We survived but the Lexus didn't!

[eleveneleven]

Hi guys 

I was involved in a very serious accident last week. Driving home from Gymnastics with my girls a full fat V8 Mustang driving like an absolute lunatic came barreling towards us head on (in my lane,) it was a head on collision, it's still all a bit of a blur, my car was on fire when I came round, I had my daughters in back, the back doors wouldn't open so I had to drag them both out through the front. it was a mess! All 3 of us were eventually taken to hospital and released a week later. 

The whole ordeal has been a nightmare, one of the worst thing things I've ever had to experience! 

Needless to say the Lexus is toast (literally) I'm gutted about losing it and everything in it but more importantly I'm extremely grateful that all 3 of us are still here! The broken bones, emotional trauma we all sustained should heal in time, and we live to fight another day.

The Police wont tell me much at the moment but did mention that the Mustang ended up worse off than ours in terms of initial damage and the driver of that car along with his passenger are still hospitalized 

The Lexus did its job! (in addition to the car seats the girls were sat in) I chose this car because I wanted something reliable, comfortable & safe, it fulfilled all 3 of those requirements effortlessly. 

Started at every press of the button, got us from A to B in comfort and when it came to it, kept us as safe as it could in a situation many aren't fortunate enough to walk away from. I couldn't have picked a better car for the budget I had, i'm very thankful for that. 

Just wanted to share this for anyone new here considering buying an IS250 or any Lexus for that matter, and I'd like to take this opportunity to thank everyone here sincerely for their help and advice to all the questions I had prior to buying this car and during my ownership period. I wouldn't have chosen it and maintained it correctly if it wasn't for the friendly advice and info I got from you all so again BIG thank you to everyone here from the bottom of my heart!! 

Not sure what I'm going to replace it with at the moment as well maintained ones are thin on the ground, prices starting to climb and I doubt i'll get much back from my insurer, but I guess i'll cross that bridge when I get to it...

Please stay safe everyone, look after yourself and your loved ones, we just never know what's going to happen sometimes! 

 

 

[mk_lon]

Wow that sounds horrific!! 

I'm so glad that you and your girls live and tell the tail without any permanent damage. 

Testiment to lexus build quality and safety. 

If your looking away from the is250 and don't mind a bigger car then the GS is a great choice that won't break the bank compared to it's bmw/merc/audi counterparts

 

 

[LenT]

What an appalling and traumatic experience for you all, Lee.  Your actions in saving your daughters from a car on fire are surely nothing less than heroic.

I can imagine that having survived such a violent encounter has served to reinforce your faith in Lexus build quality.  But it takes time to come to terms with such a potentially life-changing event.

I’m sure you’ll eventually be reassured to find yourself back in the familiar surroundings of another Lexus.

All the best to you and your family.

[Phil xxkr]

31 minutes ago, LenT said:

What an appalling and traumatic experience for you all, Lee.  Your actions in saving your daughters from a car on fire are surely nothing less than heroic.

I can imagine that having survived such a violent encounter has served to reinforce your faith in Lexus build quality.  But it takes time to come to terms with such a potentially life-changing event.

I’m sure you’ll eventually be reassured to find yourself back in the familiar surroundings of another Lexus.

All the best to you and your family.

Ditto! 

[Phil xxkr]

1 hour ago, eleveneleven said:

Hi guys 

I was involved in a very serious accident last week. Driving home from Gymnastics with my girls a full fat V8 Mustang driving like an absolute lunatic came barreling towards us head on (in my lane,) it was a head on collision, it's still all a bit of a blur, my car was on fire when I came round, I had my daughters in back, the back doors wouldn't open so I had to drag them both out through the front. it was a mess! All 3 of us were eventually taken to hospital and released a week later. 

The whole ordeal has been a nightmare, one of the worst thing things I've ever had to experience! 

Needless to say the Lexus is toast (literally) I'm gutted about losing it and everything in it but more importantly I'm extremely grateful that all 3 of us are still here! The broken bones, emotional trauma we all sustained should heal in time, and we live to fight another day.

