wivenhoe

John. I’m 68 ! It’s as if the insurance companies have all got together and decided new business will be scared away - the government stopped them from offering ‘introductory rates’ so it seems they don’t want new business.

Going to have to find work ! I switched from a Range Rover due to the ramping up of insurance and after Saga went to Tesco - £ 2,500 ! I am fearful that this will get worse before it gets better - loading EV’s and now Lexus because of the RX theft rate. I also went to Direct Line and couldn’t get past the first page so it looks like they no longer insure RZ’s - I could get past that page putting in the Rnge Rover which says a lot. If this keeps up, the manufacturers will have to do something about their car insurance costs as few will be buying cars at these rates - I dread to think what it would cost with only a couple of years NC and maybe a few points

Just done a quote on Saga - sole driver, social domestic only, 25 years no claims, no claims convictions etc, not London, over 65 - £ 1,900 !

Thanks for the info. I’m with NFU who say they are a ‘mutual so no profits for shareholders. No point calling now as my renewal isn’t for 4 months. thanks afain

A Gold Card holder flying business & first to and from Dubai with Emirates. Also flying with Etihad to and from Abu Dhabi, Qatar Airways to and from Doha. Other Emirates destinations - Joburg, Mauritius, Singapore ……

My insurance doesn’t renew until Nov but reading all the horror tales about massive increases, out of interest, I got an online quote from Lexus. £ 1,150 just for the RZ for only me to drive Social Domestic & Pleasure only. I changed the RZ for the RR Velar for the remaining 7 months and I received £ 7 back - I pay annually. The policy with NFU was £ 590 for the Velar & wife’s Jazz, both driving the two cars and business use. Are Lexus normally so uncompetitive or am I in for a real shock come Nov ? Has anybody got a recent quote on a RZ and what does it compare with the existing car

And pay them a lot less than Westerners - there is a reason you don’t see many Brit stewards and stewardesses on those 2 Airlines !

I switched to Lexus as it was going to cost a fortune to insure my 2 year old Range Rover Velar. I am with NFU and that refuse to cover any RR younger than 5 years old. As I was an existing client they would renew but couldn’t give me an estimated cost at my renewal this Nov. They did say it would be four figure from £ 500. Insurance has shot up due to not least to repair costs / lack of spares. It’s the lack of spares which is the reason a lot of prestige cars are being stolen to be broken down for spares in other markets. Also, as used cars cost so much more now, then claims for write offs are so much higher. Before, when you insured a car it dropped in replacement cost month on month and year on year so the risk for the insurers diminished now the risk remains the same and inflation isn’t outweighed my a drop in value. Just px’d the wife’s car and it had only lost £ 1,500 over 2 years

Will be interesting to see if they match it - also if the part x offers are holding up.

Lexus may have banned dealers from selling on CarWow - they are getting tough with dealers. Last month they withdrew the franchise from Marshall group - the guys that bought Marshall’s particularly for the Lexus franchises are not best pleased.

I saw a TV programme where they took a Kia EV6 GT to Norway to test the charging availability and reliability. All of their EV charging power comes from hydro so true zero emissions environment. They drove the full length of Norway and couldn’t fault the infrastructure in any way and the scenery was spectacular.

I am with NFU and the renewal went down slightly last Nov. Initially they look expensive but their standard cover is excellent so the add ons are minimal. If you are insuring a new car then they provide a new car for 2 years if stolen or written off - some people pay a lot for additional gap insurance. When I need to, I get through quickly and always speak to a knowledgable person in the UK. If you have a claim you can deal with a local office and meet with an individual - how novel is that ! It always makes me smile when they show their heritage by asking if you’ll be carrying shotgun cartridges in the car and if so, how many. They are choosy in the cars they insure. Recently I swapped my 2 year Range Rover Velar for an RZ (policy was a bit less) and they said they would have renewed the RR but at a massive increase because of the theft rate. For new client that won’t insure any Range Rovers younger than 5 years and I believe they are wary of RX’s too.

Mine showed 240 on collection then very quickly after I drove went to 220 & 185. Always starts at 220 now - a lot of duel carriageway 70mph

In an earlier post it was queried why the car was left nearby - I have been told they do this to see if a tracker has been fitted. If it’s still there a day later they know it’s ‘safe’ to have it. Made me think, I wonder how many cars ‘parked’ by thieves have been stolen by another gang ?

