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Review 5/21/2009
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August 2008 I puchased a pre-owned Lexus ES330 from this dealership. This vehicle was listed as a "Certified Pre-owned Lexus" (CPO), with 48K miles. Unfortunately, prior to purchase, I did not research what that really meant. I'll explain later in this review.
There were really no negative experiences while physically at the dealership. It was a simple transaction and the staff was wonderful. I had several specific questions for the salesman about the car, which he readily answered. Those questions were:
1. Is the Lexus CPO Warranty transferrable? Answer - yes
2. Does this vehicle have stability and traction control? Answer - yes
3. Does the navigation system have the most current DVD? Answer - yes
4. Was the 30K miles major service done as part of the certification? Answer - yes
And this is where the good news ends, unfortunately (with one exception - see below).
It was several weeks before I discovered that questions 1-3 were not answered correctly (I believe the salesman believed he gave the right answer). It turns out the the CPO warranty is NOT transferrable; this vehicle does NOT have stability and traction control; and the navigation DVD was the 2004 edition originally provided when the vehicle was new.
Also, on the day of purchase after driving the car home and parking in my garage, I discovered that the vehicle was poorly detailed. The carpet and floor mats were filthy and frayed around the edges. There were gouges in the paint on the front and rear bumpers. The car was in need of a good wax job. One of the tires was worn (the dealership had replaced two tires during certification but missed one that needed replaced).
A few weeks later while in parked in a parking lot another driver lightly backed into the right side of the front bumper. Upon inspection I noticed a piece of blue material the same exact color of the car on the ground and a hole in the bumper about the size of a silver dollar. It was bondo from a previous accident (not disclosed). There should have been little if any damage in normal circumstances. Between the two insurance companies they decided to replace the front bumper.
I wrote the head sales manager outlining my concerns. After several attempts to speak to him, he finally returned one of my calls. He basically took very little responsibility, and offered to provide a 2008 navigation DVD at "his cost" (which was higher than the same DVD sold by Toyota), and that he would give me a free detail (all I had to do was drive about 100 miles north - I live in San Diego County). He claimed to have no knowledge of the prior damage to the front bumper.
In addition to replacing the front bumper, I had the rear bumper painted, replaced the worn tire, purchased new floor mats and an up-to-date navigation DVD. This was all within the first 6 weeks of purchasing this vehicle - about $1100 total (insurance covered the front bumper).
I highly recommend the Lexus ES330, or probably most other Lexus CPO vehicles. But please don't make the mistake I did - do your homework regarding exactly what Lexus CPO really means, and then do a close up examination of your potential purchase to be sure that it indeed meets Lexus' advertised CPO standards. My advise to anyone purchasing a Lexus Certified Pre-owned Vehicle is to visit the following site where Mr. Marv Ingram, Lexus National Certified Pre-Owned Fleet Manager, talks in very specific terms about the Lexus Pre-owned warranty:
http://www.edmunds.com/townhall/chat/lexuscpo5406.html
I've looked at many Lexus CPO vehicles here in San Diego County since my purchase and virtually all of them look like they just came off the show room floor compared to the way mine looked on the day of purchase.
Part of this whole experience is my fault - I should have put this car under the microscope as I normally do when buying a pre-owned vehicle. But because this was Lexus, I gave them my "blind trust", and did not do that.
My opinion is that this dealership, although they do have mostly very nice vehicles, either intentionally or unintentionally misrepresented this vehicle. Assuming it was unintentional, they could have made this right, but chose not to. I don't think I'll be making the 200 mile round trip journey to Westminster from San Diego to make another purchase from this dealership - ever - unless they contact me and make good on the above. If they did that, I would post 5 star reviews on them in as many places as possible.
To be fair, I will end this on a positive note so that those considering doing business with Lexus of Westminster will have both sides of my experience with them. The dealership did put considerable time/effort/money into this vehicle - about $2600. In addition to the certification process, they did the 30K mile service, replaced two tires (the tires are Michelin high performance - about $300 each), did the rear brakes, replaced all filters including the cabin filter, and subleted out about $1000 in body work (however, not sure what that body work was - it may have been the front bumper, or perhaps some other part of the car). Mechanically this vehicle I purchased from Westminster Lexus is outstanding. In fact, I really love this car - in addition to running like a brand new car, it now looks nearly brand new as well.
I hope this review helps anyone considering doing business with Lexus of Westminster.
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