STE041

I had a 4 series BMW as a courtesy car - wend over a speed hump and the centre bottom dash fell into the passenger footwell Ive also had an Audi A6 as a loaner - it had 10k miles on it and rattled like a babies toy. Years ago I had a Merc - needed 4 coil packs, nearly £3k I wouldn’t touch German brands since having had a Lexus IS, 2 x ES and now on and NX350h

Not sure if I had mine yet although it seemed odd that I was logged out of the app the other day for no reason?

It’s that time of year again - Insurance renewal I’ve had good bad and indifferent over the years on various cars with the worst being Churchill, they may be the cheapest as that is because they take months to process a no fault claim, and even when they pay out compensation (I received a £250 cheque) they cancel the cheque. Has anyone got any recommendations for insuring the NX350h Takumi? My renewal is due at the end of this month.

I got the same letter today - haven’t tried any of the remote stuff yet let alone auto parking

Met with a work colleague today - he has the NX450h+ Takumi - biggest visual difference is in the height probably due to the additional weight of the battery amongst other things.

I’ve had my eye on an NX350h since late 2021, but wasn’t far enough into the ES to make any change until recently. 2016 - 2019 I had a Lexus IS300h Advance 2019 - 2021 I had a Lexus ES300h F Sport with Takumi Pack 2021 - 2024 I had a Lexus ES300h F Sport with Takumi Pack Today I took delivery of a Lexus NX 350h Takumi Its safe to stay that pound for pound, I couldn’t find a match in any other brand that delivers reliability against cost

Last quote I got from Lexus Insurance was circa £9k for the year on an ES F Sport covering 15k miles per annum business cover. - I usually pay between £800 - £950 a year

Another one they will ignore

Trustpilot review left today https://uk.trustpilot.com/review/churchill.com should get my ES back from the body shop at the end of this week

I’ve had an IS300h Advance 2016 from new and 2 x ES300h F Sport with Takumi pack - 2019 and my current one being MY21. Having come from company cars I agree with others that when coming from another brand into Lexus for the most part anyone would see an improvement. That said, having als had a fair share of riding around in German Brands, Audis will rattle like a babies toy after 5k miles, BMW is not worth the money, I had a 4 series on a 69 plate a few years back and bits of dash would fall off when on bumpy roads and the ride quality was lousy. Recently having has an E300 Merc convertible and currently driving a CLA Merc - the ride is rubbish, the infotainment is lacking - lots, and the build quality in my opinion is less than that of my current ES. I’m looking forward to my ES coming back into play in the next week or so (new front bumper being fitted following a car park shunt by others). Yes if you compare to the GS450h the ES build loses, and yes if you compare the ES to BMW 5 series on top spec the ES may lose but you need to compare the same grade cars and not compare a mini with a Bentley. For the ES at its price point, there isn’t much better out there. I’m not convinced on the MY22 & 23 as it looks like the dashboard and centre console have been chopped in, but having tried recent other Brands, I can live with plastic door cards and driver / wife separator (transmission tunnel). What I notice in other brands when mine is off the road is the noise, ride quality and road presence are all lacking. The E Class and CLA Merc I’ve had most recently as loaners don’t even have decent sounds, or radar cruise which really when adding to high cabin noise make it not worth considering anything ales at this time for me.

Fair comment, however given I paid a year up front and they don’t have current card details and that they ignore their customers complaints it may take me a couple of months to reply to them. Given their lack of service it doesn’t actually feel as if I’m insured at all. I’d happily go to court for non payment as their is plent to get a case thrown out given their reputation. As they haven’t held up their end on the contract it would be an own goal. I’d rather double insure for the remainder and write off now to Julys renewal. Interestingly, when you log in on Churchill there is nowhere to cancel your policy. They have their customers hook line and sinker.

The saga continues… Start of claim - 4th January 2023 4 calls throughout January to last week, same fob off “we have a back log” 1st complaint offered £75 compensation - I refused and told them said they should pay that to their approver 2nd call resulted in a manager calling me back with a fob off The online complaints get put in a queue also Absolute crap service in the event of a claim no fault or otherwise To top it all after getting approval on the quote, they send you a survey to complete - my feedback is as below: How do you rate Sarah’s Service - 8 How do you rate Churchill - 0 How likelihood woul you recommend Churchill - 0 Churchill are an embarrassment to the insurance industry - it feels like I am not insured. It does not take 6 weeks to approve a no fault claim. I have been fobbed off by call operators, Managers who frankly you should sack, and even when filling in a complaint on your website, that gets put in a queue and has not even had a response. As a customer who pays in advance to receive such shocking service, it is safe to say that I will be recommending to all not to use Churchill, I will not only not be renewing, I will be cancelling before the end of this cover completes. Your social media sites should tell you what your customer base thinks of your service, but by the looks of it Churchill ignore this as well. Overall if there was a minus number on your ratings I would be using that. Sarah gets an 8 as she was the one who put me on hold and within minutes came back and told me the approval had been given for the claim. If I were Sarah, I would find another employer. It is clear that customers premiums are being spent on the nodding dog TV adverts on prime time TV. Avoid at all costs.