The Police wont tell me much at the moment but did mention that the Mustang ended up worse off than ours in terms of initial damage and the driver of that car along with his passenger are still hospitalized 

The Lexus did its job! (in addition to the car seats the girls were sat in) I chose this car because I wanted something reliable, comfortable & safe, it fulfilled all 3 of those requirements effortlessly. 

Started at every press of the button, got us from A to B in comfort and when it came to it, kept us as safe as it could in a situation many aren't fortunate enough to walk away from. I couldn't have picked a better car for the budget I had, i'm very thankful for that. 

Just wanted to share this for anyone new here considering buying an IS250 or any Lexus for that matter, and I'd like to take this opportunity to thank everyone here sincerely for their help and advice to all the questions I had prior to buying this car and during my ownership period. I wouldn't have chosen it and maintained it correctly if it wasn't for the friendly advice and info I got from you all so again BIG thank you to everyone here from the bottom of my heart!! 

Not sure what I'm going to replace it with at the moment as well maintained ones are thin on the ground, prices starting to climb and I doubt i'll get much back from my insurer, but I guess i'll cross that bridge when I get to it...

Please stay safe everyone, look after yourself and your loved ones, we just never know what's going to happen sometimes! 

 

 

Thank-you for a real-life story and not some made up one from Hollywood. Real heroes and really nice people are in abundance let's never forget. I salute your courage and your girls will have an experience never to be forgotten but always recounted. War wounds are better than medals for young people of that age 😎

[Las Palmas]

Thank you for wishing that everyone stays safe, and glad your family came through the accident.

Wishing you all a complete recovery.

[JamesIS220]

An awful experience.

So glad you were all able to get out. Very rare I believe for a car to catch fire.  A 2008 Lexus has lots of airbags including knee airbags. 

Wishing you all the best. I would buy another if budget is tight.

 

[J Henderson]

Lee, glad to hear that you and your family are on the road to recovery. A car can always be replaced.

Still sucks that it's now gone though through no fault of your own. I had a similar experience when my previous IS250 was written-off because someone, who was also driving on my side of the road, collided with me.

It sounds like your accident was way worse and more dramatic though! I personally had enough time to steer away a bit and avoid a full head-on smash, but it was still quite a scary experience as the other vehicle involved (Ford Transit van) was considerably larger.

The car took the impact very well though and I walked away without even as much as a scratch. These cars give you the impression that they are solidly built just by the general fit and finish - how well the doors close, or how well they insulate the outside noise etc.

I'm happy to report that they are indeed solidly built. I had no hesitation in replacing my car with another (the one I have now). 😃

[steve2006]

So good to hear you are all recovering well with no life changing injuries, at the end of the day a car is just a lump of shaped metal with a modern design to keep you that way.

A car doesn’t have to recover just replaced.

[Mr Vlad]

Ruddy ell. Glad to learn you got yourself and your girls out as best you could. Thanks for sharing what can only be described as a traumatic experience with us. Hope you mend well and soon. Hope your daughters weren't injured. 

As for replacing your car. Yes Insurance won't cover the cost of a replacement But since its the third party's insurance I'd kick off massively for the cost of an equivalent model and same make car. You'll get a good payout for injuries and the inconvenience caused by the dangerous driving of that idiot.

Get well soon Lee and we look forward to seeing you back with another is250 soon. 

[zoricib]

@eleveneleven great to hear you and the girls are safe! I recommend getting a claims management company involved - as they are typically no cost to you and they'll get a better outcome

I haven't personally used one, but my brother did after a small incident in a car park and he got the car back and a good pay-out covering around 80% of the value of the car.

https://www.autoclaimsassist.co.uk/ this company came up as the first results from a quick google search as an example. 

 

 

[Vintagesixtysix]

Wow….

You're all blessed.

[normski2]

Gosh, that puts a lot of things in perspective.

Extremely glad to hear you are all OK, so to speak. That will take some time to come to terms with for all of you. 

I hope you can find another 250 that you like. They are exceedingly good motors IMHO.

Wishing you all the best and a speedy recovery.

