Thanks again. Hoping for a reply from the dealer today..

Have you contacted the previous owner? Ask him if he knew the condition of the engine area. Did he trade it in, and if so when? Was it in that condition at trade in?I cannot see the dealers buying that car in that condition unless it was very cheap. If they serviced the car they must have known the condition. Stornaway grey SE auto with 18" alloys

I have written to the previous owner and hope for a reply soon. Despite Googling I can't find an email or mobile number for the chap so am having to rely on the post..

It looks like it has been stood in 3' of water for a considerable period of time! Could it be one of the recent flood victims perhaps? Foraging near Gaydon....
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MY13 HSE Lux SD4, Baltic Blue - current, 30,000> miles without fault
MY12 HSE 2.2 SD4, Sumatra Black - gone after 10 months/43,000 fault-free miles

I've received a short email from the sales chap at the LR dealer - he reports that his sales manager is away for the day and they will contact me tomorrow.

I've also received an email from Land Rover (I copied them into everything) as follows:

Dear Mr ***,

Thank you for your emails. We are sorry to learn your vehicle has fallen below expectation.

In acknowledgement of your communication we have spoken to the dealership and I understand they are in the process of trying to resolve the matter on your behalf.

As the Contract of Sale is between you and the dealership we will not intervene directly but we are available to support both you and the dealership after due process has been followed.

I am confident all effort will be made to resolve your concerns.

Yours sincerely

D Lonnon
Jaguar Land Rover Limited


I've also spoken to the previous owner by phone - he very kindly responded to my letter. Nice chap, seems very genuine. Has two FL2's, both bought from the same dealer. Has bought 5 cars from them over the years.

In his words, he only lifts the bonnet to change the washer fluid, and doesn't recall any corrosion at all. Not a definitive 'no' but probably the closest I can get to him saying the car was OK before it went the dealer.

He categorically confirms NOT submerged, flooded, left standing (regular daily use, borne out by mileage) OR chemically cleaned.

He had it MOT'd in Sept 2013 (failed on rear brakes only, no advisories) and PX'd it to the dealer towards the end of the year - he's trying to find the exact date. We bought it towards the end of Jan 2014.

At this stage my suspicion is that it stood at the dealers for two-three months and they chemically cleaned it, as others have said. Not conclusive of course.

I'm very grateful to all those who've shown support here. We have a baby coming in 7 weeks and this stress is about the last thing we need..

Quote:

At this stage my suspicion is that it stood at the dealers for two-three months and they chemically cleaned it, as others have said. Not conclusive of course.

It certainly looks that way, here's hoping you have an outcome that will lower the stress level a little and congrats on the new arrival

It would be useful to get the previous owner to write to you or email you so you can evidence that officially if needed. As LR say, this is between you and the dealer and written correspondence is the key.

If it ends up going as far as small claims court (hope it doesn't come to that) you will only have to pay your own fees which are relatively cheap. Even if you lost, you do not pay the fees of the opposition.

The dealer would need to fork out a lot of money to fight it by paying barristers and solicitors. For that reason, unless they are confident of victory, they will settle before court. They might push it to the 11th hour though to test your resolve.

My further advice should things escalate would be to obtain a professional report from 2 independent qualified mechanics. Whatever that costs can be re-claimed in court. If you win, they pay your costs be it out of court or victory in court. LL.B (Hons) - University of Derby
LOT (Lord of Time) - University of Gallifrey

More good advice, thanks.

I'm willing to litigate if necessary but as you say, hopefully it won't come to that. Is not the maximum for SCC £10,000 though? I always thought anything over that went to County Court..?

If required, I'll get two reports as you suggest, one from Land Rover locally and the other from a good Indy.

I spoke again today with the previous keeper (from new). He's confirmed that the car was traded in at the end of September 2013. He had it MOT'd a few days prior with only 159 miles recorded between the MOT and our purchase on 21st Jan 2014. The 159 miles were most likely done by him in the few days between the MOT and when he PX'd it. So it now looks very likely that the car sat on the forecourt in Carlisle for nearly 4 months...

Yes you are correct, I just double checked because I thought they had upped it by now. We heard last year that it was going up to £15k or even £20k (£20k was always a pipe dream ). If it's county court or the value exceeds £10k (which your car does) then what I stated above doesn't apply sadly. http://www.adviceguide.org.uk/wales/law_w/...aims_track

Hopefully it won't come to that but if it did, you should contact a solicitor for proper advice. Look for one who specialises in that area. First advice is usually free LL.B (Hons) - University of Derby
LOT (Lord of Time) - University of Gallifrey

le bouch, sorry to read about the corrosion issue. I have followed this thread over the past few days.

It would be interesting to know what the result of an enquiry with the dealer would be about how they prepared the car prior to you purchasing it. By the sounds of it, the previous owner rarely lifted the bonnet and therefore it may have been quite dirty. Perhaps the dealer cleaned it but an operative chose an inappropriate cleaning fluid - if you did look under the bonnet at the time of purchase the corrosion as it now appears may not have been evident and it has developed in the interim. The cleanliness of the engine in your photos certainly suggests it was fairly clean when you bought it.

I wonder if it was cleaned before it went on the forecourt (where it sat for a while) or just prior to you picking it up. We looked at a number of Freelanders prior to buying our first. One at a LR dealer lacked prep, smelt of dogs and was generally untidy.

Congratulations on the impending fatherhood. Once the baby is born, you won't have the energy or time to worry about the corrosion!

Hope you get a resolution soon. 2016 BMW X3 30d SE in red
MY2013 SD4 XS Firenze Red, 19" 10 spoke contrast paint wheels, Signature Strips, Grand Black Lacquer trim, Cold Climate Pack - gone!
2007 TD4 S Stornoway Grey - gone!

I know that area well having lived there some years ago. Croglin is a small fellside village on the way up to Alston and is subject to much snow in the winter. I assume that the council use a lot of salt to keep the roads open and this may promote corrosion in cars. I am not surprised the previous owner owned land rovers -he will need them in the winter.

Winslet wrote:

Perhaps the dealer cleaned it but an operative chose an inappropriate cleaning fluid - if you did look under the bonnet at the time of purchase the corrosion as it now appears may not have been evident and it has developed in the interim. The cleanliness of the engine in your photos certainly suggests it was fairly clean when you bought it.

Congratulations on the impending fatherhood. Once the baby is born, you won't have the energy or time to worry about the

And for those interested, here is a link to all the photos I took whilst at my local Land Rover dealer.

The first photos relate to GY10, which I used as a comparison. It was another customer's car in for service, not spruced up for sale, and had very similar miles / age to mine, PX60, the photos of which follow.

Quite a difference.

http://flic.kr/s/aHsjVqYzRE

Wow. The dealer has just emailed me - they've offered to exchange the vehicle for a like for like

Result!  John
07 HSE Narvick Black
Land Rover Series One
Triumph Rocket 111 (sadly gone!)