There’s a reason why a Lexus dealer’s repair shop can afford to be generous.
What’s the best used car to buy? Thanks in advance. :)
First off, the oxygen sensor in no way costs anywhere near $400.
I’ve had three vehicles develop that “check engine” syndrome and it always turned out to be the O2 sensor for the catalytic converter. Two new Hondas and a new F150.
I spent days on the internet and talking to a couple of mechanical engineers about it. It is ethanol in the gas. It is very effective in disabling wideband 02 sensors. Ethanol eats hoses, gaskets, sensors and a host of other problems. I’ve had to be come a carburetor rebuild expert on all my 2 cycle engines because of it.
I finally broke down and bought a CAN/OBD II reader and when the light pops, I read the 02 sensor code and then reset it. It has saved me its cost several times over. BTW, the F150 runs just fine even at 105K miles now.
There's also a reason it might agree to cover a failure that happens a couple of miles after the car left the dealership: the service technician caused the problem.
I have four cars that I drive regularly, each over ten years old (17, 17, 16, and 11 years), each with well over 100K miles (180K, 140K, 130K, and 105K miles). That means 16 oxygen sensors. I've had only one of the 16 fail, ever. These are, obviously, unlikely to fail as often as implied. I suspect the dealership caused the problem.
I love mine!
“There’s a reason why a Lexus dealer’s repair shop can afford to be generous.”
Somewhat. I think the “luxury” car dealers are giving better deals these days.
We looked at a Jeep Cherokee and it came in at a high price. BMW offered a better SUV, an X1 35i, for the exact same price with all maintenance except tires and gas included, even brakes are included. The dealer is a no-haggle dealer with excellent prices and out in 1 hour. They have literally more people than I can count on staff doing maintenance, sales, car washes, concierge, training for customers (’Genius’), loaner cars for any reason (150 loaner cars in their fleet), you name it. FULL service dealership. Even “Gap Insurance” is part of the deal.
The Jeep dealer could barely care less we were there and their “deal” was lousy. Their maintenance shop and parts department are a mess and have zero service. I have a Jeep Grand Cherokee, nice vehicle sort-of but it will be my last one. (squeaks and rattles, shifter takes forever to go into park, and you cannot turn off the radio! No kidding. You can only turn it down, but never off.)
I also ride BMW motorcycles and the same great service is there.
I have a friend that drives only Lexus due to the great service he gets in his area from Lexus. The price for a Lexus is also inline with any other car brand, as with BMW.
Sure, both Lexus and BMW have vehicles with prices go well into the six figure range, but their lower end vehicles are great buys.