Did I misunderstand or am I just getting the run around?

Did I misunderstand or am I just getting the run around?

Back in November I had the choise of spending an extra $3000 on an CPO ES330
by buying the car from the Lexus dealership closest to my home or saving the
money and buying the exact same car with half the miles on from a dealer in
a large metro area. When I was in the sales cycle I could have sworn that
both dealers told me that since the car (either of them) was a Certified
Pre-Owned Lexus, any service that was needed under waranty that required a
overnight stay of the vehicle would result in a loaner being provided at no
expense to the customer.
I opted to save the dollars and buy the car from the large metro dealer as I
felt comfortable knowing that either way I was going to be covered.

I now have a situation where depending on the road conditions, the
temperature and length of time the car has sat without use I can have an
unusually loud plastic-like clicking noise in my dash. By the time I drive
the car the 40 miles to the closest dealer the noise has pretty much gone
away so I need to leave the car at the dealers for a few days to allow
sufficient time to identify the source of the noise and get it fixed.

When I contacted the local dealer what I'm being told is that since I didn't
buy the car there the only thing they can do is provide a rental car at my
expense. Loaners, it seems, are only provided to customers that purchase
their cars at the local dealsership. So......am I getting the run around?

W C Hull wrote:

Did I misunderstand or am I just getting the run around?

http://www.lexus.com/cpo/benefits/stellar_coverage.html

Stellar Coverage
The exceptional privileges of Lexus ownership are not limited to
new-vehicle buyers. Lexus is devoted to the Lexus Certified Pre-Owned
buyer's comfort, safety and security by offering coverage that truly
goes above and beyond.


- Roadside Assistance
Complimentary 24 hours a day, 365 days a year. Developed
specifically to meet your expectations anytime, anywhere in the
continental U.S.A., with a national network of roadside-service
providers. Just call, and Lexus will take care of the details.


- Trip Interruption
This travel protection helps take care of you if your vehicle
breaks down while you're away from home. You will be provided with meals
and lodging for a maximum of 3 nights (up to $200 per night) while
repairs are performed on your car, in addition to a rental car for up to
5 days (up to $50 per day).


- Loaner Car
Complimentary, of course, for any warrantable repair.

These, and all other, services are available nationwide through the
Lexus dealer network.

Travis,

Thanks. I have a complaint in to Lexus corporate regarding the lack of a
loaner car and this certainly gives me some leverage to get compensated for
the time I might have to rent a car.

BH


"Travis Jordan" <no.one (AT) no (DOT) net> wrote

W C Hull wrote:
Did I misunderstand or am I just getting the run around?

http://www.lexus.com/cpo/benefits/stellar_coverage.html

Stellar Coverage
The exceptional privileges of Lexus ownership are not limited to
new-vehicle buyers. Lexus is devoted to the Lexus Certified Pre-Owned
buyer's comfort, safety and security by offering coverage that truly
goes above and beyond.


- Roadside Assistance
Complimentary 24 hours a day, 365 days a year. Developed
specifically to meet your expectations anytime, anywhere in the
continental U.S.A., with a national network of roadside-service
providers. Just call, and Lexus will take care of the details.


- Trip Interruption
This travel protection helps take care of you if your vehicle
breaks down while you're away from home. You will be provided with meals
and lodging for a maximum of 3 nights (up to $200 per night) while
repairs are performed on your car, in addition to a rental car for up to
5 days (up to $50 per day).


- Loaner Car
Complimentary, of course, for any warrantable repair.

These, and all other, services are available nationwide through the
Lexus dealer network.

W C Hull wrote:

Thanks. I have a complaint in to Lexus corporate regarding the lack
of a loaner car and this certainly gives me some leverage to get
compensated for the time I might have to rent a car.

Good deal - please let us know what they say.

I got my call back today from the Lexus Customer Support Center today
regarding my local dealers refusal to provide me with a complimentary loaner
car while my car was being repaired under warranty. Dispite that fact that
on http://www.lexus.com/cpo/benefits/stellar_coverage.html it specifically
states that a loaner car will be provided the Support Center Rep said that
(1) Loaner cars are at the discretion of the local dealership. They went on
to state that (2) loaners are only provided if the car requires repairs that
cannot be completed in 8 hours.

