Lexus El Cajon
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Customer Reviews of Lexus El Cajon
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Don't believe it's Certified
by Kab585 on 12/07/2013updated 06/01/2025The only reason this dealer is getting 2 stars from me is that the sales experience went well. As did the majority of service appointments I have had. I purchased a CERTIFIED Lexus RX 350 in April 2013. I lived in Texas and my sister drove… the car mainly as a commuter car. She's one of those people that doesn't care so much about what car she drives as long as it's comfortable. She had the exact same car in Texas before moving to San Diego for work so she knew she liked Lexus. One of the main reasons we bought this car was for the CERTIFIED part...The peace of mind that comes with a warranty and knowing the car had not previously been in an accident. My mother is disabled and caregiving for her is extremely stressful so knowing I was buying a nice car from what I thought was a reputable dealer, was important. Well, I was wrong... In the 8 months we have owned this car, it has been back to the dealer on at least 3 occasions. Twice for brake squealing (which I was told was normal- not sure ANY brake squeal is normal on this level of car), a broken wheel bearing which caused the car to drive very rough (hmm, guess the Certified mechanical inspection wasn't so thorough after all), and most recently, for a tear in the rear bumper that we noticed was painted over. Now, the damage is on the corner of the bumper where the trunk latches down and unless you pay attention to it, it's easily missed. I'm guessing this is what Lexus El Cajon was counting on when they put the car on the lot with body damage and claimed it was certified. I asked Jennifer, the service advisor, to look at the tear and she was very willing to speak with the sales department about it. However, when I called the next day to find out the status of the car, she basically told me that Lexus was not going to cover the repair as it had been 8 months since we purchased the car and essentially alleged that we caused the damage. I assured her that this vehicle had NO ACCIDENTS while in our care. I eventually was referred to the General Sales manager, Kenny. My experience with Kenny left A LOT to be desired. Kenny says he personally checks each car and "would never put a car on the lot with body damage." Well, sorry to tell you Kenny, but you did. Not only was this tear existing, based on the fact that we were never in any accidents in this vehicle, but there were also a large chip in the paint on the passenger door. Now, the sales guy was more than willing to fix this chip when I noticed them at the time of the purchase, but apparently, because I did not notice the bumper issue, which by the way showed obvious signs of cover up given that the tear was painted black like the car, they are alleging that the tear was not present when the car was sold. I don't know how many times I can say this... THE TEAR DID NOT HAPPEN AFTER WE PURCHASED THE CAR!!!!! After many discussions with GM Kenny, his solution to "make me happy" was to split the cost of a repair that should have been performed before the car was sold. The biggest issue I have here is that this tear was obviously covered up by Lexus when they painted over it. A scratch on a black car is white, this tear was black. What does that tell you? What would "make me happy" is to put the car in the condition it should have been in when I bought it. A certified Lexus cannot have ANY existing body damage. Mine did. Is it my fault for not noticing it sooner, sure. But when it was intentionally covered up, it obviously took a bit more time to see the issue. I will NEVER take my business back to this dealership. As of right now, the dealership still has my vehicle since it is after hours and I can't pick it up yet. However, if by some strange act of God they decide to take responsibility for their actions and fix the damaged bumper, I will be happy to change my review. But, simply due to the fight I've had to get them to do their job, I will still never return to this fraudulent dealership. Buy at your own risk!
About our dealership
***Update: the day after this was posted, Kenny called and said he was going to pay for the repair. Unfortunately, I was moving to Northern California the next day so he could not fix it at his dealership. We are in the process of working out a fix at a shop up in my new location so hopefully this will work out for the best. If/when I actually get the bumper fixed, I will update again. By the way, I found a photo taken the day after the car was purchased and if you zoom in, you can see the separation in the bumper and even the tear. Looks like it was there all along!
by kab585 on 12/13/2013