Posted on 06/24/2015 9:13:16 PM PDT by nickcarraway
So I’m on vacation the other day, and I get a text message from my dad saying that he’s returning to the Lexus dealership service department for the second time in a day.
This surprised me. My father would never willingly go to an automobile dealership twice in a single day. The man will sometimes go entire years without setting foot in a car dealer. He is, when it comes to cars, my polar opposite: he doesn’t care. He drives 6,000 miles a year and religiously maintains his vehicles at the dealership, documenting every service, every oil change, every fuel stop in a little notebook he keeps in the glovebox. When I was a kid, his car-buying strategy was to purchase a new Camry with cash every ten years. Once, he waited 11 years. That was a big deal.
It was an even bigger deal when I finally talked Dad into deviating from his Camry loyalty and buying a Lexus, just a few months shy of his 60th birthday. But I couldn’t convince him to buy a new one. Oh, no: that would just be crazy. Instead, he bought a certified pre-owned 2005 RX330 in March 2008, ten years to the minute after he had purchased his last Camry. He sold his Camry through an ad in the paper. This is the kind of person we’re dealing with, here.
So I was really surprised when Dad told me he was heading back to the Lexus dealer for the second time in a day. And I was even more surprised to find out the reason. The first time, for an oil change. The second time, because the check engine light went on five minutes after he left the service department.
Now, ordinarily a check engine light isn’t really that much to be alarmed about. For example: the check engine light is currently illuminated in my Range Rover, which means the CarMax warranty claims people are going to be getting a call in about a week asking them to replace the Something-Or-Other Spindle, and it’ll cost eleven hundred bucks. I used to have a 2001 Audi A4, and the check engine light was a way of life. It came on for everything. The oxygen sensors. The gas cap. If it was raining. To remind you about endangered animals. When you were singing. When you were driving on dirt. When you had forgotten your grocery list.
Once, as I was leaving a restaurant, I turned on the car and the check engine light started flashing, which – according to the owner’s manual – is a sign your vehicle is about to explode like the Hindenburg. My remedy was to turn the car off and right back on. Inexplicably, the light didn’t return for months.
But a check engine light when you’re on the way home from the dealer is a red flag. Especially in a Lexus. Especially in my dad’s insanely pampered, rarely-used, 6,000-mile-a-year Lexus. So I told him it would probably be traced to something minor and quick, like they’d forgotten to reset the battery or some stupid Japanese car crap, and he’d go back, and they’d do it in thirty seconds, and he’d be on his way.
Not so.
When he got back to the dealer, they gave him a loaner car and told him they’d call him with an update. And a few hours later, they called: the issue was traced to a failed oxygen sensor, and the total cost would be more than $400.
Understandably, my dad was a bit suspicious. The very first time the check engine light comes on in seven years just happens to be on the way home from the dealer after an oil change?
So I spent some time researching the issue online, and I discovered two things. Number one, it’s tremendously unlikely that a mechanic could accidentally damage an oxygen sensor while a car was in for a routine oil change. And number two, oxygen sensor failure is common on cars of this age. Almost expected. Even more common, in fact, on this generation of RX: during my research, I discovered many online RX forums full of people complaining that their sensors failed during the warranty period or just after. So I told Dad to suck it up, pay the $400 – his first penny of unscheduled repair work during the seven years he’s owned the car – and move on. Dad agreed. The next day was Father’s Day, and we spoke on the phone for about 45 minutes. The issue never even came up. Dad was resigned to pay the money, fix the problem, forget about it, and chalk it up to a funny coincidence.
And then came Monday.
On Monday, the dealer called and told him the problem was indeed the oxygen sensor, and it would indeed be more than $400 to fix. But he wouldn’t be paying for it. The service advisor had talked it over with his manager, and they decided the dealer would cover the entire repair, on the theory that the problem might have happened during the oil change, however slight a possibility that was. In other words: the dealer had decided to cover a pricey repair on an 11-year-old car that was four years out of warranty because there was some small chance a part had gotten nicked during an oil change.
And this brings me back to the title of today’s column. You see, my dad is looking for a new car to replace my mom’s aging Ford Escape, and I’ve been trying to convince him to get something a little hipper than a Toyota or Lexus. Maybe a Land Rover. A Mercedes. An Audi. A Volvo. And up until this week, he’s been somewhat receptive to the idea. He’s over 65 now, he’s never had a European luxury car, and I think he wouldn’t mind spoiling himself a little.
And then: a check engine light. A $400 part. A free service loaner on an unannounced visit to the service department. And a Lexus dealer proving the brand’s well-earned reputation for the best customer service in the industry.
The only question now is what color Dad’s next RX will be.
I chose a 2003 Infiniti G35 with 6 speed manual.
If you buy a coupe, some kid has abused it.
Keep the car that runs until it doesn’t.
True enough.
But DIY replacement isn’t always that easy, O2 sensors can be pretty hard to get to especially if you don’t have a lift.
Very few people are willing to get their hands dirty these days, even if it saves them a few hundred.
I have a 13 vw golf. where would I get extended warrenty protection? 40K milage
He seems to have a hard time ending them too.
(zzz)
You can google O2 sensor replacement costs and you will find that the only example cost that is at or over that $400 is for a Mercedes. The other costs are averaging about $100-$150 cheaper. And this isn’t “DIY” which would be much cheaper. That dealership ripped him off (or would have).
Lexus or Toyota. Hondas have a/c problems that are underreport. You can find them reported in car forums to the extreme.
That’s why they call them “stealerships”.
And check the labor rates in a stealership that handles both cheap and premium brands (e.g. Toyota and Lexus).
The labor rate on a Lexus will always be higher than a Toyota.
My Lexus GS350 has been mechanically perfect for nine years. And I always laugh when I see my 5,000 mile service bills compared to those for my wife’s Mercedes. I just don’t think the German cars are worth the additional cost of ownership.
True enough. I am not against having a dealer do work. Sometimes they are better equipped to do it. However, I always make a point of closely examining their estimated costs BEFOREHAND and asking questions. Sometimes they have a little leeway in determining what labor costs will be.
I also have them do every oil change for the life of the car.
01 Ranger here, 4.0 liter 5 speed. Check engine light has been on for 7 years or more. Dumped over $400 bucks into resolving it, gas caps and vacuum leaks, and gave up years ago.
Shines like new, even though I’m miles up a dirt road, and only 135K miles on her. Has a gas gauge, temp gauge, tach and oil pressure as well. Those are enough for me. I’ll drive her till she quits.
Check engine light ... we used to call them idiot lights.
Bookmark.
Hubby has a GLK 350 and says he’ll never own another Mercedes because of the service bills. My Jag isn’t cheap either though.
Providing you aren’t having any problems with the caravan...I would not buy another car right now. We have a 2001 Ford F150 pickup with almost 280,000 on it! We are keeping it...will probably replace engine sometime.
I have a 2000 Cadillac that has served me well for about 10 years, still runs good, looks good, but the motors for the power windows in the front are shot as is the AC. (It still blows air but not cool. Coolant is not the problem)
In this S Texas heat it is virtually impossible to withstand the heat- not being able to put the windows down or have cool air.
When I found out how much they wanted to repair it, I was absolutely speechless- $!000! (and that’s just to replace the motors and get to the AC. It does not include repairing the AC.
I like the car, but I don’t know what to do.
No I discoed the power to the alarm light. The O2 sensor coming on is a scam to get you to bring it in to the dealer charge you $300 for pressing a hidden button.
I'd rather die owing someone else than someone else owing me........
The last words out of my grandfather's mouth were "damn, I wish I had bought that new car..."
I love mine!
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