LenT

It’s a bit suspicious if the reference label is missing. Maybe the car was repaired around the door frames - or casually resprayed? To help identify it, the colour reference starts with the letters C/TR followed by the colour code.

Today, I gave the alloys a special treat - I renewed the Alloygator rim protectors. Well, after four years they were looking a bit scuffed! Which is rather the point of them! Of course, some folk reckon it’s cheaper not to hit a kerb in the first place. Which is reasonable if you can see the kerb - which you can’t if it’s a snow-covered narrow country lane. Or, worse still, a water-filled pothole. Our local ChipsAway guy does an excellent alloy wheel repair job. But at £60 a wheel it makes £160 for a set of Alloygators - spread over four years - one of my better accessory choices!

Good advice, Linus. Personally, I think these could be the single most effective way of improving driving behaviour. As you rightly suggest, if drivers are aware that the chances that their deliberately bad behaviour is increasingly likely to be recorded by the vehicles around them, it is also increasingly likely that it will deter all but the most determinedly stupid. And greatly improve even their chances of being caught. I’m sure that Lexus is not alone in offering dashcams as an accessory. It’s a relatively trivial cost when lost in the purchase price.

Irritating though this encounter may have been, Steve, I think you’ve just presented an excellent case for the fitting of a dashcam. At the very most, the Police might have interviewed the other driver and possibly issued a Police Caution. But in the absence of independent evidence of this incident, a Prosecution would most likely fail. As such, it would indeed be deemed as not being in the public interest. I have personal experience of this in that I did have occasion to report an incidence of potentially dangerous driving and was able to supply corroborating video evidence. A PC took the trouble to pay three visits to the driver’s address before finding him in and then presented him with the evidence, before issuing a Police Caution. I was then contacted to see if I was satisfied with that outcome - or did I wish to persue it further. As it happens, I thought the other driver seemed sufficiently contrite and might be more considerate in future. Or at least aware that their actions could be being recorded! So that ended the matter. There is a facility for supplying video clips to Police Authorities to support prosecutions and I think they welcome valid contributions. After all, they can be a very easy way to improve their conviction figures!

If these are the original TPMS valves, then I would suspect that one or more of the batteries has failed. Depending on mileage, they are. considered to have about a ten year life. If you take the car to a good tyre retailer, they should be able to check the state of the valves. When I had to have one replaced, it was £65 fitted - which was better than a Lexus dealer. If the tyres need replacing then that would be a good time to do it, as the tyre has to be removed anyway. And you can always negotiate a deal. Of course you could just ignore it - some owners find a small piece of black tape over the flashing light solves the problem! But the TPMS system is a safety aid and early warning system. For your own safety - let alone that of others - it should be working.

This is surely the point! Like most car makers running a production line, it is set up to cater for the most popular colours and combinations. If you choose an option outside of that, then it requires a modification to that process that takes it out of the standard setup and therefor incurs additional time and labour. There’s also the consideration that some special finishes may require additional treatments.

It’s not a programme that I regularly watch as I’m not in the market for a new car. But I might catch it on Catch-Up now you’ve been good enough to highlight it. Certainly, dismissing a four year older model on the basis that it’s not as modern does seem a bit perverse! It obviously didn’t come from Lexus PR, and possibly not even a Dealer, as both would have undoubtedly prepared it better. So it may well have been borrowed from a private owner. I would expect that anyone contemplating buying any of these four would conduct their own test drives anyway. Personally, I only ever regard car testers as offering a guide to what’s currently available. Their comments are usually far removed from the real-life concerns of drivers spending their own money!

That’s the deal we have for MrsT’s car - which does a ridiculously low annual mileage anyway. Very happy with Saga. In fact, we recently added her Brother temporarily to the Policy so that he could drive it while searching for a replacement car. Curiously, that additional driver resulted in Saga refunding £55! I’ve no idea why - but it seemed churlish to have an argument over it.

I commuted from north London in to Central London every working week day for 25 years - and occasionally on weekends - by London Underground. It was my experience that it could be all these things - and many more - in the course of one day!

As it happens, Linus, my Power Magic Pro does monitor the battery state and will switch off the dashcam if the voltage drops below a preset level. In fact the camera drain In standby is very low. You can also get an independent battery that will takeover powering the camera when the ignition is off. But I agree with you that a dashcam is always better when it’s on!

Just wondering why you want to disable the dashcam when the ignition is off? Do you think your Lexus is not going to be hit or scratched when it’s parked while you’re out shopping or having a meal? Or left outside your home! If anything, cars are more vulnerable when they’re unattended. You can get power supply units that will keep the dashcam in standby mode when the ignition is off. For example, my BlackVue has a unit called a Power Magic Pro. I’m sure that Nextbase will have a similar system.

When I had to have a TPMS valve replaced (it had been sheared off by a helpful stranger trying to release a seized dust cap!) a large nearby tyre retailer fitted a replacement for about £65. I would be inclined to investigate them first - and possibly negotiate a deal on a set of four. It may even be that they can detect the battery levels prior to removal.

Correct. But a couple of points to bear in mind. The tyre pressures should first be reset to the correct levels for the front and rear axles - and this should always be done with the tyres cold. If Nat.Tyres don’t know what the pressures should be, there’s a label fixed to one of the front door surrounds with the details.

