Hello. I am new to the club and am looking for advice from fellow Lexus owners in the San Francisco Bay Area. I have a 2001 RX300 AWD and am in need for a 90k mile service, basically the whole 9-yards (timing belt, water pump, air filter, spark plugs, cabin filter, fuel filter, tranny fluid, differential fluids, oil and filter, coolant, brake fluid, drive belt, multi-point inspection, etc).

I am definitely not wanting to go the the dealer, so I'm hoping members will have recommendations on where to go...hopefully a shop with good service and pricing located in the South Bay.

Here is what I got so far......

Exact Motorsports (Milpitas) - $1440
Foreign Affairs (Santa Clara- $1400

Thoughts?

 

let me know if you are willing to drive down to SJ
I might know some place

 

I'm actually from San Jose.

One thing to note, Exact Motorsports told me they use genuine OEM parts, not parts from the local auto store.

 

exact will always get my vote

 

Welcome to CL. It looks like you did your homework. Good Job.

The best advice for EVERYONE seeking service is to make sure you are comparing apples to apples. The 90K mile service DOES NOT always include the same labor or parts. Not all price quotes include the exact same work for 90k, 120k, etc.

For Example: Exact always quotes their service to include spark plug change, the dealer for example does not necessarily quote that. Spark plug labor on an 6 cyl RX is actually more expensive then say an 8 cyl GS, then you have to add the cost of the plugs. For an RX, the quote Exact gave you would be roughly $300 less if you take out the spark plug cost.

Always confirm with any quotes you get what is included. Price means nothing without having a COMPLETE description of the work performed and parts replaced.

Exact is also giving out discount coupons on labor for all those that register for the BOS 5 meet. I don’t know how much discount they are giving this time, but even at 10% off, that is already $100+ off their labor charge on 90k service. All you need to do is register for BOS 5 attend and pick up your coupon.

 

Buy your own (OEM) parts and fluids online and save some cash. Then you can just compare pure labor. Let them know this when getting a quote (they still may have some shop fee).
Upside: you are sure exactly what parts/fluids you got.

Downside: You need to do a little legwork to figure out which parts to get. If your part is defective, you are responsible to get it replaced.


Cut out some of the super easy DIY things you could do yourself (Cabin filter? do you really need a mechanic to do that one).
Doublecheck the owner's manual to see if you are doing unneccesary maintenance (e.g. fuel filter? i don't think that's in there. Water pump is also not a true maintenance item. If you were studious about replacing your coolant before, your water pump might be in fine shape).

Upside: save some cash
Downside: how much is your time worth?

There is always a tradeoff between "best" and "price". Finding a shop that offers the best "value" that maximizes "best" and "price" at a particular acceptance level is a hard task.

Some people will appreciate a shop that tries to save you a few bucks and takes some shortcuts: for example just putting in a new brake pads instead of doing a full brakejob (lube caliper slides/new caliper bolt/new fitment kit/machine rotors). Others will think that same shop isn't doing enough "work".