jonthetourist

Just a quick update. Admiral told me when they arranged cover that I would need to tell them the reg within two weeks or it would lapse. So today I rang the DVLA, to be told it had all gone through and confirmation was on its way to me, and should be with me by next Friday (!) So as soon as the paperwork arrives I can go and buy some plates, stick them on, and start driving. Do LS owners ever have a meetup, or a continental tour, or anything of that ilk?? Jon PS By continental tour, I was thinking of a couple of days in Brittany, just to be clear :)

Given how big a job it is, you would think they would try swapping in a new thermostat as a first pass at a solution. Or is that too logical?

me too. premier charged me half what i had been quoted in Gloucester, but that is cheaper yet. Jon

I believe your motivation in posting is not to be helpful, rather, it's to show members, just how smart and clever a chap you are. I believe you are not a genuine person, but a mean spirited petty individual. Who likes to think himself superior to the rest of us. I will not be posting on this thread again, nor will I view it's content.so you are free to be as petty as you wish. WilliamAt the risk of being petty . . . . I would just like to point out that I didn't pick this fight, or name Bilmac, or give any details until he called me out. And I was specifically requested to write up the whole process by CruiserMark in post #6. Very happy to leave it there, and for reference, I only consider myself superior to one member of this forum. There were a couple of minor points I didn't respond to, I realise. My speedo is in miles already, so no need to change anything there. I noticed the navigation was in kilometres, but that was a straightforward settings change. The DVLA confirmed that I did not need a certificate of conformity as the car is over 10 years old. Any more questions, just ask. Cheers Jon PS The big frustration is waiting for the paperwork to come back so I can start driving it.

Takes under a minute to do though - that is just a cut and paste of the output page. So, to bring it back to buying a nice Lexus from Ireland, you and the vendor get an independent assessment of what he will get back for selling it to a Brit. Given the shortage of Irish buyers for cars costing 1800 euro a year to tax, my vendor was happy to take his payment part from me and part from government. Others may feel the same way. There are a lot of Lexus LS's for sale in Ireland at present. http://cars.donedeal.co.uk/find/cars/for-sale/Ireland/?filters%5Bmodel%5D=LS&filters%5Bmake%5D=Lexus http://www.carzone.ie/used-cars/lexus/ls430 Cheers Jon

hi Rob My mercedes SL is on an agreed value / limited mileage agreement within my Admiral multi-car policy. I rang them up and asked and they were happy to do it on receipt of five photographs. Cheap too. Jon

Mike, I believe in temperate discussion on forums, but if someone calls me an abusive bully I am going to give my side of the story. On that front I note: 1. Bilmac has not offered an apology for SHOUTING (i.e. caps) that I had made a mistake about India, despite me pointing out I had already told him. 2. Has not apologised for claiming I bullied my vendor, which is way off the truth. 3. Has not offered any evidence against my calculation of how he priced his car, until the last-minute price change. He describes me as a bully - I prefer to think I am someone who won't be mugged off by a chancer. Anyway, back to the topic in hand. I mentioned the online calculator of refund value in ireland. You enter the model, age and mileage and it gives you a value, subject to confirmation by inspection. Bilmac was right in that they deduct 500 euro, but misleading in that the headline value they give is net of that deduction. here is one I did this morning: Your VRT Calculation Date 23/03/2015 Time 09:15 VRT Repayable €1504 Rate of VRT 36% Modify CO2 Emission Modifying the CO2 value may indicate that you selected an earlier or later version and may produce an invalid estimate. Vehicle Details Statistical Code 40387147 Model 430 Make LEXUS Version LS 04DR A Breakdown of VRT Calculation Open Market Selling Price (OMSP) determined by Revenue €108100 Monthly adjustment +103% Depreciation code allocated by Revenue F2 Odometer reading 113000 Miles Date of first registration June 2005 Mileage/Kilometre reduction €0 Rate of depreciation for this vehicle 95% Current OMSP determined by Revenue (Export) €5567 Revenue CO2 Calculation CO2 Emissions 289 Rate of VRT 36% VRT Calculated €2004 - Export Admin Fee €500 VRT Repayable €1504 ​ Anyone wanting to try this for themselves can try the calculator at https://www.ros.ie/evrt-enquiry/vrtenquiry.html?execution=e2s2

