As far as I know most things have a list price and a final price.

Some build in, say, 5% or 10% on the price as negotiating room.

Any rule of thumb for used vehicles in the £10-15k range?

I realised that it is a long time since I bought a car.

Cheers


Dave R

--
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On 05/12/16 12:00, David wrote:
As far as I know most things have a list price and a final price.

Some build in, say, 5% or 10% on the price as negotiating room.

Any rule of thumb for used vehicles in the £10-15k range?

Yes. Take what you have to spend and subtract £2,500 from it, and buy
the best that you can find at that price.

The spend the £2500 on sorting out the reasons why it was being sold in
the first place.

Older expensive cars depreciate fast, but may not have that much mileage
.. E.g. uyopu can pick up a 60,000 mile XJ8 for peanuts, thats been well
looked after by an old gent who kept it in his garage mostly.


If the car is new enough get an extended warranty on it.



I realised that it is a long time since I bought a car.

General dealer margin will be around 30%, and its worth looking at cars
they cant shift easily that they would like to get shot of. And just ask
them what the price is, and subtract 30%, and go from there.,



Cheers


Dave R



--
"What do you think about Gay Marriage?"
"I don't."
"Don't what?"
"Think about Gay Marriage."

On Monday, 5 December 2016 12:09:32 UTC, The Natural Philosopher wrote:
On 05/12/16 12:00, David wrote:
As far as I know most things have a list price and a final price.

Some build in, say, 5% or 10% on the price as negotiating room.

Any rule of thumb for used vehicles in the £10-15k range?

Yes. Take what you have to spend and subtract £2,500 from it, and buy
the best that you can find at that price.

The spend the £2500 on sorting out the reasons why it was being sold in
the first place.

Older expensive cars depreciate fast, but may not have that much mileage
. E.g. uyopu can pick up a 60,000 mile XJ8 for peanuts, thats been well
looked after by an old gent who kept it in his garage mostly.


If the car is new enough get an extended warranty on it.



I realised that it is a long time since I bought a car.

General dealer margin will be around 30%, and its worth looking at cars
they cant shift easily that they would like to get shot of. And just ask
them what the price is, and subtract 30%, and go from there.,

I'd never buy from a dealer - unless buying new.


NT

wrote:
I'd never buy from a dealer - unless buying new.

The thing is there's lots of 'private sellers' that are in fact dealers.
They buy random junk from the auctions, mark it up a bit and flog it on
Gumtree, failing to mention the faults that were in the auction catalogue.
You don't get any comeback and they don't have any reputation to protect.
The only advantage over the auction is you get to test drive it first. But
you do have to ask why somebody sold it at auction in the first place.

Thus far the best trick I've found is to google the phone number, and a red
flag is if their number turns up on other car sale listings (there's some
websites that handily archive gumtree so you can see previously deleted
listings).

Hmm, I wonder if it's possible to scrape the auction listings to check if
the vehicle went through recently...?

Theo

On 05/12/16 15:28, wrote:
On Monday, 5 December 2016 12:09:32 UTC, The Natural Philosopher wrote:
On 05/12/16 12:00, David wrote:
As far as I know most things have a list price and a final price.

Some build in, say, 5% or 10% on the price as negotiating room.

Any rule of thumb for used vehicles in the £10-15k range?

Yes. Take what you have to spend and subtract £2,500 from it, and buy
the best that you can find at that price.

The spend the £2500 on sorting out the reasons why it was being sold in
the first place.

Older expensive cars depreciate fast, but may not have that much mileage
. E.g. uyopu can pick up a 60,000 mile XJ8 for peanuts, thats been well
looked after by an old gent who kept it in his garage mostly.


If the car is new enough get an extended warranty on it.



I realised that it is a long time since I bought a car.

General dealer margin will be around 30%, and its worth looking at cars
they cant shift easily that they would like to get shot of. And just ask
them what the price is, and subtract 30%, and go from there.,

I'd never buy from a dealer - unless buying new.

Oh a lot of not too old cars get traded by dealers with warranties. A
lot depends. Its easier to chase a dealer up than a bloke down the pub..


NT



--
A lie can travel halfway around the world while the truth is putting on
its shoes.

On Mon, 05 Dec 2016 12:09:29 +0000, The Natural Philosopher wrote:

On 05/12/16 12:00, David wrote:
As far as I know most things have a list price and a final price.

Some build in, say, 5% or 10% on the price as negotiating room.

Any rule of thumb for used vehicles in the £10-15k range?

