CT200NI

Solved: for anyone in the future doing this, there is a white little clip. It looks massively bent - but that’s how it looks on both sides. In this case, that clip wasn’t sitting the right way around. Causing its slant to push out slightly too much. Check this if you ever have the same issue. I presume other models use this same way of holding in the tail lights.

Toyota’s are getting better. But Lexus will get better too 💫 quality and reliability wise, aren’t they identical? It’s more superficial pleasantness in a Lexus: nicer looks, nicer cabin, better materials, sound deadening, smoothness etc? All the ‘nice to haves’ Personally I’m mad we aren’t getting that new Prius 🙃

Whilst this relates to my CT, I think all modern Lexus models use the same (slightly differently shaped / styled) approach with the same layout of brackets...screws...clips - so hopefully posting this here is okay. Some of you folks might have experience from other models with fitting lights that could help here? I got the car back, new rear bumper and new light. They claim it's a genuine part. Sure enough, has the same markings as the other side in terms of the company who Lexus has make the lights.. However, the light seems either like it's stretched out.. or poorly aligned. I showed the workshop guy who handed the car back this as I spotted it immediately. I didn't kick off because I said I might be able to reposition / fix it myself (e.g. a clip not being popped in or screws tightened with it sitting at a bad angle). I tried this last night and found that everything is sitting fine, and nothing I do can make the edge of the light sit in how the other side does. I even removed and refit the other side, to see if it was easy enough to do (or if I'd put it back incorrectly as well meaning it was a skill / fit issue). Nope, went back in fine and perfectly aligned. There is a bracket below the tail light between the bumper and it. Mine looks to have part of it broken off - either from the old light during the accident where it got hit and it hasn't been replaced. Or someone at the workshop has broken it off fitting this one and used too much force (potentially also bending the light). 1. Is there any more I can try to get it to sit right? 2. Is that bottom bracket potentially responsible for this not sitting at the right angle? 3. If I replace the bottom bracket, will it fit better? 4. Is the light just defective / damaged with a stretch? I want to exhaust all options of fixing it myself before going back down to the repair centre.

That's such a shame, I reckon it should be if you aren't at fault (and bad luck comes your way as in this case despite doing everything I can to be a safe, accident free driver) then I shouldn't have to declare it at all... Damn insurers. I noticed that about glass 'including windscreen'. You know, it's crazy how it works. Whilst to some extent I understand: riskier driver, higher premium. What I don't understand is recently, for finance, dealers were forced to give 'the same' crap rate to everyone because apparently, punishing people for poor finance hygiene was 'unfair'. Yet, insurance, (unlike finance, a mandatory thing by law) they are allowed to discriminate not just on fair things like bad areas or bad record drivers, but unfair things like 'people with your kind of car have X accidents' or 'oh, you got ran into? we agree not your fault, BUT, still, you're just accident prone'. I reckon the law should get involved with regulation for as long as it's a mandatory requirement. 100% they'll always go up, right? Definitely because of EVs as of recently. But as you say... floods... storms etc. Then the usual excuses, inflation, cost of living / operating rising... Everyone I know who has renewed already this year has had massive increases, the least was £200. This is with no claims (not even non fault claims). Who knows now how mine will go up, but even without this accident, it'd likely have went up a good bit for nothing. At least now... Axa (or the insurers 'in general'/'as a pool' like mentioned above, can have some damn work to do and expenses to pay for, to justify it to me 👍

If this works out as it's currently heading to, then I won't have a declarable claim to put in my renewal surely. Obviously, Axa will know. If they want to use it as an excuse to put up my premium, I'll go elsewhere. They told me they recover the costs from the other parts and my insurance won't be affected. I have no reason to doubt them. I appreciate that