When I pointed out the web page to the Rep there was much choking that
occured on his part and an agreement by the rep that the information posted
on their web site does not agree with physical reality of their policy. In
other word, rent the car and shut up.




"Travis Jordan" <no.one (AT) no (DOT) net> wrote

W C Hull wrote:
Thanks. I have a complaint in to Lexus corporate regarding the lack
of a loaner car and this certainly gives me some leverage to get
compensated for the time I might have to rent a car.

Good deal - please let us know what they say.

Elmo P. Shagnasty wrote:

Don't stop with the phone call.

Write a nice letter, put it on paper, put it in an envelope, put a
stamp on it, and mail it to Lexus corporate. Office of the president.

A letter has MUCH more weight than a phone call, and either of those
has ten times the weight of an email. A snail mail letter means you
care enough to write, and it gets past the phone drones.

Excellent advice. Lexus should abide by the policy that is posted on
their web site. After all, you relied on that information when you
bought your car. It is a little late for them to try to disclaim their
way out of the situation.

If it were me and Lexus tried to welch on the deal, I'd pass the matter
to my attorney. Maybe he'd be interested in a class action lawsuit.

On Wed, 22 Feb 2006 05:43:50 GMT, "W C Hull"
<substitute1stInitial2ndInitialLastName51 (AT) hotmaill (DOT) com> wrote:

I got my call back today from the Lexus Customer Support Center today
regarding my local dealers refusal to provide me with a complimentary loaner
car while my car was being repaired under warranty. Dispite that fact that
on http://www.lexus.com/cpo/benefits/stellar_coverage.html it specifically
states that a loaner car will be provided the Support Center Rep said that
(1) Loaner cars are at the discretion of the local dealership. They went on
to state that (2) loaners are only provided if the car requires repairs that
cannot be completed in 8 hours.

When we purchased our CPO ES300, the dealership (Kuni Lexus in Denver,
CO) said the rental policy varied from dealership to dealership. More
specifically they said the only time they would provide a loaner was
if we were bringing the vehicle for a major service (i.e. 60K, etc) or
if the service/repair was going to take more than a day.

I know the dealership in Colorado Springs, CO was the same way.

YMMV.

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On Wed, 22 Feb 2006 13:14:55 -0600, Curtis Newton
<cnewton{delete-this}@akaMail.net> graced this newsgroup with:

On Wed, 22 Feb 2006 05:43:50 GMT, "W C Hull"
substitute1stInitial2ndInitialLastNa...aill (DOT) com> wrote:

I got my call back today from the Lexus Customer Support Center today
regarding my local dealers refusal to provide me with a complimentary loaner
car while my car was being repaired under warranty. Dispite that fact that
on http://www.lexus.com/cpo/benefits/stellar_coverage.html it specifically
states that a loaner car will be provided the Support Center Rep said that
(1) Loaner cars are at the discretion of the local dealership. They went on
to state that (2) loaners are only provided if the car requires repairs that
cannot be completed in 8 hours.


When we purchased our CPO ES300, the dealership (Kuni Lexus in Denver,
CO) said the rental policy varied from dealership to dealership. More
specifically they said the only time they would provide a loaner was
if we were bringing the vehicle for a major service (i.e. 60K, etc) or
if the service/repair was going to take more than a day.

I know the dealership in Colorado Springs, CO was the same way.

YMMV.

Our dealer, Pohanka Lexus, in Chantilly Va., charges $5 a day for
their loaners, but they'll go ahead and loan you a car (always a late
model ES or RX) for *any* work taking an hour or more. And, they're
open 7 days a week (including holidays) 6am to 11pm. No appointment
needed either.

So, I guess it's really dependent on the dealer how they want to treat
their customers.

Before reading the additional threads I had already written a letter to the
President of Lexus with a screen shot of their web page attached. At this
point, since I have not had to rent a car, I have no loss but I would like
Lexus corporate to at lease change their web page by putting some disclaimer
on it. If they don't, I think my next step might be to send a copy of my
letter to the Federal Trade Commission who I believe oversees truth in
advertising. In my opinion, the Lexus web page constitutes a form of
advertising and by posting a statement that they are unwilling to backup
constitutes false advertising. Another thought would be to pass this matter
on to the Attorney General of my state who is also very active in trying to
protect the consumer from false advertising.

