Lexus’ service experience is legendary. The brand has been ranked number one in JD Power’s Customer Satisfaction Index for multiple years, and if you talk with Lexus owners, they’ll tell you all about it. Owners drop their vehicles off at the dealership — who valets the vehicle and offers coffee and a seamless experience — and then go about their day in a nice loaner, only to return, pay the bill, and then drive around in a car that never breaks. I just experienced a Lexus service first-hand, and yeah, it’s pretty damn good. But also a bit painful — at least, for me.
Here’s a quote from JD Power’s study from last year:
Highest-Ranking Brands and Segments
Lexus ranks highest in satisfaction with dealer service among all brands for a second consecutive year, with a score of 900. Porsche (880) ranks second in the premium segment, followed by Cadillac (879) and Infiniti (878).
So when my girlfriend invited me along for a visit to her dealer, I decided to check it out.
Though I haven’t spent much time experiencing dealership service (since I do my own work), I will say that the whole thing was short and sweet. My girlfriend had called the dealership, they’d scheduled her for an appointment, and we arrived at the dealer Friday morning l.
There was a guard shack; the man inside let us in with a smile and a wave:
My girlfriend pulled up to the Lexus store, a gentleman valeted her RX, and we met our service advisor, who guided us in.
He took us to his desk, where he showed us the RX’s service schedule. “Here’s what your car is going to have done the next few times you come in,” he told us, “and here’s how much it’s going to cost.”
It was incredibly transparent. He told us which parts were going to be replaced, how much those parts would cost, how much labor would cost, and when Lexus recommends it all gets done.
By the way, the vehicle’s full maintenance schedule is available online. You just type in your car, choose whether it’s four-wheel drive or two-wheel drive in a drop-down menu, specify how many miles are on the vehicle, and you’ll get a list of items Lexus recommends doing/checking:
This is all fairly straightforward stuff, here; it’s a lot of inspection, replacement of easy stuff like filters and oil, and tire rotations. It’s worth mentioning that not every dealer visit is that simple; the 60,000 mile visit involves a sparkplug change (rather expensive given replacing plugs on a transverse-engine V6 is such a chore, requiring intake manifold removal):
Anyway, my girlfriend and I spent maybe five minutes at the service advisor’s desk, where we nodded our heads, agreed to the service, and then left to get some free snacks in front of the greatest television of all time: a transparent wall into the service bay.
I raided the snacks counter and grabbed a can of early-morning Coca-Cola, much to the chagrin of my girlfriend, who would prefer I not ingest sugary carbonated beverages so that I, you know, don’t die earlier than necessary.
With my teeth actively rotting, I joined my girlfriend at the “Courtesy Vehicles” counter, where we were handed the reins to a nice Lexus NX:
The dealer did a quick inspection of the vehicle, handed us the keys, and we were off to do whatever we had planned for the day. Looking at the timestamps on my photos, the whole thing in-and-out took 20 minutes, and that was with us eating snacks, taking photos of the inside, and gazing at the cars being serviced through that glass wall.
After a day at work, my girlfriend and I swung by the dealership, handed over the NX keys to the service advisor in exchange for the RX keys, my girlfriend signed some papers and shoved her card into a card-reader. And boom, we were done. But of course, I wanted to have a bit of a look around. Turns out, they have computers for customers — both PCs and Macs:
They also have a little children’s section, though it’s smaller than the one at Galpin Honda:
But the best part of the dealership is the glass window (Porsche Santa Clarita has one, too; I’ll need to show you that sometime, because that place makes even this Lexus dealer look like straw-roofed shack):
I sat there for a while, staring at cars, drinking a hot chocolate (a free one; those taste better than not-free ones) that my silly self later spilled all over the table and floor. It was honestly quite pleasant. The dealer even vacuumed and washed the vehicle, and left this little note inside:
“They make it a really nice seamless experience in a comfortable environment, and I usually get a really nice loaner, which is fun. It’s just really easy to go there,” my girlfriend tells me, going on to say that the people who work there are always really nice.
She’d for months been talking about how she actually enjoys taking her car to her Lexus dealer, so I had to tag along this time to see what the heck she was talking about. Nobody enjoys having their car serviced!
But now that I’ve seen the process myself: I get it. It’s so clean. So simple. So quick. So transparent. If you’re not tight on funds, I could see how you might enjoy it.
