A word of warning to any potential buyers of Land Rovers there is a dealer claiming to be a "specialist" in Co Durham. Who I will not name but he is based on a farm. He charges top market price for his vehicles claims to have inspected the vehicles before they leave but you get 2 miles down the road and as we found the back brakes sticking on and other faults. He is very reticent to repair any issues once he has your money. Most seriously he claims to be a specialist but doesn't check all the common problem areas on L322 Range Rovers. He liquidated his business not long after we bought our L322 and then continued trading with a slightly different business name trading from the same place using the same fancy website (What would make that necessary I wonder?). He acted like he was a big garage when he was a one man band who used local garages to carry out repair work and had no work shop of his own. We had a bad experience dealing with this garage and I have since spoken to another Land Rover specialist who has had ex clients of the afore mentioned "specialist" come to him having experienced problems with the same dealer. FYI
When is a specialist not a specialist?
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Awww and you came on here with your first post to flame them when we don't know you from Adam.
Most folk who have garages which do up older vehicles fall into the category covering what you have said above. Its not right but there is still a market for sh1t resprayed and with new seat covers +5k on the real price.
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Shirley that would have shown up on a test drive. Did you not inspect it yourself before you bought it?
I posted on here to try and help protect other potential new owners buying at a high price believing the alleged specialist would have fully checked out the common problems known to the marque and model. It was my partner who purchased the car. I have bought from other specialists for other marques and never had such rubbish treatment.
Bought in January 2021 in middle of the pandemic so no test drives were allowed.
Turboman
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There is quite a lot of stuff to check on a Range Rover, to be fair.
Personally, I wouldn't buy any vehicle without a test drive, let alone a Range Rover.
And if virus was used as an excuse, i would simply say I would come back when I could test drive it.
A dealer is a dealer, whether they say they are specialists makes no difference, there are good ones and bad ones.
I assume you paid way over the odds for this? Which was a bit silly too.
Not saying the bloke should have ripped you off, he shouldn't.
But I suggest next time ignore the vendor, and look at the vehicle properly.
I didn't buy it my partner bought it as a treat for herself after saving her hard earned cash as a mood lift during the pandemic. Yes she paid top money and this bloke is a misogynist. When I got involved being ex motor trade he tried to refuse to deal with me. She assumed as he claimed to be a specialist it was worth the extra thousands for peace of mind ( I was not part of the decision making). I have not disclosed the full details here but basically he lied in the advert and on his website about the vehicle, cleverly hid the fact he had not MOT d the vehicle and sold it with 10mths MOT when advertised with 12mths because he realised it wouldn't pass an MOT because the sills at the rear in the normal place had rotted. He admitted to repairing the rear arches when asked (Botched with mesh and putty as were the rear sills). I am only posting this to warn other people as he is still in business as a specialist under a different name. Other genuine specialists who repaired the car knew of this dealer and were less than complementary. Why close a business then start the same business under a new name? Doesn't take much imagination to work out why.
Western Slope Rover
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Misogynist......does he have a license to practice? Maybe that's the problem.
Turboman
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Did she ask for her money back on return of the vehicle, which I think she has a right to do if she bought from a business?
Turboman
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What sort of business was it? Sole trader, partnership, or limited liability?
And how did she pay? With payments from a bank, they will sometimes re-imburse fully or partially for fraudulent transactions.
If she paid with a credit card, protection should be even better.
Vogueman
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Report him to your local trading standards, explain as on here, they might pay him a visit
Turboman
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And an email to CAB might be helpful.
Vogueman
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Good point, that too, in reply to Turboman
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Turboman
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On the right hand side of posts, at the bottom, there should be a tab called "Reply". If you click on that and then type your post outside the box, the quote will appear in your post.
Vogueman
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I did realise after I clicked post reply, I did find edit, but I was looking for delete, so I could re-post it, but no delete.
Turboman
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There is no delete. If you are really not happy with the post, and don't want to rewrite it, just edit it down to a full stop (.).
She paid via bank transfer. I believe he is a sole trader running a limited company, although his website makes it look like he is a sizeable operation. However after my partner bought the L322 from him the car was still listed on his website for a long time as still for sale. In my opinion this was done to make it look like he had a range of vehicles in stock. I have put a file together for trading standards. I was sent a solicitors email regarding his legal standing and trying to frighten me from informing the wider Land Rover community about their client. As I pointed out I would not reveal his name and just the facts about my partners experience dealing with this alleged "Specialist".
There is no legal recourse in this case as he liquidated the company that is why I felt it necessary to highlight the way this guy does business and try and prevent other Land Rover enthusiasts being ripped off in the future buying from him under whatever name he trades under at that particular time. A snake can shed its skin but it is still the same snake underneath. Enough said.
There is no legal recourse in this case as he liquidated the company that is why I felt it necessary to highlight the way this guy does business and try and prevent other Land Rover enthusiasts being ripped off in the future buying from him under whatever name he trades under at that particular time. A snake can shed its skin but it is still the same snake underneath. Enough said.
Turboman
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A sole trader is personally liable for debts incurred while trading.
As suggested above, I would contact CAB and Trading Standards.
I take your point as a sole trader but he had his company registered as a Limited company thus restricting his liabilities. When a limited company liquidates showing a negative balance on its books and no assets any potential financial recourse is dead in the water.
Turboman
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Not going into it too much, but someone I know has just had a bad experience with a rogue trader, not to do with vehicles.
On looking into it, Trading Standards found that the chap had dissolved his Limited Company some time before, and had taken the payment whle trading as a sole trader.
On examination of his financial situation, TS discovered he had no money, and that the only way to recover some of the money would be to force him into bankruptcy, which didn't seem worth the candle for a few thousand quid.
But TS also pointed out that as the payment was via a Bank, they might refund the money, as it was a fraudulent transaction, and the bank should have checked the destination account more carefully.
The money was in fact refunded, but it took several months.
The fact that this chap is sending you lawyer's letters suggests to me that he is running scared of something.
So I would again suggest contact TS and CAB, it will cost you nothing except time, and you may get some of the money back.
