I have taken my SD4 back to the dealers today and told them that I wish to reject the vehicle due to non starting problems. The first time the vehicle let me down it was 2 weeks old with 400 miles on the clock. Four more non starts and 8 days+ at the dealers and I'v had enough.

My dealers have been very helpful and polite but unable to find or correct the fault and I didn't spend £30,000 + so I could be on first name terms with the Land Rover assist chaps ( as helpful as they are).

I'm not really sure how this is going to go and was wondering if anybody on the forums had any experience of returning a FL2 and getting a like for like replacement or refund.

I'm willing to go for a replacement as I like the SD4 and it fulfills my needs, but it's got to bloody start when I need it.

Any real experiences with this problem would be much appreciated.

i would post a message for Lucy on honest john, she is very helpfull and will normally get involved with these type of incidents.
Thats a real shame as it does take the edge of buying a new car. I belive you have to put the letter of rejection in writing and it sounds like they have tried to fix a few times already !
http://www.honestjohn.co.uk/forum/threads....mp;days=30

The RAC talked me through the process of rejecting a new car in 2003 and they were extremely helpful, even dictating letters to me over the phone. Definitely worth a try if you are a member.

I've been there with Citroen and it's an unpleasant experience. If you bought it on finance you must write to the finance Co and the dealer and explain what you doing, but continue to pay the installments under protest. If you paid cash it's harder as you are dealing soley with the dealer and not LR - you don't have a contract with them. My dealer was helpful but not willing to take the car back, Citroen were appalling. Eventually it was my threat of local publicity (BAD) - papers, TV etc that swung it and I got a relpacement but it was a deaL I could not refuse rather than an outright victory. Good luck and keep us in the picture.

Swingwing wrote:

I've been there with Citroen

IMHO that's a bit of overkill. It's not right to have a car you can't rely on, but you want your dealer on your side. I would have said that you want to trade this 'faulty' car in for another one, what are they going to do for you. makes it easier and keeps everyone pulling in the same direction. Going for a 'rejection' results in everyone going straight on the defensive.

Good luck, but you have to give LR a bit longer to rectify the fault. 2010MY Freelander 2 HSE Auto
Santorini Black with Ebony Napoli Leather

whilst i agree with triple7 about "you want your dealer on your side " if he was on the customers side it would of been fixed by now ! The trouble is that so many dealers have a rather lapse attitude towards a serious issue ! I had it with a Ford I bought and allowed it to continue and continue to the point where I felt ill ! In the end 9 months later I actually got a 2nd Brand new car ( Thanks to the dealer principle ) but if I had known it was going to escalte for so long i would of rejected the car the first month.

There is a manufacturer out there that if a new car has the same failure more than three times , they take the car to a specialist centre and have very skilled tech that work on it till its sorted and tested, now thats what i call customer service.
No doubt the FR2 has at a guess an intermitant fault but after 3 failures the issue should be jumped on and the vehicle not returned untill its fixed and tested.

find a dealer with the same spec car, colour etc and ask for a half day demonstrator loan, take demo car home, swap plates and tax discs and take 'your' car back to them and say thanks but not what you wanted...,.

No dealer likes having a car rejected, it leaves them with a second hand car to sell. As other have said it can be done (I rejeceted a Fiat some years ago and got a replacement), The basis for rejection is that the goods supplied are not fit for purpose, hard for a dealer to say a car is fit for purpose when it doesn't start. The threat of rejection usually gets the dealers attention. Something to remember is that your contract is with the dealer, not the manufacturer. Unfortunatley the problem starts when the dealer will not give the money back, thaey have the car becasue you have rejected it and you have to take them to court, can't be done a small claims court so will involve solicitors.how long and how much will that cost. If you keep letting them attempt to fix it you will have been deemed to have accepted the vehcile and then cannot reject it, shame we haven't got a lemon law like some some of the states in the USA. Which ever way you deal with it best of luck.

Our dealer wanted us to reject ours when LR told us we'd have to wait 28 days for a steering rack, when it was 4 days old. They were going to do it all for us.

Luckily for us an arsey threatening letter to LR managed to kick there arses into gear and 3 days later all was well.

The dealer won't think any less of you if you reject a car. They claim it back from LR as it's the manufacturer that has caused you the problems. Mine: 2012 Golf GTI Edition 35
Family's: 2009 Freelander 2 HSE TD4 Auto, Stornoway

Yorkshire - God's County

Thanks for the replies people.

Its been 2 days now and still nobody has called me. I think rather than mess about I am just going to instruct a solicitor.

Banaman , I'm sorry to hear of your experience, I cannot belive the Dealer hasn't contacted you , even on a daily basis just to advise you that they are behind you and taking advice or that they have called someone senior from LR iether to fix or mediate. To be honest the lack of a fix and lack of contact ( what I call customer service ) then they deserve everything they get ! Having been in the motor trade all my life customer service appears to come last.
Don't forget Lucy at honest john is there in house solicitor and does get very good results when she intervenes ! Good luck.

I had a call this afternoon to "just bring me up to speed". No new developments, they have been testing the car to try to find out if it is the same fault as the other times I would have thought they knew all this info from the times it's been in before for the same problem. I do hope they don't call me back to tell me that it's a different fault but with the same outcome i.e it doesn't bloody start

@ Oldgeezer

Thanks for the advice about honest John's, I have not forgotten and if after a week I have no answers I will join up and post my problem for her to take a look at (if she will).

sounds like they are trying to pull a fast one saying it may be a different starting fault !
You only have to give them 3 opertunity's to fix before you can start going down the rejection route and if it doesnt start and they cant fix then its not fit for purpose !
I would of expected the dealer principle to be ringing you every day for an update and how can they help !
If you PM me i can give you Luc'y e-mail.