Speaking of transparency, here’s everything that the dealer inspected:
The front brake pads that I replaced are looking good. I haven’t yet replaced the rears, and that’s noted in the inspection document.
If anything is unclear, there’s this app that my girlfriend uses to check out what’s been serviced and what it all costs:
On some level, I have to admit, this experience was a bit painful. The service isn’t cheap, and it involves some really basic stuff that I can do myself. I can replace a cabin air filter with my hands tied behind my back, and I can do it for probably $35. I can inspect suspension and clean battery terminals and rotate tires and change oil. I can do it all for probably $100. I could save us $300:
Luckily, I was able to convince my girlfriend to let me change the 12-volt battery, which the dealer had tested and found to be marginal. $260 for a 12-volt battery replacement? Screw that. I’ll do it for $150, and we’ll spend the $110 on some toys for our Jeep kittens.
But alas, my girlfriend likes having the car serviced at the dealer, and from a resale standpoint, I get that. She plans to part ways with this machine in a couple of years, and it will be the most incredible maintained vehicle I’ve ever known, and that’ll all be documented in Lexus’ computers for the next prospective buyer to see. The car will probably only have 60,000 miles on the clock by then, and will likely remain on America’s roads until we all make the Great Hovercraft Changeover in a century or so.
So it’s not cheap, and I have to grit my teeth seeing her pay for things that I could do for a song, but the overall experience is pretty damn pleasant otherwise. Zero bullshit. So if this were Mythbusters, and the myth was “Taking your car in for service at a Lexus dealership is actually a pretty seamless experience,” the myth would be: Confirmed. Well, maybe because this was just a singular data point, we’ll drop it to “Plausible.”
I suppose it varies dealer to dealer and brand to brand, but, my local BMW dealer has had this level of service for 25 years. Always a pleasant experience.
That office cubicle for kids is depressing.
Just wondering if the extra money spent on dealership only service actually provides any ROI at resale time?
It absolutely does to certain buyers, especially the older crowd (who tends to gravitate towards Lexus vehicles in the first place).
David, I get it you have a girlfriend. After following you forever at Jalopnik, i never thought this day would come and we are all happy for you. But come on, it’s getting like that Seinfeld episode where the girl asks “has anyone seen my fiancee” over and over. Like when Mercedes mentions her “wife” every article. More car talk, less family talk.
That glass window into the service center that you love so much is most techs worst nightmare
Don’t they charge you more if you watch?
some professions certainly do
It reminds me of that trend of open restaurant kitchens. It always made me feel bad for the workers. Servers NEED to be able to complain about bad customers when they’re in the kitchen. Not to mention, god forbid they read a text on their phone or some patron will rat them out to the manager.
I would like to see the cars getting worked on though…
I got some PTSD from my days as a Toyota service writer, all from reading your experience. I say this because we had the exact opposite of Lexus service. We didn’t have any snacks, our “customer lounge” was a bunch of old wooden chairs strewn about by the parts counter and in perfect view of the Sales Floor, right next to their coffee machine. Guess how many times someone would get a “feeler” conversation in an hour waiting for an oil change?
Loaners? Never heard of them. We only gave out loaners for 2 day+ jobs and it had to be Warranty or Customer Pay. Dealer said your new to you, CPO Camry needs something? Hope you have another ride! Oh the amount of times I’d get screamed at for that…
But never fear, we have a dealership shuttle for you! It’s run by an 85 year old man who works from 6AM-2PM and then shuts it down for the day. We’ll gladly take 5 people where they need to go, just don’t expect a ride back.
It always amazed me that we treated customer’s in such fashion, when for a few dollars more, they could get an amazing experience at a Lexus dealership down the road. The level of service at a Lexus, Acura, Lincoln, Cadillac, and even GMC dealerships blows away most other brands. I’d even argue that Japanese and Domestic Luxury brands beat German and Korean brands on this alone.
and yet from my Toyota dealer I’ve gotten my oil changes at, the experience is about 75% of what he experienced here.
I don’t get a loaner, because I’m never there for that long. I drive up and the advisor meets me and they take the car, there are free drinks and snacks in the waiting areas, there are large glass windows through to the other side of the advisor desks looking into the service bays, there’s a kids area I’ve never needed, nobody bothers me while I’m waiting there for a trade in.
