The-Acre

I did think about that one but it is a series 1 and I really wanted to get either another series 2 or move up the timescale to a series 4 and there is a series 4 going on here if the owner can finally let go! The black one seems to be on ebay, £3,250 I think it is.

The only reason I can think of is the possibilty of getting it on your clothes, being a scruff bag myself its not a problem. I do leave it for a good while though. After all, dubbin is made for keeping leather supple. I did make the mistake of getting cockpit shine on the seat once, save for the centre console I would have ended up in the passenger seat at the first corner!! Phil

This will of course sound disgusting...but I use black dubbin! Only good if you can leave the car for a couple of days for it to absorb and dry. Obviously not a good move on cream leather seats and also not a good move if you favour white clothes. Actually, probably not a good move at all but I use it.

Welcome to LOC Rest assured, your spelling won't be any worse than some on this forum, me included!

Granted it looks better than yours at the mo. It actually looks like a hammer dent but the scuff on the bonnet is strange. And why go for that area and not the bonnet? Anyway, I'll take it through the MOT next month and iff all is OK I'll get it done. BTW Steve, how did the plastic bits on your calipers work out?

So when the website says "Why buy from this dealer?" Any hints?

Bet they weren't broken!! :D

Walking the dog back from the park this morning and noticed this nasty dent on my front wing. The car was parked on my drive. A mystery, a £120 mystery at that. And no, I don't have any enemies!

:crybaby:

I agree with that. You'll never be able to see if a disc is warped by eye. My discs looked fine but when I applied the brakes over 45mph the steering wheel would really shudder, the higher the speed the worse it was. New discs (and pads)and the problem has gone.

So are you saying they may repair your Celica and not write it off?

Hi phil. there are independent companies out there and they cost around £50-£70 for an engineers report. if you need one let me know your post code and can put you in touch with a company that may help. Thanks for that, At the moment I don't get asked for a report but if I do, you're the man! Other than having it every which way there is no reason for insurance companies to ask you the value of the car in the full knowledge that (except for new cars) they will pay whatever is the lowest market (glass guide or whatever) value they can find. If they were going to be truly honest when you say that your 92 LS400 is worth £25K rather than "Yes, sir/madam" (lol in the background) they should say: "As of today's date the guide tells us it's only worth £1200!" but then they wouldn't be able to charge you.... On the agreed value - my other car (a classic) is insured on an agreed value basis at no extra cost! If there is another explanation I'd love to hear it. In the end, like the banks, insurance companies are only interested in themselves. They may come up with all the "We put the customer first" talk but they don't. No offence to our "inside" man but it's true. Of course its a business and its about profit, but a bit more openess and clarity would be good. The other thing I can't understand is how insurance companies vary so much. Last year my premium was about £240 the highest quote was well over £2000! How does that work? And that was without a courtesy car!! Anyway, at least we know where all the bees are vanishing to...the're under our bonnet!

Hi phil. there are independent companies out there and they cost around £50-£70 for an engineers report. if you need one let me know your post code and can put you in touch with a company that may help. Thanks for that, At the moment I don't get asked for a report but if I do, you're the man!

In one of those let's waste some time moments today whilst waiting for glue to dry, I thought I would add up the invoices that came with my car(LS400) These are just the ones that I have, they total £14000 that's about £777 per year! Most were from Lexus and Toyota including one wheel replacement at £460 and the most expensive service at £1125. Needless to say that doesn't happen anymore! Phil

Now you're being silly..again Still, I may just try it this morning

Hi Phil, I'm not sure who this is addressed to? Mike Hi Mike, I suppose it's for our insurance friend. I was thinking that if an insurance company want an engineers report on the condition of a car that would usually be done by the likes of the AA which is costly..ish. The thing with my car is that it doesn't owe me anything, I've had it for 4 years, paid £1500 and nothing has really gone wrong and it still looks great. But it's like I was saying to Sir John, what's it worth to you? And what mine is worth to me would be hard for an insurance company to understand. In fact I'm not even sure I understand what I've just written but I know you lot do! Phil

When I had a similar problem with a previous car I found all the electrics worked until I tried to start it and all I got was a clicking sound. When I checked the battery terminals I found that the + one was hot because it had been sparking due to poor connection. So what the others have said sounds very likely.

