JeffL

Another crazy, tunnel vision decision by LV insurance. My wife has a 19 year old Honda Jazz that she's insured with LV for as long as we can remember. Its value is so low, what's the likelihood of it being stolen? She received an email today as follows. Thank you for choosing to insure your HONDA JAZZ SE AUTO with LV= over the past year. We’re writing to you to let you know that, unfortunately, we’ve had to make some changes to our underwriting approach for your vehicle type. Over the past year, there’s been a rise in thefts of the HONDA JAZZ SE AUTO. As a result, we’ve seen a large increase in the number and cost of claims we’ve received for these types of vehicles and have made the difficult decision to stop insuring them. This means at your next renewal date on 11 June 2024, we won’t be able to offer you a renewal price. We will send a letter confirming this again in advance of your renewal date, the letter will explain that this is due to a change in our underwriting criteria. Please rest assured this won’t class as your insurance being declined, cancelled or voided, and you won’t need to declare it to other insurers. We never want to leave our customers in the difficult situation of having to find cover. However, we feel that continuing to cover certain vehicles would create a greater overall detriment to our customers by increasing pricing overall.

Thanks for the replies Malc1 and steve2006. I getting the vibe from you two that it's probably best left alone but inspected maybe once a year? Correct me if I'm wrong. 🙂

Just had my car MOT'd by the independent garage I've used for the last 25 years or so and it passed with no advisories (GS300 2007 with 97,000 miles on the clock). I had a look at the underneath while it was up on the ramp and asked the guy if all looked ok and he said all okay but there is some surface rust on the sills (this is looking at the sills from underneath the car). I asked what were the implications of that and he said it's unknown how long it will be before it's a real problem, they can look ok for a long time and then all of a sudden can start to disintegrate. I asked what can be done and he said they could underseal and I asked for a ballpark price and he said probably about £120 using such and such or about £220 using something else. Prices + VAT and I can't remember the names of the two products he mentioned. The dearer job is a better product and requires two coats and would look better. I wasn't very quick off the mark and I'm not sure if he's talking about underseal of the whole car or just the sills. Probably just the sills do you think? It was Saturday morning and the regular office staff weren't in so I'll speak to them next week, but before I do that I thought I'd ask on here for any advice and guidance on how to proceed. Thanks in advance.

Thanks Ken. So it's from the new current model of 350h/450h, not the 300h. Good to know. Let's hope the thieves also know it's not worth their while attempting CAN Bus theft!

Did your NX leave the factory before October 2021? According to Lexus, NX cars from October 2021 have a new security platform which they say means they can't be stolen via the CAN Bus method.

From the above link: "In October 2021 (introduction of NG NX), a new security platform started to be rolled out. There are no reports of theft using the CAN bus injection method on any model with the new platform." This appears to be saying that any NX leaving the factory from October 2021 cannot be stolen via the CAN bus. If true, how would a potential buyer of a used NX know for certain that it had the new NG NX security platform?

Not CAN bus this time......... https://www.theguardian.com/money/2024/feb/24/smart-keys-car-crime-thieves-hi-tech-arms-race?utm_term=65dae5752f6f52a9e36b5b480d3fa79c&utm_campaign=GuardianTodayUK&utm_source=esp&utm_medium=Email&CMP=GTUK_email

Is it known if any other manufacturers uses the smart headlight ECU CANbus method? It would be helpful to know which cars/SUVs are not vulnerable to CANbus attack.

So the questions for me now are: Do the criminals know that the pre-facelift NX is not an easy target? and will the insurance companies fix their premiums accordingly? It would be interesting to hear from owners of pre-facelift NXs on this forum.

Interesting that pre-facelift NXs might be more difficult to access the wiring. Why do you think that might be the case Colin?

Does anyone on here know from which date NX and RX models were fitted with CanBus? Or do they all have it? Just thinking of buying something pre-CanBus if possible. If a vehicle has CanBus does that automatically mean that it is vulnerable to theft, i.e. do all vehicles with CanBus have wiring easily accessible and if so is that always via the front wheel arch? Also, I'm wondering how old does an NX or RX have to be for it not to be of interest to thieves? According to a Google search the first car to have CanBus fitted was a Mercedes W140 in 1991. In February 1986 Robert Bosch GmbH introduced the Controller Area Network (CAN) serial bus system at the Society of Automotive Engineers (SAE) congress. It was the hour of birth for one of the most successful network protocols ever !!!!!!!!!!!

Also similar article in The Guardian today about JLR stolen vehicles with additional information on electric vehicles and new battery production in the UK https://www.theguardian.com/business/2024/feb/02/range-rover-helps-drive-jlr-highest-quarterly-profit-since-2017?utm_term=65bdf288cd242cbd514d43dbf1d50551&utm_campaign=GuardianTodayUK&utm_source=esp&utm_medium=Email&CMP=GTUK_email

Which additive do you use?

This has been covered on several threads previously. Look up TPMS Tyre Pressure Monitoring System. I and some others on here just ignore the dashboard warnings as it's not necessary to have a working TPMS on a car registered in 2005 (in your case) 2007 in my case. Of course you might want to have it working from a safety warning point of view. Personal choice.

Great responses so far. Thank you everyone. I will report back on whatever deal we decide on in due course. 😀