Thanks everyone I have slept on this for a few nights but have decided to write this up...
If you are planning to buy a landrover, I'd suggest that you avoid these people:
Windmill Land Rovers
Preston New Road
Mellor
Blackburn
Lancashire
BB2 7NT
I believe they prey upon less experienced people looking for a shiny landrover.
Their website implies a main dealer - not the small car lot they really are.
Unless you want to pay too much and live within 30 miles of this garage I would suggest you go elsewhere.
The facts...
The car I was looking at was an '03 GS spec - no ACE or cruise control - this is about as basic as it can get.
They were asking £10k for it which, for a GS, is seriously overpriced.
That said I was still interested as I wanted a good low mileage D2.
Before I set off I asked all the normal questions but specifically a catch all one of "Is there anything obviously wrong?" - to which the answer was a definite 'No'.
I made him very aware that I was going to be travelling 5 hours to get to him - he took a £300 deposit to hold it - assuring us we would get it back if we did not like the car.
When we got to the garage I gave it a good look over.
It had been 'waxoyled' - in quotes because this was hardly a thick coat or consistently applied - much of the underside was barely covered if at all.
Under the bonnet everything glistened - obviously sprayed with wd40/'engine cleaner'.
Given the lack of rust bumps under the waxoyl and the straightness of the plastics under the bonnet this was all done to tart it up.
The wheel arches were pitted with UV - this is normal for a car of this age - but not for one at that price - this highlights the limit of the work they are willing to put in to make the premium price.
When we went for the test drive it was a different matter.
On starting, there was the tell tale noise from the squealing clutch/thrust bearing - he explained they all do this (!!)
But at around 2500 revs the rattle from behind the dash was atrocious. He tried to laugh this off describing the rattles as 'landrover rattles'.
He offered to drop the price to £9,900 because of the rattle!! He knew I would never spend the time driving to Blackburn to get the rattle sorted out on his warranty - he could obviously sense the way this was going
I was not going to pay £10k for a car that had such problems - the car was not as described - I asked for my deposit back.
He had first tried to just walk away and keep the deposit!!!
He then offered half of it back!!
He then refused to give us the £50 for the MOT he had put on it!!
I was spitting furious - I had to drive for 10 hours, pay for the fuel not to mention lose out on my day and he wanted me to pay for the MOT (which he kept)
I believe he felt that if I would drive that far I would buy it whatever the problems.
I know he bought the car from a dealer in portsmouth for less than £8.5k, had it driven back to Blackburn, 'waxoyled' it, ponced it up and planned to sell it for £10k.
On his forecourt there is a >100k miles X reg D2 for just under £6k
(which must, by his own account, have clutch squeal)
My 190k mile D2 does not make the squealing noise - nor does it have as many rattles!!!
in fact all the other D2s I know at the moment don't either
As to a 'landrover dealer' passing off rattles as standard - not exactly an ambassador for the marque!
We all have to make a living but I don't think this is the way to do it.
I hope this honest write up affects the way they do business.