Well, blame the poor standard of driving from the other guy. Directly, his insurance will go up. The reason? Poor driving leading to an unnecessary RTA. It's a bit crap, but if driving such as that is on the rise, insurance will go up.. as they're paying out more. As for the me opting to use a CMC, you can say that choice is causing unnecessary levels of increases and blame that as the cause for rising. Personally I'd say the cause is the root cause of the poor driving, if it wasn't for that, then none of this cost incurring crap would be necessary in the first place. The CMC is adding value in my opinion worth (the other insurer) paying for... They are much more efficient, transparent and easier to deal with. They'll provide legal cover... courtesy car (a decent one)... freedom of choice of who repairs your car... they really, really fight your corner. Much better than I'd imagine the insurer.. who already gets cash from my pocket upfront, only to potentially get a 'decline' from the other parties insurance... and since my insurance would already be imbursed.. why would they bother fight it? I bet it'd be just like dealing with Autoglass... call to complain... they read out their policy to you and ultimately hang up with no resolution. I was NOT for letting that happen in this case... no way. In my view, insurance uses the cheapest, nastiest repair centres (big bulk contracts with zero effort on their part to maintain quality / customer satisfaction on repair jobs). And said centres will still unnecessarily charge high for parts... think the NHS being charged £80 for a painkiller versus paying for a taxi, to go to Boots, yourself, to get the same thing much cheaper and more efficiently.... That's how I look at it. I know what you're saying. But I'm not sympathetic at all to the point that people shouldn't use CMCs. They provide a service at the end of the day, much better than my experience with the insurer on this one. I was sitting pulling my hair out, panicking the evening it happened. It was a bank holiday, couldn't get through to my insurance at all as lines were closed. And even when I did get through the phone advisors didn't really have a clue, they told me to email 600mb of dashcam footage multiple times which I explained kept bouncing back... then a series of calls from random numbers "I'm their investigator...", "I'm their XYZ" with no letters or explanation of the process given to me. I got a call a few days letter saying "we forgot to realise that you had legal cover on your policy.. if you want to use it"... Honestly was not impressed. CMC had someone answer the phone right away, explain it all, sort it all... Better service = justification of more money to support it. Viva la capitalism. Interestingly, the other parts has just put a claim in (2+ weeks later) also using a CMC. I think they'll be throwing in the towel too at some stage as my footage shows their driver dangerously close (stopped) behind my car, and then taking off right into the back when he should have held back until it was safe to move off... Not sure how if he did have a cam, it would 'help' him. He must be lying to the CMC for them to give him any support. But if it did... Insurer on my part also said they agree no fault on my end. They have already responded to his CMC to decline liability and are waiting for the response. Given the CMC and Insurer have both independently found me with no liability, I can't see his end being able to prove otherwise. I must get the clip on here if you're interested in seeing it

The last two years, because of EV repair costs. They're much less modular than repairing an engine car and insurers have admitted to spreading the cost across us all. That's insurances job. I agree it's unfair sometimes, but so be it. Axa wanted me to pay my excess, wait an unspecified amount of time, pay for the courtesy car and put an actual claim on my policy until it was sorted, with no guarantee it would go my way - potentially leaving me with a claim for something not my fault but impacting my insurance on renewal.. until (if) they agreed and reimbursed it... No chance in hell. The claims management company was able to guarantee me timelines, sort me out immediately, at zero cost and zero risk to me. They deserve their fee. And also... genuine parts. That's what insurance companies should be using by default... if someone wants to save cash by using pattern parts, let them do it for sure, but nope. No sympathy for insurance companies whatsoever. I do think as long as it's a legal requirement, the government should be regulating / ensuring 'fair' pricing though.

Got the car back today. All good except the clear coat is a bit noticeably thicker. And the tail light is popped out a bit. Will give them a ring in the morning.

Not quite. it’s a claims management company paying for the repair. And in this case, coming from the insurance policy of an arrogant biker so if anything, it’ll knock their prices up. Hopefully so high that such idiots just don’t bother… Thankfully insurance (and the claims management company) both independently came to the same conclusion that I’m not at fault. If I could buy stock in Nextbase, I truly would 🙏

A good point The Car Care Nut YouTube channel made about LS400's was that "they are the most reliable cars in their segment". Compared to high end Mercedes... BMWs... especially Audi's, they will give you less trouble. That's not to say no trouble at all. The rarity is the big factor here. As mentioned, dealers are fairly useless as troubleshooting (despite state of the art workshops and open access to proprietary systems and troubleshooting guides we could only DREAM of accessing at home). Any one-off special panels, parts or modules will likely cost a small fortune and at some stage, possibly even a significant % of the cars value. I think if you don't use it as a primary car, maintain it well, do low miles a few times a year, they'll virtually last forever. But everyday usage, even with superb servicing will mean scratches, dents, the odd low speed accident, deterioration of rubber parts, long-term heat damage from components like brakes and other parts like rubber seals. Things no car in use can escape fully. Granted, the Relax or even new car warranty wouldn't cover those anyway. But make no mistake, these are are the utmost of Lexus quality. It's not a facade, or a box ticking model, every single aspect, finish and characteristic of the car is done with great intention. This will undoubtedly apply also to the long-term ownership and the engineering parts.

Well, the only plus is, that the cost of this courtesy car in the meantime will be going on to the third party's insurance bill...

I think I’ll give them a call tomorrow and ask them for a detailed update on where it stands. Was the Range Rover a relatively new model? I’m hoping that with the CT being probably more common than a RR and on the market longer (if your person has a newer one) that maybe it’ll not be the same 😕

I bought about £350 worth is service parts in January from them. Helpful enough, made me feel like they have time to advise. I'd order from them again. Particularly as the only Lexus dealer in NI now insists you go via it's franchise 'parts centre' for parts... Much easier to use LPD

Sorry Dan, wouldn't touch it. Called up Adrian Flux as someone I was involved in an accident with gave me a false insurance company... searched the DB for £10 , found that he was actually insured with yourselves, and it was a total nightmare to find the contact info, then the person on the phone was awfully rude to me. Thanks but no thanks.

Ah naw, they agreed this time to use genuine parts no argument or anything. I’ll be double checking! I wonder if it’ll take ages. Nothing too high tech and 15 years of production behind the CT unlike a RR so fingers crossed