CT200NI
-
Posts
96 -
Joined
-
Last visited
-
Days Won
1
Content Type
Profiles
Forums
Events
Store
Gallery
Tutorials
Lexus Owners Club
Gold Membership Discounts
Lexus Owners Club Video
News & Articles
Posts posted by 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.
-
1
-
-
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 👍
-
38 minutes ago, Moleman said:
Directly, his insurance will go up. So will yours, no fault claim or not. You are now seen as more likely to have a claim. The CMC has increased that cost to all. Cause and effect.
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.
38 minutes ago, Moleman said:The CMC is adding value in my opinion worth (the other insurer) paying for... You do understand that these costs do not come the the other party alone? They are spread across all policy holders by increased premiums. Your insurance company is also facing these costs and you are paying for them.
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.
38 minutes ago, Moleman said:As I said, I am really pleased it worked out for you.
I appreciate that
-
1 minute ago, Moleman said:
Which you, me and every other driver will pay for the next time we renew.
I am glad it all worked out for you, but do not kid yourself, you will pay for it somewhere.
Hard to complain about rising costs if you are part of the problem.
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.
21 minutes ago, Malc1 said:That's what the owner of the car of an event I was involved with a few yeras ago with my Honda Legend thought too ....... until ........ I pushed and pushed and wasn't going to give up, so much so that the Claims Handling Coy threw in the towel and just gave up with their client ..... and it all went thru' the insurers as normal !
But your case seems rather straightforward ............ hopefully
Malc
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
-
1 hour ago, Moleman said:
And your prices will go up along with the rest of us.
Claims management companies make money from inflating the costs of claims, bringing in extra new costs, charging excessive prices for the services provided. Where do you think that money comes from?
It does not matter which insurance company pays out, or who is at fault, the insurance company will get the money back by charging us all more. What do you think the price rises of the last two years have been about?
Claim management companies are a large part of the problem.
Glad the car has been sorted.
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.
-
7 hours ago, Malc1 said:
clearly wishing it could have been repaired with brand new bits BUT sense prevailed and he convinced the insurers to agree 2ndhand parts, for speed as much as anything else ......... and rather than using any insce provided interim car he's happily used his daughter's car as she's away at Uni and it's good to have the other car to use ( and being used daily ) and not to be another drain on the insurance costs all round
Malc
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.
-
1
-
-
13 hours ago, Moleman said:
Then onto all our insurance bills. It is costs like this causing insurance companies to raise rates, we all suffer.
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.
-
1
-
-
On 4/29/2024 at 7:15 AM, Malc1 said:
I don’t know its age but he’s had it a few years and bought it 2nd hand from Marshall’s Cambridge ? ……. Suez hold ups are a fact of life right now ……. Indeterminate timeline
Malc
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...
-
13 hours ago, Malc1 said:
They happily agreed to use genuine brand new in the box Range Rover parts too BUT they’re possibly somewhere in Houtl Hezbollah container ship land and might not be “ here “ for some indeterminate MONTHS sadly
Malc
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
-
On 4/22/2024 at 6:26 PM, DAN@ADRIAN FLUX said:
Hi.
If you do need any help with insurance at all then please feel free to drop me a line.
Regards,
Dan.
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.
-
2
-
-
On 4/25/2024 at 8:08 PM, Malc1 said:
My nephews Range Rover new bumper whatever, slight damage really, the insurers agreed for the repairer to use 2nd hand from a Breaker / TheBay rather than wait forever, indeterminate months, for brand new ……. he just wanted his car back on the road ok and useable …… just a month out of action rather than forever …..,, practicalities eh !
MalcAh 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
-
1
-
-
My beloved CT is in for a new rear bumper and tail light (through insurance). They agreed to pay for and use genuine Lexus parts.
Called up today for an update, they're still waiting for parts.
Do any of you have any industry experience or body repairs that would know roughly what sort of lead time it takes to get genuine parts?
I once waited two months for two new doors and a bumper to come from France for a DS3. I hope it's nowhere near that long!
-
44 minutes ago, GMB said:
Ooh er missus. Sorry if I upset you🥸. Cheer up Doris.
Hey I specified I wasn’t particularly referring to you 😝
-
1
-
-
5 minutes ago, wivenhoe said:
The answer for you GMB may well be to not spend £ 70k on a ‘silly thing like a car’ and drive a 12 year old car, but if I can afford it - which I can and did, then who are you to sit in judgement. The point of the post was about EV values
I can't afford it, but if I was working 60 hour weeks and had the means, I'd definitely to it. I pass some outstanding houses on the way to work, and very rarely, see a supercar level Porsche or McLaren parked at the back of the car park. And frankly, no matter what I do, there is a 99% chance I'll never be able to afford it. But I admire the people who are living that lifestyle. In this world, it's very unlikely they're being given that money for nothing. My presumption is they're working (or have worked) extremely hard and that's simply the fruit of their labour. Today I sat around in between work typing on this forum, it's obvious to me that while I do work hard, I'm not doing anything to the extent that I deserve anybody's millions for what I do. Nor is what I do, something that anyone else can't spend a few months learning to be able to do the same or better
It always annoys me when people get salty about people who are 'well off' or successful financially. I'm not talking about GMB in particular. More so my generation of mid / late 20s people who are just so salty and rather than working hard to get there, they sit around and blame systems and governments for 'keeping them down' despite the fact they've never even tried.