[scudney]

Lee,glad to hear and know that you and the girls are okay and hopefully on the way to a full discovery from what can only be described as a frightening experience. In the meantime good luck and all the best in your search for a replacement car 😊👍

[Mincey]

Thank goodness you're all ok. Shiny metal boxes can be replaced but flesh and bones are precious. I hope you're all soon back to full health again. Yes it's a shame that your IS paid the ultimate price but it did its job and let you all live to see another day. All the best with finding a replacement - keep us posted. 

[Gary H]

I can only echo others here and sincerely wish you and your girls a speedy recovery. What a horrible, traumatic experience for you all. I can truthfully say a car fire is probably one of my own ‘nightmare scenarios’.

Indeed. The most important thing is that you're all okay. None of you can be replaced. A tin box, as much as it was loved as we all love our cars here, can. 

Wishing you all the very best of luck when it comes to dealing with the insurance company. That's certainly something you don't need at the moment whilst recovering. 

[LenT]

22 hours ago, Mr Vlad said:

As for replacing your car. Yes Insurance won't cover the cost of a replacement But since its the third party's insurance I'd kick off massively for the cost of an equivalent model and same make car. You'll get a good payout for injuries and the inconvenience caused by the dangerous driving of that idiot.

Vladimir makes a very important point here, Lee.

Having celebrated the survival of the three of you, the hard-nosed reality of pursuing a full claim for compensation is the next priority.  Despite the presence of mind you displayed in saving your daughters, I doubt you were able to search for witnesses.

So you now rely on the Police to assemble a case against the other driver and it’s their Insurers from whom your Insurers - or Claims Company - will take action.  If you’ve had previous claims you’ll no doubt be well aware of the process - and it does presume that the other driver was insured in the first place!

Which brings me to my own particular hobby horse - did you have a dashcam recording the event?  You don’t mention it, but in these circumstances retrieving and safeguarding such evidence becomes essential.

At the very least, I hope that your dreadful experience will impress upon every driver here the importance of fitting a simple dashcam as their own independent witness.

[DBIZO]

5 hours ago, LenT said:

Vladimir makes a very important point here, Lee.

Having celebrated the survival of the three of you, the hard-nosed reality of pursuing a full claim for compensation is the next priority.  Despite the presence of mind you displayed in saving your daughters, I doubt you were able to search for witnesses.

So you now rely on the Police to assemble a case against the other driver and it’s their Insurers from whom your Insurers - or Claims Company - will take action.  If you’ve had previous claims you’ll no doubt be well aware of the process - and it does presume that the other driver was insured in the first place!

Which brings me to my own particular hobby horse - did you have a dashcam recording the event?  You don’t mention it, but in these circumstances retrieving and safeguarding such evidence becomes essential.

At the very least, I hope that your dreadful experience will impress upon every driver here the importance of fitting a simple dashcam as their own independent witness.

I don't argue against dashcams, but keep wondering what the chances are you can gather evidence in a catastrophic accident like that? Are there dashcams that save frames of videos online whenever there is sufficient mobile coverage?

[Vintagesixtysix]

Indeed there is….

live streaming through cloud etc.

We have an RS6 in the family and I believe it’s a blackvue in there.

I was a bit on the fence myself with dash cams. Then I was given one for Christmas and fitted it myself.

I’ve since then relied on it twice.

Once in a crash for cash situation and the second where the other driver made a poor decision about getting past some parked cars, and expecting me to mount a pavement at 30 miles an hour with pedestrians on it, just so he could get past! Surprise surprise, he turned out to be a particularly obnoxious character, so I may have failed to point out to him that I had dash cam at the scene and awaited his version of events through his insurance company.

Lo and behold it was all my fault for driving erratically and cutting him off!

I then remembered 😉 that I hadn’t uploaded my dash cam to my insurer and went on to prove what an absolute bull****** he was.

So I’m an advocate now.

[eleveneleven]

10 hours ago, LenT said:

Vladimir makes a very important point here, Lee.

Having celebrated the survival of the three of you, the hard-nosed reality of pursuing a full claim for compensation is the next priority.  Despite the presence of mind you displayed in saving your daughters, I doubt you were able to search for witnesses.

So you now rely on the Police to assemble a case against the other driver and it’s their Insurers from whom your Insurers - or Claims Company - will take action.  If you’ve had previous claims you’ll no doubt be well aware of the process - and it does presume that the other driver was insured in the first place!

