Lexus courtesy car £5k excess or £25 per day
Lexus courtesy car £5k excess or £25 per day
Author
Discussion

Casa1862

Original Poster:

1,109 posts

194 months

Wednesday 12th February 2025
quotequote all
Never normally have a courtesy car but they want the car in all day. Has this always been like below or gone up recently?:


Option 1
We can arrange fully comprehensive insurance for you, there is a £5,000 excess on this insurance, so if you are involved in an accident (fault or non-fault) or the vehicle is damaged whilst in your charge, then you would be charged £5,000 on the return of the vehicle.

Option 2
Our insurers do offer a choice to reduce this excess to £50 for a charge of £25 incl. VAT per day.

Fastdruid

9,364 posts

181 months

Wednesday 12th February 2025
quotequote all
I've seen it on many things.

FWIW you can get excess insurance yourself which is cheaper (and usable on holiday car hire etc).

It is a nice little money spinner for them, inevitably the money doesn't go anywhere other than into their pockets (ie they're "self-insuring" that £5k) and the chances of a pay out are fairly slim (particularly as being a dealer they can fix most stuff at cost).

Personally I mostly take the risk but equally for holiday reasons I often have an excess cover policy anyway!

KungFuPanda

4,639 posts

199 months

Wednesday 12th February 2025
quotequote all
I’ve had the same with a Land Rover courtesy vehicle however their excess was £1k and you could recuse that down to £50 for a £30 charge.

I was willing to to risk it but paid the £30 a day in the end.

Typically I wasn’t involved in any incidents whatsoever.

MOMACC

626 posts

66 months

Wednesday 12th February 2025
quotequote all
Add the courtesy vehicle to your policy for the day, easily done.

If you work on a laptop you could hunker down in their workspace for the day if they have one for customers.

Casa1862

Original Poster:

1,109 posts

194 months

Wednesday 12th February 2025
quotequote all
I'll pay for 1 day as £5k is a bit excessive, would have risked it at £1k. Hopefully, won't need parts ordering which could mean several days of charges, per day charge is a bit off.

£670 for a full service which as far as i can see involves fluid changes and checks, most of which covered by the MOT, not like they aren't making money. Ah well, coffee is nice smile !!!

Ham_and_Jam

3,677 posts

126 months

Wednesday 12th February 2025
quotequote all
Casa1862 said:
I'll pay for 1 day as £5k is a bit excessive, would have risked it at £1k. Hopefully, won't need parts ordering which could mean several days of charges, per day charge is a bit off.

£670 for a full service which as far as i can see involves fluid changes and checks, most of which covered by the MOT, not like they aren't making money. Ah well, coffee is nice smile !!!
I would be looking at a good specialist indie at that price.

Audi wanted £550 for my last service (3rd from new). I took it to a local Audi Specialist who used to be their master tech and paid £220.

All logged online with Audi and OEM parts etc.

Coffee was OK aswell.

Jag_NE

3,339 posts

129 months

Wednesday 12th February 2025
quotequote all
Ham_and_Jam said:
Casa1862 said:
I'll pay for 1 day as £5k is a bit excessive, would have risked it at £1k. Hopefully, won't need parts ordering which could mean several days of charges, per day charge is a bit off.

£670 for a full service which as far as i can see involves fluid changes and checks, most of which covered by the MOT, not like they aren't making money. Ah well, coffee is nice smile !!!
I would be looking at a good specialist indie at that price.

Audi wanted £550 for my last service (3rd from new). I took it to a local Audi Specialist who used to be their master tech and paid £220.

All logged online with Audi and OEM parts etc.

Coffee was OK aswell.
Presume with Toyota/lexus you get the warranty extension though? Worth 500-1000 per annum alone depending on the vehicle. Must be like shooting fish in a barrel service bookings wise.

essayer

10,410 posts

223 months

Wednesday 12th February 2025
quotequote all
They all do it now, just yet another thing that used to roll into the price that we now have to pay for.

Ham_and_Jam

3,677 posts

126 months

Wednesday 12th February 2025
quotequote all
Jag_NE said:
Presume with Toyota/lexus you get the warranty extension though? Worth 500-1000 per annum alone depending on the vehicle. Must be like shooting fish in a barrel service bookings wise.
Always a tough one.

You’re getting a £500+ / year warranty, but paying about an extra £500 for it with the service.

