid, cabin air filter, engine air filter, smart key battery. Then of course lots of "inspections" of brakes, suspension components, differential oil, so on and so forth. But the meat and potatoes are those items above.

First I call my dealer I usually use, Lexus of Rockville. Their cost is $499. Yikes right? Just wait.

Next i I call my second closest dealer, Lexus of Silver Spring. Their cost? $639.

Next I call Lexus of Alexandria who I've bought cars from before, generally too far away to use for service. $652.

To to close it out I called Lexus of Annapolis where I bought my ES300 back in the day. Nice place, too far for service. Their cost? Are you sitting down? $790

Havent called my guy yet to see what he'll charge me, my guess is $300 or so.

So, call around before you pay for service! I would give the dealer the $500 vs $300, plus I can use a 20% off coupon that brings that delta down to $100. For that $100-200 I get the loaner, the convenience, the nice experience....but $800?!

 

Yes, it's embarrassing what some dealers charge for service. I call those same dealers for service and always get a different price from every location. The Mercedes Benz dealers in our area do the same thing but they will price match.
I hate to say it Silver Spring and Annapolis are the worse.

 

I am going to turn 30k driving home tonight so I will advise on what the several dealers near me are quoting. I agree on the loaner etc being worth something for convenience.

 

Hey, the bottled water and croissant are included too!

 

And the thing about Silver Spring is it's the crappiest dealer! It's the only one of all the local dealers that hasn't been renovated and expanded, it's the same as it was in 1989.

 

I do enjoy sampling those new loaner cars. My mechanic happens to be closer to us and he even loans me his own LS 430! His 430 has 278K miles but is still so smooth and quiet. I mean, the suspension is very floaty and needs some attention, but it still rides very well (as long as you're going straight) and the engine and transmission are seamless together.

 

Not at a premium of $500 lol. You could rent a Ferrari for the day.

 

I agree with you about the dealer. I used to take my car to Lexus of Annapolis. Service is great and they do give nice loaners. But I go to Toyota of Bowie for all my service. Price is always hundreds less for service. They do give me a loaner. Toyota Carrola. But I don't care for the price difference for the same work. Plus Toyota updates on Lexus driver just like the Lexus dealers.

 

Agreed. I simply enjoy loaners when they give me one, but I wouldn't pay a premium for it. The last time I was in Lexus of Roseville they gave me a '16 RX loaner for six hours while they did a complimentary tranny flush at no charge. I dont frequent the Lexus dealership very often. Before I found my local mechanic I just took our Lexus to the local Toyota dealership. The Toyota dealership accepted 15% Costco coupons and also would drop me off and pick me up by shuttle.

 

I have my LS serviced at the Toyota dealership.

 

I'll pay some premium, but there's a limit. Not having a car for me is a huge imposition because I'm in my car driving from place to place all day, without a car I'm stuck at the office and essentially I can't work, or can't be as effective as I normally am. So, I'll pay a little extra. I'd pay $400 over $300, but $800? No.

 

I really do miss having multiple Lexus dealers nearby where I live. When I had my LX470, most of the time I owned it I lived in Sarasota, Florida. Within an hour's drive I had Wilde Lexus (Sarasota), Lexus of Tampa, Lexus of Clearwater, and Scanlon Lexus in Fort Myers.

I was honestly surprised and bummed just how much of a variance there was on any given service between all the dealers. Now, the closest dealer is 100 miles away in Chattanooga and have not even bothered to inquire about pricing.

I am going to investigate indy shops in Knoxville. It is just after being away from my hometown for almost 20 years, I really am out of the loop when it comes to these places and the quality of their work.

 

I dont get what is so expensive about the 30K mile service. A brake fluid flush shouldn't break the bank, an oil change is $60 at most at the dealer and I would replace the filters myself. If I really wanted to save I would rotate the tires myself but I don't do that. I really wonder where lexus gets their prices sometimes. They usually try to charge me double when I add a tire rotation to the oil change so I started going to costco. Whenever I did the large interval services at lexus I always just picked what I wanted from the list and had them charge me separate to save big time. I like your idea about using an indy for this type of work. Dealer is really not needed in my opinion.

After a while, I started taking both my LS430's to toyota instead of lexus and saved a ton. I have my first 4 services free on my CPO 460L so I haven't seen the service cost yet.

 

When I purchased my LX470 around 2012, I did have a Toyota dealership do the crucial timing belt/water pump replacement and also had them baseline all the fluids as it was a 1999 and only had 70,000 miles, but had neither seen a Lexus or Toyota dealer since 2001.

Never thought about Toyota being able to work on something like the LS460 with it sharing nothing with anything offered by Toyota. Things like oil changes, tire rotation and so forth of course I would never give it a second thought. And looking at the description of the 30k service, none of the items outlined would give me pause.

Provided they provide a rental here as well, I will give serious thought about next tome I need an oil change perhaps giving it a shot. That said, my dealer always gives me a loaner car even when only an oil change and the car wash they provide is quite decent and they even provide tire dressing.

For regular oil, they charge $39.99. However, since the PO used full synthetic every 5000 miles since after the factory fill, I will continue to do so. That and I always end up using synthetic anyway.

 

Been thinking about this more, the $499 price is really not terrible. Full synthetic oil change is going to be about $100 wherever you go (even if you bought the oil,yourself it would be $50), $50 to rotate and balance the tires. Up to $150. $50 for each of the filters including part and labor, $250. $100 to flush the brake system. $350. Replacing the battery in the key, say $20 for that, so $370. the inspections and road test, 30 min for that dealers labor rate is $140, so $70. So $440. $499 isn't terrible, and t my dealer I have a 20% off coupon so it's $399. If my independent is $300 or more I may just have the dealer do it.