lesz

Here is another way to look at this. If you have a 36 month lease or loan and you are paying $4200 for the pre-paid maintenance plan, you will be adding $125 or so to your monthly payment. If, instead of getting the pre-paid maintenance plan, you put $10/month into a savings account, you will accumulate more than enough money to do all of the maintenance that is required for your first 5 years of ownership, per your car's owners manual.

Note that, when the dealer tries to convince you that you are saving money by buying the pre-paid maintenance plan, they will show you a list of maintenance items that includes many things that are not required, recommended, or needed for your car.

The bottom line is that, when people buy a pre-paid maintenance plan, the only financial beneficiary is the dealer. The dealer is counting on the customer to convince himself/herself that buying the pre-paid plan is a good deal when the reality is just the opposite.

The G Man

We bought a 2019 NX a while back, we only paid about $1000 for the pre paid maintenance plan, $4200 is way too much for a Japanese car, even the German cars dont charge that much more pre paid maintenance.

kent2174

March 2016 I paid $2195 for 5 year platinum (California only) prepaid plan for 2016 NX200t.
My local servicing dealer (Cerritos) is different from purchasing dealer (Santa Monica).
I always pay cash for vehicles, never lease.

LS430FL

I'm very confused...I have a 2020 NX. What on this car would warrant $4200 for prepaid maintenance in the first 5 years or 50,000 miles? I just checked out the Leuxs owners site. The only two large items that would require service within 5 years or 50K miles is one brake fluid flush and the spark plugs being changed at 40K miles or 48 months. All the other services are either mere inspections or oil changes and tire rotations. I don't see any costs anywhere near that cost. Can someone please explain? I see engine filter and Cabin air filters once or twice but again those are very basic DIY you can buy Toyota/Lexus OEM online for $50 or less and do it yourself in under 5 mins. The car is under warranty for for 48months or 50K miles so this seems very very steep for strictly maintenance.

Tanikell

I got a refund on the package 🙂

lesz

I think you made a wise choice.

As I was thinking about various posts in this thread, it struck me that it is good that there are some people who choose to buy ridiculously-priced pre-paid maintenance plans, extended warranties, etc. because, if a dealer can pad its profits by thousands of dollars on some sales, that is what allows the dealer to sell cars to more savvy buyers at much more minimal profit levels.

Freds430

Absolutely true!

LS430FL

I also don't understand what the above commenters mean by saying things along the lines of "nice not paying anything for 5 years." You did pay something. Prepaying or paying later it is still $4k plus out of your pocket as an extra cost. There is no way maintenance for 5 years and 50K miles according to the maintenance schedule will cost anywhere near that. You made a good choice.

stlgrym3

iTrader: (4)

i'm thinking about cancelling my prepaid maintenance plan on my new RX and bumped into this thread. is the cancellation process straight forward? did the dealer finance manager tried to ignore your request? I bought my RX a week ago and the prepaid maintenance fee is rolled into my monthly payment. do they just give you the full amount PLUS the interest i'm schedule to pay on that prepaid maintenance amount?

stlgrym3

iTrader: (4)

i bought a new RX and also regretting of buying the prepaid maintenance plan. is the process of cancelling straight forward? do i have to go through the dealership? did the finance guy give you trouble? my prepaid amount is being rolled into my monthly payment, do they just cut me a check with the full amount PLUS the interest i'm about to pay on the prepaid plan?

arf1410

the only maintenance I expect to have done prior to 60k miles, is 5 x oil changes, with the 1 at 10k miles being free. so 4 paid oil changes, which, at my local jiffy lube, should be <$100 each, = <$400 total. The reason I ended up buying the Lexus, instead of the Audi we liked, because I have expectations of spending almost nothing on maintenance for the first 100k miles... which has been true for us on 2 other toyotas, and honda, and a subaru.

LexMan2003

FINALLY, someone who does what I do. Thank you Freds430 !
The DIY oil/filter change on this vehicle is THE EASIEST of any vehicle I've owned in my life. I don't even have to jack up the front - the engine is high enough and there is no splash cover to deal with! In fact, my biggest complaint about buying this 2021 NX is that there is really nothing for me to do (maintenance-wise). AND they're recommending 10k oil change intervals - NO WAY. I'll be changing the oil/filter every 5k (aside from the mfr FREE maintenance that I'll let the dealer do).
Other than the FREE maintenance I'm entitled to, a wheel alignment once in a while, perhaps let them do my FRONT brakes, and perhaps let them do the brake fluid flushing, I'm expecting to do ALL of the other baloney maintenance on my own.

JasonJi

Hello Tanikell, could you share your experience how to cancel the pre paid maintenance plan?

anonymous123

DON'T BUY!!!!

I got the 5-year package (including the first 2 years that came with the CPO). When my car was covered under the maintenance plan, my maintenance receipt usually ended up somewhere between $90 - $500 (I don't need to pay). After my maintenance plan expired, the very first maintenance outside the plan, which is a small one right after a major one, quoted me $600+.

Therefore, you are actually paying $2000-$3000 for a 3-yr(6 times) maintenance, considering the first two years of maintenance came free with the purchase. Let's assume the worst scenario, you need a small maintenance and a major maintenance each year, you will spend $90+$500 = $590 per year. Three years of maintenance will cost you around $1770, which is still way less than what you paid for the prepaid maintenance plan. However, if you want to do the maintenance with the dealer and pay as you get the service, I believe it will cost you way much more than the prepaid price. In this case, a small one will cost around $500 and a major one will cost around $3000 each time.

Here is why. When you purchase the prepaid plan and pay upfront, the dealer will do the bare minimum for maintenance to save their cost, but when you pay service each time at its due, their sales agent will try everything they can to add more unnecessary items/services to your bucket list and milk the money out of you.

I don't have a solution for the dealer's dirty play since they are controlling the contract and maintenance process. My suggestion is to find a shop to do the maintenance and learn to change small things like windshield wipers/fluids, cabin filters, etc. yourself.

ArvinL

H​​​​​I everyone I'm from UK I did read the views about service plan, every one got different ideas. So my problem is if I don't do service with lexus which is expensive for a year then I loses my warranty and they don't expect service some where else even with Toyota which is reasonable. So to keep warranty what's best thing for me to do.some advised don't believe about warranty they telling you when you need them they will bring lot's of excuses to avoid it.
what's best way to keep warranty going.
Thanks 😊