What Others Say
WARNING: Racist and Threatening Conduct at South County Lexus – No Accountability from Management or Its Parent Company Berkshire Hathaway Automotive
I have been a loyal Lexus customer for over 27 years. In January 2025, I was subjected to one of the most traumatizing, racist, and hostile experiences of my life — not on the street, not in public, but inside South County Lexus of Mission Viejo.
Here are the facts:
• In response to repeated email solicitations from South County Lexus to buy my car, I brought in my meticulously maintained 2021 Lexus LS500 on January 17, 2025.
• While in their possession for “inspection,” my car was trashed and damaged — despite having just been detailed at another Lexus dealership.
• When I politely raised concerns, I was met with disdain, deflection, and lies from staff. Instead of addressing the issue, they blamed me.
Things escalated dramatically when I returned on January 20, 2025:
• I was subjected to egregious racial slurs, including "GO AWAY YOU F*IN’ xxxxxxx**" by an employee I had never spoken to before (Arturo Ransom).
• I was physically threatened and aggressively ordered off the premises by Scott Clement (Sales Manager).
• I genuinely feared for my safety and life. These incidents were captured on South County Lexus's own surveillance footage.
To date, South County Lexus and its parent company, Berkshire Hathaway Automotive, have:
• Never denied the facts
• Never apologized
• Never taken corrective action
• Meanwhile, parent company Berkshire Hathaway Automotive's General Counsel, Cameron Williams, responded with dismissive attitude with No acknowledgment. No concern. No human decency.
This isn’t just appalling customer service — it’s a violation of my civil rights, California anti-discrimination laws, and a breach of Lexus's own Franchise Agreement, which mandates respectful treatment and exceptional customer care.
Even Lexus Corporate acknowledged the misconduct in writing:
“We sincerely apologize for your recent experience at South County Lexus… we will take it to improve our practices.”
— Lexus Executive Office, April 25, 2025
Yet South County Lexus remains completely silent. That silence confirms complicity.
The facts are clear:
• I was racially targeted.
• I was threatened and degraded.
• My car was damaged while in their care.
• Management refuses to acknowledge wrongdoing.
If this is how they treat a long-time Lexus owner who simply responded to their offer, imagine how they treat others.
This experience isn’t isolated — other reviews suggest a pattern of discrimination and customer neglect. But in this case, it happened to me — a customer with over two decades of brand loyalty.
South County Lexus has violated the Unruh Civil Rights Act (Cal. Civ. Code §§ 51–52), California’s Fair Employment and Housing Act (Gov. Code § 12940), and Lexus’s Franchise standards.
🚫 Avoid this dealership.
📣 Demand better from Lexus and Berkshire Hathaway.
🛑 Racism and abuse have no place in any showroom — especially not Lexus.
Avoid this dealership. Demand better. Racism has no place in a Lexus showroom.
— Tim Kaabi
Laguna Hills, CA
Do not take your car here for service for multiple reasons.
1) They don't know what they are doing. I told them of a few issues and they came up with the dumbest excuse as to why it might be happening that I will just start asking my 8 year old to diagnose the issue going forward. I confirmed what they said with an independent mechanic and they agreed that the Lexus mechanics overlooked some basic things.
2) Although common knowledge, Lexus charges a ridiculous amount for their services which would be fine if they were competent, but hey are not.
3) If you get a loaner car now, BE AWARE, they will charge you 3 times the amount of gas you use at a double the cost per gallon. I put 30 miles on the loaner and they charged me for three gallons at 8 bucks per gallon. So their cars only get 10 miles per gallon???? Total scam.
South County Lexus dealership is the worst Ive ever had to deal with in my 20 years of car buying experience. Do not buy from this dealership, if you can avoid it do so. Luke was rude and felt a need to raise his voice to get his point across. Luke’s sales manger seems to approve of his behavior. Go somewhere else where you will be treated better.
I had a very disappointing experience with the service department due to their new policy where you can only use credit card payments for maintenance if the amount exceeds $500. This rule is inconvenient for most people who do not carry a lot of cash. Additionally, they attempted to upsell a a tire alignment on a fairly new car, which felt pushy and unprofessional. I will not get my car serviced at a SoCal Lexus dealer ever again. Please look elsewhere.
Matthew is very knowledgeable, patient, honest and helpful to us throughout the process of purchasing a new Lexus RX350. .We were very pleased with his services. Geehong Kuo
We had the most extraordinary salesperson, Augie who had us in the next day purchasing our new vehicle. I was just looking the previous day, but wound up back the next day to purchase a NX 350. I would recommend this dealership & Augie to anyone looking for a new car. John in finance also made all the pprwrk smooth sailing & signing.
Thank you so much,
John & Stephanie Yancey