Is 220d - Wheels Need Balancing?

[Local Yokel]

I have just had my first 10,000 service (interim) and I was a bit shocked to have a report back from the garage (Nati*&^%^&*ide Au&*^%$ntre) that they advised that my wheels need balancing and alignment checked/redone!!! Apparently they have seen signs of wear since they last saw my car. :o

Well thats odd, as they haven't seen my car before and the wear on the tyres is nothing unusual for a car that has done this mileage, which has mostly been on motorways! The wear is even across the tread surface. I am not one for 'wheel spinning' or driving like a maniac round corners and the like, so I cannot understand why they are saying this? Is it just a ploy to drum up more business? They even sent me a reminder and included a £10 off voucher if I go in the next week to get it done!

Realistically, I cannot see any way the alignment of the wheels would have gone out over this mileage and as I have driven all of them, I would have know if I had run up a kerb or hit a boulder to disloge the tracking!

Is this another case of 'He's got a Lexus so lets extract some more money'.....???

Discuss.

[Steve ( West Mids )]

Why are you taking a10k mile car to a "garage" such as that for a service, doesn't make sense on a new car. I know you can under European law without it affecting warranty - but do they really know about a Lexus and did they uses manufacture approved parts and lubricants?

[Local Yokel]

Very simply its down to cost - nearest main dealer is 35 miles away and charges £350 for an interim service. The Nat Auto centre is Lexus aproved and does an interim service for £130....after all its, just a oil and filter change and a general check over the car operation, according to the Lexus Interim service schedule. How can they (Lexus) justify £350 plus VAT of course? I have a full print out of what was done, chose the oil to go into the car and the car was vacuumed and washed for me too - oh, and the centre is only 11 miles away. It made financial sense.

When the first major service is due, then this will be done a Lexus MDC.

[knitware]

Very simply its down to cost - nearest main dealer is 35 miles away and charges £350 for an interim service. The Nat Auto centre is Lexus aproved and does an interim service for £130....after all its, just a oil and filter change and a general check over the car operation, according to the Lexus Interim service schedule. How can they (Lexus) justify £350 plus VAT of course? I have a full print out of what was done, chose the oil to go into the car and the car was vacuumed and washed for me too - oh, and the centre is only 11 miles away. It made financial sense.

When the first major service is due, then this will be done a Lexus MDC.

I cant believe what i'm reading! You spend £1000s on a new car and try to save a couple hundred pounds on servicing? All this scrimping will be reflected come selling time. A full Lexus history car will command more money and sell a lot easyer. I don't understand your logic. If you want to save a little bit of money at least go to a Toyota garage, in fact not even that, use Lexus, it's a new car!

National Auto centres will be used to servicing ageing Vauxhalls, Fords etc. During servicing your car are they using the correct oils, filters and are you having the correct checks and adjustments made? I doubt it. Drive a further '20' miles!! get the job done properly, take you car to Lexus and forget the idea that you are saving money going to Auto Centre, you are not.

[Steve ( West Mids )]

Ask a Lexus dealer if they will part exchange your car, they won't sell it on their forecourt as there used car T&C's say full Lexus service history.

I'm sorry but it's false economy. Saving £200 now has probably already cost you a £1000 on the value of your car :(

[Tango]

Ask a Lexus dealer if they will part exchange your car, they won't sell it on their forecourt as there used car T&C's say full Lexus service history.

I'm sorry but it's false economy. Saving £200 now has probably already cost you a £1000 on the value of your car :(

It's only a 220D, not a Ferrari, and I doubt a Lexus dealer may be reluctant to have it in part exchange (unlikely in todays market) even with a part non-Lexus service history.

[Steve ( West Mids )]

All Approved Pre-Owned Lexus vehicles must have a service history that is approved by the Lexus Centre retailing the car.

Requirements for an approved service history:

• All Lexus Centre services will be completed by a Lexus qualified technician and have all the applicable stamps and signatures.
  
• Services for qualifying vehicles must be within 1,000 miles either side of the scheduled service mileage limit or within 2 months either side of the specified time period.
  

[Tango]

All Approved Pre-Owned Lexus vehicles must have a service history that is approved by the Lexus Centre retailing the car.

Requirements for an approved service history:

• All Lexus Centre services will be completed by a Lexus qualified technician and have all the applicable stamps and signatures.
  
• Services for qualifying vehicles must be within 1,000 miles either side of the scheduled service mileage limit or within 2 months either side of the specified time period.
  

Get real, they'll take it in part exchange and punt it out elsewhere in their group as all the Lexus stealerships are franchises anyway e.g. Sytner, Listers etc. So it will not qualify to be sold on a 'Lexus' forecourt as a Approved Pre-Owned, big deal. Stop listening to all the hype, it's only a rebadged Toyota (in fact it's not as well built as the previous re-badged Toyota it replaced). The fact that it's a diesel will probably have a more negative effect on the re-sale value.

[Exiled]

Very simply its down to cost - nearest main dealer is 35 miles away and charges £350 for an interim service. The Nat Auto centre is Lexus aproved and does an interim service for £130....after all its, just a oil and filter change and a general check over the car operation, according to the Lexus Interim service schedule. How can they (Lexus) justify £350 plus VAT of course? I have a full print out of what was done, chose the oil to go into the car and the car was vacuumed and washed for me too - oh, and the centre is only 11 miles away. It made financial sense.