It’s clean and many times the snacks are fresh baked (or at least significantly heated lol) cookies.
It really comes down to dealership management. I went to a Dodge dealer that was somehow even worse than this, only to end up at a Kia dealership that treated Rio owners like they were driving a Continental. All under the same dealership group, no less!
I really do think that brands need to hold their dealerships more accountable. I know that Lexus requires you to have certain signage, features, food/drinks, and other amenities and they are “secret shopped” quite frequently by Lexus NA. Toyota doesn’t seem to have the same standard for their main line brand.
I’ve been to several Toyota dealerships in my area (different owner groups too) and they were all largely similar in their setup. there was definitely a point some 15yrs ago where they weren’t as uniform, and there was a change after that point where they all seemed to remodel and more align with each other
The remodel to a similar design language was a big help for most dealerships, however some suffered worse than others. My dealership was one of the last to get the update. We still had a “Scion Garage” with out of production Scion accessories mounted on the wall and photos of the FJ Cruiser and Solara convertible on the walls.
I’ve actually thought of taking my Toyota to the Lexus dealer service department to see if it is just that much better. They do say they service “all makes and models” and even if they didn’t, my Prius is familiar to them as the CT200h. Hell they already stock parts for it.
Your labor rate and parts markup will probably be higher, but your service experience should be much better.
I think the thing you’re missing here is the time value of money .. yes you can do those things for cheap, but you’ll waste half a day, a couple hours, whatever it is.. and you wouldn’t get those errands done that you wanted to get done that day. That day would have been spent in the garage. For me, it’s worth having some things done for you. There is value there.
As I’ve gotten older, weekend days are much more important to me. Spending an entire weekend wrenching away on a job that could take a few hours in an actual shop is not my idea of “fun”. My 4Runner is going to need a suspension refresh eventually, I KNOW I can do the work myself, but it’s just not worth the time and hassle. I’m just going to have a shop do it, and I’ll spend that time doing something that I actually enjoy.
100%!
I should add, ESPECIALLY because I’m going to need to wait for nice weather to work on the car outside, and nice weekends seem to be rarer and rarer in the Northeast. If it’s not unbearable hot/humid, it’s raining. That makes a nice weekend even more valuable.
This exactly. The cost of service at the dealer is so reasonable that I rarely say no to anything when I bring my GX to the Lexus dealer. At most I will save a a couple hundred dollars on a very large service – it is genuinely not worth my time to do it myself to save what is the equivalent of like 2 hours pay.
I already have a track car that I regularly work on and enjoy tinkering with. The absolute last thing I want to do is have a daily that also needs work. I’m thankfully in a position where I can afford to have a new, nice car that someone else maintains that I never need to worry about.
This is pretty similar to my experience with Lincoln. I bought a CPO Navigator and when I needed service, all I had to do was set an appointment. Once that was done, I could roll in, drop my keys, show my DL, pick up their keys and I was out. No valet service, but I’m already in the car and I drove it right into the heated/enclosed drop off lane that was attached to the building. Snacks were ok-ish, but I was there for 15 minutes anyway, so I never had a need to hang around.
They never handed me another Navigator, but it rarely mattered. What mattered is rather than the two-person shuffle of driving to a shop, then a solo trip back followed by trying to arrange the two-person shuffle again and get there before the shop closed and being down a car in the meantime is that it was EASY. I could just roll in on the way to work (back when I had to go to an office) do my thing, roll out.
That alone is totally worth the cost of admission. I need to get the wife something to replace the Navigator and I’m all about something that can provide a similar experience.
If she thinks an early morning can of pop is what’s going to get you early, then you haven’t been honest with her.
And she does not read his articles
If anything, shouldn’t it help break down all the rust?
First, David, we need to give your girlfriend a name, even if it’s a fake one.
Second, with the battery replacement, can you really get an equivalent for $150? And, does the vehicle need to be coded to the new battery?
I know that BMWs have been needing that since the E90 generation. Something to do with compensating for the reduced capacity. Maybe it’s alternator output. I’m not sure. But just something to consider. $100 doesn’t seem like much to not have to think about it. What’s your time worth?
Good idea; let’s hold a vote! The internet always does great at these sorts of things.