I tend to abide by the rule in life that if you can't say something nice about people, say nothing. Which is why I referred to a false start with a member without giving detail. But since I have just been called "abusive", and this being the internet, no-one knows the caracters concerned, I feel the need to set the record straight. 1. On March 5th, just after bringing my car back from Ireland, I wrote (post #27) that I was away with work for 10 days and would update when I got back. That trip was to India. 2. In my correspondence with Bilmac, discussing how to conclude the sale I wrote on Feb 20th: "I have to go to India on the 6th, so otherwise it would have to wait til late March." 3. My vendor did not "allow himself to be bullied" as Bilmac so charmingly puts it. He was about to start a new job 3,000 miles from Ireland and was delighted to conclude the sale as his car had not attracted any enquiries in Ireland until my interest. He did present the car for export inspection and calculated his entitlements from the state. In fact he was a pleasure to deal with. 4. Below is the full text of my email to Bilmac I didn't reply last night because I was so angry, and that is never great for writing emails. However I am no happier this morning. "The error was pointed out", you say. But you didn't call or write to me and apologise for an error - you just presented me with a demand for more money without any explanation. That is rude and dishonest. But it wasn't an error, in any case. When you put the car for sale on the forum you said 4,000 euro was "just about half what the car stands me". When i read that I went through what you had spent as follows: car 5,000 euro, service 800 euro, tyres 800 euro, wrap 1400 euro = total 8,000 euro. So even though the wrap has no value to me, as I would rather be able to see the paintwork, I could see how you calculated you had spent 8,000 euro on the car. The point being, writing 4,000 euro wasn't a mistake - it was the price you had decided to charge, and you explained the calculation. As I did my research, I could see that selling it to a UK forum member, which allows you to claim close to 2,000 euro VRT refund, meant it wasn't as bad as it looked for over a year's comfortable motoring. So again, I think you have been dishonest in now claiming you meant £4,000 instead of 4,000 euro. You're right, there are quite a few on donedeal. That's mainly because they are not selling. After close to 3 months with your car listed on the forum at 4,000 euro, you found one buyer - me. Now you want to try and sell it for 5,400 euro. Do you really think that putting the price up will produce more buyers for you? And even if you sell it to an Irish buyer for that price, you will end up with less because you don't get the export refund. I generally think the best of people until such time as they let me down, and after investing many hours in researching your car, how to register it and get it home etc. I am very disappointed and disillusioned that you turned out to be dishonest. Members reading this can form their own conclusion as to how abusive I was, but bear in mind the context was a discussion of which flight I was taking to buy the vehicle. 5. I wasn't planning to prejudice Bilmac's ability to sell the car to anyone else, but in the circumstances I am revealing that an Irish Cartell report reveals that the vehicle was originally silver, then black. It is now wrapped in blue plastic. So buyers have no scope to determine the current quality of the paintwork under the wrap, but it is not original. The report also states it is running on a Hackney license. 6 I believe the member to whom Bilmac sold his LS400 was very happy with the car. He also inspected a car for a fellow member. So clearly he is not a bad person. But I believe I am now the third member of this forum he has chosen to antagonise or insult, and frankly, life is too short. I hope this clarifies my position. Jon

Some more stuff, in the hope that it may help others. You need to advise HMRC online, but no tax was due in my case. You have to pay £55 first reg fee on top of the £285 for a 12 month disc. The car needs to be MOT'd and insured in order for the DVLA to issue the registration. The weak euro is certainly helpful, and my purchase price of £2,300 is excellent value. Everything works bar the front sensors, which I believe is a common failing. The steering column retracts, the bonnet and boot struts work,as does the door closing. The toolkit appears untouched. I think it is sitting a bit high at the front, but I plan to have a specialist give it a good going over while fixing the sensors and programming a new key. I have a quote from my local bodyshop to polish out the scuff, repaint both bumpers, and refurb the alloys. The timing belt is still to do, but I will use the check-up to find out what else needs doing at the same time. All the fluids look clean, but I don't know how to check the trans fluid. Cheers Jon

Briarwood Pearl, in case you are wondering.

So I promsed some more feedback on the importing process once I was back from India and here I am. Some of this will be a recap as I can't remember everything that was discussed. Irish owners of cars with engines over 3 litres are motivated sellers. Motivated by an annual road tax of 1800 euro. After a false start with a member of this forum, I found a vendor of a 2004 model, 2nd owner, almost full service history, 95k on the clock. He was looking for 5,500 euro. I pointed out he would get a refund of half his car tax, as it was taxed til October, and he agreed to deduct that from the price. But there is another twist. Ireland has a punitive tax on new cars. If you export a car, you get a proportion of that back. There is an online calculator of how much you get, which in this case came to 1400 euro. So I suggested he would get his full asking price if he took 3,300 euro off me, and 2,200 off the state, plus there was another 100 in there because they would undoubtedly chare him something for the admin. Vendor agreed, and I flew over with that the agreed price, and about 20 photos in my inbox. I knew the front parking sensors weren't working, there was a scuff on the driver's door, but just before I left I got him to confess that he only had one key, which we agreed to sort out when we met. Vendor picked me up at Dublin airport and we went for a drive, in which the car seemed fine. We agreed to split the cost of a new key, and went to a dealer, only to learn you can't do it same day. So we called a UK dealer, got quoted a price between £200 and £300, and he knocked 200 euro off the price. So the final price was 3,100 euro. Vendor drove the car to the Dublin docks and I caught the late ferry to Holyhead. Total transport price for buying in Ireland including flight, ferry and fuel, just under £200. Now you are legal to drive an imported vehicle to a pre-booked MOT if you insure it on the VIN, but when I went to my regular garage to get a letter confirming an appointment, they said "here, take these" and gave me a pair of trade plates. I drove the four hours home with a very brief stop for coffee, enjoying the calm of an LS430 cabin. Only issue was the tyre pressure warning coming on, which the vendor had warned me it would. I need to reinitialise the sensor. Mot was a fail, but only on n/s headlamp alignment, which turned out to a five minute job once I found instructions on the Lexus forum. So now the documents are off to Swansea, and the car is sitting on the drive waiting for a UK registration. Photos to follow. Jon