When the first major service is due, then this will be done a Lexus MDC.

I cant believe what i'm reading!

Neither can I, thinks it's a wind up!!

[mattstheone]

strange thing is My 10k service only cost £190 and £70 of that was oil

so why they would charge over £300 for interim service seems strange

as only a month ago i paid £324.00 for the 40k Major service

so i think your local dealer is pullin yer pisser

regs Matt

and yes they would take the car in part ex

and the strange thing is there is a shortage of second hand cars just now as

not many people are parting with them.

Also our wonderful Brown n darling venture are forcing everyone with

an old car to buy a SMALL car, with the 2K off so after 3 years the small car will

be totally worthless and will need replacing again.

[is-hargy]

IS220d 07 reg.

My first service was £180.00 at my local Lexus dealer.

Had the recall done to my car, therefore they had to put in some new diesel, £40.00 to be exact.

Full valet & 2 bottles of wine for the trouble of the recall.

Dont know where you got the £300 + quote from.

Had the 2nd service at lexus also & that was £260.00 + got a tin of sweets.

A few months ago, i did have to steering geometry re-aligned on my car, because one of the front tyres was wearing

on the outside. Had this done at lexus (pricey at £75.00) but it is much better now.

I live in an area where there are loads of speed bumps so put it down to that. But it did last 2.5 years.

[Gunther]

Very simply its down to cost - nearest main dealer is 35 miles away and charges £350 for an interim service. The Nat Auto centre is Lexus aproved and does an interim service for £130....after all its, just a oil and filter change and a general check over the car operation, according to the Lexus Interim service schedule. How can they (Lexus) justify £350 plus VAT of course? I have a full print out of what was done, chose the oil to go into the car and the car was vacuumed and washed for me too - oh, and the centre is only 11 miles away. It made financial sense.

When the first major service is due, then this will be done a Lexus MDC.

I cant believe what i'm reading!

Neither can I, thinks it's a wind up!!

+1

You may well have invalidated your new car warranty too, unless they used genuine parts. If they say they did, was the parts delivered by flying pig

If they are really charging £350 +VAT (so £400) for an oil change I'd sell up and move closer to another Lexus garage.

Seriously though, I'd use a Toyota Dealer - remember the engine is essentially the same as a Avensis T180, same oil, filter, seals etc etc and similarly trained and approved engineers.

Even if it costs £200 at a Toyota garage, it's the same as one extra Tankful of fuel (£65 more than a Nationwide centre) and you have piece of mind.

I think they advised you to get the rebalance done as they really "saw you coming" - taking a new £22k plus car to them.

[Local Yokel]

Blimey...didn't realise you all felt so passionate about it!

10K is an 'Interim Service', basically an oil change and a check over....taking the car off the forecourt has already depreciated the 2nd user value by some considerable margin anyway. Thats life. The car drives beautifully, with absolutely no problems whatsoever and mechanically, it is as sound as any car I would expect from Toyota/Lotus! I had a new MR2 T-Bar way back on an E-Plate. Never saw a main dealership apart from when I picked it up. Never had a problem in 80,000 of hard driving! Not one recall, not one fault! Local garage servicing only...not one service interval missed and it was bought off me buy an avid Toyota fan who was absolutely chuffed to bits with the condition of it - he said it was one of the best kept, best serviced MR2's he had ever seen and bit my hand off to buy it!

I have had countless new cars since and most I have had serviced at 'non-franchised' dealers. Diesel engines are so reliable anyway and I will keep the car for no more than two years, so why waste all the money going to a 'main dealer'? Yippee..a few bottles of wine, a valet. Great I can do that myself and do a better job and buy a crate of wine with the money saved!

This will annoy many Lexus officiandos but lets get real here....it is only a car and mechanically, the same as millions of others on the road....just a different badge on the bonnet and backside!

[Exiled]

Blimey...didn't realise you all felt so passionate about it!

Wouldn't call it passion, more incredulity.

[is-hargy]

Blimey...didn't realise you all felt so passionate about it!

10K is an 'Interim Service', basically an oil change and a check over....taking the car off the forecourt has already depreciated the 2nd user value by some considerable margin anyway. Thats life. The car drives beautifully, with absolutely no problems whatsoever and mechanically, it is as sound as any car I would expect from Toyota/Lotus! I had a new MR2 T-Bar way back on an E-Plate. Never saw a main dealership apart from when I picked it up. Never had a problem in 80,000 of hard driving! Not one recall, not one fault! Local garage servicing only...not one service interval missed and it was bought off me buy an avid Toyota fan who was absolutely chuffed to bits with the condition of it - he said it was one of the best kept, best serviced MR2's he had ever seen and bit my hand off to buy it!

I have had countless new cars since and most I have had serviced at 'non-franchised' dealers. Diesel engines are so reliable anyway and I will keep the car for no more than two years, so why waste all the money going to a 'main dealer'? Yippee..a few bottles of wine, a valet. Great I can do that myself and do a better job and buy a crate of wine with the money saved!

This will annoy many Lexus officiandos but lets get real here....it is only a car and mechanically, the same as millions of others on the road....just a different badge on the bonnet and backside!

I was not boasting about the wine etc. But seems silly to have your service done at the auto centre, when for £50 more,

you could have got it done at lexus.