Which brings me to my own particular hobby horse - did you have a dashcam recording the event?  You don’t mention it, but in these circumstances retrieving and safeguarding such evidence becomes essential.

At the very least, I hope that your dreadful experience will impress upon every driver here the importance of fitting a simple dashcam as their own independent witness.

Thanks everyone for the kind messages I really appreciate it. 

Turns out my in laws are very close friends with the director of a group of solicitors who specialise in claims, injuries etc he's taken this quite personally. Sounds like it'll be a very long process but I'm in good hands when it comes to that side of things. 

With the dashcam I didn't have one unfortunately I really wish that I did now and it's definitely something i'll be looking at installing on the next car. as I said the Police are being very cagey with the details at the moment and I was in no shape to gather witnesses. Would have been beneficial to have that video evidence but I'm confident the evidence the Police gather (if they do their job correctly) will paint an accurate picture. 

Along with a dashcam Id like to stress the importance of Child seats too. The injuries my girls received were bad but the injuries they would have sustained if not in them or not fitted correctly doesn't even bear thinking about...

My oldest is 7 and she's been asking me for a while if she can use a booster seat and ride up front instead because all her friends do. I'm so glad I never gave in! I see it often when I'm out n about or on the school run, a lot of parents just don't take it seriously enough. I'm not judging, as I didn't quite fully understand how important they were either, but they are and I hope my experience can serve as a warning to anyone who doesn't feel they need to use them or use them intermittently to think twice about it. 

 

[Mr Vlad]

Absolutely Lee. Child seats are there for a purpose and should be used without question. Sorry to learn your girls got injured but thanks to your due parental diligence they are well and not seriously hurt.

Great to know you will be taking care of by your in-laws close professional friends. 

[MartinH]

How good to hear you and your nearest survived such a nasty crash! Hell is other people... Your experience recalls a story related to 'Honest John' by one of the first owners to total an IS250 in a RTA. They stepped out uninjured, prompting HJ to remark that it seemed an extraordinarily strong car.

[Vintagesixtysix]

17 hours ago, eleveneleven said:

Thanks everyone for the kind messages I really appreciate it. 

Turns out my in laws are very close friends with the director of a group of solicitors who specialise in claims, injuries etc he's taken this quite personally. Sounds like it'll be a very long process but I'm in good hands when it comes to that side of things. 

With the Dashcam I didn't have one unfortunately I really wish that I did now and it's definitely something i'll be looking at installing on the next car. as I said the Police are being very cagey with the details at the moment and I was in no shape to gather witnesses. Would have been beneficial to have that video evidence but I'm confident the evidence the Police gather (if they do their job correctly) will paint an accurate picture. 

Along with a Dashcam Id like to stress the importance of Child seats too. The injuries my girls received were bad but the injuries they would have sustained if not in them or not fitted correctly doesn't even bear thinking about...

My oldest is 7 and she's been asking me for a while if she can use a booster seat and ride up front instead because all her friends do. I'm so glad I never gave in! I see it often when I'm out n about or on the school run, a lot of parents just don't take it seriously enough. I'm not judging, as I didn't quite fully understand how important they were either, but they are and I hope my experience can serve as a warning to anyone who doesn't feel they need to use them or use them intermittently to think twice about it. 

 

Another good point…..

££££ fine and points for using a mobile …… due to the propensity to endanger life.

£100 fine for failing to secure flesh and blood in appropriate child car seat.

wrong in my opinion.

 

[LenT]

22 hours ago, eleveneleven said:

Along with a Dashcam Id like to stress the importance of Child seats too. The injuries my girls received were bad but the injuries they would have sustained if not in them or not fitted correctly doesn't even bear thinking about..

If there’s one positive aspect to this dreadful experience, Lee, it’ll be that you’ll become the most effective advocate of these products they could possibly have.

It’s a sad fact that products that make cars go faster outsell those that make them safer.  But it’s experiences such as yours that make the most impact on the average motorist.

I don’t mean this to sound over dramatic, but in the contribution it may have on the attitude of other drivers, I feel your post may be the most important one to appear on this site this year.