P.S. One thing I forgot to mention (good news) is that I spoke to the
Service Manager of the dealership I purchased the car from and he said that
most dealers will provider a loaner but also agreed it was up to the
dealership to decide. He said it was unfortunate that the dealer closest to
my home wouldn't and offered to pick up any rental car fee I might incure in
trying to get my service problem taken care of. My hat's off to this
organization for at least looking after their customer regardless of where
the car is being serviced. Rare, very rare occurance these days.



<kegler (AT) bowling (DOT) net> wrote

On Wed, 22 Feb 2006 13:14:55 -0600, Curtis Newton
cnewton{delete-this}@akaMail.net> graced this newsgroup with:

On Wed, 22 Feb 2006 05:43:50 GMT, "W C Hull"
substitute1stInitial2ndInitialLastNa...aill (DOT) com> wrote:

I got my call back today from the Lexus Customer Support Center today
regarding my local dealers refusal to provide me with a complimentary
loaner
car while my car was being repaired under warranty. Dispite that fact
that
on http://www.lexus.com/cpo/benefits/stellar_coverage.html it
specifically
states that a loaner car will be provided the Support Center Rep said
that
(1) Loaner cars are at the discretion of the local dealership. They went
on
to state that (2) loaners are only provided if the car requires repairs
that
cannot be completed in 8 hours.


When we purchased our CPO ES300, the dealership (Kuni Lexus in Denver,
CO) said the rental policy varied from dealership to dealership. More
specifically they said the only time they would provide a loaner was
if we were bringing the vehicle for a major service (i.e. 60K, etc) or
if the service/repair was going to take more than a day.

I know the dealership in Colorado Springs, CO was the same way.

YMMV.


Our dealer, Pohanka Lexus, in Chantilly Va., charges $5 a day for
their loaners, but they'll go ahead and loan you a car (always a late
model ES or RX) for *any* work taking an hour or more. And, they're
open 7 days a week (including holidays) 6am to 11pm. No appointment
needed either.

So, I guess it's really dependent on the dealer how they want to treat
their customers.

I have a 2002 ES300, and it has been plagued with rattles and clicking since
the day I bought it. Many have been resolved through known TSB's, but I
have a dash rattle that still exists. One rattle I had that you may want to
look into, my windshield was not mounted correctly, a retaining pin had
broken. The dealer fixed that under warranty a couple of years ago, and
that particular rattle went away. That was a tough one to track down, it
sounded like it was coming from somewhere in the dash. One other big
problem is at some point, Toyota started assembling most of their interior
components with push-pin methods instead of screws. Once they did that,
everything was subject to a potential rattle down the road. Anyway, good
luck with yours. My opinion is that Toyota/Lexus is a different company
from 5-10 years ago, and they are also subject to the shoddiness in auto
parts quality and build standards that globalization has produced.
Everybody has to do it cheaper and faster, but doing it better is optional.


"W C Hull" <substitute1stInitial2ndInitialLastName51 (AT) hotmaill (DOT) com> wrote in
message news:RG3Kf.12726$dO2.486 (AT) trnddc07 (DOT) ..

Did I misunderstand or am I just getting the run around?

Back in November I had the choise of spending an extra $3000 on an CPO
ES330 by buying the car from the Lexus dealership closest to my home or
saving the money and buying the exact same car with half the miles on from
a dealer in a large metro area. When I was in the sales cycle I could
have sworn that both dealers told me that since the car (either of them)
was a Certified Pre-Owned Lexus, any service that was needed under waranty
that required a overnight stay of the vehicle would result in a loaner
being provided at no expense to the customer.
I opted to save the dollars and buy the car from the large metro dealer as
I felt comfortable knowing that either way I was going to be covered.

I now have a situation where depending on the road conditions, the
temperature and length of time the car has sat without use I can have an
unusually loud plastic-like clicking noise in my dash. By the time I
drive the car the 40 miles to the closest dealer the noise has pretty much
gone away so I need to leave the car at the dealers for a few days to
allow sufficient time to identify the source of the noise and get it
fixed.

When I contacted the local dealer what I'm being told is that since I
didn't buy the car there the only thing they can do is provide a rental
car at my expense. Loaners, it seems, are only provided to customers that
purchase their cars at the local dealsership. So......am I getting the
run around?