Sorry for this long rant. It’s more of an explanation as to why I might move away from JLR.

With their parts debarkle, insurance, and ever-raising service and purchase prices, this might be the last straw.

For the last 10 years, I’ve used the same main dealer to service and repair my FF’s. I’ve always had JLR’s extended warranty. During this time, we have also bought two brand new F-Types from them.

Last December I dropped my FF off in the morning for its annual service and MOT. It’s getting on now, a 65 plate with 62,500 miles and full MDSH. Around 4 pm the dealer called to say they would need to keep my car overnight as their technician had to go home sick and they hadn’t been able to carry out the service. No problem, these things happen.

The next day I collected the car to be told whilst my car had passed its MOT, there were advisories, one of which was an oil leak. I watched the video and there are signs oil had been trickling on the block, not a lot at all, and none on the underside tray. They provided an estimate for repair.

Quite surprised with this I looked closer at the video and paperwork provided and noticed.

1. The oil leak was found on day 1 during the MOT. From the video taken on day 2, the oil leak can only be seen after removing the underside tray, which AFAIK is not part of an MOT. The underside tray was removed during the service but that wasn’t carried out until the following day.
2. Why wasn’t I called when the oil leak was identified?
3. Knowing there is an oil leak that will be repaired soon, why carry out the service, or at least the oil change when it will need changing again?
4. I then remembered a similar repair the dealership carried out 18 months ago under warranty. When I looked at my papers, the estimate was for the same fault even the part numbers matched. Why has this failed again?

I didn’t get an answer from the service advisor and was told the service manager would call me back later. They booked the repair for mid-January with a week’s courtesy car. They said they would pass the details on to warranty etc. Despite calls to the dealer, I never did get a call back from the service manager.

Mid-January the paperwork arrived for me to drop my car off the following day. It showed the reg of the courtesy car, a Velar. When I dropped my car off, they showed little interest in the Invoice for the previous repair they carried out on the same oil leak. I was given an Evoquecourtesy car, no explanation as to why the model changed, but hey ho.

Towards the end of week one I was told LR Warranty has refused the claim as the fault relates to work carried out within 2 years. A different claim is being made on parts, I am told this is procedural and not to worry. Another week goes by, nothing. During week three I was told some parts for my repair were on backorder with no ETA, oh and they wanted the courtesy car back. Requests to speak to managers fall on deaf ears so an email is written. No dice, the courtesy car must go back, although I am entitled to hire a car for a max of 40 days or a week after the parts arrive. They will reimburse up to £85 per day. The key word is “reimburse” I must pay for the hire and submit the paid invoice to the dealer who will pay me back in 28 days.

I’m directed to the local Enterprise depot with a JLR code. I placed a hire car order late Wednesday afternoon. Fast forward to today, they haven’t yet been able to locate me a suitable vehicle.

We are now going around in circles with the dealer wanting their courtesy car back and me saying no problem as soon as I get a hire car. However, I keep asking two simple questions.

1. Why didn’t you order the parts in December ready for January?
2. Knowing better than anybody JLR’s parts position, why didn’t you check the parts needed were available BEFORE you took my car apart?

Their reply is “We don’t do it that way”. Well, if you did, we might not be in this mess.

I’ve been putting off changing my car for the last two/three years. As much as I love the FFRR, this has soured it. There are probably good indies in my area that would look after my car better than the MD. However, I’m of that age now where I don’t want or need the hassle. I just want to drop my cars off once a year at the dealership where I have confidence and I will be looked after.

I’m not saying the service at Merc, Audi, or BMW is any better, but this has been a shocker.  2016MY TDV6 Autobiography
2011MY 5.0 Supercharged Autobiography Black - Gone
2005 TD6 Vogue - Gone

Yes, that is all very poor and I sympathise. As you say the combination of (a) the lack of durability of the product; (b) spares being unavailable with no indication of when they might be; (c) the cost of the L460s; and (d) the difficulty in getting insurance (or the very much higher cost if one can find it) is a real disincentive to staying with LR. Part of the stress with this is that one has no control at all, and there is no-one one can go to for help.

My own car has been sitting at the dealer unable to get through an MOT until parts arrive (back order, no known arrival time) for almost three weeks and I have a Kia Sportage manual diesel, so not as bad as your situation, but who knows what the future holds. My experience of hire car companies in the context of LR Assist in the past has been dreadful, so I hope I don't have to get into that position. The problem will be that there are so many cars sitting waiting for spares that the dealers have run out of loan cars. LR should be providing more as the problem is of their making (consolidation of spares warehouses into a single unit) but presumably don't have enough either or don't want to spend the money.

The dealer in my case has been fine, and AFAIK they have not done work until the parts arrive, the reason the car is stuck there is that its MOT has expired and so legally it cannot be taken away. And I'm sympathetic to my dealers, the problems are really of LR's making, they are unable to get the work done and get paid for it, they will be selling fewer cars because people can't get insurance, their second hand stock will have fallen in value for the same reason and they are maybe also worse off because LR have taken away the franchise model and put them on an agency basis.

As you say there comes a point where the downsides and hassle outweigh the positives and, like you, I wonder whether my current RR will be my last. Sad after over 35 years of RRs, but there we are. Only Range Rovers since 1988

After 8 weeks of my car being laid up at the MD, neither JLR nor the dealer can provide any form of timescale on when the parts are expected to arrive.

The MD still does not accept their role in why my car is off the road. They still insist it wouldn't have been sensible to check the availability of the parts needed before immobilising my car despite knowing JLR's parts supply problem. They are blaming a brand issue.

JLR is blaming worldwide supply chain issues, pretty much Brexit without actually saying that word. But, what they can say is it has nothing to do with their merging of 18 parts locations into 1 mega site.

