I've had a Discovery Sport 2.0 TD4 180 SE Diesel (Sep 2017) since it came off the lot in early 2018, and have loved it. It's the 3rd LR we've had from that dealership, and has been fully serviced.
However, in January this year I had intermittent starting problems, which the AA but down to a crack in a wire or pin. The starter had power but was not seeing the start signal from the Start button. Took it to the local dealer twice, as they couldn't find the fault the first time.
The dealer said it required a new engine bay wiring harness (as J/LR wouldn't allow a simple repair that the mechanic suggested), and has been in their repair shop since then, over 3 months!
The part finally turned up last week, and I got the bill this week.
Originally, they quoted £1,453 for a new harness part, but now say it'll now cost £2,048 for a new wiring harness!
Apparently, I'm told by the dealer, these are not stock items (really?), and they've had to schedule a manufacturing run at J/LR (or one of its suppliers).
Of course, they've had to take the whole engine out to fix a wire.
On top of that, we've been charged 1 hour labour for diagnosing the non-start issue, and 3 hours for additional wiring checks and "attempt to repair wiring" (which LR said couldn't happen, so don't know if that time to attempt the repair or time to request approval of J/LR).
The dealer provided a replacement vehicle (finally, after 3 weeks), and has applied a lower hourly labour rate (65% of the original), but applied 8.04 hours of labour to supply/fix the harness compared to the original quote/estimate of 6.7 hours. Strangely, the bill still comes to within 50p of the original estimate!
I'm facing a bill of over £4,300!
All this, for a cracked wire or pin!
The dealer did make a request to J/LR for a goodwill gesture, but this was rejected because of the age of our car was outside of their goodwill parameters
This is all because of a design that prevents simple repair or replacement of a single faulty wire. I'd like to say "design fault", but the sceptic in me can't rule out that this was intentional, to generate more income from parts and repairs.
Has anyone else seen similar issues, and can anyone please suggest avenues that might help to reduce the cost.
Thanks
However, in January this year I had intermittent starting problems, which the AA but down to a crack in a wire or pin. The starter had power but was not seeing the start signal from the Start button. Took it to the local dealer twice, as they couldn't find the fault the first time.
The dealer said it required a new engine bay wiring harness (as J/LR wouldn't allow a simple repair that the mechanic suggested), and has been in their repair shop since then, over 3 months!
The part finally turned up last week, and I got the bill this week.
Originally, they quoted £1,453 for a new harness part, but now say it'll now cost £2,048 for a new wiring harness!
Apparently, I'm told by the dealer, these are not stock items (really?), and they've had to schedule a manufacturing run at J/LR (or one of its suppliers).
Of course, they've had to take the whole engine out to fix a wire.
On top of that, we've been charged 1 hour labour for diagnosing the non-start issue, and 3 hours for additional wiring checks and "attempt to repair wiring" (which LR said couldn't happen, so don't know if that time to attempt the repair or time to request approval of J/LR).
The dealer provided a replacement vehicle (finally, after 3 weeks), and has applied a lower hourly labour rate (65% of the original), but applied 8.04 hours of labour to supply/fix the harness compared to the original quote/estimate of 6.7 hours. Strangely, the bill still comes to within 50p of the original estimate!
I'm facing a bill of over £4,300!
All this, for a cracked wire or pin!
The dealer did make a request to J/LR for a goodwill gesture, but this was rejected because of the age of our car was outside of their goodwill parameters
This is all because of a design that prevents simple repair or replacement of a single faulty wire. I'd like to say "design fault", but the sceptic in me can't rule out that this was intentional, to generate more income from parts and repairs.
Has anyone else seen similar issues, and can anyone please suggest avenues that might help to reduce the cost.
Thanks
Last edited:
