Westside Lexus — Local services in Houston

First off, let me say that I love this dealership. And that this is my third Lexus purchased with them.

Update January 2025. DEFINITELY buy the run flat tire warranty.

Update March 2024. Just to drop a quick note on how pleased I am that I bought my car from Westside. The service group has been awesome. Zach Rodriguez has been the type of service manager for any issues, et al that one hopes for. Just a terrific experience every time I’ve needed to come in.

RUN FLAT TIRES

I see this, for me, as a big problem. So, last year in July I bought this new car from them (LS 500) and at the time that I was putting down the payment for it was when I learned that it has no spare tire and uses the newer, run flat tires. This troubled me enough that I decided to bite the bullet and purchase the tire and rim protection option that they offered. And at the time I asked what would happen if I got a flat tire. The sales people at that time said "well, these tires are repairable in some cases and you can drive on them to your next destination as long as you do not exceed 50 mph. But they are not always repairable."

Well, today I experienced my first flat tire at about 8 months. Because Houston.

When I got to the dealership, I learned that, no, they really don’t repair the tires; they replace them. So I thank my lucky stars that I bought that policy. However, it immediately raised several concerns. What if I am nowhere near a Lexus dealership? Like on one of my many road trips to Louisiana? I asked them what the scenario would be, as the tires wore down a bit, if I experienced a flat with, say 5/32” wear? They advised that they would only be responsible for replacing the damaged tire but not the other one. And this would result, in different tread thicknesses. So they told me that I would be responsible for any purchase of an other, matching tire. I asked the typical price of the tire. $440 each. I live in The Heights. I live in Houston. Based on my experience with my previous car, I’m going to be picking up a lot of nails just being in this area with all the construction. And typical Houston roads. In hindsight, I think run flat tires could have been a dealbreaker for me with this particular Lexus. I asked if all of the Lexus product line had run flat tires now. And apparently there are some SUV models that do not.

And so, I I’m going to see how this plays out in real time over the next year.

One friend suggested that, ar a future date, I just get rid of them and keep a spare in my trunk. But the reason Lexus went to this design was to create more space in the trunk. And there no longer is the well where a spare might have gone in the past. I can envision one scenario where I have a flat somewhere in Texas or Louisiana , and have to purchase a spare and a rim at a local Discount Tire, NTB, or Costco, and have to throw the run flat tire in the trunk until I can get back to the dealership in Houston and have them replace it. I can envision a second scenario where I have two tires of different treadwear because I don’t want to replace the other tire at that time.

Update March 2024. As luck would have it I noticed I was losing tire pressure in my left rear driver side tire on a Saturday. I inflated the tire, switched to our other car and watched the tire while it was parked and when I saw that the tire pressure was dropping from 43 to 31 to 28 over a few days. I took a close look and, sure enough, there was a little nail that had embedded itself. With a tire pressure of 38 remaining I got to the dealership on Monday and under the tire and rim warranty I had bought, they made a decision to give me a new tire rather than attempt to repair, as that would assure the best level of safety for me as consumer . It is just a better idea to replace the tire. My service manager performed above and beyond, and had me out in about an hour. Had they not had the tire in stock, it would have been about a 24 hour turnaround and I would have been provided with a loaner car. The warranty is valid at all Lexus dealerships. I...

There is only word to describe Tim Gallagher and Westside Lexus as a whole, and that is outstanding.

I had been always afraid of entering into a Lexus dealership for many years due to being "attacked" at other dealerships such as Sterling Mccall. I just so happened to stop by Westside Lexus while I was driving on the Katy freeway since it has to be the most grand building in all of the area.

I was not serious in the purchase of any vehicle at the time but I wanted to explore my options so I went in and began to sit in all the vehicles in the showroom. To my blessings I had been greeted by Tim who wanted to assist me in any questions I had about any Lexus model I had been interested in. Of course as the person I am I wanted to educate myself as much as possible especially with any vehicle with so much technology and different trim lines.

We got to chat with Tim about life experience and I test drove a RX450h in which I became fond of. As a 22 year old, Tim gave me the utmost amount of respect which had amazed me since most my age are disregarded thinking we could not afford such a luxury car.

At the time I had not completely decided the exact color combination or trim level I had been looking for so I left Westside Lexus and never was harassed with getting all my contact information to pester me daily on a vehicle. Instead I just had Tim's card in case I found the right vehicle I wanted.

During a month's time I had visited all the other available Lexus dealers of the Houston area to see what they could offer and narrowed down my specific vehicle build I had been looking for and that it would be difficult to find since the factories shut down for some time during COVID. Luckily there was one to be found in the Fort Worth area but another dealership would have to trade a vehicle for the one I wanted. I had a specific price in mind that I was looking for so I brought it up to all four Lexus dealerships and while they said NO it's not possible, Tim called me back and said he would make it work.

I am not sure how Tim managed to do so, and not have to "speak to the manager" but I was truly impressed by his will to help me out the best he could.

After the delivery of the vehicle it was all smooth sailing from there, and I got to have everything I wanted with no compromise at all. I can see how Westside Lexus is doing much better than the other dealerships aka Sterling Mccall and Clearlake........ since they put the customer first with no pressuring tactics. Even when working with Mike in finance was a breeze as if having a spa day.

If you want the best experience I highly recommend Tim and Westside Lexus since as a luxury car buyer we deserve a luxurious experience that only Westside...

I had the worst car-buying experience of my life. On October 1, 2024, I found a 2015 LX460 on cars.com, and the dealer was from this dealership. Since I live in Dallas, all communication was done through text messages before I went to pick up the car in person. I trusted them completely because the salesperson told me that they are located in a wealthy white neighborhood, so the cars they sell are well guaranteed. I believed this without question. Before seeing the car, I had already finalized the loan, signed the contract, and paid the down payment remotely.

On October 7, 2024, I flew from Dallas to their dealership. After seeing the car, I was somewhat satisfied, although there were many scratches on the hood that were never mentioned during our previous communications. Despite feeling a little disappointed, I told them I would get the paint job done myself later. After that, I signed the papers and drove off with the car.

On the way back to Dallas, I noticed a strange noise coming from underneath the car. It turned out that the splash shields had come loose. The pictures of the car on the website had shown the splash shields were detached, but the salesperson told me it had been fixed. Upon discovering the issue, I immediately contacted the salesperson. To my surprise, he told me that he only provided translation services during the transaction and would not be responsible for this issue. He also said that I had already checked and test-driven the car before leaving, so it was not the dealership’s responsibility anymore.

Hearing this, I felt like a fool. How could a staff member from such a large dealership say something like this? He claimed that he didn’t earn a sales commission and that I shouldn’t contact him. I was fed up with his rude responses, making it seem like the whole situation was my fault. As a dealership employee, he should have just conveyed the issue to the service department honestly, but he wasn’t even willing to do that. He kept repeating that I had checked and test-driven the car before driving off. While that’s true, it doesn’t mean that the previously “fixed” issue wasn’t their responsibility once it reappeared.

This has been the worst experience of my life. I will never return to...