The Lamp post did it.

[rdtkp]

I all. 

Its been quite a while since I have been on the forum.  Mostly due to the fact that my SC430 had been running well.  Until now.  My Lexus was involved in a small altercation with a lamp post.  Is it fixable and worth saving.   Still waiting on the insurance report.  Behind the bumper the plate is v shaped.  Not sure about the damage underneath.

 

Cheers 

Rob

[olliesgrandad]

Ouch!! 

Sounds likely to be a write off sadly. 

[rdtkp]

Yeah Ouch.  Was hoping it could be saved.  Given that it's 02 plate deep down I was thinking the insurance company will write it off.  Then it will be the battle of a reasonable settlement figure.

 

[Texas]

This is possibly when you find out how expensive your cheap insurance is?

[rdtkp]

I didn't go for the cheapest on the market so hope that fight won't be a dragged out affair.

[royoftherovers]

A very sad and sorry story.

 

[rdtkp]

If written off I will be looking for a replacement.  I liked the car a great deal and would buy another.  Just need to find the right one.

[Herbie]

Sorry about the car but from your photos it seems that the lamp posts have iron railing 'guards' around them - is this area prone to this sort of thing?

[rdtkp]

Hi Herbie

The iron bars are along the central reservation..   they have been thete for a long time.  With that said it does look like the lampost in question is hit fairly often.  Here is a pic from google strèet maps.  The iron fence was already flattend as no damage to the rear of the car.

 

https://earth.app.goo.gl/?apn=com.google.earth&ibi=com.google.b612&isi=293622097&ius=googleearth&link=https%3a%2f%2fearth.google.com%2fweb%2f%4055.84446553,-4.47621816,12.11950688a,0d,60y,178.41514958h,102.83346258t,0r%2fdata%3dCkwaShJCCiUweDQ4ODg0YjdmNmM2ZmUxMmY6MHg0YTE4MjQ4OWJlY2Y5ZTFiGdwKYTWW7EtAIRL5LqUu-RHAKgdMaW53b29kGAEgASgCIhoKFnBtTm1TYlR1dHNfME5BamVReEtxUEEQAg

[Neil E]

From the limited detail available, I'd say it can probably be saved but would expect the insurance company to write it off. Did the impact set off any airbags?

[Linas.P]

After dealing with insurance for a bit, I am almost certain it would be write-off. Most likely cat-N, but if they find any damage to suspension then might even be S. If that would be my car, I would be quite happy with cat-N and keeping the car... cat-S on the other hand is pretty much end of the road there - too much hassle to put back on the road.

If you want to keep the car, then you need to be very firm on their valuation i.e. challenge the value of the car based on what is available to buy online etc. In my case insurance valued my car £1920 and repairs £2880 and offered cat-N any me keeping the car for free. In hindsight that was good deal, but I have challenged the car value saying I cannot replace it like for like with less then £3200. They ended-up revising both car value and repair costs to £2800 and £2250 respectively. 

For me it seems unfair that private companies like insurance has any say in how safe car is. They only care about the money in the end of the day, it is illogical that they can decide whenever car is road worthy or not... Insurance is fraud... 

[rayaans]

Interesting, unfortunately probably will be written off. Definitely dont settle for the first figure they give you though,

On a side note, how do you hit a lamp-post thats not on the actual road? Did you drive  directly towards it?

[olliesgrandad]

5 minutes ago, rayaans said:

Interesting, unfortunately probably will be written off. Definitely dont settle for the first figure they give you though,

On a side note, how do you hit a lamp-post thats not on the actual road? Did you drive  directly towards it?

Perhaps some questions are best left unasked 😭

[rdtkp]

1 hour ago, Neil E said:

From the limited detail available, I'd say it can probably be saved but would expect the insurance company to write it off. Did the impact set off any airbags?

No airbags were set off.  Not sure if I should have been worried about that or not.

[rdtkp]

17 minutes ago, rayaans said:

Interesting, unfortunately probably will be written off. Definitely dont settle for the first figure they give you though,

On a side note, how do you hit a lamp-post thats not on the actual road? Did you drive  directly towards it?

Ha ha Firstly I wasn't driving it.  It was my wife who said she was exiting the round about and was about to over take when it started to fish tail and eventually lost control.  No damage to the wife was sustained.  I am saving the verbal ear bashing for a time that suits me.  You the time when you are losing an argument and you want to through in a curve ball to deflect from the actual point instead of admitting that you are wrong kind of time.

[rdtkp]

30 minutes ago, Linas.P said:

After dealing with insurance for a bit, I am almost certain it would be write-off. Most likely cat-N, but if they find any damage to suspension then might even be S. If that would be my car, I would be quite happy with cat-N and keeping the car... cat-S on the other hand is pretty much end of the road there - too much hassle to put back on the road.

