wharfhouse

Another article in the press starting to shine some light on the 2030 ban on ICE: https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2023/01/26/great-electric-car-con/

Flatbed to the nearest charger / home or I heard something about new vans havlng emergency recharge units that can add enough miles to a BEV battery to get the car to charger.

Must say I'm surprised about the lack of courtesy car given that it was such a recent new car purchase.

Been going there myself for petrol - I think they will need to re-think the entrance into the car park as the fuel station queue stops anyone else getting in who isn't getting fuel...

On the other hand I must say I've never had a problem with Jemca Reading to date - bought a 2 year old IS 300h from them in 2016 and had it serviced and MoT'd there (and all tyres bought there too) putting on some 90k miles in that time. They have dealt efficiently with a couple of extended warranty claims, not charged me for a couple of investigations and given good advice where they could easily have charged me for work. I've always had a courtesy car for servicing and some extented warranty work (they do need a few weeks notice though) and they waived the £15 insurance excess cover when it was extended warranty work (I pay it for the servicing though). After a few years of owning my car we then went over the car park to Jemca Toyota and my wife bought a new Yaris from them and we have again had a good experience there too. I appreciate everyone has personal issues and experiences that change perceptions however. I went through numerous BMW dealerships at one time until I found a good one. And done the same with Ford for a previous car my wife had. I hope Lexus Reading get to the bottom of the damp interior for the OP.

Have you tried cleaning all the door rubbers and applying Gummi Pflege (look it up on Google if you haven't heard of it) to them all. It makes a world of difference eliminating many noises that manifest like creaks and rattles. I could have sworn one I had was the top mounting of the seat belt rattling when it was the door rubbers that were causing the noise. I find I need to apply it a few times a year for best effect but a bottle goes a long way.

I've been through lots of insurance companies as each year I do a search using a comparison site against the renewals myself and my wife have been given. This often throws up cheaper quotes and so I switch. The insurance companies have no concept of loyalty so I have no qualms switching as needed. For the last two years Tesco insurance has been the cheapest for my wife's car (Toyota Yaris) and last year it was for my IS 300h too so we are both insured with Tesco at the moment.

Brilliant vlog. Only a few days old so bang up to date. Really highlights the totally shambolic infrastructure and why EV ownership for the masses who can't charge at home or need to do long journeys is just not workable. Of course, this is where Tesla owners have some advantage with their dedicated network (though that is starting to get overloaded with waiting cars at peak times) and I read that Mercedes is looking to roll out it's own dedicated network too. What a crazy situation when one has to choose an EV car based on the infrastructure to have any chance of reliable charging away from home... The issue with many of the EV charging points (as highlighted in the vlog) is they are unmanned and only one or a handful of charging points - if you think of a fuel station there is usually someone there who will sort out getting a pump fixed if it fails - and there are plenty of pumps should one be out of order anyway (and it's quick to refuel).

You are entitled to get the car back in the same condition as it was before the accident. I think insurance companies do have some T&Cs saying they can use equivalent parts, but swapping a chrome for a black trim can't be said to fall within that. Maybe get them to order the part and take it back to be fitted when they get it in?

All the car manufacturers seem to saying the same thing - just that the governments aren't / don't want to listen...

Sorry - came up in my browser as readable - see my reply above to Vlad for the gist.

Ah sorry about that - I don't subscribe to any either but this came up as readable - strange - the gist was: A mass market in affordable electric cars will not happen soon because of the difficulty of producing them on a commercially viable basis, one of the largest makers of zero-emission vehicles for British drivers has warned. Paul Philpott, UK chief executive of Kia, the fast-growing South Korean car company, said it had no immediate plans for a mass-market electric product.

Another article about mfrs expressing concern they can't make viable cheap EVs... https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/affordable-electric-cars-not-viable-shp5q3p2q

And of course if we are using oil to make all those other products then the by product is the fractions such as petroleum - so it becomes the waste product from the cracking process - hmmm wonder what they will do with it all?

See https://www.lexus.co.uk/owners/servicing-and-maintenance/servicing-mot-hybrid-health-check and just add up how many intermediate and full services you are purchasing based on your mileage in the 3 years and that is what the dealer should be charging. If more, then what are are adding on? The quote you have looks some £400 more that it should be based on two intermediate and one full service.

We are similar - two cars - one for my work / long journeys (IS 300h) and a Toyota Yaris hybrid that my wife mainly uses for short journeys - we could change the Yaris for electric (and charge at home) if the price of EVs drops to similar price as ICE / hybrid but for the foreseeable future would need the IS or similar for my work and long journeys.

Think I'll wait until my next service to raise it in that case unless I get a letter in the meantime.

The media are starting to report the cracks in the EV white wash. https://www.telegraph.co.uk/business/2023/01/18/how-energy-crisis-ran-electric-cars-road/ I find it amusing when the latest moan is it's too expensive to recharge at public EV points and the government should reduce vat on public charging - I'm thinking wait until they transfer the equivalent of fuel duty to them to make the tax take maths work...!

This is the best the government can come up with to try and persuade people to move to EVs... https://www.gov.uk/government/news/new-plan-for-smart-electric-vehicle-ev-charging-could-save-consumers-up-to-1000-a-year And along with BritishVolt going into administration the same day...

Here's another account of the diabolical experience of using an EV for what is a journey which any ICE car would take in it's stride and how it costs more than an ICE to do a type of journey that many of us might do regularly. https://www.walesonline.co.uk/news/motoring/motoring-features/how-easy-charge-electric-car-25989706.amp

Let us know how it goes...

Mine is listed for a recall but but not had anything yet from Lexus to book it in.

That's why the government are pushing so hard on 2030 - there won't be time for people to realise what is happening and that after 2030 the taxes will then just keep going up on EVs as high as ICE - they will have been hoodwinked into accepting EV and there won't be any ICE cars to go back to at that point!

I came back from Wales to Berkshire between Christmas and New Year and at one of the service areas on the M4 there was only I think 4 electric charging points and cars queuing to use them. We went into the services, got a snack, ate the snack, took the dog for a short walk and when we finally got back in the car to go again there was the same person just plugging in who was at the head of the queue when we arrived - and so after we were all done and dusted and on our way they still had to then wait for their car to add some charge - perhaps another 30 minutes minimum - maybe an hour? And there were still others queuing for the chargers - who of course can't leave their cars while waiting as they would lose their place in the queue...!

The issue is that no UK government will install charging points or improve the infrastructure - they are relying on the private sector to do that. They may bring in some laws to make using the infrastructure easier - I believe they have said that all charging points have to accept contactless payment cards without relying on an app though when/if that has actually happened I have no idea. At the end of the day the infrastructure will only improve dramatically if private companies think they can turn a profit on it.