Damaged my nearside door mirror

Brian R · March 7, 2022

As the title says, I've clouted my nearside rear view mirror. It seems to have dislodged the chrome strip element that sits between the painted bottom half and the black plastic top half. Try as I might, I cannot separate the shell to see how I might get it back to some semblance of order. Does anyone know if this mirror is common to any other Lexus models, or indeed where I might obtain a complete shell?

Malc · March 7, 2022

how sad for you ............ jeez I hate to think how many zillions of ££££ that's going to cost . and on a 5 year old car, well, probably be an insurance write-off :wink3:

Malc

Brian R · March 7, 2022

Yep, it will be expensive., might even have to go through insurance assuming they pay for such things?

Spock66 · March 7, 2022

4 minutes ago, Brian R said:

Yep, it will be expensive., might even have to go through insurance assuming they pay for such things?

It was accidental damage so should be covered unless you have 3rd party cover only, but no doubt you will have an excess to pay and potential impact on your future premiums.

Maybe try a local independent body shop first and see what they come up with.

AJ500 · March 7, 2022

As a start point,The main dealers in house or favoured body shop will at least give you the most expensive quote ,just for info.You can then work from there,either by fitting one yourself or sourcing a used replacement(unlikely to find?)

A comp insurance will pay ,subject to your excess.As said above,this will impact on your future premiums one way or another.

A J.

Linas.P · March 7, 2022

Definitely do not go trough the insurance, because increase in premium for over 5 years will be much more than whatever cost of mirror. Now fair to say Lexus parts are not cheap and complete mirror probably will be in a range of £800-1000, but that is way better than having claim on insurance, not to mention there is probably some excess anyway.

To disassemble the mirror, you need to remove glass first, but all things considered (it being expensive part on expensive car) maybe it is not worth risking more damage by trying to do it yourself. Have you asked the Lexus how much it would cost for them to fix it, if nothing is broken and it is the matter of just disassembly and putting the chrome piece back in, I can't see them charging more than 30min of labour, which is ~£100.

Brian R · March 7, 2022

Thanks for all the inputs. I'll give Lexus a call tomorrow and try and gauge the likely costs. In practice, I think I will need a complete shell into which the mirror and other gubbins can be transferred. Basically I just want it fixed given I have early intentions to sell the car and against a price I am more than happy with. Really bad timing but hey ho it is what it is.

AJ500 · March 7, 2022

Brian,

You are selling? Where are you heading?

A J.

Brian R · March 7, 2022

Yes AJ, I'm thinking of selling and buying something more suited to the daily use I need from a car. Put simply, I'm not doing the miles in the LC that I would wish to. The reality is there is two of us and three cars. The third is a runabout, and I'm finding I'm spending more time in that than the LC which still doesn't have 8K miles on it! It will be a hard decision, especially when there seems little out there that floats my boat. It also seems a good time to sell, what with spring/summer just around the corner and the ongoing chip shortage. So for the moment I'm undecided but trying to take stock and explore the available options.

AJ500 · March 7, 2022

Fully understand. Mine doesnt do the mileage I think it warrants but there is nothing to compete for me so I will carry on at this stage.
I have studied the used LC market avidly for the past 3 years and this last year has seen used values increase along with a solid flow of sales,relative to the size of the LC market.

Can I ask,have you had a good response from dealers in discussing trade in or cash sale?

A J.

Big Rat · March 7, 2022

@Brian R Whilst on eBay Brian don’t know if you’ve already checked but there are no ‘used’ Lc door mirrors …I’ve also checked a specialist Lexus Breakers parts list who I’ve used in the past and nothing there either.

I see you mentioned your considering moving the Lc on not an easy decision I guess I felt the same recently with my Aston Martin V12VS but it’s gone glad I had it, my search for the right Lc will go on as it’s a bucket list car for me, good luck with whatever you choose…

🐀

Brian R · March 7, 2022

2 hours ago, AJ500 said:

Fully understand. Mine doesnt do the mileage I think it warrants but there is nothing to compete for me so I will carry on at this stage.
I have studied the used LC market avidly for the past 3 years and this last year has seen used values increase along with a solid flow of sales,relative to the size of the LC market.

Can I ask,have you had a good response from dealers in discussing trade in or cash sale?

A J.

I have had two very acceptable cash offers, both of which exceed my original purchase price by circa 10% but of course prices are on the up for many cars. I'll probably call into Lexus tomorrow and see what they have to say but if it is anything like my local Jaguar dealer then I will be very pleased. I have enjoyed 2 Jags, but I had concerns about both, albeit I think one of them would have gone the distance without too many problems.

Brian R · March 7, 2022

1 hour ago, Big Rat said:

@Brian R Whilst on eBay Brian don’t know if you’ve already checked but there are no ‘used’ Lc door mirrors …I’ve also checked a specialist Lexus Breakers parts list who I’ve used in the past and nothing there either.

