Leaking Windscreen - Replaced outside of Warranty
I’ve previously posted about my windscreen delaminating just after the warranty expired.
I approached Land Rover Dealership in Leeds, taking the car there directly from Green Oval who found the leak. I’ll just add that Green Oval have been exemplary both Wetherby and Leeds branches. Both acting in my best interest whilst dealing with idiotic warranty companies.
Back to Land Rover. Leeds service dept are very well drilled. They won’t even entertain any issue outside warranty unless you accept it may cost you circa £200 for an investigation.
They’re also well drilled when it comes to dealing with Land Rover Warranty Dept, and Land Rover Customer Services.
I was told that they would make a claim to JLR Warranty.
I voluntarily supplied a three page document pointing out the difference between a warranty claim, and a claim under the Consumer rights act, which also highlighted the prevalence of this fault (scraped most forums and other parts of the web) the legal position, the safety implications, and the fact that the U.S. had already issued a recall.
I was told at this point that they had applied under a ‘Goodwill’ calculator, and they had some questions for me. The long story short is, they wanted to know if I was a full blown badge shagging owner,
“Have you owned it from new?”
“Have you had it fully serviced with Land Rover” (this would be illegal to void an existing warranty!)
“Has it ever been crash repaired?”
“How long have you been a Land Rover customer?”
“Have you owned Land Rovers Previously”
You get the idea,
After I passed with flying colours (owned from new, had LRs for 20yrs, fully upto date), they offered £400 from a circa £2k bill…
As you’ve probably guessed, I told them to stick it, and reaffirmed that my previous email to Land Rover Leeds Service was forwarded to them, along with the link to the survey you guys have all been filling (don’t worry, GDPR compliant, no names/details. And the results.
2 days later, a phone call saying they’d sort it.
So, what that tells me is, they know they’re on shakey ground from a consumer law point of view, and will push all claimants u til it’s clear that’s the route they’re taking, maybe hoping a few will go to the finance company (even if it’s the over branded Land Rover Finance, it’s still not JLR themselves.)
Second, they could see I was determined, and likely to continue the fight, and hoped that by settling Id not bother pursuing it any more.
So, in short, if you use your consumer rights, and make yourself a thorn in their side, you too could get your issues sorted.
Happy to share the three page doc I sent them (Grok was very helpful here!).
Don’t give up guys, they have a responsibility to rectify manufacturing faults way past the warranty they offer. Don’t be fobbed off.
To be fair to Leeds Land Rover, they’re between a rock and a hard place. They’re happy to do the work but need someone to say they’ll pay, and if it’s not you, and it’s not Land Rover, who is it? They did push back hard for me, it just took a while.
Had this failed, I’d have had to pay for the fix, but then gone to the finance company, with a formal complaint/request for reimbursement. In the FCAs eyes, it would be ‘reasonable’ to fix the issue and negate any further costs/losses, getting around the requirement to let them have the opportunity to fix it, as you’re supposed to do. Having the manufacturer refuse to rectify the fault can hardly be seen as not trying.
Then, if they still refuse, the ombudsman. Lengthy, but put just the contractual elements in there, and I think they’d find it very hard to go against. A windscreen on a motor vehicle is not a serviceable part, and therefore should (without other influence) last a reasonable amount of time. Just over 3 years is not reasonable for a new car.
Anyway, didn’t have to, but would have if pushed.
Happy to help others if you get stuck.
