Need Advice - Lexus ISF write off

[wibzo]

Hi All, 

I recently crashed my beloved Lexus IS-F and am in need of some advice...The insurance company has advised it's a total loss. What do I do with it? The engine has not been touched and is in good condition. 76,000 miles. It's just this one side that has taken the hit. I have considered options:

- repair it privately and sell

- Buy an IS250 and swap the engine

- Sell as is to a salvage company (for which I will get pennies)

- Take it apart and sell the parts

Any advice would be much appreciated. I am totally devastated. 

[gb1600e]

Ouch. I'm devastated for you and hope you are OK.

I guess it comes down to what the insurance company pay up. I think I would need to get another ISF and walking away doing that might be the easiest thing.

How much is the salvage to buy back?There are a lot of expensive bits to sell which may recover some money for you. But have you got the space to sit with it?

While the damage may result in a total loss financially how bad is it actually? And what would it take to repair?  I wouldn't expect it to be sellable for much once repaired though. But you never know.

If the salvage plus the repairs less selling some stuff costed in I would turn it into a track day toy. One for the road one for the track. What's not to like about that.

To repeat though I'm gutted for you and hope you not hurt. Take some time to ponder your next move i guess is the best advice

[Mattmech]

Hi mate, very sorry to see another isf written off.

Did you have fully comp insurance?

if you did you just need to fight the battle for the true value of the car.

looking at the pictures I would say it wouldn’t be worth your while repairing. Back wheel, suspension has taken a good hit. Airbags gone off?Also it would be recorded as a write off and would de value the car. Just my opinion on what I can see. 

if it was me and I wasn’t fully comp I’d look to break it for parts.

At least you walked away from it. all the best, matt

[emjay82]

Sad to see the damage to your car 😔, main thing is that nobody was hurt! Cars can be replaced. There is a lot of body damage let alone unknown damage in the suspension areas and elsewhere. Insurers usually write off a car when the repair is over 50% of the cars value. As previously said, in my opinion, you're best to negotiate a good pay out for the car and source another. There's a white 2008 ISF for sale with 89,000 miles currently on AT for £16,995, for example. Demand for ISF parts is generally very low, due to their rarity, so selling off the parts could be extremely slow and fruitless. Good luck with whatever you decide to do. 

[Hadrian]

Such a shame indeed, but that's why we pay for insurance.  A lot will of course depend on your financial situation, but as you will have comprehensive insurance,

I'd just go with the flow, and accept their offer.  Unless you can get a worthwhile quote for repairs.

[PhoeNicks]

Terrible news. The damage looks too extensive to me for a worthwhile repair, unless you know someone in the trade who could do it for you cheap. But then would you wantvto drive it afterwards? You'd also have a hard time selling it privately once you disclose the repairs.

Not sure the is250 route is worth the effort or cost either, unless you are very handy with a spanner.

I don't know your situation with the insurance, option 1 for me would be negotiating a decent settlement and buying another ISF. If that wasn't possible I would store the car and use the parts to build a Westfield/kit car. Hmm that's got me thinking actually. 

At least you walked away from this. Something to remember.

 

[ColinBarber]

Very sorry to see this, I hope you are okay?

I'd take the money from the insurance and look to purchase another one. Don't accept their first offer if it doesn't seem realistic.

I certainly wouldn't purchase an IS250 and swap the engine/transmission. That is a non-trivial thing to do and the IS-F is certainly more than just a big engine with the brakes and suspension also upgraded.

[Northern isf]

If they don't pay out I'd be looking for a shell that's been stripped and build that one up I've seen a few for sale over time that didn't have that much damage probably the cheapest route and you can repair the damaged shell with parts from yours that weren't damaged all depends if your good with the tools though as that will help keep costs down obviously.

[mrfunex]

Oh no! Glad you’re ok.

The side damage looks pretty bad, it’s clearly taken a massive whack from a post(?) near the rear which looks like it’ll have caused extensive problems to the rear axle etc. I think a fix may be beyond quite a few garages, I’d be tempted to take what I can get and move on from it. 

If you’ve got the time though, knowing how expensive/rare parts can be, maybe you could punt the undamaged bits on? 

[Northern isf]

Is that a telegraph pole you've managed to knock down? If so that's one strong car I've seen a lot worse hope your ok that could have been a lot worse.

[Defratos]

Repair the body work on the cheap, rip the inside out to loose weight and install a 2JZ engine for giggles 😎

[Twellsie]

for me the body is scrap, a rebodied ISF is never gonna be worth much, so if the savage price was right I would build it into something that is not already available, ie an ISF convertible

[Neil E]

1 hour ago, Twellsie said:

for me the body is scrap, a rebodied ISF is never gonna be worth much, so if the savage price was right I would build it into something that is not already available, ie an ISF convertible

Yes an 8 speed 5 litre ISCF or SCF (tempting) would be a hoot but it could be very tricky to get it all to work.

I think it might be easier to find a decent ISF shell, swap the good bits over and consider adding something wild like a wide arch kit or hi spec air-ride. Make it a very visible and well documented build on here to demonstrate that it's been done properly. 

[wibzo]

@Neil E any idea where I would find a shell? 

[Neil E]

51 minutes ago, wibzo said:

@Neil E any idea where I would find a shell? 

That's a good question with such a rare car. Have you put out any requests to the big UK breakers like 247spares, Motorhog, specialist Lexus breakers, etc? 

Dewsbury had an ISF but that shell was 'toast.' It might be worth researching the difference between an ISF shell and an IS250 too.