Took the car for MOT - Fail :( N/S headlamp too low Beam alignment linked to suspension height control, sounds like it might be expensive :( ClubLexus supplied a guide to adjusting the height and it took me ten minutes this morning. http://www.clublexus.com/forums/ls430/395898-how-to-adjust-your-headlights-writeup-w-pix.html Retest = Pass :) So now it is paperwork off to DVLA and await a registration. Meanwhile I am away with work for 10 days so will update the saga when I get back. All I can say at this stage is that Irish owners of large-engined cars are very motivated to sell by the fact that A/ road tax is 1800 euro per annum, and B/ they get a refund of the penalty import tax on the original vehicle if they sell it for export. It is a proportion of the tax based on current market value, but there is an online calculator. My vendor and I worked out he would get 2,300 euro back from the state, so he knocked that off the asking price. You do need to find a seller you can work with as I had a couple of false starts with people changing prices on me, but I am delighted with the deal I did in the end. Two owner car, mainly Lexus service history, everything works but the front sensors, and the tyre pressure system throws up warnings. Alloys are scabby, but I had seen lots of pics before I went over, and he had advised me on the other issues. 2004 car, sub 100k miles, sub £2.5k price. I am very happy to be aboard the forum as an LS430 owner! Jon

Andy, if you are in Cheltenham (just a guess!) try Premier, just behind Tesco on Colletts Drive. They did an excellent job of my front bumper on an SL for £150, after I had been quoted £300 elsewhere. Jon

Home now. Lovely drive. Only problem was the tyre pressure warning light, which he had warned me was likely to come on. The sound system did a great job of keeping me awake! Paperwork is all to be done, so full report will follow. Jon

A quick update as the boat pulls in to Holyhead harbour. Came over this afternoon to be meet at the airport by my vendor. The car was as described and pictured so I handed over the cash and have started heading for home. Tomorrow it goes in for mot and a quick inspection so I will know more. Jon

+1 for a good osteopath. I have one kinked vertebrae and whenever I have problems a couple of visits sorts me out.

I will do a full write-up once I have completed my import (don't want to jinx it, after too many twists and turns already) but basically you get insurance on the VIN, drive to a pre-booked MOT then home, then park the vehicle while you wait for the DVLA to convert the foreign reg, MOT, V55 form and a cheque into a new UK reg. Jon

Hi Dan Thank you for your interest. I called your office this morning and spoke to your colleague, also named Dan, who went though the quotation process with me. He came up with a price that I was not expecting :( I have just done a price comparison web site and the best quotes are all around 40% of Dan's number, so I guess I will have to check with them whether they are happy to insure on the Vin for the first fortnight. Thanks again Jon

Just checking, for safety sake. Is the above statement definitely true for the 430, as well as the 400? Cheers Jon

Caught most of this on +1 - thanks for flagging it. Jon

This guy has lots (I was there this week) and not too far from Yorkshire. http://www.locateacaruk.co.uk/used-cars/search-results?make=LEXUS

Thanks for the suggestions folks. The thought occurs - it was originally UK and the DVLA told me there is every chance that they will restore the original number plate. So what if I tried insuring it on that reg? I suppose I will have to ask the ins co. I was hoping someone here had done this and could talk me through it, so happy to write it up in case anyone else follows my footsteps. The tax in ireland will certainly continue to exert a downward pressure on prices of big cars for the foreseeable future. Thanks again Jon

I am well down the road of buying an LS430 in the Republic of Ireland. But i found a complication this morning in that Admiral are not able to add the car to my multi-car policy without a UK reg. So for the period of driving it to an MOT station, then home, while I wait for the DVLA to give me a registration, I need some insurance. has anyone done this and have a recommendation or good idea? Thanks in advance Jon

Yes, I know, and that is my plan. The one I looked at today missed the cutoff by two weeks :(

Well the car was a beaut, but £7k, and £500 a year. So my plan is still to go to Ireland for the value. Imagine paying £1400 a year road tax here. Nightmare Thanks for the support. Jon