We keep the keys in a small biscuit tin well away from the car. I have a tracker but that isn’t a deterrent- it just tells you where the scrouts are.

My thoughts too. After 7 years how will the 2nd / 3rd / 4th owner know. Looking at the research to date, cars like the Leaf have been around for 13 years and their degradation has been minimal - mind you for most of that time they weren’t using DC high speed chargers. After having a new Range Rover Velar and being on the owners forum, if the only problem was a bit of battery degradation in 7 years time that would be a dream. Engines having to be replaced at 5 years old seems to be the norm. I can’t find out if the RZ has cells that can be replaced - I think that some manufacturers use a cellular arrangement and that is why they warrant say 70% because they will only change defective cells rather than the whole battery which would take it back to 100%.

As it’s on the official Lexus website then they would struggle to deny its applicability. Not that I intend to keep the car 10 years !

Colin. The latest RZ Lexus site now confirms the battery is guaranteed 90% at 10 years. They originally guaranteed the same but as you said then changed and now changed back ! https://www.lexus.co.uk/new-cars/rz#power-range-calculator/id:64abf464df19832391a26d20/lexus-steps-up-its-p/

We just px’d the wife’s Honda against a new Toyota. As part of the deal when we bought the Honda 2 years ago we got 5 years free servicing and warranty. As you say, the remaining 3 years go with the car - I asked how the new owner would know and was told that when they booked a service they would be told then - I’m not sure that would happen !

DriveTheDeal - They are my first stop to see which manufacturers are offering deals. You deal direct with the dealer so the cars are real ! DtD only get an introduction fee from the dealer. At the moment the only ‘prestige marque’ they have is Audi but it regularly changes. Sites like this and CarWow will be struggling soon as so many companies are switching to Agency sales so no discounts. Merc switched months ago, volumes have gone down but profits up as they are selling fewer cars but at the full retail price. I have bought 4 Merc’s previously and used DtD prices to the same discount locally - I spoke to the salesman I bought all these from and he said not a penny off and few options, just expensive packs designed that you have to buy say 3 of them to get the options most people want. There are some discounts on Merc’s but these seem to be ex demos.

The EV market is changing - particularly after Tesla dropped its prices by £ 10k+.

John. Losing confidence in Lexus. They told me that the error message you get when checking to see if there is a map update “There is a problem contact your dealer” is wrong. You need to insert a USB with an update on it - so manual is also wrong about OTA nap updates. But anyway, the Autumn 2022 (9 months ago) is the latest so probably 1 update per year. I said that was very poor as the speed camera data would be well out of date. Shrugged shoulders. They tried to convince me that the a/c always being on was normal - I explained that was wrong not least as yours works as normal. I talked to the technician and he will look into it.

John. Thanks for trying. I tried mine again and no matter which settings are used / turned off, I cannot get anything other than chilled air out. If I turn auto and a/c off then turn the fan to say 3, chilled air comes out and the range reduces by 40 miles. I’ll let you know how I get on - I suspect I’ll be told the future update will resolve it but the good news is they have updated the map !

John. Have you noticed that you can’t have just the fan on - it always blows cold with the a/c on. There is an option to have the a/c come on with the Auto, but no matter what the setting, the fan always switches on the a/c ? My dealer is looking in to it Found a decent thing today. I miss the satellite view in the Sat Nav. In the Range Rover it was a built in option. Only problem was, it used a lot of data and about half way through a month it used look like a patchwork quilt as the monthly allowance had been exceeded. If you used CarPlay and Google Maps you lost the directions in the HUD. I found today, you can put a destination in the Sat Nav and then go into CarPlay Google Maps in satellite and the resolution is superb. You still get the directions in the HUD and voice from the Lexus Sat Nav as well as speed camera warnings. It’s a shame they don’t offer the satellite view, probably for the same reasons as the RR ran out of data allowance each month. I’m not concerned over the data usage on my phone as it’s a 5g with 80gb / month !

It was the nasal Aussie accent talking about USA prices that threw you !