I think it would be a good idea to let ppl see just wat savings they could get from being a gold member.this is why :-

ive recently got my IS200 and have already spent about £850 on wheels,calipre stickers,wheel hub stickers,touch up paint and an air freshener i really want to join GOLD but it keeps nagging at the back ov my brain that i could spend the £25 and not get any benefit from it and that i coulda spent the £25 on say some service materials.dont get me wrong i want to contribute to these great forums and in the very near future i WILL be,its just i coulda joined much sooner if the benefits were clearer.I dont see wat harm it can do to let ppl see wats on offer and im sure you would get more subscriptions which can only be a good thing for the club.
Watta ya think
Phunt

Well you could of asked before you spent out on the things that you did?

There are also savings on insurance,servicing,parts and a whole range
of discounts on modding bits and pieces.
And thats not to mention the Group Buys for goldies only,plus you contribute
to the running of the club.
Even if you used your GOLD status for just for servicing you would have clawed
back the membership fee in one 'HIT'now that cant be bad,can it?

On the £850 you spent with just 10% you've saved 4yrs membership(almost)!!!!

you know it makes sense...................

We,ll i joined ten minutes ago and it did not really have anything to do with savings as i am not really into modding a car that is in my eyes pretty damm good as it is .It was more the fact i was starting to feel a bit guilty using the forums for information and such like without contributing to the cost of running the site.Lets face it it must take a lot of time and effort .Also if they told people which companys offer discount you could just go there yourself and haggle until you got the discount all companys are flexible it is just knowing which ones to aproach.An example is my local dealer they do not accept gold and as i was told never will but when i said i would go elsewere they gave me discount of 20% .Still to dear for a small service on a 7 year old posh toyota though.

Thats my point exactly i think a lot of ppl would be put off buy having to pay for something they can really view b4 slappin the dosh on the counter which is totally understandable,it feels like those gold envelopes you get in the post ,"you have been selected to win up to £100,000"if you just reply within 14 days and enclose a cheque for £25 you could be the lucky winner.Also i plan to do my own servicing so i cant save there,but thats not the point really.

Phunt its this simple

you either want to or you dont, know one will force you to join

im sure the 400+ gold members cannot all be wrong.

its simple had you paid the 25 membership fee you would have saved considerably on your recent purchases.

there is plenty of Member feed back spread all over the forums about why Going gold is great and how much they have saved

.Your missing my point.I just knew i would get the wrong replies to this SUGGESTION.I didnt at anytime say that it wasnt worth going GOLD and i DID say i was going to go gold in the very near future.This is a suggestion forum to help improve this site is it not?
I just thought theres bound to be new members come along that feel the same as me.and like you sed i couldv'e saved money on the purchases ive already made.So surley it wold be a good thing (improvement to the site)to let ppl know as early as possible just wat savings could be made.but........mudzs made a good point about telling ppl which suppliers do the %15 but im sure there would be a way round this, like having to give a gold account number to claim your %15 or something.

It's only a suggestion (in the suggestion forum)

unfortunatly due to some (not suggesting anyone) people are dishonest enough to claim to be a gold member and then basically getting discount from dealers etc.

We always try and make sure dealers check up using a live database.

So in the end we have to disclose such information for the protection of other gold members.

Our deals took alot of work and many phone calls and cost us alot of money in calls, stamps and our volunteered time for you to save your money by using our club.

In return subscriptions pay the huge bills.. and I mean HUGE.

We are not fooling anyone into subscribing... in fact i have not received one complaint as of yet. And of course seeing how many active members there are here with the gold logo under their name says it all.

Of course we are always pushing for more deals and we intend on getting some wicked deals.

THER PROBLEM IS, not all the companies that do the discounts actually check your a member.

so if a non member was to find these discounts, they would be taking away a benifit that a paying member has

if people navigate the site, they will find

write ups like this

gold info page

or real facts like this

ive saved loads

and here

i saved 2

and finally here

more savings

basically Phunt we wish to protect the services we offer our members, when you go GOLD you will see why we do it......

well thanx for the interesting reading.I understand a bit more now why its kept so hush hush,and from reading those links it makes me wanna be a gold member even more.so maybe thats the answer a Pregold members forum where posts like that are pinned so everyone can see the benefits, cause ive been sat in front ov these forums for about 2 weeks solid every night now (very very addictive) and i cant say i remember reading those posts.
thanx for the responses

I think thats a good idea.. so long as the people writing a review of the gold benifits do not disclose supllier infomation,



jac

WOOOOO HOOOOOO i had a good idea now that doesnt happen very often
thanx jac

there is also a FAQ area we are building

http://www.lexusownersclub.co.uk/forum/ind...hp?act=SF&f=83&

Phunt,

I hope you are enjoying club membership and are finding useful information. I guess my only point to the ones made above is this one from mudzs that seems to have been overlooked.