More power to the people driving around in the fruits of their labour. And anyway, it's a small group of 'those 1% people' who pay for I think the bottom 20% of income earners NHS and other things, doesn't 40p of every £1 they earn get taken, just like that?! Personally, I think there's a case that that's unfair..
And anyway, I get an odd satisfaction just knowing that the Lexus LC500 exists, and that even though I've got a lower spec, older CT, which is a little touch of some 'luxury' for me, I like the aspirational link there. It's a little like having a poster of a bikini model on your wall, even if you know you don't have a chance with her, aren't you just a bit happier to know people like that exist, and that they're walking around as we all live life? No point getting angry and bitter if you don't 'have one' lol
-
1
-
1
-
1
-
-
25 minutes ago, GMB said:
What I don't understand is how we ( the trampled workers - 45 yrs full NI contributions "comrades"😁 ) all have less buying power and are generally quite a bit poorer ( think 14 yrs tory *incompetent* gov't, wars and badly managed disease control ) and yet restaurants seem busy and people buy stupidly priced cars that lose money in a titanic style. I just don't get it either. The answer for me is don't buy silly priced things like £70K+ new cars or go to rip-off restaurants or UK holidays. We have a lovely petrol burning Lexus that should last a long long time and intend to enjoy it. Might splash out on a week in Italy or Spain though😏??🤔
**I was being generous and polite by saying incompetent. I really meant crooked fit for nothing B********s.
Phew that's better off my chest.
Well, in hindsight the government can always have done a better job. They definitely screwed up at times, certainly. But it’s better than the alternative we could have had… I wish we had more choice in the votes. If it’s any consolation, the same sad state of affairs seems to be true in most of the developed world 😕
I think people are too happy to go into debt these days. That’s definitely true of my generation, sink into debt and blame the <older generation> or <the tories>. I’m just glad they’ve retired blaming the recession.. brexit… Trump… Covid.. Putin… The latest fad is Hamas/Israel 🤦♂️ companies and consumers are both getting too greedy for their own good is my view
-
1
-
-
9 minutes ago, Spock66 said:
The future price of EV's will be determined by supply & demand, if there is strong supply and minimal demand then yes the prices will tank.
Currently helping my son who has recently passed his test to buy a car, the price of 10-year+ old ICE cars amazes me (not in a good way).
It's truly become shocking. I bought a two year old Fiat Panda in 2019 for £5.5k, that would have been just under 12k new in 2017.. NOW, to buy a two year old one, would cost more than double what I paid for the SAME car. The new price went from like around 10k to 14k in just a few years.
The decent used first cars I looked at a decade ago, like Corsas, Fiestas.. you'd have got a decent one for around 2k. That's closer to 5k now for an equivalent aged newer design model.
I don't understand it personally. I understand inflation as a concept. But the last 5 years has been well above even a bad dose of inflation. Mind blowing
-
2
-
-
27 minutes ago, Moleman said:
Asda went from being competitive on fuel to being a high cost provider.
I don’t know about you, but if my local Asda (or any supermarket) cost as much as Shell or BP, I’d go to Shell or BP. the supermarkets would be at a loss because of their own doing.
The only signals we can send to these retailers is our choice to not shop there. Sure, they can afford for me to go elsewhere. But collectively we do have an impact and whether they like it or not, they have to respond by making a change somewhere - equally, their financiers, the taxman and people who keep their lights on won’t accept their pleas when they can’t pay the bill either
-
9 minutes ago, GMB said:
Unfortunately a lot of people actually do believe the gov't lies. The big issue is that we do nothing about it apart from wait until the gov't allow a general election and the next lot get in. Don't expect any favours from them either.
Personally for the most part, I’d say as far as world governments go, we’ve got a pretty good / reliable / charitable one (in fact, maybe being too charitable at the wrong times is part of one of its major flaws!). Not a perfect government at all, but objectively one of the “best”. That’s not excusing their ***** ups! look at Venezuela… Russia … China.