I Hear what you have written but it still does not answer while your happy to accept a car is worth X at point of insurance sale the very next day the car is not worth anything like what you the insurance company have accepted the car to be worth 24 hrs earlier at point of Policy sale. If as you say cars are only worth what the trade guide Glasses guide say it is then this should be put right by the insurance company at the point you sell us the policy and not when claims arise. A car is worth what you paid for it which is far removed from what the Glasses guide says it is worth. Dont forget the Glasses guide is published for the trade and not for the public. If we can show you an invoice for the amount paid for the car then that is what it is worth. Also as The Acre has posted Insurance companies are more than happy to shell out hundreds and sometimes thousands to car hire companies without so much as a wimper but start moaning and penny pinching like mad as to how much they pay us for our cars with values they were more than happy to accept earlier at POS Mike i understand what you are saying. the insurance company i work for dont agree values - and values on on policy will only affect premiums if the car is worth £17000 +, all insurance companines are different and what you mentioned thats a more of a agreed value policy and there are specialist insurance companines out there that do that. we use the glass guide as a "guide" the name says it its self, we do a market value policy so we will look at the current market to see what you can replace your vehicle for. if you purchasded your vehicle say july 2010 for £4000 and then july 20114 make a claim, as the customer you have to proof that your vehicle is still worth what you paid for it, so its important which im sure most of you do keep all receipts for any work you do on the car even as little as tyres or breaks as this shows you are maintaining the condition of the vehicle, now there a cases where you buy a shed and spend 1000s making it better if thats the case if you have paper work to prove the work you done then we would pay you more than what you paid for the vehicle. i dont like insurance from a paying customer view but i guess i have the upper hand as i know how it works. like i said though the company i work for dont have agreed values and all it does is helps us to establish what level of cover a customer should have as anything over £5k has to have fully comp. if you agree a value on the vehicle they have to pay the agreed amount. we are starting classic insurance on july 25th and we will ask for 5 photos of the vehicle and engineers report to confirm the condition and agree a value - if you made a claim you will get back the agreed value and that with any insurance company. if anyone has problems though with theres let me know be more than happy to help you. Interesting comments. My car being 18 years old is covered under a classic policy so premium wise I don't do too badly. How much do you expect an engineers report to cost, and who would be classed as an engineer? Phil

Welcome to LOC. And if you see the bloke from NI who sold me the glow plugs for my Vauxhall...say thank you for me.. :winky:

Looks nice. What do you think is the right price? I didn't think it seemed too bad at 2.5K I was thinking nearer 2K, imports can be a problem to insure as not many insurers will touch them, my premium isn't too bad on a limited mileage policy but a newer model may alter the premium. If it's near you and you have that kind of money to spend...I'd be there like a shot, it looks fab. I've always said with my car that I'll keep it until something major goes wrong, pot luck really, it could be 6 months or 6 years. Anyway the MOT is due in 6 weeks, I wonder if it could possibly be a 4th year without an advisory Keep us posted. All the best Phil

I totally agree, but what do we do? Unfortunately it's not like other services which we can boycott, we have to have insurance. It's no different to some courtesy cars they provide. My brother recently had his 11 year old Volvo hit by a lorry, the repair, although only a wing and a bumper, took two and a half weeks. Because he needed an estate they provoded him with a new V70 twin turbo! Who pays for that in the long run? I'm afraid the insurance companies have us by those short spiral type things.

Looks nice. What do you think is the right price? I didn't think it seemed too bad at 2.5K

I've got a Vauxhall so I'm on a VX forum as well. Last week one of the VX guys said how much he loved the look of the old LS so I posted a photo of mine. The LS400 really is a strange car, I've been driving since 1972 and I've had all sorts of cars, including a 69 Chevrolet but none of them come close to the attachment that you get to the Lexus,and it's only a car!

Bad news but be thankful no one was hurt. it may have been a different story had you been in the Reliant Robin which was mentioned recently?

What's your mileage if you don't mind me asking? I guess much of it comes down to how much you value the car, regardless of its market value. If the body, engine a transmission are OK I would do my best to fix it. The car has done 185k so just run in. Over the last 3 years ive cured the PAS pipe and reservoir leaks, new dizis, rotas and plugs, new rear springs, brake pads all round, both front upper wishbones and a new alternators.