I understand your dileama about wasting £25 that could go towards half a tank of petrol. However, although offers, discounts etc are all very well, the information, advise and general support from the club is something we all chip into for free. However, there are of course overheads to running a club such as this to give you what you need.

I think I speak on behalf of all the committee and moderators, that your support is VERY much appreciated, and with the support from our gold members, we can only assist this club in becoming even bigger, better and the best Lexus Owners Club there is.

I hope - whatever you decide - you enjoy the benefits the club has to offer you.

Zee.

Phunt

I have only recently become a GOLD Member.

Yes you can make huge savings when you make purchases in all the companies which offer GOLD member discounts.

The competition idea sounds good, but takes a lot of organising and funding i guess, I don't think it would have influenced me to join, But yes... it's an extra Perk.

LOC does look after their members, GOLD or not in that sense...... Its for everyone !

I joined as I wanted to give a little back to LOC, as I had such great FUN at JAE !!!
Did'nt the BBQ and Beers go down well ! No cursing please.

thanx for your comments zee but you also appear to have missed my point.Im not denying this is a great site and im not denying there are huge savings to be had (thats obvious from the amount of satisfied customers)and i to think every1 who joins this club should stump up the cash for gold membership as the cost is far outweighed by the benefits.the topic is "Make GOLD more appealing".Im making this suggestion for NEW members who havnt had time to realise wat a good site it is.Im only saying there is not a lot of info about just exactly wat the benefits are.
I hope ive acctually got my point across this time as im feeling a bit of anamosity around this post.and that was never my intention.im beggining to wish i hadnt opened my mouth.just thought it woulda been nice to put a bit back in(aswell as the £25 i WILL be paying for the GOLD) when i can calm wifey down

what would you suggest we put then, as your not yet a gold member, make the suggestion and guide us in your thoughts.

as i see it there is a page which indeed outlines the benifits of going gold.

its already been said that the actual companies offering discounts can not be disclosed as this would not make the discounts secure.

I sed it a couple ov posts back.

Do you mean like "pinning" THIS THREAD ?

i understand what your saying mate

more information on the gold page that will basically confirm people minds that YES they will benefit.

i agree that we should have a list like

• dicounts on tyres
• discounts at alton towers and chessignton
• discounts for auto detailing products
• discount from 30 delaerships natainwide

well better than that obviosuly.

...........you wont have seen those posts unless you had searched for them, the actuall page that has the benifits of joining gold....is a fixed page, you would find it on the drop down box, top left.

its a good suggestion....im not denying that.....but sometimes, a post isnt started as a "i saved £xxxxx"

i can see where your coming from, lets link a review to the gold info page......."click here for Members comments" type thing, then allow new gold members or any gold member to place his/ her savings in this review


is that what you would like to see?

People.. the poor guy was just trying to make a suggestion that was all.... He may or may not of seen the link to the - Gold Members Discounts page.. and it is just his opinion on the matter.. dont get me wrong I am not having a go at anybody. but he obviously thought there was a suggestion to be made ...so he did.. what we do not want is people to read this thread or any other tread and be put of off making a suggestion in fear of being made to feel silly,




jac

Opps..lol just realized more replys have been added

Jac i dont think anyone is trying to make him feel silly, all i am trying to do is get on the same wavelenth...and understand what it is he would like to see.......that is why the previous post to yours....i actually try to make a suggestion

Yep.. saw that after I posted.. sorry

jac

also would be cool for me to create a testimonial section so members can give their thoughts.

......yep, thats what i just said....kind off.so so and so can say "i saved £xxx by joining gold" ..but have a link from the Gold info page

I believe the point Phunt has made is a valid one and I don't believe anyone has failed to understand him.

The suggestions made about a 'review section' is a good one. Pretty much like we do reviews for meets and our experiences as Lexus dealerships in the review section, we could also create a review section where people can write their personal experiences and benefits from using their Gold membership. Here all new members and 'old' members can read up and share their experiences with others.

Also, then people like myself can add this link in my signature for others to click on and read.

Yep I agree... I think that would be a good way to go.. There would be so many reviews with so much money saved how could anybody not go gold !!!

