Independent Garages

davidjwelch · December 13, 2002

Hello,

I'm a new member to the board having bought a GS300 in August. It's a 94 MK1 with 99000 on the clock and full dealer history - Really enjoying being wafted about in luxury - makes my old Xantia seem a bit basic!

My question is regarding servicing which is now due. I used to own an old Porsche and remember that there was a really excellent network of independent garages which would carry out good quality servicing at a fraction of the exorbitant main dealer prices.

My question is, does the same sort of situation exist for Lexus? ( I am in the South east) or do you find the Lexus main dealers offer good value? I dont mind paying more if the job is going to be done better!

I am just concerned as in my company car days I used to use Ford and Vauxhall main dealers and was never that impressed with them.

I would be grateful for any advice / suggestions.

Also I would be grateful for any help with a CD problem that I have - I just get the err message when I try and play CDs. The cartridge loads into the carrier and I hear the CDs loading in - (they also eject OK) - when I press play I hear a faint click - click - click and then the err message appears.

Anyway I'm off now for a blast (or crawl) around the M25!

Many thanks

Monster-Mat · December 13, 2002

cannot help with the cd problem.......

but if you were to join gold membership,the servicing costs at main dealer would be considerably less

Loz · December 16, 2002

Have a great relationship with my local Lexus dealer and always source parts there but labour is £75 an hour!!

I can get a top bloke to work on my lex for £20 per hour and he has saved me a fortune. timing bet change on mine is £360 at Lexus or £100 at independent local garage. the guy did one on my T5 so I knew he was good for it. or at least "felt" he was good for it. done me ball joints for £40 quid labour. £150 at Lexus....

cant wait to get my spark plugs in there for about £80 instead of £180!!!!

Forget the badge, find someone you can trust and get the parts from the only obvious source.

Loz