Problem with garage (in France)

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ukadamwest said:
Salut Freder, you have got lucky it seems in that Datatek is not that far from you ! You would be better from forgetting Land Rover Dealers and local garages and making good contact with Datatek, he quite literally is like Yoda when it comes to Range Rovers. With such sources as Datatek, Wammers, SaintV8 as well as other esteemed forum members there is a wealth of technical knowledge to keep a P38 in top working order.

A bientot !
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Merci!

Yes, I will contact Datatek with great pleasure. How did it come to my "darkening the door of a LR dealership" ? (to paraphrase, but lovely language!)

I made a silly mistake by unplugging the battery of the P38 (first Range I am owning with electronics) and of course Miss P38 seemed to forget all about me after that. She had gone in superlock (basically even with code and key, I could not start the engine anymore). So I called the insurance, and they said ok, where is the garage? Unfortunately, my local garage was closed for vacations, and I said, let's go to a LR dealer (Garage Pithon in Cholet), as I heard of it for 25 years at least.

The story gets interesting.

During the transport to Cholet, about 100 km, the transporter truck has a crash in a round-about. They call me to say, hey, sorry but the rear of your P38 literally went through the cabin of the truck.

So basically to repair the super lock, my car was crashed!! I was mad, because I take great care of my cars (I lived in Southampton for a few years, and got my Range Rover Classic refurbished in Poole).

So they kept my Range for 2,5 months (!), basically with having repaired what was damaged externally during the crash, but the inside!! huh, awful and smelly. Really a shame.

To say the truth, the last time I had work done in LR dealership in France was in Strasbourg back in 1992, and it almost killed me. The guy had fitted the visco fan in a way to went through the front of the Range while I was driving. Fantastic. Garage BoB Wollek, Jaguar team Le Mans. Bull****.

To confirm about dealers:

IN Southampton, upon arriving I thought it would be cool to show a beautiful Range Rover Classic, Shire Blue, Vogue, but no luck, they turned me down saying they are NOT QUALIFIED for this (junk?).

Basically we are bad customers.
 
So, they did fix the body damage?

Is the glove box itself damaged or is it the fixings to the body? I think that it could be repaired.
 
SpiggyTopes said:
So, they did fix the body damage?

Is the glove box itself damaged or is it the fixings to the body? I think that it could be repaired.
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Only the fixings to the body, in fact. Everything can be repaired, but it is difficult to make it look as if it was never broken.

Whatever, it is NOT normal that these things happen.

And to continue about dealers, I used to have a BMW motorcycle, and they could not fit a tyre on it (I mean it!). BMW motorcycle official dealer in Angers. So German, French or British, whatever the brand, new or old, we are talking about incompetence.
 
Wow, just wow !

There's just serial incompetence all round there, from a car shifting a recovery truck (as an aside last year i witnessed a recovery truck at the roundabout with the A34 and M4 with a that gone sideways off the recovery truck and the front still attached to the winch cable!)

for the glovebox, that can be repaired though you may have to spend some euros and a bottle of something for Datatek.

have a look here: Allbrit.de - Ersatzteile für LAND ROVER & MG ROVER

It seems that modern dealerships are becoming exempt of technical and mechanical knowledge. A mechanic I know used to work for the Porsche main dealer but left and started up on his own as to paraphrase him " you learn nothing about automotive engineering, you plug a car into a computer read the fault code, take it to the master mechanic who approves you to change whatever part is flagged up"

Perhaps that is why many people with interests in cars are now favoring older, more classic types !
 
freder said:
Only the fixings to the body, in fact. Everything can be repaired, but it is difficult to make it look as if it was never broken.

Whatever, it is NOT normal that these things happen.

And to continue about dealers, I used to have a BMW motorcycle, and they could not fit a tyre on it (I mean it!). BMW motorcycle official dealer in Angers. So German, French or British, whatever the brand, new or old, we are talking about incompetence.
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A good body shop should be able to make it look as good as new, the AD franchise near me are first class on body repairs as I Know from experience.:D
One section of the human race is progressively de-skilling other sections, the latest is the proposal to take away the responsibility of F1 drivers to slow down under the safety car or yellow flag by having a remote speed control operated by the race controller.:rolleyes:
 
freder said:
Only the fixings to the body, in fact. Everything can be repaired, but it is difficult to make it look as if it was never broken.

Whatever, it is NOT normal that these things happen.

