DeanMoreland

Yep - £17k of work plus the money paid for engineers, consultants, aa inspections etc - your talking over £20k in total - I have been in shock for the past 7 months Steve. When I questioned this every step of the way they simply replied that there was complex calculations to be taken into account! " So the car is worth £10k and you want to spend £20k repairing it - hmmm! OK! That makes sense.....not. " :)

Hi Guys, Well Lexus Wolverhampton finally found the fault - something to do with a faulty ABS sensor at the front - and resetting the ECU - so they told me anyway. They then kindly put the car through its MOT for free and delivered it back to me on the 20th. However, although the brakes were fixed, there was a loud rotational noise coming from the front near side and vibration through the gear stick, floor and pedals - and the steering was lazy - didn't react until at least a qtr of a turn - and pulled left when straightning up. So £17k worth of work later - much anger on my part - and nearly 8 months down the line - they have finally decided to give up and have paid my finance company the market value at May 2003. So now I don't have a brake problem as I don't have a car - well when I give them their Merc back I won't! Thanks for all your advice and help gents....perhaps I will go for another IS200 in the future and be back online. Cheers, Deano

The Insurance Engineers finally gave up on trying to repair my much loved IS200 - and decided to pay the market value price to my finance company...just got news today. So at least my troubles have ended - but now I gotta go look for a new motor. Thanks for your advice guys - I used some of your suggestions to put a bit of pressure on them :) Cheers, Deano

Cheers Guys - The Accident Managment Company (i think this is one of the main problems) and the Insurance company are very much aware of my concerns - I have had the general manager and Chief Engineer come out to my house as a courtesy visit on a couple of occasions - but still the car comes back time and time again with faults. Got another engineer coming out this afternoon (he is 2 hours late already!) and an AA Inspection booked for next week. Will let you know how this goes - before moving ahead with some of your suggestions. Thanks, Deano

Dear All, I wonder if any club members could provide any tips/advice/pointers on what to do with regards to an insurance repair, and further to this, complete rectification of the repair which has dragged on for 8 months now. In short my car (IS200 99' V) has been in the hands of my insurance company (apart from when they delivered it back to me in an unsatisfactory state about 10 times) since mid-May 2003. Two days back I get the car back once again - to find the steering wheel vibrating, vibration through the gearbox and a rotational whirring noise coming from the near side of the car despite it just coming out of a Lexus garage and a new MOT being issued on the vehicle (courtesy of the insurance company). Is the IS prone to any vibration through the gearbox, steering wheel, gear box or the body of the car - not severe - but noted and felt by driver and passenger?. Should I accept the car back? Do I have any rights in not accepting delivery of the vehicle? When the insurance company seen to be plodding on at a snails pace how does one put pressure on them? is a solicitor the only option? Many thanks for any advice in advance - Deano

Hi Guys, Well the insurance company decided to put the car into Wolverhampton Toyota - recommended by the repair company - who found nothing wrong with the brakes at all :( When I found this out I insisted it went to Lexus (Wolverhampton also) - and they had basically said that the only problem they can find is that the front brake discs are low. Would low brake discs cause this behaviour? Is there a legal minimum for brake discs? Taking into account they have had the car for 7 months nearly - it can't be me who has worn them down this much. Only had the car serviced 1000 miles before the accident and they said the brakes were all good for 5000 miles + ...!? Any input/advice would be appreciated - If they change the discs and the problems is still there - I have told them that I will not accept delivery - but not sure were I stand with Lexus Wolverhampton saying they didn't detect any problems - However the AA Inspector and the Insurance Engineer did. Cheers all, Dean

Hi Colin/L3X AV The garage have accepted that there is a fault - and picked the car up this morning...kindly left me with a nice new Merc C200 Kompressor Auto for a few days :) Cheers, Dean

Tried as you said Colin - pedal doesn't really move at all - and the fluid res is at Max. If the ABS isn't functioning correctly is there a backup system in place that will work without ABS? Do you think its safe enoough to use at very low speed round town (like nipping round my mums for sunday roast :) ) Thanks again. Dean

Thanks for your advice gents - will go and try your suggestion now....and provide an update. I will certainly be calling them in the morning - and try and persuade them to take it into Lexus Leicester to get checked over. The MD of the company called me a couple of weeks ago to apologise for the 6 months timeframe I have been waiting - he forgot to withold his number!! Called him to have another moan yesterday - he was in B&Q :) not overly impressed! ha But I will keep at him...

The car had offside damage to the rear wing (after hitting a lampost in a spin) - apparently they rebuild the suspension on the offside - replaced the drive shaft and sub frame(?) - also replaced the rear bumber, boot, boot floor, and near side wing as it was knocked out of alignment. Actually they did most of this twice, as the first repair was very poor. Thanks, Dean

Hi All, I wonder if anyone could give me some advice/pointers on a problem with my ABS system. Just got the car back from an insurance repair yesterday and when I took it out for a spin the ABS warning light and Traction lights started flashing. Added to this - when you brake - even at 10Mph - the car comes to a stop - but immediatley following this the pedal drops about 1 inch and the car seems to jolt forward very slightly. Happens about 90% of the time. If I send it back to the insurance company and they say its not their problem (despite them having the car for the last 6 months), I have only 11 days before my warranty expires. Has this even happened to anyone else? Forgive me, but I am not very technically minded when it comes to car mechanics! :) Cheers in advance, Dean

I have been wishing for over 6 months now that I had taken my IS200 to Lexus(Leicester)for repair to my rear offside wing - after a small spin-out on a roundabout back in May....I still haven't got it back!!! I opted to use my Insurance companies approved repair centre in Leicester - who basically took 4 months to return my car back to me in an totally unsatisfactory state - covered in scratches, boot wouldn't close, wing and rear light cluster missaligned, paint all over the rear windscreen and about 5 litres of water sitting in the boot! no joke - it was a mess! added to that their was terrible vibration throughout the car (steering wheel, seat, gear stick etc)...and they had fitted 3 different types of tyre! The Insurance Engineers said it was one of the worst repairs they had ever seen. To top this off - it had been passed through the local Lexus garage and signed off all OK!!! Anyways - to cut a longer story short I have been driving around in a courtesy Corsa for over 6 months - the latest from the new accident repair centre who have been fantastic! So IS200_Paul - I think I am the one with sucker across my forehead. Next time (fingers crossed there won't be one) it will be going to Lexus...their reputation is amazing...I think you have just been unlucky on this one. (PS. This is my first post - been in a bad mood for 6 months :) ..cheers for this great forum!!) Dean