The hire car is due to go back next week, so after that, it's a waiting game with no car. You may think, he's had a hire car what's he moaning about? What I should mention is I've had to pay for the hire car (Volvo) and have been told to submit the final invoice to the warranty company at the end of the hire and they will reimburse me in 28 days.

I have logged a complaint with Inchape, the MD group, more in hope than anything else that they can assist in some way.

Once fixed, I think I'll chop it in. I don't think it will be RR No.5. 2016MY TDV6 Autobiography
2011MY 5.0 Supercharged Autobiography Black - Gone
2005 TD6 Vogue - Gone

Hate to be the bearer of bad news but my friend works at a local repair shop and they have had a Velar in form5 months now.

Insurance repair to a front end bump but part of the bumper is on back order.

They cant finish it till its replaced.

Poor chap has had to buy cheap run around to get to work.

Really poor from JLR. All things transport - big or small, UK or planetwide.
E-mail info@md-couriers.co.uk

There's a much repeated anecdote about Mercedes making 20 years of spares alongside production models so buyers will always have parts available off the shelf.

I believe you can still get new parts of Mercedes going back 40 years on overnight delivery from Germany.

Why JLR don't create sufficient stocks of spares before launch sort of hurts my brain thinking about, who in their right mind wouldn't.

I guess theoretically you could return a car to the dealer as "not fit for purpose" if there were no spares readily available. Fuji White 2012 4.4 TDV8 Westmiinster

I'm starting to think a temporary run-around might be needed.

I have thought about just buying the FF's replacement. Ignoring the hassle of having to sell my FF when it is eventually fixed, there is the matter of No Claims Discount. Or the lack of it. My FF needs to be kept insured whilst stuck in the MD, as others found out during the recent-ish floods, MD's don't cover your car whilst it's with them. Then there is the continued warranty, breakdown and car tax costs.

Not sure I can return the car, 'not fit for purpose' as I've owned it for a good number of years and didn't buy it from that dealership. My main gripe with the MD is that their initial repair failed within two years, they started the second repair without checking that the parts needed were available, despite being the supplying agent and knowing of the ongoing parts supply problems.

I am looking at what if anything the Motor Ombudsman can do. They say they resolve disputes, but at the moment, the MD doesn't recognise this as a dispute, more of a brand issue

A shambles. 2016MY TDV6 Autobiography
2011MY 5.0 Supercharged Autobiography Black - Gone
2005 TD6 Vogue - Gone

In my time I have had Mercs, Beemers, Audis, Fords, Nissan, Mazda and even a Chrysler - they are all the same happy to take every increasing amounts of money for bread and butter things but if you stray past that then you're in peril. Geoff

The above sorry tale merely confirms the view I have of main dealers. Why people use them is incomprehensible to me.

AndyRoo wrote:

There's a much repeated anecdote about Mercedes making 20 years of spares alongside production models so buyers will always have parts available off the shelf.

I believe you can still get new parts of Mercedes going back 40 years on overnight delivery from Germany.

Why JLR don't create sufficient stocks of spares before launch sort of hurts my brain thinking about, who in their right mind wouldn't.

I guess theoretically you could return a car to the dealer as "not fit for purpose" if there were no spares readily available.

After dealing with many main dealers can I suggest you buy a Lexus, their customer service has always been first class, second place for me has been Mercedes...

Good luck...  Pete

__________________________________________________
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-

My L460 was laid up for 6 weeks because they stripped the door down and started work before ordering parts and this was with a big printed note from me stuck on the dash centre screen stating "DO NOT START WORK ON ANYTHING UNTIL YOU HAVE THE PARTS IN YOUR HAND"

My Defender went in a few weeks ago for a recall and a few snags. They sat on it for 10 days waiting for parts and started pushing me for the loaner back and to go the enterprise route. In the end i had them bang all the faulty parts back on and give me the car back. It will not be going in until they have everythign they need.

The whole situation is a mess but some of it is down to procedure and they could work smarter to help themsleves. I told the tech they need to offer a triage service for minor issues, take the car in for an hour to assess it then order all the parts and call it back in when parts are in. The dealership is swamped with laid up cars waiting for parts. MY23 PHEV HSE
MY19 Disco 5 HSE - gone
My16 Disco 4 HSE LUXURY - gone
My12 Disco 4 HSE - gone
MY05 Disco 3 S - gone but not forgotten

My experience of Mercedes, the in dash clock went a bit haywire always 2hrs fast - took it in and they said "oh you need a new dash sir we can get one flown over - that'll be £2000". I didn't bother. Geoff

My Velar is still waiting for a new steering column, the issue happens on December 5th and been with local Land Rover MD since December 6th. No ETA for the part, I am calling every 2 weeks. The MD I bought the Velar from with approved used warrants from Land Rover tells me I cannot reject and return the car as it comes under „right to repair“. The sad news is, my car is waiting for a new part longer than I have been driving it.
I have a Enterprise curtesy car BMW 320i since December 7th and would guess Land Rover has paid in excess of £5000 for my curtesy car so far. How this is allowed to happen by a car manufacturer really beggars belief!

Hi Pitsnow, you don't say how old your car is so not sure what rules apply.

However under the sale of goods act https://www.themotorombudsman.org/knowledg...ying-a-car the Sale of Goods Act allows the seller to either repair or replace the car within a reasonable period of time without causing significant inconvenience.

I'd say you are experiencing significant inconvenience so you should be able to just return the car for a refund. Fuji White 2012 4.4 TDV8 Westmiinster

It's now the Consumer Rights Act 2015 rather than SOGA. Only Range Rovers since 1988