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The Lexus - to self-service or not.


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So the service is due today and the MOT has been extended until December, which was also due today.

The car is 9.5 years old with full Lexus service history. It's on 82k miles and the 100k one is due now. I was going to get that done and then self-service but my brother no longer works for Lexus and I can't get the 50% discount any more. I can't afford nearly £600 for a service and TBH I don't think the big one needs doing yet anyway. In the last 2 years it's had a minor and major service but only covered 4k miles and won't be doing much mileage any time soon.

I can buy a genuine service kit including all filters for £58 and the oil filter tool for £25. The one thing I can't do is the hybrid battery test. Now when we got the car the warranty covered it for up to 10 years, which was fine as after this service it would've run out. But they extended it last year to 15 years. It's £59 for the check but after talking to my brother he said he wouldn't bother as they didn't really get any warranty claims for the hybrid batteries. I'm still thinking of getting it done but I'm not sure - would you guys do it?

I'm just factoring in that the car is still worth a bit of money but we're planning on keeping it for the time being. I'm just wondering if self-servicing and not getting the hybrid check done might impact that.

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That's the thing, most service items are just for checks. A basic one, which is essentially an oil change costs £225! You can get an essential service for cars over 5 years old and that's £165. Both include the hybrid check.

So if I got the essential service it's £50 more (self-servicing includes all filters too) and my brother said they don't even stamp the book unless you nag them. Then they'll write essential service under it so it sounds like you've had something inferior done! That was for the dealer he worked for though.

Even with MOTs they're not as thorough as you think they might be and they charge the full amount.

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On 02/06/2020 at 14:48, SMARTLY said:

Hasn't your brother got a mate ;)

 

Unfortunately it won't work like that as I already asked. Plus when he got made redundant the whole office went!

22 hours ago, liner33 said:

I'm self servicing my BMW now and its 5 years old . I just keep good records . I have little faith that main dealers will do a better job than I can as well as the money

I'm surprised by that. As you tend to trade your cars in a lot doesn't that affect the value with a dealer.

Did you self service with the Prius you had and get the hybrid check done? As they've extended the warranty from 10 to 15 years they must be very confident in the technology.

I've ordered the service kit and filter tool anyway so will get that done next week hopefully.

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No the Prius had a servicing plan which cost about £600 for the first three years, I paid for the last service and MOT at an alternative Toyota dealer, same with the Octavia as I bought a service plan for the first three years at time of buying then another plan which covered 2 years servicing and mots thereafter , got a small refund on that when I sold the car. 

We bought a plan on the Lexus also but that was a whopping £960 for the three services ! 

I serviced my 370z's myself and pretty much all my weekend cars but rarely my daily 

Ironically the BMW has a free service left but they only want to do it every other year or 16000 miles and I only do about 6k per year, I'd rather service it myself annually, did the brake fluid change (NOT included as part of the service plan anyhow!) and the oil & oil filter myself recently and nothing else is due until next year now , as for retained value I cant see it affecting it much , either the car has been serviced or it hasn't in my view. Bit of a shocker doing the 235i as it takes 7 litres of oil ! 

I did a oil and filter change on the Fiesta at 2000 miles, as well but I'll get that serviced by Ford as its got 5 years warranty and it saves having to argue  

 

 

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Lexus service plans are expensive!

I've had the service kit delivered so will get that done. I need to find out from Lexus when's the latest I can get the hybrid check done. I'll probably make this the last one.

The only thing I'm not sure about doing is the brake fluid change. It should be the same as any system but maybe a job for WIM to do when it's due.

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48 minutes ago, Tony said:

Yep we can do that mate

Excellent. I could do it myself but it's just hassle getting all 4 corners on stands! I need to check the service history to see if it's been done previously.

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It's a timing chain so not too concerned about that. Main difference with the 100k mile service is the coolant change and they charge an extra £300 for that!

I got all my parts delivered and fuel cleaner, Aircon cleaner and some tyre dressing to get free postage. Came to just over £100 for all genuine parts. 

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2 hours ago, liner33 said:

Do they change the water pump with the coolant ? BMW reccomend it every 5 years I think . Even then there is a lot of coolant as the battery has a cooling system also 

Nope just the coolant. Might do brake fluid too but they charge extra for that if it needs replacing. 

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  • 1 month later...

Well after finding that very rusty fuel filler pipe that the dealer made no mention of in the service or MOT, my assumption of never trusting them has been proved right!

I did the service today, it was fairly straightforward. Worse bit was probably taking the plastic lugs out of the undertray, which then turned out to be a flap! So I had to hold it up while accessing the bolt and filter. Old oil was still golden and the air filter looked brand new. Seemed premature to replace it but I did anyway.

20200720_130753_copy_1612x2865.thumb.jpg.0696fb4e6b02875eeea893afcd5ef2f5.jpg

Aircon is blowing cool rather than ice cold so I'm going to get that regassed then I have the pollen filter to change and some aircon cleaner to use.

I'll probably get the hybrid health check done if they'll still honour the warranty as it's overdue.

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