‘My Land Rover nearly killed me – but the dealer has fobbed me off for a year’
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Dear Katie,
I’ve driven Range Rovers for most of my adult life. Having finished with a Velar model, I bought a used Land Rover Discovery on a £700-a-month deal from a franchise branch of Jaguar Land Rover (JLR) on November 30 2022.
As the vehicle had been bought in from another dealership, and I collected it late in the day, I was not given the opportunity to test drive it. I wasn’t too worried though, as I’d never had issues before, and it came with a 12-month warranty.
While driving the vehicle home, I commented to my son who was sitting in the passenger seat that it felt very sluggish. It did not feel like any other JLR vehicle I have previously driven.
The next morning, I called the dealer about my concerns and had to leave a message with reception, as no one was available to speak. I did not receive a call back and had to phone the dealer again several times later that day.
In the meantime, I also discovered that the left front windscreen wiper did not work, and part of the internal trim on the passenger side was coming away. The vehicle also had a severe smell of damp and a major problem with condensation.
When I finally spoke to the dealer to say I wanted to return the vehicle, I was told that exchanging it for an alternative would not be a problem. The staff promised to take care of me, but said that I needed to give the dealership the opportunity to find me another similar model. I now feel this was merely a delay tactic, as from then on, their communication was non-existent.
While I was waiting for a replacement car, I tried not to drive the Land Rover, as I didn’t want to put extra miles on the clock before it was returned. But eventually, I had to start driving it, as I couldn’t keep borrowing my children’s cars.
On July 17, I was driving on the M25 when the vehicle suddenly indicated “restricted performance” and slowed down from 70mph to 20mph. As I was in the fast lane, it was an incredibly dangerous situation trying to manoeuvre across to the hard shoulder.
This was extremely traumatic. I limped on to the next junction and exited the motorway. I tried using the emergency assistance function, only to discover that this did not work. So I called the dealer to find out the best contact number for their recovery service. As I could not get a reply, I took the car to my office, which was close by.
On July 28, I tried to drive the car back to my house and once again the vehicle went into restricted performance mode. This time the vehicle was recovered to the dealership the next day and they informed me that they would look into all the issues.
After two months, the dealership called and insisted there was nothing wrong with it. However, as a “goodwill gesture”, it agreed to fix the windscreen wiper.
I took the car in and received a call in the middle of a significant religious festival, which I did not pick up. When I checked my messages that evening, I saw the dealership had emailed earlier that day stating that unless I collected the car immediately, it would start charging storage fees.
I felt this was in extremely poor taste, given how useless they had been. And to add insult to injury, when I collected the vehicle, I noticed several scratches and some damage to the paint work which had not been there previously.
Several days later, whilst driving on the M25, the vehicle once again went into restricted performance mode. This time it caused an HGV behind me to swerve to avoid colliding with me. I thought I was going to be killed. The incident has left me very fearful of driving, especially on the motorway.
Once again, I took the car back to the dealer and I was told there was nothing wrong with it, despite me supplying photographs of the dashboard indicating the restricted performance issue each time it happened. I felt I was being fobbed off and disbelieved.
Finally, I managed to talk to a manager. I said I was not prepared to collect the car until it had been properly examined by a competent authority.
The vehicle remains with the dealer and some six months later, I have still not heard from it. Throughout this ordeal, I have felt that my safety, concerns, and clear evidence of an issue with the vehicle were dismissed. I find the dealership’s attitude both condescending and the lack of customer service has been appalling.
It seems that once it has taken your money, you are merely an inconvenience.
– JB, London
Dear reader,
Finally, just before you wrote to me, the dealer confirmed that there were serious issues with your car after all. You were told it needed a new engine and turbo unit, and that this was being taken care of.
Why it took the dealership this long to come to this conclusion I have no idea, but it certainly seems like you were repeatedly fobbed off and ignored over serious issues, many of which appear to have been there since you bought the vehicle.
All of them certainly arose during the warranty period. You say you feel you have spent a year being gaslighted by staff. If this is how this branch of JLR treats its most loyal and long standing customers, then I dread to think how it treats everyone else.
For you, this offer of remedial action to make the car safe again came way too late, as you had already lost all faith in the integrity of the vehicle and the dealership. The incidents on the motorway have left you extremely uncomfortable and anxious to drive it at all, and I can completely understand why.
As a result of this, you have decided you want no further relationship with this dealer, or with Jaguar Land Rover. You said you never want to see this car again, and you want your finance agreement cancelled.
I said I would see what I could do, and you were elated when I went above the dealership’s head and arranged with JLR’s head office for the remaining £43,000 on your lease to be wiped, and the £4,260 you’d paid since July last year to be refunded.
Now the financial side of things are settled, JLR needs to conduct a thorough investigation into why you were ever sold this lemon in the first place, and why your consumer rights were unfairly denied for so long, ultimately leading to your safety being put at risk.
A JLR spokesman said: “During JLR’s review of the case, we found that there were times that Mrs B did not receive the high levels of care we hold ourselves accountable to. In recognition of that, and considering Mrs B’s long standing relationship with our brands, we have collectively arranged to honour her request to return the vehicle. We sincerely apologise to Mrs B for the time it has taken to resolve this.”