Yes. Take what you have to spend and subtract £2,500 from it, and buy
the best that you can find at that price.

The spend the £2500 on sorting out the reasons why it was being sold in
the first place.

Older expensive cars depreciate fast, but may not have that much mileage
. E.g. uyopu can pick up a 60,000 mile XJ8 for peanuts, thats been well
looked after by an old gent who kept it in his garage mostly.


If the car is new enough get an extended warranty on it.



I realised that it is a long time since I bought a car.

General dealer margin will be around 30%, and its worth looking at cars
they cant shift easily that they would like to get shot of. And just ask
them what the price is, and subtract 30%, and go from there.,

Thanks - useful stuff.

They've had the vehicle for at least a month, so selling it will help
their cash flow (but not mine).

Cheers


Dave R



--
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On Monday, 5 December 2016 12:00:22 UTC, David WE Roberts (Google) wrote:
As far as I know most things have a list price and a final price.

I am paying the full £32000 for my 2017 ALFA Giulia as there is zero wriggle room.

In article ,
Theo wrote:
wrote:
I'd never buy from a dealer - unless buying new.

The thing is there's lots of 'private sellers' that are in fact dealers.
They buy random junk from the auctions, mark it up a bit and flog it on
Gumtree, failing to mention the faults that were in the auction
catalogue. You don't get any comeback and they don't have any
reputation to protect. The only advantage over the auction is you get
to test drive it first. But you do have to ask why somebody sold it at
auction in the first place.

Quite. Although buying an ex lease or whatever car at auction - where it
has simply reached the age and mileage where a main dealer won't want it
as used stock - can be a good deal. But you need to get it at auction
price rather than from a bomb site dealer who has given it a valet and
doubled the price.

Thus far the best trick I've found is to google the phone number, and a
red flag is if their number turns up on other car sale listings (there's
some websites that handily archive gumtree so you can see previously
deleted listings).

Hmm, I wonder if it's possible to scrape the auction listings to check if
the vehicle went through recently...?

Theo

--
* What do they call a coffee break at the Lipton Tea Company? *

Dave Plowman London SW
To e-mail, change noise into sound.

On Monday, 5 December 2016 12:00:22 UTC, David WE Roberts (Google) wrote:
As far as I know most things have a list price and a final price.

Some build in, say, 5% or 10% on the price as negotiating room.

Any rule of thumb for used vehicles in the £10-15k range?

I realised that it is a long time since I bought a car.

Cheers


Dave R


Some colours are unpopular/unfashionable too.
They can be cheaper.

On Monday, 5 December 2016 12:00:22 UTC, David WE Roberts (Google) wrote:
As far as I know most things have a list price and a final price.

Some build in, say, 5% or 10% on the price as negotiating room.

Any rule of thumb for used vehicles in the £10-15k range?

I realised that it is a long time since I bought a car.

Cheers


Dave R

--
AMD FX-6300 in GA-990X-Gaming SLI-CF running Windows 7 Pro x64

---
This email has been checked for viruses by Avast antivirus software.
https://www.avast.com/antivirus

Haggle a bit & then head for the door.
This works wonders.

Theo wrote:

Thus far the best trick I've found is to google the phone number, and a red
flag is if their number turns up on other car sale listings

Another old method is to phone up and just ask if "the car" is still for
sale, and see if they say "which one?".

On 05/12/2016 16:54, Dave Plowman (News) wrote:

Quite. Although buying an ex lease or whatever car at auction - where it
has simply reached the age and mileage where a main dealer won't want it
as used stock - can be a good deal. But you need to get it at auction
price rather than from a bomb site dealer who has given it a valet and
doubled the price.

I bought my car at auction. 3 years old and 30k miles. It had just come
off lease. I bought it for almost exactly 30% of list price. The only
flaw with the car was that some ******* had taken one of the keys, and
flogged it on ebay for £20. Getting a new one cost £200.

My big tip is to buy in the last one or two auctions before Christmas.
The dealers aren't bidding much, because they know the stock will just
sit around for two or three weeks before they can even start selling it.

On Monday, 5 December 2016 15:51:12 UTC, Theo wrote:
tabbypurr wrote:
I'd never buy from a dealer - unless buying new.

The thing is there's lots of 'private sellers' that are in fact dealers.
They buy random junk from the auctions, mark it up a bit and flog it on
Gumtree, failing to mention the faults that were in the auction catalogue.
You don't get any comeback and they don't have any reputation to protect.
The only advantage over the auction is you get to test drive it first. But
you do have to ask why somebody sold it at auction in the first place.

