Bluemarlin

I've tried spending money with them too, but find the site appalling to navigate.

I dont know about the part you're referring to, but bear in mind you'll probably need to inform your insurer of the modification. Might be worth checking in advance if and how much they'll bump the cost.

I too have the 10 year plus extended warranty, and can confirm that it's a Lexus product, not a dealer specific one. I originally took mine out with Lexus Battersea, but they've since closed, so renewed with Lexus Guildford. Guildford had never heard of it either, so took them a little time to process it, but they renewed it. Cost for the RX 450h is around £560, payable by direct debit in 10 monthly installments, and includes UK and European Lexus Roadside Assistance.

I can't be certain of the Lexus one, but roadside assistance doesn't normally cover accidents. If you have an accident and your car needs to be recovered then that's usually taken care of by your insurance company.

Apologies, I misunderstood. You should be fine for the short duration of the car wash. If you want to play it safe then make sure there's a decent amount of charge in the battery and turn off your a/c. Also remember to turn off your rain sensing wipers and automatic headlights if they're switched to on. Altenatively use a hand car wash place, where you can switch the car off and leave it in park while they wash it.

First thing I'd check if I had multiple warning messages is the state of the 12v battery. A low battery can trigger various error messages. If the 12v battery is good then it's a case of getting the codes read.

I imagine that you'd be fine in neutral for the duration of the car wash. If it does go flat you'd need a jump start, so it's always worth investing in one those portable starter battery packs and keeping it in the car. That said, can't you just turn the car off whilst in the car wash?

In times when the general public are told to tighten their belts, accept higher prices, and run at a loss, I don't think there's any such thing as a reasonable profit. Especially with something like fuel, which not only affects petrol prices, but the price of pretty much everything else in production/delivery/distribution costs. I'm not saying that businesses should run at a loss, but they should share the pain too, and could sustain a period of breaking even in hard times. The government is supposed to represent the interests of the people and, if oil companies can collectively agree to reduce production to maintain prices/profits, then the government should collectively decide the maximum that people should pay, like they do with gas and electricity. Generally I'm happy for businesses to make profits, but in exceptional hard times, then the burden should be more evenly distributed between business and the population.

Personally I got my gearbox oil changed by a Toyota/Lexus specialist, but if i was going to use my local independent I'd probably take my own oil and a print off of the procedure.

If you hit the manual fold button it deactivates the auto fold function, and so you have to press the auto button again to reset the auto fold.

There's definitely a different sticker needed for Germany, as I went there a couple of years ago. I've just done two separate week long trips to France in the last month, including a visit to the centre of Paris. I found it pretty easy and much nicer than driving in London, or on UK motorways. I agree with the above that driving standards seem to be better, and the motorways were comparitively empty.

When coming down mountains in Germany I used the "simulated" manual mode, which allows you to set the maximum gear used, and switch that down as needed. It seemed to work reasonably well. Ordinarily I'd probably have used the brakes but, as there was snow (and possibly ice), I preferred the gears over brakes. As for sitting at a red light, I usually just leave it in drive and keep my foot on the brake. If it's an extended wait, like a level crossing, then I put it in park. I don't think I've ever put the car in neutral. One thing to be aware of if using park is that it will unlock the doors if you've set your doors to lock and unlock that way.

I don't have DAB and my radio reception is terrible, such that I don't bother with it anymore and just listen to the radio via my phone.

I'm pretty sure you'd need to notify them of non standard wheels. As I understand it, anything that's different to how the car left the factory is potentially notifiable, such as non oem wheels, exhausts, shocks, brakes etc. Not sure if and how much they affect the premium though.

Whilst insurance companies are no doubt profiteering, there are a number of factors outside of their control that don't look like changing anytime soon. Firstly, there are still parts shortages post covid, which not only increases the cost of parts, but lengthens the repair time. This in turn lengthens the amount of time a hire car is needed, which adds a signiificant cost to the repair bill. Secondly, used car prices are still very high, which means payouts are much higher for write offs. Some pressure needs to be put on insurance companies to not take advantage, which of course people can do by either switching or pushing for a reduction, but I'm not sure what (if anything) can be done about the other external factors.

I don't know if factory calipers are coated or not, but mine are 13 years old and aren't rusting. As a precaution I've taken to spraying them (and the rest of the brake parts) with Atom Mac after each wash, which is a water based corrosion inhibitor that's safe to use on brakes. https://bilthamber.com/product/atom-mac/

I think it also bears out my view of people in general, in that few can be categorised in a wholly general sense. Often people will say that such and such person is like x, when my experience has been that they're the opposite. We might all have a base level, but often how we behave is a reaction to either our environment at the time, or the person we're engaging with. I know that I can behave differently with work colleagues, friends or family members, for example. In the same way, a service employee can feel in either a superior or inferior position to the customer, or helpful or unhelpful, depending on the nature/behaviour of the customer, and so will act accordingly. Like I say, whlst we all have a base level, how people treat us will be as much about how we treat/approach them as it about their own nature or inclinations.

Hopefully it will work itself out over the next year or so. With increases being so high it will force people to shop around and switch, where previously they swallowed a small increase because they couldn't be bothered to change. If insurance companies lose enough business due to the ridiculous price hikes, then they'll be wary of doing it again. Some price rises are inevitable, but many companies/indutries seem to be taking advantage of people's willingness to accept increases and are simply profiteering from it. Whether it's car insuraance, mobile phone bills, cable tv etc, people should challenge every increase and either ask for a reduction or switch.

I agree. Unfortunately, in todays world, businesses are faced with customers using any number of comparsion sites to buy on price. With the ever increasing need to reduce prices in order to achieve sales, then something has to give, and often that's customer service and after sales care. I will usually favour service over price, assuming the differential isn't too great, but many don't, and hope for the best. It's not difficult to provide excellent customer service, but a lot more challenging to get people to pay for it.

I'm not sure if it's me misunderstanding, but the locks don't operate differently, you're just standing on a different side of them depending on whether it's a LHD or RHD drive. Picture it this way, imagine there was a keyhole on the inside of the door as well. If you unlocked from the outside you'd turn to your left, but from the inside you'd turn to your right, both on the same lock.

He could send a spider in to eat the wasp 🙂

I think what it means is that you turn the key towards the rear of the car. That would be to the left on the drivers door of a RHD car and to the right on the drivers door of a LHD car.

I don''t know how practical or realistic your idea is, but be careful of the angle it will cause. I had a car once where I couldn't tilt the seat down enough at the front, which resulted in a lot of discomfort on long journeys. You might want to tilt the front of your seat up an inch and see how that feels on a long journey before doing anything, as you might end up solving one problem but creating another.

Swings and roundabouts Phil. The technology behind global communications and information provision has resulted in a far more competetive world. The ability to rapidly analyse and exploit that information has resulted in companies demanding greater and greater efficiencies, usually at the expense of the employees, and often the customer too. In my day businesses were largely commercially driven, where money was made by selling things, and the other areas of the business were there to support that. It's been some time now that busineses have been finance led, driven by accountants, who think that the best way to make money is to not spend it; resulting in less play time, honey, and all the other fun stuff. Staff and customers are the losers, all in favour of the shareholders. Perhaps that's capitalism at its purest, but I know which I preferrred. To tag a moan onto it, I spent over an hour on hold to Virgin Money this afternoon, just to try and speak to someone. Despite the technology, neither the website, app, or automatic chatbot could handle my issue.

Reminds me of one of my other school holiday jobs, working in customer service for Philip Morris. Each morning we were taken to a locked room and given a free packet of cigarettes for the day 🙂