R

rickead2000

Member
I've got a 2020 P525 L405 which is due it's first service under my ownership. It's currently covered under the LR Extended warranty as it was bought from a main dealer.

So, I was about to book it in to the main dealer, but when I mentioned to them that it had started making a ticking noise when the engine was cold (and has been getting louder recently) and could they check this at the same time, they said it would be a £220+VAT fee to look into it. *Only* if it was determined to be an actual fault, and one which was covered by the LR extended warranty, would I not have to pay the diag fee.

So I'm wondering whether to just take it to a trusted independent instead (which will do work to spec and say the warranty won't be invalidated). The cost of the actual service is pretty similar between the two but I don't really want the risk of a £220+VAT bill for the main dealer to claim there's nothing wrong, or it's a wear and tear item and I then have to pay even more on top to fix it.

I know there's no right or wrong answer to this, but what would you do? How important is maintaining a main dealer service history these days? The independent have said they can update the official online LR service history
 
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I should also add that I intend to extend the warranty as long as I can. Would having a non-main dealer service stamp prevent me from doing this, or cause them to insist on some kind of inspection at renewal time? I can't find anything in the warranty t&c that mentions anything like this.
 
rickead2000 said:
I've got a 2020 P525 L405 which is due it's first service under my ownership. It's currently covered under the LR Extended warranty as it was bought from a main dealer.

So, I was about to book it in to the main dealer, but when I mentioned to them that it had started making a ticking noise when the engine was cold (and has been getting louder recently) and could they check this at the same time, they said it would be a £220+VAT fee to look into it. *Only* if it was determined to be an actual fault, and one which was covered by the LR extended warranty, would I not have to pay the diag fee.

So I'm wondering whether to just take it to a trusted independent instead (which will do work to spec and say the warranty won't be invalidated). The cost of the actual service is pretty similar between the two but I don't really want the risk of a £220+VAT bill for the main dealer to claim there's nothing wrong, or it's a wear and tear item and I then have to pay even more on top to fix it.

I know there's no right or wrong answer to this, but what would you do? How important is maintaining a main dealer service history these days? The independent have said they can update the official online LR service history
Click to expand...
First question is has the stealer said independent work won't invalidate warranty? If so then take vehicle to trusted indie to have a listen. If indie says there's an issue, and warranty won't be affected , trust your indie.
 
I would use the main dealer. If somefink goes wrong, they may try to get out of the warranty cover by blaming poor up keep. Or ask you to prove its not the independent causing the fault.

You have an expensive car full of expensive parts.
 
Tricky one..... Key is understanding what will impact the warranty. I am sure it will come down to suitably skilled and experienced folk servicing it rather than it HAVING to be serviced at that specific garage. I would have a go at the independent first as well. I would be amazed if you got much fixed on a 5 year old car by a main dealer, short of something fundamentally flawed. Wear and tear is going to be their answer for everything.

I too have hopped between dealer and independent and got stung both sides of the fence, but for this one you are still in "working it out" territory..... a good independent will say its covered by the warranty take it to a dealer if it is likely to be fixed for free.
 
rickead2000 said:
I should also add that I intend to extend the warranty as long as I can. Would having a non-main dealer service stamp prevent me from doing this, or cause them to insist on some kind of inspection at renewal time? I can't find anything in the warranty t&c that mentions anything like this.
Click to expand...
I read this a few times before I realised why I kept coming back to it. Then I realised. Stop looking for what isn't there, start looking at what is there. Which parts/faults are covered. They're very good at " well that isn't in your warranty". so you have to come back with exactly what is covered.
Is the engine covered for all faults, some faults, only specified faults, etc? Then look at all other clauses. Is it covered but only if x, y, and z are completed? Or if a, b, c and x, y, z.
Look at every sentence with a super magnifier. Check every sub paragraph, and sub sub (yes @Mark Piercy That's you) paragraph.
I know I'm probably teaching you to suck eggs, but warranties are sneaky. 🥷
 
Thanks for your help. I've got it booked into the Main Dealer for the service and have asked them if they come across the cause of the ticking during the service to fix it (if warranted), but I'm not paying a diag fee. Puts the ball in their court as to whether they want to "find" the issue and earn themselves a bit of extra warranty work!