Fake Girlfriend name generator suggested this:
Natalia Lindsey
Attended College of Saint Mary
Majored in Cognitive Science
Met her at the gas station
Favorite place to eat together is Freddy’s Frozen Custard
How bout we all just call her “Rusty”?
works for me
This is creepy, I love it
Couple days ago, someone suggested “Daisy,” which DT said he could get behind. I like the cheery image, and also that Daisy sounds almost like a contraction of DAvid traCY.
“Daisy” gets my vote. Unless that’s, like, somehow her actual name.
I really wish Lexus had a single vehicle for sale in the past 20 years that I found even remotely decent looking. We have friends with them in several states and they all just rave about how great the dealer experience is. My wife even accompanied her friend with and RX to the dealer for a minor service and said the whole experience was amazing.
But as long as they keep looking the way they do, I can’t go near one, much less consider spending money on such comically ugly vehicles.
I can get past the looks, but they keep making dumb decisions I dislike. They finally got rid of the trackpad infotainment, but they’ve decided to put more controls on the touchscreen, buttons instead of door handles (while making the exterior handles look like regular mechanical handles), and the like. I know every brand is doing at least some of these things, but I don’t want it, especially for Lexus money.
The spindle, or as my kid calls it, the bigmouth bass face, makes me cringe whenever I see one of these luxury vehicles. The EV approach is slightly better, but it’ll be some time before I see a Lexus and think it’s a nice looking vehicle. Or they could lean heavier into the grille, call it the “Vader”, and I’d probably come onboard.
We have two Chevy Bolts. Other than factory recalls, our maintenance has been tire rotations ($16.63 at tire shop ) and rear wiper blades from ebay or Amazon, way less than ten bucks, and now 15″ long after a little fiddling.
You’ve got a dealer that will rotate tires for only $17? Where the fuck is this magical place? Round my parts ain’t no one touching tire rotations for less than the min service charge of 1hr labor, which is normally $100-200 depending on location.
You might convince a shop to do it for less, or “free” if other work is already being done that involves removing most or some of the wheels (brake jobs and the like).
Can confirm that our VW dealer (where we’ve always enjoyed generally excellent service) also charges $20 for tire rotation.
Costco and Discount Tire are free with the purchase of black doughnuts.
My Stellantis dealer was $25 for rotations when I brought it in for an oil change. It’s now free because I bought my current tires there (they were the same price as everywhere else and now I get free rotations every time I’m there).
I don’t have a Lexus, but my parents do, and I generally enjoy every trip to Longo Lexus. Their loaner cars are certainly in much better shape than the local Enterprise.
I don’t generally go to the dealership sor service but the local Mazda dealer is great. At least in comparison to the local Kia dealer, which made me want to tear my hair out.
Lexus have made getting a Lexus serviced such an easy transaction so you forget how much it costs.
When I was a humble BMW Technician first year apprentice I was sent to training at BMW head office along with 19 other young men.
The first lesson the Trainer rolled out to our young car mad brains was about brand expectation.
Trainer asked “what’s the basic expectation of a BMW customer coming in for service?”
We all made up answers that we thought sounded good but were wide of the mark. We were inside the dealership machine, not on the outside looking in.
After a pause he provided the answer “That is will be an easy transaction….and there will be times when just achieving that will be extremely difficult”.
So true…..
As a owner of a similar RX as your girlfriend (2017 Rx-350 AWD) I’ve come to the same conclusion they are the best dealer experience I’ve ever had. Each time I bring my RX into service, they go out of their way to accommodate me and make me feel like a king. They wash my car and floor mats, give it a once over and best of all, are honest with their work. Meanwhile, I can relax get some work done and enjoy free snacks in their premium lounge.
As a former Lexus employee, and later after I had left the company, an owner – I have to agree – it’s fairly spendy (but so is MINI service – so there’s that) but oh so easy. And they really do try and accommodate anything the customer needs done. Period. No excuses.
I think for other dealer brands it comes down to the individual dealership rather than the cost of the car as I’ve had remarkably good service experiences at a Ford dealer, and remarkably bad at the local Jagyouare store. As for Mercedes or BMW, it’s as if they’re doing you a favor to even consider looking at your POS brand new Merc or Bimmer…..I will never own one.
I went from Lexus to Mercedes a few years ago and encountered a precipitous drop in the service experience. The Lexus service amenities and accommodations in the Lexus are far superior (at least in Raleigh NC dealerships).
If it weren’t for the awful interior and UX design changes Lexus has made in the last 10 years or so, I would still be a Lexus owner.
