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fil4362

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Everything posted by fil4362

  1. Recently put a wanted add on here for some bits. I got one reply. Wont mention what deal took place thats between me and him. Save to say i couldnt find what i needed this guy came up with them at a price i couldnt refuse. Embarresed at the price to be honest so using this as a feedback recomendation for the man, its the least i can do. AClex cheers pal
  2. No i dont charge any "hidden" extras. The thought of it annoys me. I get 4-5 calls a day asking for quotes knowing full well the caller will go somewhere else for the work as over the phone they will get a cheaper quote only to then get all the add ons. My local "big national tyre centre" advertise tyres cheaper than i do. If you want a tyre at the quoted price though,,,, thats what you get ,,,,a tyre. you have to fit it yourself. The valve, balance, fitting, nitrogen air fill (i think thats their current gimmick you get your tyres blown up and a green dust cap) and eco tyre disposal are all added extras. I make the same money on a tyre no matter what the tyre the bigger the tyre the better the make the more they charge. Tyre price to me + 10 pound is what i charge. includes fitting, valve balance and tyre disposal. It cost me 1.50 to get rid of the old tyre. The big places now even add an "additional charge if they have to remove any engine under trays. Dont know about you guys but i dont like oil on my drive. When i take an oil filter of my Lexus i take the under tray of so no oil drips on it to then run onto my drive later. Alot of bigger garages are now charging for this. Bottom line guys and girls i keep cars on the road as cheap as i can for my customers. I make a wage which is the same no matter how much work i do, how many hours labour i sell how many extras i can tag on your bill.
  3. Timing belt interval change was a guess of the top of my head. I try my hardest not to remember all intervals. I have a 600 pouind a year computer program to tell me all the data required when i input the reg number. As i said i have been a mechanic and mot tester of more than 20 years "I have never charged 300 for a service" I pay 40 pounds for a full aircon service. I cannot say garage names, but as you live in London , my services would be pointless as the travel expenses would be negate any saving on service prices.. Although i do have one customer from central London who travels to Manchester visiting family and has his car done while up here. I did put in my post" labour prices may vary around the country" but i still see no reason to be paying 300 pound for a service when the parts are less than 50. A service takes aprox 2 hours so 300 minus the 50 in parts is 250 minus 20% vat is 200. So your actually paying a guy who i garantee is no more skilled than i am, 100 pounds an hour to service your car. My labour charge is 36.75 .A full aircon service is connecting your car to a machine. The last one i had done was a Vito van on thursday. The van was connected to a mechine and a few buttons pressed. 15 minutes later a buzzer sounded and it was done. I paid 40 pounds. Other than connecting the pipes, the lad didnt touch the van or the machine. Now allowing my forty pounds to cover over heads (meaning the lad who does it for me makes no profit at that price) your still paying 160 poind too much. To the public the lad charges 60 pounds for an aircon service. The bottom line is theres a service where everything is changed even if its not needed, then theres garages like mine that look at the car and see if the air filter and pollen filter actually needs changing or will a blast from the airline clean it out and last another 10,000 miles saving the customer the cost of the parts. Theres garages that change parts and theres garages like mine that repair parts again saving the customer the cost of the parts. You have a little crack in your exhaust Lexus will bill you for a new one , i will crack out the welder and fix it saving you the cost of a new one for a while so you have chance to save up for a bit. Oh and i wouldnt charge you for welding it either because i know you would tell your mates about it and chances are i would get them as customers as well. I used to date a secratery at a local nissan dealer , she once showed me a bill, 998 for a full service on a k11 micra. The dam thing was 12 years old and worth about 500 quid. But it had done 100,000 miles and the dealer did the "full monty" service on it, including the timing CHAIN. i wouldnt dream of giving a customer a bill for more than the value of a car. I would refuse to work on it before i did that. What i do and spend on my car is my choice,but wouldnt inflict a stupid price of 300 for a service and another 200 for an aircon service. I cant comment on your garage that you use i can only comment on my experiance in the motor trade,and in my experiance even including regional diffrences your still paying way more than i would/could get away with charging.
  4. good job on the pollen filter change. The cam belt is every 90,000 i thinhk its actually 100,000 (from memory) but would always advise early change. Get the timing belt changed at any v.a.t. registered garage. To be honest (as always) the timing belt on an is200 is very very easy timing belt job. Theres loads of room and no special tools required. Any decent mechanic can do a timing belt if you feel the dealers will do a better job use them but i bet their labour time is way more than a decent independant garage that will do exactly the same job.