Casa1862

Original Poster:

1,109 posts

194 months

Wednesday 12th February 2025
quotequote all
Yep, the Warranty is the main reason it gets main dealer service, car will be 10 years old so last warranty extension, after that it’s our local garage for everything.

I’ll see tomorrow if the warranty is worth anything as I have a steering fault, hopefully they won’t put it down to fair ware and tear, first ever potential warranty claim so it has been 100% reliable.

Casa1862

Original Poster:

1,109 posts

194 months

Wednesday 12th February 2025
quotequote all
Ham_and_Jam said:
Always a tough one.

You’re getting a £500+ / year warranty, but paying about an extra £500 for it with the service.
I managed to get a 10% discount, so about £600, the 10 year/ 100k is a major, indi wanted £425 but no warranty, £175 is worth the warranty (hopefully)

Ham_and_Jam

3,677 posts

126 months

Wednesday 12th February 2025
quotequote all
Casa1862 said:
I managed to get a 10% discount, so about £600, the 10 year/ 100k is a major, indi wanted £425 but no warranty, £175 is worth the warranty (hopefully)
Fair enough. Surprised at the small difference between the two. Maybe worth hunting out another indie for years 11+

Sheepshanks

40,976 posts

148 months

Wednesday 12th February 2025
quotequote all
Check if your own insurance covers you. Ours, with LV, does, and daughter used to use Aviva and that covered her (only her though - I took her car for warranty work last year and had to pay £15 for courtesy car, first time in my entire life I’ve ever paid). The LV one is all named drivers.

Jag_NE

3,339 posts

129 months

Wednesday 12th February 2025
quotequote all
Casa1862 said:
Yep, the Warranty is the main reason it gets main dealer service, car will be 10 years old so last warranty extension, after that it’s our local garage for everything.

I’ll see tomorrow if the warranty is worth anything as I have a steering fault, hopefully they won’t put it down to fair ware and tear, first ever potential warranty claim so it has been 100% reliable.
It’s a bargain mate. 600 for a main dealer service with a years manufacturer backed warranty. People pay the 600+ with other brands just for the warranty bit.

Dr mojo

215 posts

208 months

Wednesday 12th February 2025
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Warranty is very good as well. Lexus just fitted a tracker for free with 3 years subscription given recent spate of theft can’t argue with that.

Mr Tidy

31,373 posts

156 months

Thursday 13th February 2025
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I remember BMW charging me £15 a day for insurance unless I arranged my own in the mid-2000s, but they never specified the excess!

Things have obviously changed because at the time my work colleague had a Lexus within warranty, and they used to collect his car from the office and bring it back.

supacool1

738 posts

208 months

Thursday 13th February 2025
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They have been doing this in the Bike world for a short while. And if you are unknown to the dealer, they even say the same thing if you are test riding a bike. Pay £25 to take the bike out and minimal excess if in an accident, or else you pay between 2-5K excess regardless of fault. Not so long ago all the test rides were under the tacit understanding that if you bin it, its a £1000 for the excess. Which was standard. Me and my mates all have BMW bikes and are well known to the dealer and staff, They sometimes get funny and try to sell the 'policy' to get a loan bike, with limited success.

Having spoken to the BMW Motorrad dealer I've been frequenting for many years the reason they gave was due to dipsts who kept dropping bikes on test rides. And due to this their own insurance company had massively upped their premiums...But as it was suggested if something does get damaged they can fix it at cost and hardly cost the whole of the inflated excess amount.

When mum gets her Yaris serviced at Toyota they used to offer a pick up and drop off service or a shuttle service from the dealer to your work. Which was a no cost to the customer option. Not sure they do that now...

Tabs

1,111 posts

301 months

Thursday 13th February 2025
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Take a look at the Toyota service costs for a similar category vehicle if you really want your blood to boil.
ie IS300H and Rav4 etc, same engine and mechanics etc, and often serviced in the same workshop....

Chuffedmonkey

997 posts

135 months

Thursday 13th February 2025
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My Toyota recently had a major service (40k). Less than 3 years old and cost £400. I enquired about a courtesy car as they wanted it for the full day. The option was an Aygo for £25. I ended up changing my work schedule that day so I didn't need it.

OP, if Toyota are asking £25 for an Aygo what car did Lexus offer you for the same price?

Price was per day too.

spookly

4,389 posts

124 months

Thursday 13th February 2025
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Don't think I've ever paid to cover excess, but also never seen an excess as high as £5k. Not even on a hire car.