Of course - much like private sellers.


NT

"Simon Mason" wrote in message
...
On Monday, 5 December 2016 12:00:22 UTC, David WE Roberts (Google) wrote:
As far as I know most things have a list price and a final price.

I am paying the full £32000 for my 2017 ALFA Giulia as there is zero wriggle
room.

You should at least buy a spare for weekends.

On Monday, 5 December 2016 16:01:09 UTC, The Natural Philosopher wrote:
On 05/12/16 15:28, tabbypurr wrote:

I'd never buy from a dealer - unless buying new.

Oh a lot of not too old cars get traded by dealers with warranties. A
lot depends. Its easier to chase a dealer up than a bloke down the pub..

You get no comeback on private sales in most cases. If you want to chase a seller then you didn't do your homework before buying.


NT

"Simon Mason" wrote in message
...
On Monday, 5 December 2016 12:00:22 UTC, David WE Roberts (Google) wrote:
As far as I know most things have a list price and a final price.

I am paying the full £32000 for my 2017 ALFA Giulia as there is zero
wriggle room.

They really have seen you coming, haven't they

tim

Simon Mason wrote
David WE Roberts (Google) wrote

As far as I know most things have a list price and a final price.

I am paying the full £32000 for my 2017 ALFA Giulia as there is zero
wriggle room.

And the debt collectors will grab it when you refuse to pay for the
electricity you have used.

On Monday, 5 December 2016 19:17:30 UTC, tim... wrote:
"Simon Mason" wrote in message
...
On Monday, 5 December 2016 12:00:22 UTC, David WE Roberts (Google) wrote:
As far as I know most things have a list price and a final price.

I am paying the full £32000 for my 2017 ALFA Giulia as there is zero
wriggle room.

They really have seen you coming, haven't they

tim

I did their job for them.
I walked in, told them the spec I wanted, paid the £5000 deposit and went home.
The quickest sale he's ever made.

On Monday, 5 December 2016 19:25:12 UTC, Rod Speed wrote:
Simon Mason wrote
David WE Roberts (Google) wrote

As far as I know most things have a list price and a final price.

I am paying the full £32000 for my 2017 ALFA Giulia as there is zero
wriggle room.

And the debt collectors will grab it when you refuse to pay for the
electricity you have used.

It will only be worth £2000 by then and since I have already used £800 of free electricity, they had better hurry up.

Simon Mason wrote:

I did their job for them.
I walked in, told them the spec I wanted, paid the £5000 deposit and went home.
The quickest sale he's ever made.

Should have gone to driver the deal etc.

On Monday, 5 December 2016 20:41:21 UTC, Andy Burns wrote:
Simon Mason wrote:

I did their job for them.
I walked in, told them the spec I wanted, paid the £5000 deposit and went home.
The quickest sale he's ever made.

Should have gone to driver the deal etc.

It is not a Ford Fiesta churned out of a sausage factory sitting in a wet field in Lincolnshire, but an Italian masterpiece built to order.

Simon Mason wrote:

Andy Burns wrote:

Should have gone to drive the deal etc.

It is not a Ford Fiesta churned out of a sausage factory sitting in a wet field in Lincolnshire, but an Italian masterpiece built to order.

Cars bought from DtD are build to order, with all the same options
available as per the manufacturer's own configuration tool

https://www.drivethedeal.com/buy-a-new-car/ALFA%20ROMEO/GIULIETTA%20HATCHBACK/index.html

GB wrote:
On 05/12/2016 16:54, Dave Plowman (News) wrote:

Quite. Although buying an ex lease or whatever car at auction - where it
has simply reached the age and mileage where a main dealer won't want it
as used stock - can be a good deal. But you need to get it at auction
price rather than from a bomb site dealer who has given it a valet and
doubled the price.

Yep, though it depends where on the price spectrum you're on. The fees for
a private buyer at BCA (for instance) are pretty steep and you don't get to
examine the car much before purchase. So the dealer allowing you to walk
away is a useful feature. I found one that looked pristine, FSH, MOT record
was perfect. Price a bit low, but maybe there was no demand locally. Ran
well, everything looked fine. Plugged into the OBD port and read the codes
- the dealer hadn't mentioned the GBP1000 repair that was imminent which
was almost certainly why the owner had traded it in. I might have knackered
it even more just driving it home.

I bought my car at auction. 3 years old and 30k miles. It had just come
off lease. I bought it for almost exactly 30% of list price. The only
flaw with the car was that some ******* had taken one of the keys, and
flogged it on ebay for £20. Getting a new one cost £200.