After all I have only bought small bits and still got my money back


jac

Thats exactly wat i was aiming for.somewhere noobies can go to look at how happy ppl are to have joined GOLD .This would eleveate the doubts that i first had when joining .After all most noobs have just bought there car so cash can sumtimes be tight and the last thing you wanna be throwin £25 at is something you dont know exactly wat your gettin.they just need that extra push i know the 2 links did it for me thanx guys

£25.00 is not alot of money, its a weeks cigs for some people or a cheap night out, and what u get for the £25.00 is a years worth of good karma and a groovy Gold members card and stickers and a private forum full of cheapness to buy! I would say im one of the Poorest Lexus owners in the country but i would not hessitate to pay the £25.00 each year. anyway just my tuppence

talking of gold testimonials.. i remember asking for testimonials off members who went to the Toyota factory tour... and all i got back was "gold is great" as a testimonial.

Not so funny really considering the work caused getting that tour set up.

If someone would like to send me a testimonial then I would really appreciate something.. perhpas 100 or 1200 word testimonial?

Certainly help a treat!

I think i'll have to throw one together..

what is my saving up to now??? 1,200 quid i think

is that it Ian...........

erm... thats in 4 months Mat... and I hardly modified my car at all..

.......nnoooooooooooooo, is that your testimonial

D'oh.. I see... sorry its late, Im tired...

No its not my testimonial... im sure i can throw some more detail in there somewhere...

(like the 30K service, saved 27 quid) - the membership fee alone...

etc etc..

hmmmmm, it is late, you still never quite got the humor part which was intended.....not to worry

no i got it Mat.

"THe Factory tour was great. Never had the opportunity to see how a car wasmade before and to do it among fellow enthusiasts of a mark which is now Britains second largest Car manufacturer was a real bonus. Also its the Only place where cars are now exported back to Japan 'cos the british build quality is considered worthy. From this alone you can see I was doing more than learing at the gorgeous girl that was presenting us with this interesting facts.

The fact that this was open to goldmembers is just another testemony to the worthwhile investment of £25 to help run a club that is genuinely "for the people, by the people".


ANy good to ya Steve?

I would have paid the gold member fee just for the Toyota factory tour alone

Cost me £170 to go round Land Rover in Solihull ( plus a bit of driving round the off road test track ) ...... think how much you saved

well is Loz the only one to write a testimonial then?

A round of applause for Loz, that was great

I think you summed it all up. Although we were paraded around in a stretch golf buggy wearing plastic hats, the Toyota factory tour overall was excellent. I hadn't been to a car manufacturing plant before and visiting Toyota with lots of other fellow Lexus members and TOC members was just simply great. I think this was a unique event, which may or may not even come round again. Definitely an eye opener into the great world of automobile assembly.

since joining gold i have
met some fantastic folks who i hope i will know for many years
been karting, on a factory tour gone to billing ,lotherton hall, stoke, Gaydon, Cotswolds, Derby, Donnington, Brooklands, cheshire oaks
and met

zee, loz, harty, duncan, gus, matt, mat, lyn imi, maz, mrbvg, johnny, paul, jac, rhains, figits, ifraz, sanj, kavey, steve wm, randyraindeer, steve admin, bazza, mrs bazza, PJ, mrs pj, sammy, mr sammy, sammys nsx, grim, dave sporty+ family, javadude, fargo ,rod, mitch....the list could go on into hundreds

now i would have paid to meet each of these folks at they are all warm harted and generous
each member has helped make this club into a real community

the question is what would make you not part with £25 cos if you dont what will you miss out on next year and who will you never meet

so i saved some cash on servicing and parts if i didnt have the lex would i have spent the money ? i dont kno

i dont care every time i log on i see friends

£25 its nothing

i am glad i was not last on matts list.. phew!

I went Gold - and I don't even have my own Lexus - I just "borrow" one when we share the driving

No regrets - it's the best value £25 I've spent in ages

(Although I saved £60 on a handbag on Saturday in the sale - reduced from £110, so in a way that's paid for my Gold membership )

Okay, I've been a member for about 5 months,

What did I get for my 25 quid??

Firstly, the sense of well-being that I am supporting the club that gives me so much useful and helpful advice, any club needs funds to keep running, and my small contribution helps towards that.

Without LOC, i would of never got my corroded alloys replaced FOC! (thanks Mat W )

I saved 425 quid on my car insurance with the LOC GOLD scheme
I saved 34 quid on my 30K service.
My dealer gave me 4 new tyres at cost, due to being a member (saving of 200 quid)
I saved 15 quid on a set of 2003 rear light clusters.
I got a set of JDM headlights 1/2 price (saving 150 quid).
I saved 100 quid on a sports mesh grill.

So finacially, i have saved 925 quid from being a member (in just 4 months!).. but all the advice I have recieved is priceless, and well worth the membership...

I'M SILLY