Self service your own car while it has warranty?
 

It's been a while since I've had a car with factory warranty remaining, but now I have a new-to-me car with some factory warranty left (~1 year). When I bought the car, it came with a coupon for a free oil change, so I took it back to claim that coupon in Dec, and if it wasn't for the coupon, a simple oil change would have been close to $200.

I'm not shy about working on my own cars for simple things, and I can save myself a fair bit of money if I do these oil changes myself. However, if I get it serviced at the dealership for the next year or so, any warranty claims should be less of a hassle? Perhaps this is a wrong assumption.

Not sure if it matters, but the car's a Lexus UX250h. There is sometimes a rattle near the steering column that I'd like them to take a look at before warranty is up. In this case, what would revscene do?

Oh boy, do I have a (long) story short for you, but just months before my warranty expired, for whatever reason, Toyota decided my transmission was faulty and I got a new transmission. There was this rattling sound that would trigger under acceleration between 40km/h - 60km/h. Turned out to be the VVT solenoids and I figured that out on my own volition. Of course, I was shitting bricks the transmission was replaced under warranty, and if it were out of my own pocket, the repair would have been a $10K job. Thankfully it was all fixed literally 5 days before my warranty ran out.

I'm happy that I got a new transmission (new motor would have been nice haha) but they couldn't figure out the VVT solenoids so I'm a bit disappointed by that. For what it's worth, I had my car worked on elsewhere and I always stuck with factory parts. One dealership made a stink about my H&R springs but otherwise, the original dealer I got the car from didn't even bat an eye. I'd take it in and see where it takes you.

I did all my oil changes on my Speed 3 myself throughout the warranty period.

I think in order to deny warranty coverage they'd have to prove that the service you did led to whatever failure you had.

In my case, the only issue my car ever had during warranty was the clutch slave cylinder failed. Since that has nothing to do with oil changes I had no issues with getting that replaced under warranty.

Had a motor replaced under warranty. All maintenance was done outside of the dealership. All I had to do was provide proof of maintenance, which was only oil changes in this case. So I just sent them all the invoices for oil changes and they approved my warranty.

What's the mileage on your MS3? I had a few of problems with mine some in warranty some out. One of them was a really weird one where the wire going from ECU to injector had a break in it and the injector won't fire.

110,000kms

Only other real issue I've had with the car was the primary O2 sensor went at 99,000kms (2018). Out of warranty at that point.

If I'm doing them myself, I wonder if having invoices / receipts for the parts would suffice.

You should be ok.

I would check your invoice breakdown what they actually spent time doing for the free oil change. I can't imagine an oil change being $200 for a Lexus?

I always do my own oil changes, the cost to buy the oil/filter versus shop doing it, was quite minimal saving. Not factoring your personal time to do it.

You only have a year of warranty left. So there's nothing much to stress about. Just take it in and have them look at the rattle under warranty.

Since it's only 1 year warranty remaining, and probably only 1 service needed, personally I'd just get the servicing done at the dealership for the peace of mind and then after the warranty expires, switch to DIY and keep receipts for parts and a detailed written log.

I was pretty surprised too, but the breakdown is somewhat understandable. It was only an oil change, and the totals were: $59.08 (parts) $95.97 (labor) $15.98 (misc), so $171.03 + tax = $191.56 total.

The second part of your post suggests you don't think it's worth doing it yourself since savings are minimal etc, so maybe that's a typo that you do your own oil changes?

By my estimates there's at least 2 more oil changes left and a "Service #3", which by now I assume won't be cheap.

Service 3 is not cheap. That was my final warranty service with the dealership before warranty ran out, but in turn, they gave me a new transmission. :lol

Shouldnt be an issue, I would recommend adding the mileage to your invoices, so theres some documentation on when each change was done. Since all my invoices contained the vehicles mileage thats helped with my case to prove that they were done withing the recommended intervals.

You can take it to any shop, or you can DIY, as long as you can sufficiently demonstrate at a the services were done should you need to make a warranty claim at a later time. The level of scrutiny you may get will be up to the service advisor and the relationship you have with the dealership. Which currently sounds like you have zero.

It's a trade off and like anything there comes a bit of risk. Heck, even if you do all your services at the dealership, they may still deny a warranty claim if they think they won't be able to get approval from head office. But then again, if you do all your services there, the chances are higher they will approve warranty claims under goodwill than if you didn't.

You also have 5 year powertrain warranty and a battery/hybrid warranty to consider.

Lexus vehicles are usually fairly reliable.

How much risk/hassle/savings you are willing to accept is entirely up to you!

To keep most manufacturer warranties alive you need receipts from a shop with 3 things, date, kms and vin number.

Receipt for DIY fluids won't cut it.

I know 20 year dealer employees with claims denied because they have no proof of work done.