And to continue about dealers, I used to have a BMW motorcycle, and they could not fit a tyre on it (I mean it!). BMW motorcycle official dealer in Angers. So German, French or British, whatever the brand, new or old, we are talking about incompetence.
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Don't get mad, get even. They are a main dealers, if the Head office will do nothing for you then book a test drive for a new R/R. See how they like it when it comes back with damaged back end and a broken glove box.:D:D
 
Datatek said:
A good body shop should be able to make it look as good as new, the AD franchise near me are first class on body repairs as I Know from experience.:D
One section of the human race is progressively de-skilling other sections, the latest is the proposal to take away the responsibility of F1 drivers to slow down under the safety car or yellow flag by having a remote speed control operated by the race controller.:rolleyes:
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Well, it reminds me of that book, Zen and the Art of motorcycle maintenance, truly. What you say regarding the AD network is true, our little garage in a village of 400 people, part of AD network, is working really okay. I order the parts and we do the job together.

If you have a problem around here, it is a good guy: Garage Yannick Lalos, 53200 Daon, with some knowledge now in P38 (I translate the papers for him)...

But you see the difference is that he is working alone. It is not like those fancy BMW, LR, Audi, etc dealers, with a garage usually forbidden to access...
 
To answer the suggestion to rebuild a Classic two door Range Rover, I have one since 1988 (first hand) restored in England in 2011. Shire Blue, two seats. New engine (VM). And whole suspension with Polybush, overhauled. No corrosion at all. Inside remains to be restored, though. I would like to sell it, as I don't use it as a primary car anymore.

Regarding Land Rover, I got an answer to my complaint with the garage. Harvey from LR England asked me to provide my details so they can try to find a solution... I posted a message on Facebook site of LR.
 
Datatek said:
the latest is the proposal to take away the responsibility of F1 drivers to slow down under the safety car or yellow flag by having a remote speed control operated by the race controller.:rolleyes:
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That's just the immediate reaction to the Jules Bianchi accident, don't think it would be a good idea, wouldn't be able to keep the tyres up to heat/pressure. They'll end up like skalextric cars soon!

Finding a good garage/bodyshop is like gold dust. Really gotta get your hands dirty yourself if you want to own an older car.

Do you have any nice bread flour coming out of your mill Keith? I'm an older uglier version of Paul Hollywood with engine oil under my fingernails!:D
 
kevwill said:
That's just the immediate reaction to the Jules Bianchi accident, don't think it would be a good idea, wouldn't be able to keep the tyres up to heat/pressure. They'll end up like skalextric cars soon!

Finding a good garage/bodyshop is like gold dust. Really gotta get your hands dirty yourself if you want to own an older car.

Do you have any nice bread flour coming out of your mill Keith? I'm an older uglier version of Paul Hollywood with engine oil under my fingernails!:D
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Making bread dough will clean under your fingernails;):)
 
kevwill said:
That's just the immediate reaction to the Jules Bianchi accident, don't think it would be a good idea, wouldn't be able to keep the tyres up to heat/pressure. They'll end up like skalextric cars soon!

Finding a good garage/bodyshop is like gold dust. Really gotta get your hands dirty yourself if you want to own an older car.

Do you have any nice bread flour coming out of your mill Keith? I'm an older uglier version of Paul Hollywood with engine oil under my fingernails!:D
Click to expand...
No mill machinery there I'm afraid, burnt in the last war to stop the Nazi's using it, it used to mill Linseed for oil I'm told:)
 
tomcat59alan said:
You can damage there customer relations as much as a R/R Sport owner:)
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I have to say that I am now a bit wary of the answer I got, because it seems a generic answer sent to any guy not happy with a Range...

For instance, I said what was the problem, but some people just post rants about Land Rover having always problems, etc. And they get the same response...

The problem also is that the French are not interested in older cars. They prefer to buy a Renault or Peugeot, much too expensive for my own taste, instead of buying an older Range Rover and restore it.

The same applies to older homes, and the Loire Valley is full of superb domains for sale, while there is a waiting list to buy a 100 sq.m. bungalow with self-destructive design.

I do not understand, but I guess that having an older car must mean something like being a loser in France.
 
freder said:
I have to say that I am now a bit wary of the answer I got, because it seems a generic answer sent to any guy not happy with a Range...

For instance, I said what was the problem, but some people just post rants about Land Rover having always problems, etc. And they get the same response...

The problem also is that the French are not interested in older cars. They prefer to buy a Renault or Peugeot, much too expensive for my own taste, instead of buying an older Range Rover and restore it.

The same applies to older homes, and the Loire Valley is full of superb domains for sale, while there is a waiting list to buy a 100 sq.m. bungalow with self-destructive design.

I do not understand, but I guess that having an older car must mean something like being a loser in France.
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Must depend where you are in France, lots of locals running Deux Chevaux's, R11's etc round here and old properties are being bought up and renovated by the Frence instead of the English.
 
Datatek said:
Must depend where you are in France, lots of locals running Deux Chevaux's, R11's etc round here and old properties are being bought up and renovated by the Frence instead of the English.
Click to expand...

I used to like the R11,not the 9 though,bought and sold a few 11's,long time ago though.:).Also the Fuego,that was a good looking car at the time.
 
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