I also get my cars serviced at a local independent shop and avoid the Mercedes stealerships.
As a relatively new owner of a Genesis G70, this is definitely what sets the difference in luxury brands. I love the car and the dealership experience has been pretty decent, unlike many stories I’ve heard. BUT, for 2 separate incidents of dealer/tech screw-ups, both innocent they were, were a major hassle. I finally had to nag them for a loaner car, which took an extra day to get. And the newly built dealership waiting room is sparse as it gets. And FRICKIN’ FREEZIN’! It’s the one thing I’m totally jealous of Lexus ownership.
It’s cool to see this, as someone who worked at a Hyundai dealer that also sold and serviced Genesis. Genesis of America finally came down and mandated we have a completely separate building (and that it be in a market we had no interest in entering), so we sold it, but this article points out the gap in service that we still have to achieve. (Don’t get me wrong, I think we did well and our customers were happy and loyal, but dang.)
That said, I can only imagine how the techs feel with that huge window. Ours were upset at the idea of a single camera piped to a TV in the customer lounge. Once Hyundai compliance left I think they turned the TV back off.
The closest Lexus dealer to me has their service department open 365 days a year (yes, that is what it says), from 5:30 AM to 10:00 PM. I’m sure you pay for the convenience, but if those hours don’t work for you, I don’t know what will.
I’m trying to start using an indie guy close by, and don’t blame him for only working 8-4 M-F, but that isn’t always easy to accommodate when you working yourself those hours.
And FWIW, the local Subaru and Toyota dealer I’ve been to has free hot chocolate (and coffee drinks) in their waiting area. I’ve actually not minded sitting down there with my laptop and doing some work while having a free cappuccino.
And I thought maybe I’d be considering a Lexus for the next household vehicle but they apparently made the new RX pretty tight on space inside compared to competitors. And there is no TX350h, which is what I would want in that model.
The (plug-in) Hybrids have different numbers so its a TX 550h
Dang it’s got 404 HP and will do about 30 odd electric miles.
The appeal of regular Lexus (and Toyota) hybrids is they are a minimal cost increase. You save thousands on gas for spending like an extra $1k. The regular RX350h hybrid is like that.
The TX only has the 550h which is the “Hybrid Max” set up, and runs you an extra $9k or so. The 550h+ is the PHEV which is another $7-8k on top of that. That is why I wish there was a 350h, which would be the standard hybrid drivetrain that is in the Grand Highlander.
It is the same reason I crossed the XC90 PHEV off my list. I love the idea of a PHEV, but the math needs to work (or at least come close). The RX and NX PHEVs are also very expensive compared to the regular hybrid model.
I understand now where you’re coming from and agree.
I’m 6’4, 260lbs and fit fine in the 2024 RX, have you tried it? We had one on ‘loan’ for fours days as part of the RZ ownership experience, and put a thousand miles on it. Lexus does like hugely wide center consoles though…
We also have an EV6 and I fit great in it.
No, the RX is much smaller inside than I expected so it probably won’t work for us. Need to get two dog travel crates in there.
At least that is what the specs say on paper. Quite a bit less room than the Highlander and certainly the Grand or TX.
As a Lexus owner, twice over, it’s a “feels good” experience. Especially compared to nearly everyone else, even other high end vehicles we’ve owned. If our Lexus dealership gets a 100, our close to us Mercedes dealer gets a 95. The BMW/Mini store would get a 10, and that’s being kind. As to pricing, expensive cars require expensive maintenance. It’s a rule.
I know it’s Cali, but their parts prices are HIGH
The local Toyota dealer is pretty nice on the waiting area side too. Definitely a lot nicer than the local Chevy dealer. The parts people there are nice to knowledgeable DIY’ers too. A guy was fixing a 1980’s Toyota pickup and needed a part. The parts person spent a good ten minutes helping the guy track down a part, which the guy ordered. It was neat seeing an experienced parts person at work.
And just a reminder that Saturn used to be up there with Lexus, but as with all things competitive at GM, it got axed
We had a Mazda 2, and they used to do me a cooked breakfast, with extra mushrooms, BBQ sauce and extra hash browns.
And everytime I complained it cost too much, cause I don’t really need a cooked breaky with my car service… It was just unnecessary. But they sell a $120k SUV now, so who knows, maybe it paid off.