At the end of July I purchased a Lexus ES350 from a nearby used car dealership. The car had under 47,000 miles on it and was still covered under the Lexus manufacture warranty. After owning the car for about 2 weeks I noticed heavy vibration in the steering wheel and drivers side of the car. I immediately brought the vehicle to my normal service department "Bergstrom Cadillac of Neenah WI". They informed me that due to the massive corrosion a wheel weight had actually fallen off the rim of the car and needed to be replaced. They also advised me to contact Lexus because this should be covered under warranty. I contacted Lexus directly only to find out that the selling dealership "Lexus of Smith town" had altered the vehicle after they received it from Lexus by chroming the factory rims which voided the Lexus factory rims. Lexus advised me they would work with the dealership to have them cover the cost of the defects since the vehicle was under warranty still and they had altered the vehicle from its original state. The dealership made me jump through hoops and send them numerous pictures proving the rims where in fact faulty only to then say they will only cover two rim replacements because the other two have minor wear and tear I have pictures if you would like to see. The warranty paperwork from Lexus clearly states that normal wear and tear are covered the imperfections on the two non covered rims is extremely minor and have nothing to do with the corrosion of the rims. Lexus also clearly states in their warranty package that if a repair last longer than 8 hours the customer will be provided a rental vehicle. The dealership is refusing to provide this and Lexus has done nothing to provide this service to me. Over a month has passed and the dealership has been unresponsive to Lexus regarding the start of the repairs on the two rims they agreed to replace. Lexus said they cannot do anything else and I should try to work it out with the dealership. Consumers should be aware that when purchasing vehicles that are under factory warranty in some cases they have a false sense of security because the dealership may have voided the warranty and never informed them. I think this dealership needs to cover all 4 rims, provide a rental car during the repairs, and cover the 130 dollars it cost me to repair the wheel weights. The dealership is a branded Lexus dealership and should have to uphold the Lexus brand standards. I also think Lexus should be much more involved policing the dealership to ensure they are upholding their brand standards.
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