  5. Serious advice ,,,,,, change your garage. As a mechanic of over 20 years i have never ever charged 300 pound for a service. Your car, if done properly last time will/should of had iridium spark plugs, i put them in mine, they are not cheap compaired to a normal plug but hey will do 60,000 miles between servicing. So yours still have 20,000 miles on them, mine currently have 40,000 on them and not skipped a beat. Your pollen filter will cost no more than 20 quid , change it yourself its fits in a slot behind the glove box ten minutes work even if you stop for a brew whilst doing it. An air con purge and refill is 40 pound i dont do it myself but thats what i pay.The Air con bomb can do the trick on funny smells but makes sure your read the instructions on the can before use. Tyres are a matter of choice for 400 i would expect some decent rubber although 4 new tyres can be as cheap as 200. you pay for what you want with tyres. I really do wish people would stop paying over the odds for servicing/repairs at so called Lexus dealers indipendants or other wise. I am not a lexus expert or dealer but if i quit my current job and worked at a dealer tomorow it wouldnt make me any better of a mechanic than i am now and therefore shouldnt increase my labour charge If your trying to run your car on a budget mate do just that. A Lexus is no harder to repair/service than any other car so dont pay over the top prices. Labour charges may vary around the country but parts prices shouldnt If i tried to charge 300 for a service i would be out of work in a month. If i charged 200 for an air con service i wouldnt sell any.
  6. even on a camera phone with bad lighting they look good.
  7. Yes perfectly exceptable price for refurb on the wheel pictured above. Sand and painting and a bit of filler is 40-50 a wheel. My wheels are the earlier wheels which have the diamond cut edge. Its a major process to referb my style wheels. Firstly they are shot blasted then tig welded to fill any curb damage. They are then powder coated or painted. Then they go on a cutting machine to machine finish the rim and the outer edges of the spokes ,the machine has to be programmed to follow the contours of the spoke as they are not flat. Then is back to the paint shop for several coats of clear coat/laqure. Trust me if your paying 50 pound a wheel its paint and maybe clear coat. I had mine done years back at a wheel specialist they charged 360 ish for 4 wheels repaired and powder coated. All the mobile ones i contacted where about 40/50 pound a wheel. OH by the way guys its not Lexus that refurb the wheels mine didnt come in any sort of Lexus logo box. Lexus simply buy a scrap set then send them out for refurb,then send them to you. Your old wheels must be returned to lexus so they can refurb them and sell them on again. I would mention the name of the company who actually do the work but i am not allowed to advertise on this site. Lexus left the company logo on the box the wheels came in.
  8. I have just invested in a brand new set of wheels and tyres for my lex, I had the wheels centres stollen about 3 months ago so currently have a set of round wheel centres. I have managed to find 2 correct "5 pointed star" centres but need 2 more. Anyone have any ? one or both would be good
  9. de badged is the way. Changes the look of the car alot. I removed all my badges. Hot air gun/hair dryer softens up the "bonding" then a plastic scrapper to remove. A bit of g3 cutting compound removes the lines and re matches the paint after years of sun fading. easy job.
  10. well to my suprise my new wheels turned up a week early and are now on the car. Even more suprise they worked out cheaper than quoted. 362 including vat was the bill. Now if you do the math thats 72.40 per wheel. Now that is a deal if you ask me
  11. Just took delivery of 4 grands worth of tyre and balance equipment. Latest bit of digital balancing gear and tyre fitting equipment from Bradbury. Should manage to get them on now and i have a few days to practice witht he new kit. The old equipment was about 10 years old and had marked the odd wheel with very low profile tyres.
  12. The above mentioned place is my local wheel refurb place. They are abotu 5 minutes away from me. I had my wheels done there abotu 2 years ago. Fisrt time you put a little curb mark on them the "powdercoating" seal Is broken and the water get underneath. They really have started to flake and deteriorate quickly. The bill for them at the time was aprox 350 all in. I recently sent a customer there to get a quote for her wheels to be done. 18 inch wheels single black coating. The quote was over 400. Now if this is their current price then wheels direct from lexus are cheaper than their refurb quote. The 4 i have ordered from Lexus including my discount is under 400. Just need to tell the wife now that i am orderign 4 new tyres as well, that another 100 a corner lol.
  13. whhels in motion at one ppint would send you the specs to suit your car. Depeneding if your car has been lowered depends on amount of camber you need. Might be worth an ask if they will send you your suited specs and get your local place to do it save you the drive to them .
  14. check the difinition of "refurbishment" http://www.thewheelspecialist.co.uk/?adw&gclid=CNPvisK10bECFcNN3wodK0QAqArb" that place charges about 69 quid a wheel. this is just a powder coat in one colour. I know places that sand and paint for 50 a wheel, neither has the diamond cut polished finish of the origianl wheels.
