‘Bargain’ RCF

tomRCFcarbon · August 3, 2020

This is being offered ‘unrecorded’ at just under £14k on AutoTrader.

Damage looks like it would polish out(!).

So once it has been this might be a useful ‘record’ for any would-be future keepers to know what they’re getting into.

Black 2015 RCF

If anyone knows the reg or goes to see it, might be worth posting it here for reference. Otherwise there can’t have been many black RCF’s that year so evidence of damage would be worth checking if anyone is going to see any black cars being sold in a few months time.

ps - nice to know that our cars ‘would probably knock a Lamborghini out’...🤣

C.B · August 3, 2020

Came accross this at the weekend on my daily autotrader browse, did wonder how its not been classed as a write off unless insurance companies were not involved. Quite worrying really if this could be sold without the buyer being aware.

dman2004 · August 3, 2020

5 hours ago, C.B said:

Came accross this at the weekend on my daily autotrader browse, did wonder how its not been classed as a write off unless insurance companies were not involved. Quite worrying really if this could be sold without the buyer being aware.

I don't think insurance were involved - the description says "unrecorded and will not be recorded". Red flags everywhere!

Irish ISF · August 3, 2020

Interesting, there is a guy on YouTube who has bought and fixed a Giulia Quadrifoglio which had very similar damage. He appears to have gone to great expense and it does appear to be possible to fix a car correctly if the will is there. It looks like new and has had a huge amount of money spent on genuine body panels. Hopefully someone does the same for this.

JDF · August 3, 2020

Hi all

Il quickly introduce myself first. I came accross this forum a few months when i was considering buying a ISF. Due to covid, my dream is abit delayed but hopefully will come true soon 🙂

As for the rcf mentioned above, I just spoke to the chap. He runs a claims company and took the car in. It was uninsured car. He plans to sell the vehicle as a straight car if it dont sell and he decides to repair it.

I had a similiar issue where i brought a car privately a few years back that was damage repaired unrecorded without even noticing (from the outside it looked good but internally it was a cowboy repair) I had to spend another 1.5k to get the car straight.

I hope someone dont fall for the same trap i did 😞

I agree with @tomRCFcarbon. we need to keep a lookout just incase it comes on sale repaired in the future.

TheHairyBeast · August 11, 2020

Saw this when it was on coparts last year, was interested in it myself to repair but just thought could have just bought a straight one for a resonable price than repairing it.

Good to see its back on the road considering the amount of damage and airbags been gone off.

There is another one in auction with less miles but it states that it has a engine fault.

https://www.copart.co.uk/lot/44421420

TheHairyBeast · August 11, 2020

On 8/3/2020 at 5:54 AM, tomRCFcarbon said:

This is being offered ‘unrecorded’ at just under £14k on AutoTrader.

Damage looks like it would polish out(!).

So once it has been this might be a useful ‘record’ for any would-be future keepers to know what they’re getting into.

Black 2015 RCF

If anyone knows the reg or goes to see it, might be worth posting it here for reference. Otherwise there can’t have been many black RCF’s that year so evidence of damage would be worth checking if anyone is going to see any black cars being sold in a few months time.

ps - nice to know that our cars ‘would probably knock a Lamborghini out’...🤣

If I do recall this car was classed as a CAT B at the time of it being on copart.

tomRCFcarbon · August 14, 2020

Update on the car above...Copart (thanks for the link @TheHairyBeast gave part of the registration plate as: L66R.. didn’t take a genius to work out the rest might be ..CF

So I tried it at DVLA and this plate did/does belong to a Black RCF. So I guess the price above includes that plate.

For future ref though the car is on L66RCF not sure if the previous owners ever been on here?

@JDF it’s weird the owner wasn’t insured, especially when it’s taxed and MOT seems to be up to date.

Legendliving · August 14, 2020

A quick search of google images with that reg shows the car all in good shape on the back of a recovery truck at Lexus Maidstone apparently on 23 rd July which would make it a fairly recent prang?

TheHairyBeast · August 14, 2020

Yeah on copart doesnt state how many previous owners there were but it shows me all this info.

TheHairyBeast · August 14, 2020

5 hours ago, tomRCFcarbon said:

Update on the car above...Copart (thanks for the link @TheHairyBeast gave part of the registration plate as: L66R.. didn’t take a genius to work out the rest might be ..CF

So I tried it at DVLA and this plate did/does belong to a Black RCF. So I guess the price above includes that plate.

For future ref though the car is on L66RCF not sure if the previous owners ever been on here?

@JDF it’s weird the owner wasn’t insured, especially when it’s taxed and MOT seems to be up to date.

The damaged RCF that this thread is posted on is till getting repaird and the link to copart that I sent was a different RCF with apparently a Engine Fault but copart states that it starts and drives.

C.B · August 14, 2020

Wonder if it was a track mishap?

TheHairyBeast · August 14, 2020

L66 CRF:

So I called up the Lexus dealer the car was picked up from and it needs a new engine, which is £24k. The engine oil was left low and the owner kept on driving it then noticed a knocking sound coming from the enigine. Engine needs to be stripped and new one needs to go in price for that is £24K, might as well buy a new one, so owner left it and went up on auction, also a reason why its coming up as not insured.

