Do not break your mirror!

[Joel]

Hey all,

Just a frustrating story for you all today.

I was travelling recently in my Emira, with my partner driving on the German autobahns.

Unfortunately, during some roadworks they got a little too close to a bollard marking the temporary lanes and boom, the wing mirror is smashed into the passenger window.

Fortunately, the external PPF saved the outer housing and the damage is limited to just the mirror glass itself which is smashed into a million pieces.

Ok, well that's not too bad, you should be able to just get the mirror glass by itself right? Wrong!

Having spoken to my local Lotus dealer, the mirror glass used to be available to buy separately, but is no longer. The part used to be available for approximately £60, but now, I have to get a whole new mirror unit, 2 hours of fitting, paint and then new PPF, taking the job to £1600 or so!

I reached out to LCC for a comment and explanation of why the mirror glass is not available and to see if there was any way they could help me avoid having to replace the whole mirror unit, I got a one line response stating that I'd have to replace the whole unit.

Very frustrating and very unhelpful LCC.

Am I being crazy here? Or am I right to expect to be able to pick up that mirror glass separately?

 

[Andy H]

I hate this disposable philosophy where you are expected to just replace all or a significant piece of kit. I think they assume everyone is doing repairs on insurance so money no object.

I wonder if there are services to custom cut one from a template if LCC could provide that or could they transform it from the opposite side?

 

[Joel]

I did mention to LCC how wasteful this is, no acknowledgement of it, or really most of my email to them.

I find the "care" part is particularly lacking in my communication with them.

 

[GlobalPilot777]

We should be able to buy parts soon from cars that are not road worthy anymore and been replaced with new one due many issues.. also we should have the parts available from a few who crashed.

 

[Andy H]

We should be able to buy parts soon from cars that are not road worthy anymore and been replaced with new one due many issues.. also we should have the parts available from a few who crashed.

The Emira graveyard?

 

[netsinah]

For my “glass needs”, I rely upon a local glass shop that replaces windshields but will also custom fabricate things like mirrors. They’re quite versatile. Have you taken your Emira to a glass shop, to see if they can create the correct replacement size?

 

[JimH]

Parts Shop - Bell and Colvill

Parts Shop - Bell and Colvill are selling and servicing cars from its showrooms.

parts.bellandcolvill.co.uk

Parts Shop - Bell and Colvill

Parts Shop - Bell and Colvill are selling and servicing cars from its showrooms.

parts.bellandcolvill.co.uk

Original mirror glass part numbers are in the linked diagrams above - the mirrors are generic but the glasses differ according to country/region-specific type approvals - I can't believe that glasses are not just on back order?

 

[crestima]

The Emira graveyard?

Not quite. It's more like an organ transplant program.

 

[eriegz]

@Joel Your side mirrors are also auto-dimming, right?

 

[leofin]

Doesn't make sense to buy the whole mirror, if it's so expensive. But as @netsinah pointed out other shops should be able to provide a solution. Had a similar issue with some glasses on another car, which were fixed with 1/6 of the original cost.

 

[Steve Tillett]

I fully understand Lotus's desire to minimise their stock levels re number of parts, so only legislation where customers have the right to the spare would save the waste.
Things like this mirror situation make the governments push to "go green" seem more ridiculous by the minute. So much more energy and pollution is caused by the "throw it away and replace with new" mindset. Ten times the worlds resources are used up and unwanted gasses released, than would by efficient repairs.