It's worth fishing around forums, because sometimes you can find the dealer
software to do this is available - and then all you need to do is buy that
used key from ebay for £20.

My big tip is to buy in the last one or two auctions before Christmas.
The dealers aren't bidding much, because they know the stock will just
sit around for two or three weeks before they can even start selling it.

Thanks, I'll remember that.

Theo

"pamela" wrote in message
...
On 20:24 5 Dec 2016, Simon Mason wrote:

On Monday, 5 December 2016 19:17:30 UTC, tim... wrote:
"Simon Mason" wrote in message


As far as I know most things have a list price and a final
price.

I am paying the full £32000 for my 2017 ALFA Giulia as there
is zero wriggle room.

They really have seen you coming, haven't they

tim


I did their job for them. I walked in, told them the spec I
wanted, paid the £5000 deposit and went home. The quickest sale
he's ever made.

You certainyl did do their job for them but you're not getting a cut.
The saleman must think you're a mug.

Nope, the salesman KNOWS he's a mug, as do we.
Mind you, I don't believe the story for a second.

Of course there's wriggle room. It's a mass produced car. It's only
a brand of Fiat. The manufacturer is interested in volume sales.

It's a good job you're not negotiating Brexit.

Actually, a nut case might do a better job, we seem to have stalled.

Simon Mason wrote
Rod Speed wrote
Simon Mason wrote
David WE Roberts (Google) wrote

As far as I know most things have a list price and a final price.

I am paying the full £32000 for my 2017
ALFA Giulia as there is zero wriggle room.

And the debt collectors will grab it when you
refuse to pay for the electricity you have used.

It will only be worth £2000 by then

Much sillier than you usually manage.

and since I have already used £800 of free electricity,

Not free, just being paid for later, you watch.

they had better hurry up.

No need, even that steaming turd with wheels will
be worth quite a bit more than the electricity you
have used for at least a year now.

In article ,
Theo wrote:
Quite. Although buying an ex lease or whatever car at auction -
where it has simply reached the age and mileage where a main dealer
won't want it as used stock - can be a good deal. But you need to
get it at auction price rather than from a bomb site dealer who has
given it a valet and doubled the price.

Yep, though it depends where on the price spectrum you're on.

Well, lease cars etc from the lease company are normally not old. Not
usually in banger territory.


The fees
for a private buyer at BCA (for instance) are pretty steep and you don't
get to examine the car much before purchase. So the dealer allowing you
to walk away is a useful feature. I found one that looked pristine,
FSH, MOT record was perfect. Price a bit low, but maybe there was no
demand locally. Ran well, everything looked fine. Plugged into the OBD
port and read the codes - the dealer hadn't mentioned the GBP1000
repair that was imminent which was almost certainly why the owner had
traded it in. I might have knackered it even more just driving it home.

Lease cars are generally disposed of because they've reached a certain
mileage or age. Not because of a hidden fault. Although some may have that
too.

--
*If all the world is a stage, where is the audience sitting?

Dave Plowman London SW
To e-mail, change noise into sound.

"Simon Mason" wrote in message
...
On Monday, 5 December 2016 20:41:21 UTC, Andy Burns wrote:
Simon Mason wrote:

I did their job for them.
I walked in, told them the spec I wanted, paid the £5000 deposit and
went home.
The quickest sale he's ever made.

Should have gone to driver the deal etc.

It is not a Ford Fiesta churned out of a sausage factory sitting in a wet
field in Lincolnshire,

Yeah, its a steaming turd with wheels produced by stupid
wogs who have never made a decent car, EVER.

On 05/12/2016 23:34, Theo wrote:

Yep, though it depends where on the price spectrum you're on. The fees for
a private buyer at BCA (for instance) are pretty steep and you don't get to
examine the car much before purchase. So the dealer allowing you to walk
away is a useful feature. I found one that looked pristine, FSH, MOT record
was perfect. Price a bit low, but maybe there was no demand locally. Ran
well, everything looked fine. Plugged into the OBD port and read the codes
- the dealer hadn't mentioned the GBP1000 repair that was imminent which
was almost certainly why the owner had traded it in. I might have knackered
it even more just driving it home.

What needed fixing?

Clive George wrote:
What needed fixing?

It was electric, and the traction battery had had it. Which is not
something you can tell outwardly, only by reading the codes or looking at
the battery voltages with an OBD tool over a charge/discharge cycle.

