I finally waved goodbye to our baby yesterday . 160k on the clock (130k of which were mine) but all in all she's been pretty reliable if you ignore the new gearbox back in March this year! Having said that, for a Td6 - a car with a notorious reputation for eating its own transmission - I think she did pretty well. I Hope she'll continue to motor on for someone for another 100k!

However, the good news is that I've already put a deposit down on a low mileage 62 reg Westminster which I hope to pick up next weekend . That is, so long as the car is in the perfect nick it appears to be and, indeed, as I have been assured it is by the dealer. It's a 4-hr drive away, so I'd be pretty miffed to find otherwise. I should be twice bitten twice shy really, as I've had previous experience of a long-distance transaction that I had to scrub as soon as I got there and actually saw the car. This one though looks very nice indeed and is described by the dealer as 'immaculate.' I just hope it doesn't turn out that they're using some new definition of the word that I was previously unaware of!

Fingers crossed. Will post outcome and,of course, pics in due course. It's going to be a long week.

Where in the country is it, maybe another member can pop and have a look for you... save you a long trip if it's no good.... some dealers immaculate are far from it..... Pete

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2014 L405 Autobiography SDV8 4.4 Loire Blue Ebony interior
2011 L322 Vogue SE 4.4 TDV8 Baltic Blue. Parchment over Navy Interior. Sold
2012 L322 Autobiography 5.0 Supercharged Ipanema Sand, Jet Interior. Sold
2002 L322 Vogue 4.4 V8 Epson Green, Ivory over Aspen Interior (Fatty Offroader) Sold
-Click for Project Fatty off roader-

Saw the car today (well, yesterday now) and it was a nine out of ten on the 'immaculate' scale. All pretty good, bar a small ding in the n/s front door and some damage to the edge of the drivers door card - looks like the seat belt buckle has been slammed in there a few times. Car was otherwise in very good nick all round.

Dealer has agreed to make good, although they believe the door card can be invisibly repaired, rather than replaced, by an independent specialist they use. We'll see..!

A bit frustrating that it wasn't as ready to go as I was assured it would be, but I'm happy enough. Our agreement is that they will still order a new door card if I don't like the repair, so it should be ok - one way or another. Having said that, I don't know why they don't just order up a card in the first place. I've made it pretty clear that I won't accept the repair if it's anything less than perfect, so I hope their confidence in their repairer isn't misplaced. If will otherwise cost them more in the long run!

The only thing that mystifies me in all this is how they can claim their dealers give all Approved Used cars a comprehensive, multi-point inspection, yet they miss something as obvious as this. Call me cynical, but could it possibly be that they don't actually bother? I have a sneaky feeling that they just pick up anything we customers notice and hope to get away with anything that we don't! 2014 3.0 SDV6 Sport HSE Corris Grey with Ebony/Cirrus
GONE - 2012 TdV8 Westminster Orkney/Ivory
GONE - 2012 3.0 SDV6 Sport HSE Luxury Orkney Grey/Ivory
GONE - 2006 3.0 Td6 Vogue SE Buckingham Blue/Parchment

.....Because most buyers don't read this site and are unaware of the very high standard they can demand against the LR promise.

Most people, myself included, bought a Range Rover assuming it was a used car and would come with some defects. Had I known at the time that I could have had much of the trim damage repaired I would have definitely done so.

Judging by the condition of several of the cars I looked at, it seems that my dealer took the opinion that they would only rectify smaller defects if the customer highlighted them, which goes against the Approved Used vein somewhat!

Have them change the front seatbelt assembly before you collect the car too! The springs weaken in them leaving the recoil action VERY SLOW!!! and is a VERY common fault! If you don’t, you will damage the door card again VERY soon! Trust me...

I bought mine with some slight damage to the driver's door card. I couldn't believe the price when I asked about a replacement. Made me realize that it's a VERY small mark after all.

my new one had a couple of small dinks to the door card.

Repaired to near perfect.....by me..... with some soft plastic glue from halfords a bit of patience a cocktail stick and a hairdryer. could go over with some leather dye but theres no point, am happy with the repair. There is nothing that can't be fixed with a hammer😜😜
FFRR 4.4 SDV8 Autobiography Santorini Black.
Fiat 500x 1.4 multiair Lounge 2015
2010 LR D4 Commercial 2.7 TDV6

So, the update is that the door card has been repaired and dealer assures me that it is a perfect, invisible repair. I guess I'll have to be the judge of that when I see it. However, he also tells me that there's nothing they can do with the ding in the front passenger door panel and that leads me to ask a question on which I would welcome all opinions....

Am I being unreasonable?

