Car Written-Off :(

J Henderson · June 14, 2016

So, today I got the news that I've driven my IS250 F-Sport for the last time as it's now been declared a write-off by the insurance company.

A week ago I was hit pretty hard by an oncoming Ford Transit that was in my side of the road for some reason, so it was no fault of my own and unavoidable. In fact, I give myself some credit for avoiding a proper head-on collision since I swerved just enough for most of the impact to happen on the B pillar & rear door area.

Thankfully no-one was injured. In fact I was completely unhurt much to the surprise of everyone who witnessed the collision, so full credit to Toyota on building such a safe and strong car!

As soon as I stepped out and saw the extent of the damage I suspected it would indeed be written-off, so I was prepared for this news. Still sucks though as the car had only covered 27K and was in really good condition.

Now I just have to wait on the insurance payout so I can start to look for a replacement. I think finding one of the same spec and standard (low miles, FLSH, ML/Nav) without me being seriously out of pocket is going to be difficult though, if not impossible...

madasahatter · June 14, 2016

Gutted for you mate been their myself, so know the feeling. Its amazing the strength in a modern car, at least no one was injured. Have they offered full book price.

bobmc · June 14, 2016

Good to hear that no-one was injured. It's a pity insurance companies are so ready to write off accident damaged cars.

Good luck with getting something to replace it.

Vintagesixtysix · June 14, 2016

Good to hear your safe and sound. Looks like could have been a really nasty one without your evasive action. Good luck on the search.

Out of interest .... Did you get full airbag deployment, front, knee & sides?

V66

Bluesman · June 14, 2016

I am gutted for you. At least neither you or anyone else was injured. Did the police attend? Mike.

Linas.P · June 14, 2016

As other I is good to hear that no one injured, though still quite sad to see the car being written-off - especially such good example. Hope insurance going to come up with reasonable figure.

ahmedali44 · June 14, 2016

Really sorry to hear it's been written off u could buy it back @repair it probably be cat d

J Henderson · June 14, 2016

Thanks for the kind words, fellas.

@madasahatter - They haven't offered anything yet. I'm still waiting to hear back from them.

@V66 - None of the front airbags were deployed, just the "curtain" in the roof lining, plus the one in the driver's seat. The seam of the seat was split open during the process. I had no idea that kind of thing would happen when one of these bags went off.

@Mike - Yes, the Police were there and on the scene pretty quickly. As luck would have it, one of the cars following the van who hit me was an off-duty copper and he called them straight away. You can't get a better independent witness than that! Plus, I have dashcam footage of the whole thing so the other party is pretty-much bang-to-rights.

toffee_pie · June 14, 2016

without being an expert, I would say the car is a definate write off with serious structural damage, even repired it would never be quite right.

hope you get a good pay out.

gdh300 · June 14, 2016

Excuse a visitor from the JCE10 forum, but sorry to read of your predicament. Both I and Mrs gdh300 have had cars written-off through no fault of our own. Hope you get the proper money you are owed and that you stay in the Lexus family.

Linas.P · June 15, 2016

13 hours ago, toffee_pie said:

without being an expert, I would say the car is a definate write off with serious structural damage, even repired it would never be quite right.

hope you get a good pay out.

Somehow I wouldn't agree.. (maybe my easter european blood). There is nothing you can not repair - other question if is financially feasible to make it right or not?

Picture is pretty blurry so hard to tell for sure, but it looks like easy swap of 2 doors, more expensive and complex bit is rear quarter panel, but can be easily sourced and replaced. The expensive parts comes where airbags needs to be replaced, driver seat, headlining. Putting in financial perspective Doors £300, airbags alone would be probably £1500, driver seat £150, rear panel £800 with painting, all miscellaneous parts maybe another £300. Another option is to find write-off IS220d in matching colour which currently can be found for £900-£1500 for whole car from auctions. Obviously, Lexus new parts would be astronomical price.

I am not suggesting to repair it, just saying it can be done and can be done right. Probably cat-d, hope they not going to crush it.

Shahpor · June 15, 2016

Sorry for your loss. You must be really annoying cause it looked very nice and 27k is barely run in.

I hope you get a decent pay out for it at least.

Any idea why the Transit was driving on the wrong side of the road?

SystemSecret · June 15, 2016

Glad your ok man, ive had two motorbikes written off with similar reasons, if you can buy it back and as you say, find a written off lexus you could always but a cheap car and spend the winter rebuilding. Good luck with what ever you decide to do buddy!

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toffee_pie · June 15, 2016

7 hours ago, Linas.P said:

Somehow I wouldn't agree.. (maybe my easter european blood). There is nothing you can not repair - other question if is financially feasible to make it right or not?

Picture is pretty blurry so hard to tell for sure, but it looks like easy swap of 2 doors, more expensive and complex bit is rear quarter panel, but can be easily sourced and replaced. The expensive parts comes where airbags needs to be replaced, driver seat, headlining. Putting in financial perspective Doors £300, airbags alone would be probably £1500, driver seat £150, rear panel £800 with painting, all miscellaneous parts maybe another £300. Another option is to find write-off IS220d in matching colour which currently can be found for £900-£1500 for whole car from auctions. Obviously, Lexus new parts would be astronomical price.

I am not suggesting to repair it, just saying it can be done and can be done right. Probably cat-d, hope they not going to crush it.

Good luck if you would drive that car repaired, its alot more than 2 doors. The whole structural body and pillars are most likely fubared. If it was crashed again after a repair like you said, in the same situation most likely the OP would not be creating this thread.

Mbay · June 15, 2016

I've got a 57 plate 250. Would hate that to happen to mine. Wouldn't bother myself with the messing round if you can get a payout.

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J Henderson · June 16, 2016

I'm definitely not looking to buy it back and rebuild it. The picture is poor quality and doesn't really show the full extent of the damage.

The rear door and the area surrounding the wheel including the sill etc looked like a Coke can that had been crushed. The door had also popped out of position and couldn't be opened or closed, plus there was a ripple in the rear pillar which makes me think the structure was fairly bent out of shape. The rear wheel was also badly misaligned so some of the suspension components, mounting points, or both were affected. The wheel on the other side was also pointing the wrong way, probably due to the impact of hitting the grass verge.

It probably can be repaired by someone, but it wouldn't be cheap. I reckon there would be a lot of labour involved straightening out the structure, plus it would also require a lot of paint as I reckon finding a donor car / second-hand bits in the same colour (4T5) would be almost impossible.

Linas.P · June 16, 2016

16 hours ago, toffee_pie said:

Good luck if you would drive that car repaired, its alot more than 2 doors. The whole structural body and pillars are most likely fubared. If it was crashed again after a repair like you said, in the same situation most likely the OP would not be creating this thread.

Well.. as I said "based on the picture". As explained by OP the damage is much more structural... Again that doesn't mean it can be done correctly and again it doesn't mean it would be worth the price.

The problem with unsafe repairs is when they done wrong and I am not in favor of cars such cars. Back in my country they would just replace doors, remove shot airbags (if smarter maybe put some fake/empty bags in these to make it harder to notice)... bend back the rest of the shape and a lot of filler... Definitely, not a safe car and not the way to do it right. I would strongly support motion for such "mechanics" to be prosecuted myself.

In the same situation it probably would be no different to what happened now even after poor repair, but direct hit to the side would be definitely much more painful. That said I agree - better stay away from poorly repaired cars, because you cannot choose at which angle and side you going to get hit