Been an expensive 7 months

[65mike]

Hi all.

Well as the heading says been an expensive 7 months this year what with taking out a tyre in a pot hole and the 60,000 mile service.

And just had to get 2 new front tyres and to get through the MOT I needed to replace the rear shocks.

Got a pair off KYB shocks very good price also to be safe got new bolts from Lexus parts direct fitted by a local garage came to just under £624.00 including MOT.

Well pleased Lexus wanted over £600.00 for one shock absorber.

Now needs a good clean before it pours with rain.☺️

65Mike.

[Linas.P]

I think it is important to look at it in relative terms, all cars needs tyres as this is just consumable like petrol, so it is neither here nor there. All cars needs to be serviced and when they get to 60k miles it is a major one. Rear shocks needing replacement at 60k - that is kind of unfortunate, but if related to pot-hole then again just the part of car ownership (theoretically road owner has to pay for damages caused, so that is usually council, but I don't know the circumstances). 

What I am getting to - in the ownership of Lexus that is only last 7 months that are expensive, if you owned another make it is very likely all the months and all the years of ownership would be continuously like that. When I sold my IS250 I did total ownership cost summary and all I needed to do with the car and it was one of the cheapest long term cars I owned ever. I remember putting £600 "maintenance pot" a year in my financial estimations, but I think average worked out at just £400 over 6 years and 80k miles. 

[Steven Lockey]

£600 for 1 shock? That can't be right. 
I paid £2k for all 4 including fitting, direct from Lexus, and mine is a GS540h which uses the more expensive shocks I believe.

Unless Lexus have bumped the price of the shocks up 50% in the last year.

[Mr Vlad]

Genuine Lexus rear shox are just over £600 a pair. I had mine done last year.

Yes car ownership can be expensive. Fortunately Lexus ownership is at the end of the day cheaper than the German opposition. 

[65mike]

Hi all.

For what I have had done to the car this year I cannot complain it needed the 60,000 mile service it had just a oil change last year and just doing the basic Lexus services since I had it so am happy with what I got tyres as you say Linas tyres wear out same as the shocks lasted 14 years no problem with that.🙂

Incompetent councils not looking after roads is not good no chance in claiming pouring with rain and a hole full of water and did not see it so tyre went wheel was ok thankfully.🫢

Vladimir lexus did quote me on 2 occasions over £600 per shock lexus parts direct want £242.03 per shock and they would charge at least 1hr 30min per side lets say £100 per hour I have no idea what they charge for labour.

Looking at minimum £300.00 labour plus parts x 2 shocks at £242.03 each looking at minimum off £784.06.

So if you got them all for just over £600 you had a bargain.

65mike.

[Linas.P]

18 hours ago, 65mike said:

no chance in claiming pouring with rain and a hole full of water

That actually makes your case stronger i.e. you could not see it, because it was full of water.

The council has 1 single defence - that is "there were signs on the roads advising of potholes". This is how it should be marked:

If sign was there then anything goes and councils are known to abuse these signs e.g. instead of fixing the roads they just put the signs to shield themselves from liability. Whereas intention of the sign is just to be placed there "temporary" until repairs are done and this should be reasonable amount like couple of weeks, but some of these signs are known to be placed for many years. Now the cases are known to succeed, where owners managed to prove council used the signs like that for years without actually fixing any pot holes or having any contracts in place, but that is very vey complicated, often requires FOI request etc.

BUT... If such sign is not present, they have to pay. Now sure - process is not straight forward, you need to stop and measure the pothole (ideally right away), approximately over 20mm depth and over 100mm in circumference is what counts (although that is just general guidance, particularly sharp edges, or very deep but small hole can as well cause damage), you have to report it to council, then you have to get your car inspected by authorised shop, get estimate etc... In other countries insurance helps with all that, in fact I used to do that regularly abroad - car gets damaged by pot hole, I get claim on insurance as non-fault and if all the details provided insurance will recover damages (so it does not affect the cover at all), but in UK I would be inclined NOT to report it to insurance (at all), because in UK they will class it as accident, hike your premium, but will NOT help you at all (apart of maybe being a witness and providing inspection), but they will not pursue the costs for you like in other countries. So you may have to hire the claims management company (they take 20-25% of the claim) or get your own lawyer, or do it yourself, but that is rather painful ~6 months process. Last thing - if after reporting everything and getting estimate for repairs they still not paying up, then small claims court route should be used. In my experience they pay right away before it gets to the hearing. So they do pay-up in almost all cases, but it is not easy to get to that point and not many people actually claim.

The best claims are usually when pot hole caused break-down, so basically punctured tyre or bent wheel... as that is obvious, easy, if you have roadside assistance they get called, you can use them as witness and that makes for strong case. Suspension components are harder, but if you documented it well it is as well possible to claim. And who doesn't like free shocks on councils account?!

https://www.gov.uk/claim-for-damage-to-your-vehicle