So at the turn of the new year (3rd January), I had a neighbour know on my door announcing “I think I’ve damaged your car”. Met with this and the initial FFS, I had a look only to find and Audi trying to park next to mine had mis judged and indeed hit the front bumper. Wanting to settle for cash upto a grand, I got a quote from the local dealer (new bumper, paint sensor washer cover and re calibrate radar) for £2300 which seems about right with the insurance claim being put in rather than settling for cash. I currently insure with Churchill. They are shocking in the event of a claim. I sent the quote to them same day completed the claim which is a no fault claim, and their response is to not approve the quote until after the 5th February as they have a shortage of assessors. I’ve complained and their response is £75 compensation and no advance on approving the claim to get the car fixed. I told them to give their £75 to an assessor and get them to look in their inbox and process the claim. Once the claim is processed I will be cancelling with them as it’s plain to see that everyone’s premiums are funding the nodding dog advert on the TV with no effort to speed up their process. in the mean time their courtesy car plus cover is also as shocking as the only cover the car once in the repair shop. This that have moved on, with the hire car being a Merc E300 hybrid convertible. Face value a nice car at the wrong time of year for a hood down gig; That said, it’s missing the Lexus refinement and doesn’t even have upgraded sounds and Apple car play which for a £45k car is a bit rubbish. Question is, can anyone recommend a decent insurer, in terms of once a claim is made, the process is easy and quick. Not too worried about the price as current insured for business use so used to paying a grand or so a year.

Yes, the rear view mirror vibrates on heavier bass tracks, in slow traffic however at motorway speeds hardly any vibration.

I’m on my 3rd Lexus since 2016, with all deals via a Lexus dealer and using Lexus finance. In the first deal with and IS300h, the delivery was long, I paid a cash deposit and the deal was honoured. In the 2nd trade in deal, going from a 16 plate IS to an ES300h F Sport with Takumi pack, the deal was done, ES ordered, which was then followed by a 9 month wait for delivery. The only thing that changed was the % on the finance and the trade in value of the IS due to mileage difference from the time of the deal to the point of sale. In order to keep the same monthly payment I dropped miles per annum from 20k to 15k. Everything else was honoured. The 3rd deal - my current ES was a weird one as they wanted my 69 plate back before 10k miles and offered my current deal, same car and grade, (moved from a 69 plate to 21 plate when the 21 came out) for a £500 refundable deposit and 2.9%. The car was in stock so I suppose it may have been a cancelled order plus they could sell my 69 plate as nearly new and make their £4K margin. In all the time form 2019 to now, bouncing one lease off of another, the one constant I’ve noticed is that the finance part of the deal is done on top of the delivery date at current rates as it is impossible to tell what the rates will be after waiting the thick end of a year for delivery. Guess I must have been lucky so far. That said, I would love to go for a new NX but don’t like their prices or rates at the moment. Equally the 23 ES facelift looks unfinished where the screen has been shifted forwards and the list price has risen from the MY21 so a new ES won’t be my next Lexus. Current % on PCPs don’t look good compared to the 2.9% I got at the time of my deal so I will be staying with what I have for the foreseeable future.

Volume 40 with an HD Source - you’re not just listening to the sound, you’re feeling it 🙂

I’ve found on my previous IS300h, ES300h and my current ES300h F Sport that Bridgestone tyres are typically noisy more so at speed on concrete motorways. On the IS300h, I got 21000 + miles out of a set of Bridgestones on 17 inch rims, and towards getting them changed they were unbearably load on the M25. I changed to Michelin Cross Climates and there was a vast difference on noise and handling with the cross climates; the IS was on rails! but the CCs do not have a bumper film on the tyre and they’re a softer tyre than the Bridgestones. I have 19 inch FSport wheels on the ES with Bridgestones - the ES is now a year old with 11.5k on the clock on the original tyres. It’s still a quiet ride, as other have said with the sunroof visor back it’s slightly more noisy at 70mph but the tyres wear well and I’m not on concrete motorways so much these days. One of the benefits of having the Takumi pack is the ML Sounds which kills all ambient noise especially on 2 - 4 hour motorway trips. With the volume up at 40 and an HD source, the ambient sound has gone and there is no engine or road noise - Happy days.

They do indeed

Could be worse - count how many Teslas you see on the next trip out - usually I lose interest when you reach double digits before hitting the local motorway. I prefer the exclusivity.

Last week I did around a 400 mile round trip from Berkshire to Plymouth - not one other ES300h seen in the 4 days out and about. Went out today and 3 of us in a row which is a first since having an ES since 2019. Still enjoying the exclusivity and the car still gets a lot of looks.

UK configurator currently gives options only for the ES300h Premium or Takumi grades only. So no F Sport with Takumi pack on offer any more. Can’t even get triple beams as an option on the Premium edition. Maybe the next car might be a new NX, but it will need to have ML sounds. Cars with ML installed are in very short supply at present due to the chip shortage. Current choices suck a bit.

The A pillar clip looks like it isn’t attached to the trim on the second pic. If they left the trim in that state demand a new trim. If this trim is removed, there is a clip at the top and bottom of the pillar with a retaining clip in the middle. I fitted my own Nextbase 522, it looks like the installer either man handled the trim off or got unlucky when removing it. Should be an easy while you wait fix back at the dealer.

I had the same on mine - didn’t need the roof liner completely removed, but they had the car in twice over a couple of days. Loose wiring clip drivers side front roof - clip replaced under warranty.

I’d agree - Graphite Black is a pain to keep clean but looks great when done - I’m on my 2nd ES in Graphite Black 🙂

I’d want to see the replacement colour interior before committing - if it’s anything like the hazel or forest brown (UK colours) I’d go for a black interior - they wear quite well.