A sad Lexus

Preface:

It all started with a quote over the phone, about a year and a half ago. Another shop had looked at the vehicle and made some repair suggestions. 

For some reason, the owner did not feel comfortable to have the work done there and instead brought to us. Once the car got here, we inspected the vehicle prior to the work and corroborated the items suggested by the other shop.

In addition, we found a large number of other things needed that had been missed. We proceeded to let the client know about our additional findings.

The vehicle had some issues with the front suspension, the tires were wearing out rapidly. We replaced the control arms, the sway bar links, the front and rear struts, the rack and pinion and the power steering high pressure hose. We did a front brake job as well as they were worn down to the last 1 mm. 

Despite all the work done, there was a long list of suggestions that went unheeded. This is not uncommon as a portion of all clients, feel the suggestions made to them by their repair shop may be without merit.

Now, this were not necessarily a steady and faithful client.

They decided not to do any of our additional suggestions. They were going to only do what they brought the car for and would “think about the other stuff for later”

One of the suggested items on the repair order “recommendations” were all the cooling system hoses, upper and lower radiator, the water pump and the intake hoses, along with heater hoses. They appeared original and in poor condition. This vehicle was 16 years old and pushing over two hundred thousand miles.  

Epilog:

We got a call today from our infrequent client. They wanted to know how much it would be to replace the engine on their Lexus. It turns out one of the heater hoses blew out and caused the engine to overheat and seize. They were now requesting the price to install a used engine as they had an emotional attachment with the vehicle.

What could have been $350.00 a year and a half ago, became a quote for $6500.00 for a used engine today.