I see you mentioned your considering moving the Lc on not an easy decision I guess I felt the same recently with my Aston Martin V12VS but it’s gone glad I had it, my search for the right Lc will go on as it’s a bucket list car for me, good luck with whatever you choose…

🐀

I'll be honest Paul and say I am resigned to a new mirror and what ever cost it may be. I'm quietly hoping Lexus can provide a new mirror shell which seems to be a 3 part affair and it may even be mounted in situ.

The hunt continues but as yet by no means a fait accompli.....

AJ500 · March 8, 2022

Good luck with the mirror.

Pleased the LC is attracting increased values,makes me wonder what mine would achieve.Presume the cash offers were from these internet companies.

My relationship with JLR was not good. I bought a new V6 XES in 2016 and it blew its engine in the first 24 hours.The dealer replaced it immediately with a better specced one but the build quality and materials were atrocious.I binned it within weeks and went back to BMW for an M4 where the quality was on another level.We have since had several new BMs as our daily car.

Please let me know how you get on with Lexus as I always had it in mind to offer mine back to the dealer when I decide to sell.Maybe not the best option though.

A J.

Malc · March 8, 2022

16 hours ago, Linas.P said:

Lexus how much it would cost for them to fix it, if nothing is broken and it is the matter of just disassembly and putting the chrome piece back in, I can't see them charging more than 30min of labour, which is ~£100.

Do you really really think they will only want to charge £100 on a LC500h :whistling:

Malc

Brian R · March 8, 2022

41 minutes ago, Malc said:

Do you really really think they will only want to charge £100 on a LC500h

Malc

I've just been to my local dealer and I should shortly have a price. It seems the best case scenario is to replace two of the plastic components of the mirror housing. If successful, then I suspect not too expensive an option, he says tongue in cheek. Worst case and hopefully an unlikely scenario would be to replace the entire mirror, which would be a different story.............

Linas.P · March 8, 2022

52 minutes ago, Malc said:

Do you really really think they will only want to charge £100 on a LC500h

That is just a labour thought, but I genuinely believe that when there is not much to do Lexus won't try to scrape the bottom of the barrel to extract extra £50. Obviously, we have not seen how damage looks, but if indeed it is just a piece of plastic which popped out, then it should be expensive, but if parts are broken, then there will be a parts price on top of it.

Brian R · March 8, 2022

1 hour ago, AJ500 said:

Good luck with the mirror.

Pleased the LC is attracting increased values,makes me wonder what mine would achieve.Presume the cash offers were from these internet companies.

My relationship with JLR was not good. I bought a new V6 XES in 2016 and it blew its engine in the first 24 hours.The dealer replaced it immediately with a better specced one but the build quality and materials were atrocious.I binned it within weeks and went back to BMW for an M4 where the quality was on another level.We have since had several new BMs as our daily car.

Please let me know how you get on with Lexus as I always had it in mind to offer mine back to the dealer when I decide to sell.Maybe not the best option though.

A J.

I've got to say I was surprised and pleased with the cash offers I had and from WBAC and Motorway. I prefer the latter having "disposed" of 3 cars via their service. Excellent experience and final prices in all instances were above their initial estimates. There was a third unconditional offer from JLR just before Christmas which was 3 grand up on current offers but that was of course 2021 not 2022.

My concern with JLR is their quality control just doesn't seem up to the mark, which is a shame given they have designed some very desirable cars and it was this that attracted me to a Japanese car. They seem to be in a different league and I seldom hear too much negativity about Lexus, Toyota, Honda and Mazda.

Will drop you a line once I hear back from Lexus.

AJ500 · March 8, 2022

Many thanks Brian.

A J.

PRT68 · March 8, 2022

Sorry to hear about your mirror. At least you didn't damage the door!

Have you tried Cazoo for a cash offer? Mine is valued at a £1000 more than WBAC.

Spock66 · March 8, 2022

20 minutes ago, PRT68 said:

Have you tried Cazoo for a cash offer? Mine is valued at a £1000 more than WBAC.

I have sold to Cazoo very pain free experience, only gave the car a cursory inspection and paid the full amount immediately. Was a 13-year old car so not a huge amount of money, but was expecting them to pick out every single stone chip etc, but they didn't even lift the bonnet.

Brian R · March 9, 2022

Well the car went in to the dealer today and I am very happy to advise a repair price consisting of the mirror shell, colour coded lower portion and the chrome strip all replaced for £219 inclusive labour. Quite remarkable and truly superb service from start to finish. Must say, I continue to be very pleased with Lexus Gatwick and feel well looked after by their friendly, attentive staff.

Obviously, I regard this as an excellent outcome!

Malc · March 9, 2022

Ouch ... but excellent too ..... to include VAT ?

Peace reigns and worries vanish, just a small dent in the bank account :unsure:

Malc

Brian R · March 9, 2022

29 minutes ago, Malc said:

Ouch ... but excellent too ..... to include VAT ?

Peace reigns and worries vanish, just a small dent in the bank account

Malc

Inclusive Malc and while you wait service. Gave me a chance to do some project scoping in a nearby Wickes store, so I made good use of the 45 minutes or so that it took to fix.