If you want to keep the car, then you need to be very firm on their valuation i.e. challenge the value of the car based on what is available to buy online etc. In my case insurance valued my car £1920 and repairs £2880 and offered cat-N any me keeping the car for free. In hindsight that was good deal, but I have challenged the car value saying I cannot replace it like for like with less then £3200. They ended-up revising both car value and repair costs to £2800 and £2250 respectively. 

For me it seems unfair that private companies like insurance has any say in how safe car is. They only care about the money in the end of the day, it is illogical that they can decide whenever car is road worthy or not... Insurance is fraud... 

Not looking forward to that argument.  I have had a search for same year and 87000 miles on the clock.  Found a few with higher mileage at £4500 region so hoping around that figure would be good.  sorry Hoping should have been in bold, capitals and 30 feet high.

[rayaans]

22 minutes ago, rdtkp said:

Ha ha Firstly I wasn't driving it.  It was my wife who said she was exiting the round about and was about to over take when it started to fish tail and eventually lost control.  No damage to the wife was sustained.  I am saving the verbal ear bashing for a time that suits me.  You the time when you are losing an argument and you want to through in a curve ball to deflect from the actual point instead of admitting that you are wrong kind of time.

I was just interested in the circumstances of the accident that's all, some may say nosy! 

Verbal ear bashing hmm? From you to her or vice versa? 😂

[Linas.P]

2 hours ago, rdtkp said:

No airbags were set off.  Not sure if I should have been worried about that or not.

Well, just purely from write off perspective - set of airbags would be more then a whole car. If they would have deployed then you would be looking in Cat-S or B.

As for arguing with insurance - it helps when car is on their lot. In the end of the day you have just as much ground as they do + they have to replace your car ~maybe not like for like, but you should be able to get same model car in the end of the day. If you can afford to argue with them for log time then you have distinct advantage, if you need money quickly, then obviously they have advantage.

In my case I was driving new BMW which was costing my insurance company £320/day (before they can get it back from party at fault insurance) so it was certainly not in their power to keep the argument going. I assume you going to be claiming from your own insurance, in which case all the money is from their pocket - you just need to make sure it counts i.e. you take courtesy car etc.

[Neil E]

6 hours ago, rdtkp said:

No airbags were set off.  Not sure if I should have been worried about that or not.

That's good. It's just to get an idea of the extent of the damage/impact. 

If the radiator, sills, exhaust and suspension survived then an economical repair may be possible but new replacement parts + paint for the front end alone will be quite expensive. If the insurance company write it off, settle in full and you have the chance to buy it back, would it be worth it? Well if nothing significant is out of shape, then putting the front back together with second-hand parts is fairly easy to do but the parts need to be sourced. 

If they offer say £4-5k and you could find/afford a later 6 speed model SC430 for say £6-7k, that might be tempting. If it's cat N, with a 'buy back' value of perhaps £1500 but can be restored to good order for say £1200, that may be tempting too.

[rdtkp]

5 minutes ago, Neil E said:

That's good. It's just to get an idea of the extent of the damage/impact. 

If the radiator, sills, exhaust and suspension survived then an economical repair may be possible but new replacement parts + paint for the front end alone will be quite expensive. If the insurance company write it off, settle in full and you have the chance to buy it back, would it be worth it? Well if nothing significant is out of shape, then putting the front back together with second-hand parts is fairly easy to do but the parts need to be sourced. 

If they offer say £4-5k and you could find/afford a later 6 speed model SC430 for say £6-7k, that might be tempting. If it's cat N, with a 'buy back' value of perhaps £1500 but can be restored to good order for say £1200, that may be tempting too.

Hi Neil

I have researched the market over the course of today and I think £4500 - £5000 would be a reasonable settlement figure, given the mileage compared to what is available it would sit within that price range for the 2002 plate.

I don't mind adding a bit more to upgrade a year or two.  However unfortunately insurance companies are know for being reasonable.

Not many parts available on eBay either.

Hopefully I will know more tomorrow.

[Neil E]

Yes it's all guess-work until the insurance company assess it and make an offer. If it gets to the point where you need to source parts, I dare say we can help with some contacts.  

[rdtkp]

That's great to know Neil.  I will up date the post when I hear from the Ins Comp.

Thanks

[rdtkp]

I have been offered £4055.  Which I rejected.  Second offer was for £5200 which I accepted.  Tried to get them to go higher but the agent who I am dealing with said that was the final offer.

I have the report from the garage which estimate the repairs to cost £9600.

 

[Neil E]

£5200 for a 2002 SC seems about fair. There must have been some major damage at £9600 to repair it.

[rdtkp]

see attachedLexus page 1.pdf

Lexus page 2.pdf Lexus page 3.pdf Lexus page 4.pdf Lexus page 5.pdf