Thinking out load here but another idea for something different could be a GSF concept using a GS430/GS450 as a base? I'll say this with a note of caution but it's surprising how many parts do actually fit other models. For example my SC currently enjoys a little extra rear stability from a US ISF sway bar. Add the ISF drop links to the SC with lowered adjustable coilovers and it's an easy fit. Similar with the front but the ARB came from an Aristo/GS430 upgrade if I remember correctly. Oh and now I think of it, the GS460 had the low power version of the 2UR. Add PPE headers and a 470bhp stock looking, well appointed, comfortable GS has a certain appeal.🤨

[Hangie]

Finding a shell is not easy for a rare cars. Year ago I was looking for Mazda RX7 and it took me good few months for a decent one. Where RX7 is pretty old car right now with very fragile engine.

If I were you I would sell what you got to breakers and let them do what they are good at or break it by yourself if you got time and space.

Eventually if you want to fix what you got I would do it abroad as labor in UK is expensive. You would be surprised what Eastern Europeans can do with cars damaged even worse that yours 🙂 This is an example from Russia: https://joemonster.org/filmy/40262 Of course it is not ISF but principle is the same.

[wibzo]

@Hangie thats amazing! Yeh I did think about that, I have contacts in the EU that would do it, its just the wheel axles that I think will be the major work because the bodywork doesnt look all that bad

[Hangie]

You would need to buy whole rear sub frame, axel, maybe diff too. Have you check prop shaft ?

Sub frame mounting points can also be damaged. It is a lot of work and there is no warranty you will be able to align everything as needed.

It is ISF and not Megane as from my link after all and even small misalignment will be bad.

Some parts:

- https://allegro.pl/oferta/lexus-isf-5-0-v8-10r-zawieszenie-tyl-7069544716 - rear sub frame with all arms (without shocks) - £210

- https://allegro.pl/oferta/dyfer-dyferencjal-lexus-is-f-isf-7735900046 - diff - £420

- https://allegro.pl/lexus-isf-5-0-v8-2010r-polos-komplet-p-l-i7069509768.html - both axels - £210

- https://allegro.pl/lexus-is-isf-zderzak-tylny-i7712699191.html - rear bumper - £180

and check this one out, looks like specially for you:

- https://allegro.pl/lexus-isf-is-5-0-06-12r-tyl-ciety-i7108668664.html -whole rear chassis cut out with fenders, boot lid, lamps etc. They can probably cut as much as you want, like buying some beef with butcher 🙂

In your case it might be easier to just cut out whole rear of the car and weld the one from last link. You got better chances for proper chases geometry.

That what have happened to RX7 but in this case front was smashed 😛

Anyway it would be easier to ship whole car to Poland and source parts there. If I'm correct I've paid £300-£400 for RX7 to be send over there. In your case you could drive it back.

 

 

[NemesisUK]

I know it's a good few years back but when I rebuilt my Singer Chamois into a Monte Carlo rally car and then my Chevette into the HSR I had to get engineer's reports befor any insurer would touch them. That my ave been because they were heavily modified, would it be the same with a rebuilt 'standard' model?

[wibzo]

@Hangie Thats incredible! How did you find this?! have you used the same guys before? 

[Hangie]

No I haven't used this particular one, but as I mentioned in Eastern Europe car rebuild after crash is quite a big business. Buy cheap from labour expensive countries - mostly Germany for fix or UK for parts - crashed car and fix/break them. Unfortunately quite often fact of a serious repair is hidden by the seller but this is a different story.

Point is there is a lot of breakers who are buying cars like yours from all over the Europe and making money out of it in one way or another. The one on the auction probably was bought with smashed front hence whole rear is for sale 🙂

This guy got company account and almost 1200 items for sale. Auction platform is polish eBay so reputable with buyer protection schemes like on eBay etc.

You most probably find similar business in Lithuania or Romania but I don't know any local sites for those countries.

 

PS. I've just found theirs website - http://www.auto-lewandowski.pl/onas.html looking on the photos it is quite big business. They are even fixing cars by themselves and sale used one - what a suprise  🙂

[dandydons]

wibzo- sorry to see the damage . What happened and where about ? Am in Fife and have never seen your car . As some others have said I would take the easy option - haggle as hard as you can with the insurance company and take the cash to replace . Every other option has hassles you could do without . Hope you get sorted out with whatever option you choose . 

[olliesgrandad]

I wouldn't even consider trying to rebuild this car. It saved your life by folding correctly and absorbing all the kinetic energy that would have scrambled your insides. I don't believe anyone could give the car the accident safety to factory standards. I once went to an accident where a Saab got hit by an Artic. The kinetic energy from the impact was so great that the Saab suffered very little damage but unlike your car didn't dissipate the energy (older technology). 

Both occupants barely marked but stone dead from their innards absorbing all the energy rather than the car dissipating it. 

This is why would take the money and run. 

[wibzo]

@Hangie I would most likely take it to Poland if I had it done, I would be grateful if you know any good garages there? but its early days yet I dont know what insurance will say, and how they go about stamping a category on the car, I would rather take it and have it unrecorded. 

@dandydons I cant say exactly where but it wasnt in Fife. I will try negotiate but dont really have many options in my corner 😕 I bought the car for me. I was gonna keep it for next 10 years at least so I am gutted to let her go to salvage so easy

@olliesgrandad I'm not quite sure what you mean. I dont think it folded that bad

[Hangie]

I personally don't know any, but my brother in-law is a car mechanic back there so he got much better connections. He was putting together that RX7 I've mentioned when it came back from welding and painting. It came out quite nice considering 20cm of front was transplanted from shell I've sourced for him in the UK. - https://archiwum.allegro.pl/oferta/mazda-rx7-i7530864465.html