When I reviewed my previous (silver) LS430 in 2014 I mentioned that I hadn't had a chance to test its crash worthiness.
Unfortunately someone decided to test its crash worthiness for me by driving into the side of it at 40 mph without braking. Interestingly the car that hit me was a Peugeot 208. It ended up about half its previous length with air bags going off all round. My LS430 barely moved and although I suffered shock, there was no real drama. The car was, however, a write off because the cost of repair (bent rear axle and dented rear wing), about 6,000 UKP was greater than its value.
I bought the car in 2011 for 4,000 UKP and by the time of the crash I had added 100,000 miles to it, bringing the mileage up to just under 200,000 miles. It was written off at a value of 3,650 UKP. So my depreciation cost was 0.35 UK pence per mile, in other words, a fraction of cent per mile.
I've never owned a vehicle that was so cheap in terms of depreciation. Maintenance was pretty cheap, and even with fuel in the UK at around 1.5 UKP per litre, it wasn't in any way an expensive car. Which is why I replaced it with a Gold 2001 Lexus LS430!
