Gold Membership Subscription Now Available

[Matthew_McNally]

As you will have noticed, the club has being growing incredibly. :D

We would like to thank you for your participation over the last year or so - and we look forward to your continued participation.

As part of our growth and expansion, I am very excited to announce the launch of our paid subscription service - Gold Membership.

Gold Members will be our premium subscribers, and will be given preferential access to the club.

A gold membership subscription costs $50 per annum, and you can activate your subscription here

In return for this subscription, Gold Members will recieve;

Gold Member Icon

This button, and an ID will be displayed under your name, so you stand out on the forums as a major site supporter.

Membership Pack

You will receive the following in the post, shortly after you subscribe.

1 x membership card

1 x Exclusive LOC Gold Member sticker (available only to Gold Members)

1 x long LOC sticker

2 x LOC credit card sized stickers

The stickers are all static, self cling, and can be easily affixed to your windows without any sort of adhesive

Some pics :D

Membership Card, Gold Member Sticker and Credit Card sized sticker

Long LOC Sticker

In these photo's a Sony Ericsson T610 phone is also shown for perspective

Access to our Gold Members forums

These forums will be Gold Member only access, and we will be having some exclusive fun in there <_<

Garage Access

Gold Members will be able to actively maintain their cars in their Garage.

The Garage is a forum add-in that allows you to showcase your car. You can show photographs, list your mods. You even have your own guestbook, so people can comment on your car.

Your garage can be viewed by all members.

Gallery

Gold Members have a 10 megabyte gallery, with unlimited albums.

Ordinary members may only have 1 meg of storage in one album.

Multiple gallery albums, coupled with the garage makes for excellent sigs, on LOC and any other forums you use.

Arcade

We have just installed an online arcade with (currently) 15 games to play.

Gold Members get unlimited plays, every day.

Ordinary members may only play once a day.

An Increased PM Mailbox

Gold Members may store 5000 PM's in their mailbox, before having to delete.

They may also attach files to their PM's.

Ordinary members may only store 50 PM's, and may not attach files.

Custom Titles

A custom title is a phrase (such as the 370HSSV-0773H below my avatar).

Gold Members may request their own custom titles.

Ordinary Members are very rarely permitted custom titles

A Warm, Satisfying Glow

Last, but by no means least, Gold Members can be assured that their subscriptions are helping keep the club going, by paying our ever increasing server costs, etc.

You can activate your subscription online by clicking here.

Two payment methods are available, and if you pay by Paypal, your subscription can be activated immediately.

[Matthew_McNally]

Not getting a lot of feedback

what do people think of this idea?

[RX in NC]

The idea may appeal to die-hard Lexus lovers, but most folks who are primarily in need of advice concerning how to fix their vehicle's inherent problems simply aren't going to be interested in paying for a membership that basically offers a few logo-embossed trinkets and a "lounge" forum area. Sorry to say, but it's just not a priority for most of us out here dealing with our individual vehicle problems.

[Matthew_McNally]

The idea may appeal to die-hard Lexus lovers, but most folks who are primarily in need of advice concerning how to fix their vehicle's inherent problems simply aren't going to be interested in paying for a membership that basically offers a few logo-embossed trinkets and a "lounge" forum area.  Sorry to say, but it's just not a priority for most of us out here dealing with our individual vehicle problems.

←

its not just the 'trinkets'.

Its only by subscriptions such as this that we will be able to keep the club going, and keep helping people with their vehicle problems. :(

[RX in NC]

If it is truly the case that a paid subscription is the only viable way that this site can survive, then you should be honest and explain it that way. But you may need to re-think your $50 annual fee. That could be a bit high for most folks.

[Matthew_McNally]

But you may need to re-think your $50 annual fee.  That could be a bit high for most folks.

←

its only $4 a month - do you not think that in the three months you have been a member you have not got $4 a month worth of value from the club?

[SeaDuck79]

Consider that a membership to ESPN costs less than that. Which site provides more content? I'm not saying I don't like it here, but I'd be much more willing to pony up $20-25. I'm a techie myself, so I understand about your costs, but sorry, no way it's worth $50/yr to me.

[SW03ES]

Actually $50 is very low for most subscription sites. There are several auto sites on the net that require a yearly fee of more than $50 to be a member. ClubLexus offers two packages, both more than $50 and they curtail more basic member priveledges. I mean c'mon, its $4 a month.

The only way to keep this site here, informative, and free from annoying forms of advertising like popups is for members to support it. All clubs work this way. We'll be adding to the gold package to make it more attractive but we can't afford to do that without a good showing of support from the membership.

How are we not being honest? This place costs an amount to run that I personally feel would make most people stagger if they knew it. We're trying to offer the members something tangible, however small at first for their monetary support instead of just asking for money...

[SeaDuck79]

I don't think anyone is questioning your honesty, and please don't take the lack of support personally. Your work on this site is very appreciated, and should be subsidized at least to some extent. All I'm saying is that $50/yr is more than I am willing to pay. On the occasions in which I get a spare $50, there are lots of things I'd rather spend it on.

Sorry.

[SW03ES]

I don't take it personally at all, I just don't understand the rationale behind thinking $4 a month is too much to give back to a club that gives its members so much. You only have 30 posts, so I really wouldn't expect you to be overly interested in joining, thats why its optional. I'm just saying that members that have significantly more posts and use the site more heavily really should join, if they can. I don't care about stickers or whatever, but I was one of the first to send in my $50 and join. I mean, we all drive Lexuses we can spare the $4 to help support such a great resource.

This site can't really be compared to ESPN, they're owned by a huge conglomerate out to make a profit. This site is owned by Matt and Steve. Two normal guys who are out to try and make providing this resource cost them as little as possible. Its not a question of "getting something for your money" its a question of giving something back for what you've been given.

Just to help us out though, you say $20-$25 would be more attractive. Would you be interested in a lower package than gold that does not include the membership package and won't include some of the updates we're going to be rolling out? Maybe a silver package? That includes a silver label under your name, increased PM box, more plays in the arcade, maybe access to the lounge forum, and helps to support the site?