The electric car stuff, sadly, is bowing to pressure from eco activist groups and an idiotic (my) generation and below making outrageous demands, crying about this horrible world they’ve forcibly been born into, blaming the old generation for climate change, and then making stupid statements like ‘just stop oil’ and expecting that if we all are forced to drive EVs, the problem will go away. I fear it’s governments trying to appeal to said groups and ideas that leads to these silly laws and rules, not just here but in the EU as well since we’re fairly in sync with the whole .. 2050..2035..2030..2035 dates on it 😞
At least we’ve realised it this far before any of those dates have come, that’s a positive at least.
as for voting day, I dare say the long spell of Tories probably comes down to someone with the initials of ‘JC’ being so god awful, that even their mishaps are a drop in the ocean compared to what that jack@ss would have done…. Getting his photo taken with terrorists and promising to decommission our deterrents…. Can you really blame any one for voting Tory?! 🤣 (I hope you get my point, not defending their mistakes but just trying to poke some fun at the other choice we had).
I wish we had more credible choices at the polling stations. still, if you ever feel bad about the Labour vs Tory situation, have a Quick Look over at Northern Ireland, we’ve got a real **** show going on here with politics 🤦♂️
-
3
-
-
8 minutes ago, Malc1 said:
well I for one would wish for Tesco to " give back " some of it's enormous profits this last season ( £ 2.5bn ? is it ) give some more of it back to it's customers rather than simply to its shareholders / investors
these obscene profits have been made off the backs of us customers who in some measure have been ripped off by Tesco excessive fuel pricing I'm sure
My Tesco is still some of the best value fuel around BUT that doesn't mean to say that they are being at all FAIR to us customers with their excessive pricing
Malc
Supermarkets don’t have a very big margin on most of their products to keep prices low and compete with the other supermarkets all trying to undercut each other.
Supermarket fuel is just the same, if not way more competitive. I’ve read that at times they’ll even sell it at a slight loss to maintain the cheapest price in the area.
Most of the fuel pricing in the UK is so high because of government taxes.
apart from all that though, why should Tesco give any money to any of us? Shareholders and investors took a gamble with putting their cash into it - and it equally could have backfired on them. Profit isn’t a bad thing, it’s the incentive that drives our society. If someone’s making a lot of it, more power to them. We aren’t really entitled to it by default.
I understand your sentiment, if they’re being unfair or harming people to make said profit, then sure, it’s wrong and they should seek to make profit fairly / respectfully. But just because Tesco is as financially successful as it is, and fuel is (as always) a rip off, doesn’t correlate to being entitled to its profit. Or expecting it to sell fuel at a loss for us (although I’d be quite sure they do / have done so a lot at times).
Hope it makes sense. It’s just what I think.
-
1
-
1
-
-
Just curious if any of you use Lexus 'official' motor insurance, and what you think of it?
Is the price reasonable for you? It's around 3x for me personally, no claims / 9 years driving so far.
Do you find the specific benefits worthwhile? Have they ever 'saved' you? E.g. proper repair done or genuine parts without arguing when dealing with a claim etc
What tyres do you use on your CT?
in Lexus CT 200h Club
Posted
Primacy 4 is probably the most comfortable, high quality, long lasting and safe tyre. I had Primacy 4 S on my Avensis, very noticeably quieter than the cheap 'Churchill' set on when I bought it. A rated for fuel and wet handling - although the fuel thing isn't worth making a buying choice over, fraction of an MPG if anything... They were excellent tyres, sad they went with that car. But never looked back from my CT.
I put Cross Climate 2's on a Citroen DS3, also known for having a very firm, vibrationy ride (but surprisingly competent into hard corners with the low profile tyres and sporty suspension. The Cross Climates meant I had to slow right down to 'sensible old man' speeds around roundabouts, which granted, is a good idea in general, but I mean, if you threw it into some of the corners I did when it had Pilot Sport 3's, you would literally be rolling or in a ditch. I got them because I was shocked how poorly the Pilot Sports did on icy streets (compared to older cars with fat, narrow tyres and little engine power). If you like the all-year around utility, they are comfortable rolling in a straight line versus other tyres, but you are losing your ability to throw the car into hard bends so precisely. That's the best I can sum it up.
I put a lot of time researching tyres into my Avensis and Primacy 4 came out the best, as much as I was tempted to put Pilot Sport's on that as well. ALL the big brands 'top end' tyres in the touring category offer something to stand apart... be it wet handling, braking time, etc.... but the Michelin (Primacy, CrossCimate or Pilot Sport) ALWAYS come top 5, if not #1 spot, and even if they don't, they seem to be the one that 'lasts the longest'. I always go with Michelin for that reason - as the Good Years, Pirelli's etc, all cost around the same give or take a few £, but some of the sporty ones have reputations for not lasting so long because they're softer / wear out from all the high performance - yet - somehow, Michelin is able to make all three categories of the tyres we discussed, and make them last relatively longer.
In summary: If you value driving for fun, I say Primacy or Pilot Sport. If you want utility, all year confidence, pure comfort (driving in a straight line) then Cross Climate for sure. The other big brands all cost similar but don't give the same long lasting guarantee for your money, so for the spending, why not go with the Michelin brand.
I don't get paid to recommend them.. but if anyone from Michelin wants to hand me a few £ I wouldn't say no for all the money I've spent on their products lol