B1RMA · August 14, 2020

Wow, how could someone be so inept as to not check the oil in a car? I know both my RCF and Mini Clubvan don't seem to use oil but I still check it every two weeks just to be safe.

I'm afraid I'm of the opinion you deserve all you get for such vehicle abuse.

TheHairyBeast · August 14, 2020

2 hours ago, B1RMA said:

Wow, how could someone be so inept as to not check the oil in a car? I know both my RCF and Mini Clubvan don't seem to use oil but I still check it every two weeks just to be safe.

I'm afraid I'm of the opinion you deserve all you get for such vehicle abuse.

Yeah you would expect to change oil every service or something, the dealer told me the last lexus service on that RCF was at 15k miles.

Whats the point in owning the car if you're not going to look after it!

dutchie01 · August 14, 2020

The real danger in repairing a heavily damaged car is getting envolved in another accident. If the initial damage was structural a second hit can be lethal as crumple zones will not be affective anymore

Twellsie · August 14, 2020

1 hour ago, dutchie01 said:

The real danger in repairing a heavily damaged car is getting envolved in another accident. If the initial damage was structural a second hit can be lethal as crumple zones will not be affective anymore

Totally agree, i would not touch this with a barge pole (i really hope it doesn't bite someone!), sadly the current era of Lexus cars is well behind the latest modular chassis design, in a car as capable as these its just not worth the risk

TheHairyBeast · August 14, 2020

My IS220D sport was damaged when my dad bought it back in 2007 and fixed it up, was hit from the front so the frame was bent but the worker in a TOYOTA dealer who took on to fix the car took his bloody time (3 years) frame was still bent though but everything else was fine, so had a garage I can truely trust who works on performance cars mostly straighten out the frame as best he could made a huge difference!

The car now has 23k miles on it being a 2006, most people are shocked to see a low millage IS220D on the road! The manual gearbox in the Sport compared to the SE-L is a huge difference!

tomRCFcarbon · August 15, 2020

19 hours ago, TheHairyBeast said:

The damaged RCF that this thread is posted on is till getting repaird and the link to copart that I sent was a different RCF with apparently a Engine Fault but copart states that it starts and drives.

So does this mean there are two black RCF’s to avoid?

the one that’s been crashed (the original thread starter that is on autotrader) but we still don’t know the number plate of this one - has anyone got the copart link?

and L66RCF which has the special engine that was starved of oil?

steve2006 · August 15, 2020

I don’t know but it sounds like they should both meet, take the assumed good engine from the crashed one and put it into the oil starved one. Gives a whole new perception of “ Cut and Shut”.

Personally I think looking at the body damage the mystery car has been on the race track somewhere so may be worth checking UK tracks and of course that famous German one, this would explain the lack of insurance if the owner didn’t cover it on their policy.

doog442 · August 15, 2020

19 hours ago, TheHairyBeast said:

Yeah you would expect to change oil every service or something, the dealer told me the last lexus service on that RCF was at 15k miles.

Whats the point in owning the car if you're not going to look after it!

The last four RCF's I've looked at have had incomplete service histories or some kind of anomaly. An 18 plate, 67 plate, 16 plate and a 65 plate. I think this is down to people leasing the vehicles in early life so not really caring as they simply hand them back and also the outrageous Lexus dealership service costs for the RCF. I think some people also struggle with the concept of 12 month servicing when their vehicles are low mileage, compared to conditional servicing as offered by the opposition.Still at least Lexus still have a dipstick unlike BMW.

tomRCFcarbon · August 15, 2020

Yeah, although my ones going to have an anomaly now, should’ve been serviced / MOT’d in May, but it’s had to wait til September.

Although hopefully people will understand...it’s going to be the story for so many cars I would have thought.

Not sure it will be a lease thing as most lease deals stipulate annual servicing. Same story if you’ve got the extended warranty I think.

TheHairyBeast · August 15, 2020

3 hours ago, tomRCFcarbon said:

So does this mean there are two black RCF’s to avoid?

the one that’s been crashed (the original thread starter that is on autotrader) but we still don’t know the number plate of this one - has anyone got the copart link?

and L66RCF which has the special engine that was starved of oil?

I'll try and get the reg for the damaged one if I can and let you know the story.

doog442 · August 15, 2020

2 hours ago, tomRCFcarbon said:

Not sure it will be a lease thing as most lease deals stipulate annual servicing. Same story if you’ve got the extended warranty I think.

Do they stipulate Lexus servicing though ? No real issues with Lexus specialists but I recently saw a car that had a stamp from a back street garage at 15 months, so outside of the service schedule for warranty purposes and serviced by someone who had probably never touched an RCF in their lives, all to save some pennies. This is what I can't get my head around, why someone would buy or lease a £60k car and treat it like that. Well plenty do it appears unfortunately.

tomRCFcarbon · August 15, 2020

They try to stipulate, but those rules (from every manufacturer) were deemed to be anti-competitive...so theoretically you could get servicing done by Halfords and still be okay.

Personally I like the peace of mind and compared to most other manufacturers Lexus servicing is really good value.