Hi all,
This being my first post, here's a quick introduction to myself and my car. I have a '99 MK4 LS400 in Atlantis Blue Mica that I bought in March this year and I love it to bits. Growing up in Dubai where they were ultra popular bad-***** cars, I'd always lusted after one and now I've already put over 10000 miles on mine. 😄
Now I know timing belts have been discussed here quite a few times, but I thought it may help to bring some up to date information to help everyone and also share with you something strange I've found.
I rang Lexus Coventry today (Listers) to enquire about a timing belt and water pump change. I was told by the service sales rep that these repairs come under "Lexus Fixed Price Scheme" and the timing belt change costs £295 (sounded very reasonable) and the water pump change costs £395. Now I assumed the £395 would include both timing belt + water pump, but I was clearly advised this WASN'T the case.
To me it made perfect sense that having the water pump replaced whilst you're already having a timing belt job done would cost an extra £100, since 95% of the labour work is already done. This is pretty much standard practice with most workshops and also aligns with some older posts I've read here on this forum. I expressed my dissatisfaction and spoke to somebody in the parts department to see if there's a change in opinion, but was given the same story, "These are the rates from the Fixed Price Scheme and they are treated as two separate jobs". Basically, computer says no; common sense mustn't prevail.
I've since done some searching on the interweb and found this on another Lexus Dealership website:
It sounds completely ludicrous that Lexus would expect us to pay an extra £395 for an additional 0.5 hours of labour (if that!). If I opted for the water pump replacement as listed in the image above, would it really not include timing belt replacement? Have I just been unlucky and only spoken to monkeys on the phone? Is it worth going down there and speaking to them in person?
Would love to hear if anyone has had a similar experience or know more about this. Feel free to let me know if I'm being daft here and if you have any other ideas 🙂
Many thanks,
FQ369