The ding in the door is tiny - probably no bigger than a finger nail sized mark. However you can clearly see the indent in the panel and my eyes will always be drawn to it. There's a bit of paint taken out as well, but remember this is, again, very small. The dealers are telling me that they don't think they can fix it, which of course translates into it not being something they want to pay to have fixed. It can of course be done, but they suggest that a ding like this is something one should expect on a 30 month old car. My counter to that is that the car has done such low mileage (under 10k) that it's not perhaps that unreasonable to expect the bodywork to be pretty much perfect. At the end of the day, I'll otherwise have to pay to have this put right and that doesn't seem within the spirit of the LR Approved Used promise.

So, am I being unreasonable? The car otherwise appears to be in very good nick and I imagine a SMART/PDR repair specialist could sort it for me for not a huge cost. 2014 3.0 SDV6 Sport HSE Corris Grey with Ebony/Cirrus
GONE - 2012 TdV8 Westminster Orkney/Ivory
GONE - 2012 3.0 SDV6 Sport HSE Luxury Orkney Grey/Ivory
GONE - 2006 3.0 Td6 Vogue SE Buckingham Blue/Parchment

Hmm.

You know about the dent BEFORE buying the car. Was the price adjusted to take the damage into account? If they don't want to fix it, I guess the question is whether you would be satisfied with the car "as is."

I'd be worried about corrosion if the paint is damaged/missing. A replacement door from a wreckers might be cheaper/easier than getting it fixed.

elbitrevnoc wrote:

... Am I being unreasonable? The ding in the door is tiny - probably no bigger than a finger nail sized mark. However you can clearly see the indent in the panel and my eyes will always be drawn to it... There's a bit of paint taken out as well... The dealers are telling me that they don't think they can fix it... but they suggest that a ding like this is something one should expect on a 30 month old car... My counter to that is that the car has done such low mileage... that it's not perhaps that unreasonable to expect the bodywork to be pretty much perfect... [otherwise] that doesn't seem within the spirit of the LR Approved Used promise.. So, am I being unreasonable?"

elbi,

We've just bought a similar age and v low mileage L322. Viewed it twice before buying it and found an identical sounding imperfection to that which you refer. Told them I'd buy the car on condition that it was made good. They agreed.

At the point of collection, they'd smart repaired it via localised paintwork which left a circular black shadow around the repair, standing out against the original paintwork. The dink/ ripple was still underneath it too. Told them it wasn't acceptable on a car of that standard. They agreed.

I took the car on trust and in good faith that they would fix it. They're due to take it in for the repair this weekend. The door will need to be repaired and repainted in full, as I understand it.

In your case, particularly if they said they'd sort it before you agreed to proceed, remind them of the A.U promises which clearly states they will "ensure it leaves a Land Rover Retailer in immaculate condition..."

If you're buying approved used, you pay a premium for the 'privilege'. That combined with their promises that vehicles will be immaculate, for me at least, means they have nowhere to hide, most certainly not behind comments similar to, "what do you expect given the age and mileage of the vehicle?".

If they feel the age and mileage of a vehicle means it can't be immaculate or in any way can't live up to approved promises designed to secure sales, then they should not retail vehicles of that age and mileage.

The Oxford dictionary definition of immaculate includes:
"Perfectly clean, neat or tidy... Free from flaws or mistakes; perfect."

Agree with the above... As Ryan said... & if it aint up to a certain standard, they would usually put it into auction as there are plenty out there for them to choose from...

The dealer sounds rubbish to be blunt...

Absolutely agree Craig and I've had similar eperience as Ryan with a botch job of a scratch repair to a previous LR AU car that I bought. Just as Ryan described, the car came back the first time with a dark blob of paint that just drew attention all the more to the scratch - I reckon they'd let their receptionist have a go at it! At least that dealer was prepared to sort it though -even if it did take them two goes to get it right.

I'm sure I'll get there in the end and I've aready quoted their 'immaculate' promise back to them, To be honest, I think it's a foolish word for LR to use, considering that they will offer cars up to 5 years old on the forecourt. However, that's really their problem! 2014 3.0 SDV6 Sport HSE Corris Grey with Ebony/Cirrus
GONE - 2012 TdV8 Westminster Orkney/Ivory
GONE - 2012 3.0 SDV6 Sport HSE Luxury Orkney Grey/Ivory
GONE - 2006 3.0 Td6 Vogue SE Buckingham Blue/Parchment

I bought a 2010 FFRR last year and it was spotless (well till I or the parking attendent scraped the corner of the bumper ) so their idea that "all cars" have dents/blemishes/scratches is not entirely correct. There are plenty cars that still look pristine.

Bearing in mind also, mine had 80k plus on the clock when I bought it (miles not kms). MY 2010 5.0 SC Galway green and sand interior!!
Have the Faultmate MSV2 Extreme to be tinkering with the settings etc. !!