  15. ye i think myself and everyone else on here hopes they are £89 for 4. thats £89 per wheel, which as used tatty ones on ebay sell for between £40 and £60 and mint unfitted sparse sell for £80,, £89 is still a good price as i get £9 knocked of the list price technically its £80 a wheel plus vat
  16. To be perfectly honest i saw a set on ebay last week from a guy down south somewhere he was asking about £450 for a set. said he got a good deal and i was tempted at that price. THe only down side was he was in devon and was collect only. So taking him at his word of a "good deal" i thought i would try my local dealer. Now either his local "good deal" isnt that good or hes getting the same price as me and putting a mark up on his prices. I have a set due in on the 18th, seems cheap to me so am waiting to see what comes but if they are correct i will be willing to arrange anyone a set if their local dealer doesnt do them at that price, thats with the agreement of the admins in the group of course. There is a Lexus mechanic on this forum maybe he can get a better discount then me as he works for them. Maybe worth an ask. As far as i am aware though the price should be the same regardless of where you live
  17. I have had my is now about 5 years. When i first got it the wheels where the usual grotty things that come standard. I Had them powder coated at "The wheel specialist" costing about £380 back then. I was never 100% happy with them as they didnt have the polished faces on them any more. I have looked around ever since bought a couple of un used spares from crashed cars trying to get a full set. I have tried many styles of after market ones nothing really took my fancy. So today i bit the bullet I rang my local Lexus dealer. I sat down, got comfy and waited for the slap when i said "how much for 4". "£89 delivered each" came the answer "£89 i said are you sure whats the catch". No catch sir as long as you return your old wheels thats the cost. Hang on he said where did you say you was calling from, I told him the name of my garage and he knocked of another £9 a wheel. So on the 18th of this month i will be taking delivery of 4 factory reconditioned original wheels. Now all i need to do is cross my fingers i dont mark them putting the tyres on when they get here!
  18. Theres a paint available from B and Q called jap laq. I used hammerite on mine and it just flaked of. I asked around the local cruise scene and everyone recomended jap laq. Its brush on and is very high gloss also isnt affected by heat i have pretty well had my brakes steaming after pratting abotu on my mates farm land didnt even discolour the piant.
  19. Theres a company called wheels in motion, they did/do specialist alignment specs for the is. They did/do have an advert somewhere on here. £120 seems like a lot fo money for wheel alignment, for front end only (as most cars only have an adjustable front end) i charge £25 and if i check it and it doesnt need adjustment i dont charge at all.
  20. Does any one have a htc wildfire phone with copilot v8 installed. MIne doesnt work any more and the copilot help line has been trying to resolve the problem for over a week now. Basicly the program starts up (title page comes up) then my phone reverts to the home screen . No sat nav. HELP !!
  21. http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1193009/Barclays-bank-worker-given-double-pay-error-getting-it.html Almost the same thing. She was able to keep the money as she was told she would be getting an increase. I was told i would be getting a deposit in my account, thats exactly what i got. I was told i would get a lump sum. I got half a payment, when i questioned it i got the other half. I was told the amount would be paid directly into my account, this is what happened. If you read the article the bank took the money back, the courts made them repay it and continue to pay her at that rate. Like i said look hard enough and you can find a law that contradicts all other laws.I know this isnt a law but its a judge making a call to allow a payee to keep an overpayment.
  22. Last time i checked the word "theft" ment taking something without the owners permission. I have taken nothing. So how can that be theft. If someone gave me somthing, me keeping it doesnt make it theft. Thats the point/defence my friend who is currently (not 5 years ago) practicing law quoted me. I asked peoples opinion Dave1 as whats moral is nothing to do with law. From what i have read on this thread most of the comments agree with exactly what i am doing say nothing and do nothing which altogether suggests most people on here and a barister and her soliseter husband agree with me. The money has been in my account now almost a month. I have spoken to the bank 3 or 4 times in this time. I am having trouble with a ppi claim back specialist firm who are trying to charge me for their "help" in the case, when they returned the contract saying they couldnt help then i sorted it out myself. Anyway the case has been looked into at least 3/4 times since the over payment no one has yet made a comment about the extra payment. I have recieved a letter from the bank explaining why the ammount was more than agreed (another point i didnt put on here). So in short I have asked the bank to look at the case, the bank have looked into the case for themselves for a ppi claim back firm and for myself. They have reviewed the whole matter several times and still havnt noticed a thing. I am pretty certain i could look around on the internet and find quotes where people have done exactly what i have done and had no problems. The law is very clear, but if you look hard enough you can always find a contradiction. My suggestion is you need better legal advice next time you need it.
  23. Correct. This does happen. A weld on a cat doesnt mean its been hollowed out. The only problem with this is, if the car fails the emmisions test you can only remove the cat cut it open again cross your fingers that when you put the internals back in and weld it back up that it all works.
  24. The ammounts involved witht he 2 above cases are also very diffrent. 22,000 and 18,000 paid into an account are a very diffrent to the ammounts involved with me. If you was expecting a payment and it was 10 times the amount expected, this would eb very difficult to be over looked. A few hundred paid un expectedly into a joint account that 2 people have access to which contains a few thousand could be overlooked. Without looking i never know the exact figure of my savings account as it changes daily by as much as a few thousand. As a matter of fact the cheque the bank sent was opened and paid into my account and was there over a week before i questioned it with my wife and only then as i didnt recognise the "recieved from" refrance on the statement. So in all truth i didnt notice the money for over a week. I only checked then to see if a cheque i had paid in from a problem customer had cleared. A few pence into a thousand pound accoutn can be over looked. A few hundred paid into a ten thousand pound account could be missed. This is clearly obvious as the bank has sent a few hundred from their account, and as of the time of this post, they havnt noticed.
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