If they don't (which I what I suspect), I'll take it to the independent for the ticking.

I can't help but think this £220+VAT charge is there to put you off trying to claim on the (official!) LR warranty. Sadly all it's done for them with me is push me to an independent for anything other than routine servicing as they can carry out LR warranty works.
 
also remember that "ticking" is generally something worn. Double check it's had oil changes at the correct intervals, and who did them. Receipts for work done can help with warranty as well.
 
rickead2000 said:
Thanks for your help. I've got it booked into the Main Dealer for the service and have asked them if they come across the cause of the ticking during the service to fix it (if warranted), but I'm not paying a diag fee. Puts the ball in their court as to whether they want to "find" the issue and earn themselves a bit of extra warranty work!

If they don't (which I what I suspect), I'll take it to the independent for the ticking.

I can't help but think this £220+VAT charge is there to put you off trying to claim on the (official!) LR warranty. Sadly all it's done for them with me is push me to an independent for anything other than routine servicing as they can carry out LR warranty works.
Click to expand...
The charge is not to do with the Warranty, it is to push you to the Indie because they regard anything over 3yrs as old. They don't have people trained to work on 'old' cars. I was told this when I took mine , at that time 8yrs old to my local stealer. It was explained by the manager that I happened to know. I asked him what happened to the dealers who could work on every model that the marque ever made, as per Volvo (then). He replied it no longer existed with Land Rover.
 
gold rover said:
The charge is not to do with the Warranty, it is to push you to the Indie because they regard anything over 3yrs as old. They don't have people trained to work on 'old' cars. I was told this when I took mine , at that time 8yrs old to my local stealer. It was explained by the manager that I happened to know. I asked him what happened to the dealers who could work on every model that the marque ever made, as per Volvo (then). He replied it no longer existed with Land Rover.
Click to expand...
Load of rubbish
 
rickead2000 said:
Thanks for your help. I've got it booked into the Main Dealer for the service and have asked them if they come across the cause of the ticking during the service to fix it (if warranted), but I'm not paying a diag fee. Puts the ball in their court as to whether they want to "find" the issue and earn themselves a bit of extra warranty work!

If they don't (which I what I suspect), I'll take it to the independent for the ticking.

I can't help but think this £220+VAT charge is there to put you off trying to claim on the (official!) LR warranty. Sadly all it's done for them with me is push me to an independent for anything other than routine servicing as they can carry out LR warranty works.
Click to expand...
The charge will be for diagnostic time. Peeps who do stardard servicing won't necersarily be fully trained for advanced diagnostics. They will put a higher qualified peep on the car to look for the fault. The dealer only gets paid for diagnostic work under warranty if LR approve the warranty repair. That means LR approve of the work. The dealer has to apply for a warranty claim unless its already a recognised fault, which is an easier claim. Like a known issue.

LR don't normally pay for warranty work done outside of their netwotk of dealers. So not sure how yer indy will claim for parts and time. Unless yer warranty is contracted out.
 
Mark Piercy said:
We had this told to us by a dealer here in France. They don't have the trained personnel to work on older stuff.. We were asked if we knew our way around the older models at our garage. 🤯
Click to expand...
They still take FL1's at ours. The usual setup is to have a small number of well qualified tek's doing the diagnostic work. Its then handed to others to swap the parts. When they turn down work its likely they just don't want the work. Or if the person has been a difficult customer in the past, like me. Smaller setups will find fings more difficult but they still have all the technical manuals and access to the LR technical team for remote help.
 
Unless I didn't see you standing with us my mate while we were talking to a land-rover dealer.
Only two things in your paragraph you can vouch for as experience and the rest is possibly surmised unless you have other experience you can share😜
 
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