I wonder if this has anything to do with the demographics of the two brands? Perhaps Toyota buyers tend to be younger than Lexus buyers? With maturity comes not just more knowledge but perhaps a preference for conciliation and cooperation rather than confrontation. Apart from the odd curmudgeon, of course!

I think you’ve identified the problem here, John. A salesperson is hardly likely to introduce a negative note when selling the car - even presuming that it’s something they’re aware of themselves. And most buyers might well presume that everything on a new car is simply going to …well, work! The pity is that the RAC engineer(s) didn’t spot the connection between flat battery and extremely low mileage. After all, they do sell their own brand of trickle charger! At least this article may have raised awareness about the potential problem. And even educated the odd Dealer!

These are certainly the reasons put forward to justify their provision as a substitute for a full-size wheel. My IS250 came with one to replace the 18 inch wheels and I have had one occasion to use it. But its use comes with disadvantages. The main ones being that it is speed limited and designed strictly for emergency use. In my case, the car comes with different size tyres fore and aft, so the SS is also very much a compromise - but preferable to the injectable alternative. I haven’t compared the weight of the SS and full size wheel, but I would question whether any marginal fuel saving would actually compensate for the initial purchase cost anyway. Currently, Rowley, should you be unfortunate enough to suffer a puncture, you can fit your existing spare and forget it! I would have thought that was a benefit in itself!

Exactly right, Paul. There’s no need for either party to fall out, but the damage is entirely his neighbour’s responsibility. They can either deal with the repair under their own Policy, or do as you did and source a local and acceptable Repairer to do the work privately.

Well that does put a different spin on it! You were right to inform your Insurers about the damage, but clearly there’s no possibility of a ‘knock for knock’ situation as your neighbour is totally responsible for the damage. The fact that you are both with the same Insurer should make a resolution easier. It’s not an uncommon situation. If you call about the damage on Monday, I would suggest that you make it very clear that this is a claim against your neighbour’s Policy! Looking at the damage - and reflecting on how a claim might affect my own Insurance - were I your neighbour I would have considered getting an estimate for you and settling it privately.

I think Michael makes some very good points here. Presuming there’s no structural damage behind the impact area, then it doesn’t appear to be anything a competent panel beater couldn’t tackle. And neither does it look like it would justify writing off. If it was your ‘pride and joy’ before the impact, I would be inclined to insist that it was repaired - if necessary sourcing your own local company and getting estimates. Incidentally, this will be your neighbour’s Insurers I take it. After all, it’s his/her Insurers against whom you are claiming, is it not? Reversing into a parked car makes this their problem - not yours! If this is indeed the case - and the incident is as you describe- then it is surely better for them to arrange a repair themselves then claim against their insurance. Or have I completely misunderstood who was responsible for the damage to your car?

As has been touched on earlier, it seems that the ideal charging capacity for EVs is to maintain between 80%-20%. And a driving pattern that means the useful range can be available without daily charging. This updated article (December 2022) appears to tackle many of the concerns people have about EVs and battery life. Having no great personal interest in EVs I can’t vouch for its reliability, but it may interest those who do! https://blog.evbox.com/uk-en/ev-battery-longevity

I notice that this Company claims to effect a repair on ‘shadow effect’ alloys. They’re a mobile service based in Lincoln - apart from that, I know nothing else about them! They’re not Chips Away, whom I have used very successfully, but whose competence does depend on individual expertise. You may have already considered them, but if not then I hope they can help you. https://revive-uk.com/territory/lincoln/alloy-wheel-repair/?gclid=EAIaIQobChMInaOojvmF_QIVCevtCh0GMgGbEAAYASAAEgItwPD_BwE

Spot on, John. Very worrying that a Lexus mechanic would make such a basic error. In terms of tyre life, (excluding tyre tread wear through use) it seems to be regarded as being around ten years - although constant exposure to significant UV light will reduce that. Should Peter wish to check the age of his tyres, he should look for a four digit number on the sidewall. The first two indicate the week and the last two the year of manufacture.

Well that’s certainly interesting. It appears that for £283 less I got two extra MoTs. Of course, this raises the possibility that service costs for your newer ES300 are greater than for my older IS250. But I would also agree with the point that Neil makes. All estimates and quotes are only valid for a specified period. I can’t really see that complaining to the Dealer that it has increased seven months later is going to be received that sympathetically. Perhaps a more regretful and conciliatory approach might at least obtain a useful reduction - especially if you mention that you would have hoped to keep the regular, future servicing business with them.

I may have missed something here, Tony, but you say you’ve got nowhere with the Dealer but you haven’t supplied a detailed breakdown of the 3-year Plan that supports the total of £1620. My Plan, which I described in an earlier post, comes to £283 less - which I believe to be perfectly reasonable and offers benefits beyond that of the cost outlay. So I’d be interested to know in what respects our two Plans differ in detail.

It’s probably no consolation, but at least your experience should serve to encourage others! As it happens, Lexus does offer its own unit which is based on the NextBase camera. The advantage is that it is neatly styled; the disadvantage is that Lexus dealers often charge rather a lot to install it. An alternative is to get your own unit - such as one from the excellent BlackVue range - and find a competent local auto-electrician to install it. Fitted in conjunction with their Power Magic Pro, it will enable the camera to operate in standby mode when the ignition is off ie when the car is parked. This article by Lexus gives you more information on their offering: https://mag.lexus.co.uk/dash-cams-should-i-buy-one/