Buying Local(ish)

[tremor]

How important is it to buy from your local dealer? I've seen some of you drive hundreds of miles to get your GX and was wondering if you are worried that the local dealership wont give you preferential treatment. My local dealer is 2 hours away and is the largest dealer in Ohio.
I'm also worried a Nori Green Lux+ is a bit rare and sure the dealer doesnt get the volume like bigger cities in other states.

 

[SethGX]

The local Lexus dealer didn't seem interested in helping me at all when I called back in May to ask about the GX. She told me all of their GXs were already allocated until mid 2025 and MAYBE they would get a demo model that I could look at in the next few months. She said they already had about 150 names on their waitlist and weren't adding any more names to it for now. Meanwhile, I found a dealership 2 hrs away that had an Overtrail in Incognito that was not sold, so I drove there and bought it for MSRP. Yes, I'm pretty sure the local dealer is not going to be much help, so I'm planning to go back to the dealer I bought it from for my first two service visits, 5k and 10k, and maybe other stuff beyond that too. Additionally, I have a pretty good relationship with a Toyota dealership and they recently acquired a Lexus service tech from the Lexus dealership (about a half mile away from them) and I had them do my 1500 mile break in oil change. They loved seeing my GX and were very helpful. I'm not losing any sleep over it.

 

[Nico Tuscani]

I was very fortunate in my purchasing experience. I bought my GX550 at a local dealership here in Indy where I live (Tom Wood Lexus). I was able to put a deposit down on an incoming Incognito Overtrail which they believed was to arrive within a month or so. I would have the first option to buy it or pass if I wanted a differently equipped OT. I really like this dealership - there was zero pressure, although these GX'S sell themselves before they typically hit the lot. There was zero market adjustment markup - I find it repulsive dealers have resorted to hiking the price above an msrp and I couldn't do that no matter how badly i wanted one. The biggest bonus for me however was the lifetime powertrain warranty offered thru Tom Wood Lexus for as long as you own the vehicle - you just have to have the vehicle serviced at a Lexus dealership according to the manufacturer's recommended maintenance schedule, which I intended to do anyway. No charge on that warranty either. Lots of peace of mind that the motor, transmission and drive train is covered. I also still have the option to get the extended factory warranty when the standard warranty is winding down. With all the computers and tech in the GX, I'll seriously consider that choice when the time arrives.

 

[WDEKH]

My local dealership is 20 minutes away and recently had friends and family purchase a new Lexus from them. I got on the list which was only for 2 weeks but couldn’t even get them to respond to me to tell me how far down the list I was for what I wanted. I wasn’t looking for a specific number, even if they said oh there is 10-20 ahead of you or whatever would have been fine but no response.

Soon as I told them I purchased a GX at another dealership 45 minutes away, they responded within 30 minutes.

They were helpful while I was at the dealership though but I also told them we were buying both the GX and a TX as soon as the stop is over.

I think it comes down to which sales person you get paired with. The one at the local dealership I was working even told us they didn’t have to do much anymore to chase customers because customers come to them.


It is what it is, they could have sold us two cars but I luckily found my GX somewhere else within a reasonable distance but will get serviced locally

 

[MJE]

Is there any option to service a Lexus at Toyota? Toyota is a 10min walk from my house, Lexus is about a 10min drive. Not that it matters for normal service. But if you’re away from home somewhere, there’s far more Toyota dealers around than Lexus if you needed.

 

[SethGX]

Is there any option to service a Lexus at Toyota? Toyota is a 10min walk from my house, Lexus is about a 10min drive. Not that it matters for normal service. But if you’re away from home somewhere, there’s far more Toyota dealers around than Lexus if you needed.

They won't do the "free" maintenance for the 5k and 10k services that are included, but I had our toyota dealer do my 1,500 mile break in oil change and not only did they do it, but they were excited to check out the GX, and they had a recently transferred Lexus tech do the work.