(I must price up the replacement, because it might be useful negotiating
ammunition. It might have been worth it if I'd got a price that compensated
for the repair cost)

Theo

On Tuesday, 6 December 2016 00:18:28 UTC, bm wrote:

You certainyl did do their job for them but you're not getting a cut.
The saleman must think you're a mug.

Nope, the salesman KNOWS he's a mug, as do we.
Mind you, I don't believe the story for a second.

I never lie.

https://pbs.twimg.com/media/Cy9qUGEXEAQSocU.jpg

On 06/12/2016 01:40, Theo wrote:
Clive George wrote:
What needed fixing?

It was electric, and the traction battery had had it. Which is not
something you can tell outwardly, only by reading the codes or looking at
the battery voltages with an OBD tool over a charge/discharge cycle.

(I must price up the replacement, because it might be useful negotiating
ammunition. It might have been worth it if I'd got a price that compensated
for the repair cost)

Theo

Don't the batteries cost lots of thousands of pounds?

On 05/12/2016 18:35, bm wrote:
"Simon Mason" wrote in message
...
On Monday, 5 December 2016 12:00:22 UTC, David WE Roberts (Google) wrote:
As far as I know most things have a list price and a final price.

I am paying the full £32000 for my 2017 ALFA Giulia as there is zero wriggle
room.

You should at least buy a spare for weekends.

It's only a 3-seater, really, as you have to set one seat aside for the
full-time mechanic you need.

On 06/12/2016 03:40, Simon Mason wrote:
On Tuesday, 6 December 2016 00:18:28 UTC, bm wrote:

You certainyl did do their job for them but you're not getting a cut.
The saleman must think you're a mug.

Nope, the salesman KNOWS he's a mug, as do we.
Mind you, I don't believe the story for a second.

I never lie.

https://pbs.twimg.com/media/Cy9qUGEXEAQSocU.jpg


I hope it's okay, Simon, but I phoned up Mangoletsi, gave your name, and
cancelled your order for you. Doing you a favour really. Especially, as
they agreed to refund all but £1000 of your deposit to your credit card.

As I didn't have your full credit card number, I gave them mine. This ID
theft business is really lucrative.

On 06/12/2016 09:33, GB wrote:
On 06/12/2016 01:40, Theo wrote:
Clive George wrote:
What needed fixing?

It was electric, and the traction battery had had it. Which is not
something you can tell outwardly, only by reading the codes or looking at
the battery voltages with an OBD tool over a charge/discharge cycle.

(I must price up the replacement, because it might be useful negotiating
ammunition. It might have been worth it if I'd got a price that
compensated
for the repair cost)

Theo

Don't the batteries cost lots of thousands of pounds?

If its a Toyota/Lexus product there is a guy in Northampton
http://www.hybridbatterysolutions.co.uk who is making a name
for himseld

Rob

Gone Fishin wrote:
On 06/12/2016 09:33, GB wrote:
Don't the batteries cost lots of thousands of pounds?

If its a Toyota/Lexus product there is a guy in Northampton
http://www.hybridbatterysolutions.co.uk who is making a name
for himseld

Hmm:

"SAFETY WARNING
It is important to understand that there is no cheap alternative. Changing
battery packs is a very dangerous & complicated procedure which should not
under any circumstances be carried out by those who are not electrically
qualified to High Voltage standards & have experience of vehicle diagnostics
€“ the Lexus packs can supply a lethal shock of 28.8 Kilowatts! €“ Equivalent
to 10 x 3 bar electric fires, €“ the current these packs supply is Direct
Current or DC which will tend to hold you there!"

- shocks measured in kilowatts?

The process is basically 'unscrew all the trim and unplug it':
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4ZygEiXw5uE

Anyway, I called up Toyota to find out the cost of a new battery - with
bringing in the old one the price is GBP931+VAT. Which isn't bad
considering it's good for 150K-250K miles. (I should have said, this is a
Prius hybrid - not fully electric)

There are some lower cost bodges that involve replacing individual cells and
rebalancing (which is what the above mechanic is doing - eminently
DIY-able), so I don't think it's fully necessary to have a new battery
- but basically a 1200 quid replacement is the worst case.

(The vehicle in question was a bit far away, so there would have been a risk
driving it home on a dead battery)

Theo

En el artículo , Theo theom+news
@chiark.greenend.org.uk escribió:

Anyway, I called up Toyota to find out the cost of a new battery - with
bringing in the old one the price is GBP931+VAT

That isn't bad at all, is it. ISTR in the early days of lecky cars a
battery replacement was more of the order of 6k quid plus the dreaded.

