The Lexus Used Rac Check

[tony_hetherington]

Hi all,

As I think I explained to some of you at Brooklands, I had a few problems with my car, but am VERY surprised at their nature.....especially as the RAC check was carried out last Thursday!!

...the tracking was WELL out (with car driving straight, wheel was pointing at 10.30 if it was a clock)

...there were many stone chips on bonnet

...the CD player did not tune to FM and had problems with CD's 5 and 6

...the hubs were rusted.

The important one is the tracking, but the RAC should have picked up on the other problems too? The reason I went to a dealer and paid that extra money is because of the check and the quality of the used cars. It all has now been sorted for me, by Lexus, but the question I ask is - "is the RAC check worth anything if these points were not picked up on?"

Opinions please !

PS: I'm not having a go at Lexus here. Their service and help has been top. They have slightly let themselves down here, but overall I am very impressed and would certainly buy Lexus again.

[ricky_is200]

I'm sure the RAC checks concentrate on mechanical faults rather than cosmetic, and I can't see them doing tests on the cd player.

The stone chips, rusty brake discs and cd player are all common faults unfortunately. The dealer should have checked these though.

[Mr-Lex]

I thought the of the same thing as well. My whole dashboard "thing" is not reading correctly as it is under reading then usual. I only noticed it when my MPG indicator was not moving about as it supposed to. Plus few hic-cups on my CD player.

Damn these RAC inspectors are good!!!!

[mudzs]

Picked my Gs300 up two weeks ago from lexus tonbridge and it has to GO BACK friday for rac check so i hope they are good .Does anyone know how much they check or is it just the obvious bits, and do they check paint work .

[marshy]

>"is the RAC check worth anything if these points were not picked up on?"

My car had the bonnet, wing mirrors and bumpers resprayed because it wouldn't have passed the RAC check. They also check the alloys for kerbing, corrosion plus tyres for tread.

I am not sure about mechanical tests and the only reason I know about the above is because the sales guy told me all the work that was needed to my car before it passed.

As to whether it's worth anything, who knows, you do get a certificate to put in your Lexus owners pack. ;)

[Nick]

It's actually very stringent, and I guess pretty similar to one you might pay for independently, although it is a simple pass or fail with the approved used car program, on a multitude of points both mechanical and cosmetic.

[tony_hetherington]

I'd have thought the tracking being out by so much would have been easily noticed though? As I said, with wheels 100% straight, the steering wheel was pointing about 10.30 left !! Quite a lot!!

As for the stone chips - once the check had been done, my dad went there (as he was in Worcester at the time) and it still had loads of very evident chips on it.

Was a bit dis-heartened by it, as I thought the RAC check would mean that 4 days after receiving the car that I WOULDNT need to take it back to get things sorted - alas, I did.

What EXACTLY does it cover? You say nothing cosmetic, but they check for stone chips. If it's only mechanical, then they should have noticed the tracking/rusty hubs etc.?

[Nick]

If you read what I said it did say mechanical and cosmetic. There is a checksheet which is done with every car, although it is the pass certificate which is handed to the customer. As with any thing involving humans there is some interpretation as to what is acceptable cosmetically, and some engineers are more choosy than others. It's one to discuss with your dealer, although they do seem to be sorting your problems for you.

[kev dood]

When I got my IS200SE from Lexus Brighton, I was told that any more than 3 stone chips on a single panel and the RAC would fail it, requiring a respray for that panel. Under that, Chip Wizard would wield (is that spelt correctly??) their magic.

From what a friend (Merc mech.) has said, they are very strict on the RAC pre checks as if when its under warrenty, it comes back due to something that should have been checked, then RAC have to pay ??

I was happy with mine, if yours haven't gone as well then kick the dealer. Lexus advertise the thing enough, you'd think they would get it right.