--
(\_/)
(='.'=) systemd: the Linux version of Windows 10
(")_(")

On 05/12/2016 17:55, GB wrote:
On 05/12/2016 16:54, Dave Plowman (News) wrote:

Quite. Although buying an ex lease or whatever car at auction - where it
has simply reached the age and mileage where a main dealer won't want it
as used stock - can be a good deal. But you need to get it at auction
price rather than from a bomb site dealer who has given it a valet and
doubled the price.

I bought my car at auction. 3 years old and 30k miles. It had just come
off lease. I bought it for almost exactly 30% of list price. The only
flaw with the car was that some ******* had taken one of the keys, and
flogged it on ebay for £20. Getting a new one cost £200.

What use is a key without the car ?.

Mike Tomlinson wrote:
En el artÃ*culo , Theo theom+news
@chiark.greenend.org.uk escribió:

Anyway, I called up Toyota to find out the cost of a new battery - with
bringing in the old one the price is GBP931+VAT

That isn't bad at all, is it. ISTR in the early days of lecky cars a
battery replacement was more of the order of 6k quid plus the dreaded.


But it's a Prius. Only has a relatively tiny battery. A full electric car
battery would be a lot more.

Tim

--
Please don't feed the trolls

In article ,
Theo wrote:
one Fishin wrote:
On 06/12/2016 09:33, GB wrote:
Don't the batteries cost lots of thousands of pounds?

If its a Toyota/Lexus product there is a guy in Northampton
http://www.hybridbatterysolutions.co.uk who is making a name
for himseld

Hmm:

"SAFETY WARNING It is important to understand that there is no cheap
alternative. Changing battery packs is a very dangerous & complicated
procedure which should not under any circumstances be carried out by
those who are not electrically qualified to High Voltage standards &
have experience of vehicle diagnostics — the Lexus packs can supply a
lethal shock of 28.8 Kilowatts! — Equivalent to 10 x 3 bar electric
fires, — the current these packs supply is Direct Current or DC which
will tend to hold you there!"

- shocks measured in kilowatts?

The process is basically 'unscrew all the trim and unplug it':
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4ZygEiXw5uE

Anyway, I called up Toyota to find out the cost of a new battery - with
bringing in the old one the price is GBP931+VAT. Which isn't bad
considering it's good for 150K-250K miles. (I should have said, this is
a Prius hybrid - not fully electric)

The Prius is generally poor value used as it is so popular with Uber
drivers. Until the point when it is no longer suitable then drops like a
stone.

It's not a car that makes sense for private use used.

--
*If horrific means to make horrible, does terrific mean to make terrible?

Dave Plowman London SW
To e-mail, change noise into sound.

On 06/12/2016 15:14, Theo wrote:
Gone Fishin wrote:
On 06/12/2016 09:33, GB wrote:
Don't the batteries cost lots of thousands of pounds?

If its a Toyota/Lexus product there is a guy in Northampton
http://www.hybridbatterysolutions.co.uk who is making a name
for himseld

Hmm:

"SAFETY WARNING
It is important to understand that there is no cheap alternative. Changing
battery packs is a very dangerous & complicated procedure which should not
under any circumstances be carried out by those who are not electrically
qualified to High Voltage standards & have experience of vehicle diagnostics
€“ the Lexus packs can supply a lethal shock of 28.8 Kilowatts! €“ Equivalent
to 10 x 3 bar electric fires, €“ the current these packs supply is Direct
Current or DC which will tend to hold you there!"

- shocks measured in kilowatts?

The process is basically 'unscrew all the trim and unplug it':
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4ZygEiXw5uE

Anyway, I called up Toyota to find out the cost of a new battery - with
bringing in the old one the price is GBP931+VAT. Which isn't bad
considering it's good for 150K-250K miles. (I should have said, this is a
Prius hybrid - not fully electric)

There are some lower cost bodges that involve replacing individual cells and
rebalancing (which is what the above mechanic is doing - eminently
DIY-able), so I don't think it's fully necessary to have a new battery
- but basically a 1200 quid replacement is the worst case.

(The vehicle in question was a bit far away, so there would have been a risk
driving it home on a dead battery)

Theo

The Prius battery packs contain sodium hydroxide and run at quite a high
temperature. Changing them (by Toyota) requires the tech to wear an
NBC suit of the sort used by the military when dealing with depleted
uranium contamination.

PS What is a 'lethal shock of 28 Kilowatts' ???. Surely a lethal
shock of not much more than 30 milliAmps is enough.