Advice Regarding warranty Issue on Engine failure on a 42 Month old Range Rover Sport

Longtoe1

Just 18 months after my previous engine failure of a 21 month brand new Range Rover Sport HSE the same fault has occurred and the engine has failed due to a turbo failure which sucked all the oil into the engine and caused the engine to fail.

The circumstances where exactly the same I was driving on the motorway and there was a reduction of power and a sudden critical Low oil indicator light. I immediately stopped on the hard shoulder of the motorway and had the AA take the car to the nearest dealership. 

Again, the same thing happened in which diagnostics were done and I was told that the engine had failed.  The issue arises that the car is just out of warranty. Last time I had the issue Land Rover initially stated they would not cover it under warranty as it was over the service period. This had happened because after just 7 months the service indicator light came on and was reset by service at a dealership as it was too early. The knock on effect meant the reminder only came on at 28,000 miles ironically just before the engine failure.  After a lot of wrangling Land Rover did the right thing and agreed to cover the replacement cost.

Now 18 months later the engine has failed, I believe with the same fault. After the issues I had I decided to get extended warranty with a company called Motoreasy. At point of sale I asked the salesman if the policy covered engine failure. He stated categorically that it would cover it as long as the parts were warrantied parts. Now the engine has failed they are stating that because an independent AA technician visited the car and made a judgement, without any detailed inspection I may add, that the engine was "UNLIKELY" to have failed suddenly, which is stated in their terms and conditions. It felt sudden when it happened and I hadn't had any other warnings or signs. Also how many components on a car suddenly fail, not many I would have thought. Therefore it makes me think you could never ever claim on this policy.

The car is still under a PCP finance agreement and has 6 months left to run before I either have to pay the balloon payment or hand it back. The problem is that it is over mileage because the salesman cajoled me on buying the car, that if I kept the expected mileage lower than I thought it would keep my payments lower. He also stated that they did not sell a car lower than £10,000 above what my balloon payment was so I would just sell it back and get my £10,000 deposit back. The car is now worth £33,000 and I currently owe £36,500.

I feel totally let down. This was my dream car, my first brand new car and I thought Land Rover was a classy brand. I have been nothing but patronised by the guy at Land Rover complaints and feel like I was miss sold a unclaimable warranty. This car is clearly not fit for purpose and as a car I've had from new should not go through two engines with the same fault in just over three years and 52,000 miles.

Does any one know where I could get some decent legal advice or any form of recourse I could take? I have complained about the warranty company to the motor ombudsman but that could take months and I need a car.

Supersonos

Obvious question, maybe, but is this the same car? 

And when you say "engine failure" what repairs were made the first time in order to put things right?

DiddyDavies

Longtoe1 said:

I feel totally let down. This was my dream car, my first brand new car and I thought Land Rover was a classy brand. 

It might be a classy brand but in most, if not all surveys, the RR Sport is always classed as one of the most unreliable vehicles on the market.
2020 What Car? Reliability Survey: luxury SUVs | What Car?

Supersonos said:

Obvious question, maybe, but is this the same car? 

And when you say "engine failure" what repairs were made the first time in order to put things right?

It sounds as if it is the same vehicle:

Longtoe1 said:

This car is clearly not fit for purpose and as a car I've had from new should not go through two engines with the same fault in just over three years and 52,000 miles.

facade

Did it have a complete new engine last time, or just a wipe over with degreaser and a new turbo, leaving the problem that caused the turbo failure (most likely poor lubrication due to sludge) to happen again? 

If it wasn't properly repaired last time time I'd have thought LandRover should be extending some goodwill at least.

The motor ombudsman is your best action if LandRover are washing their hands of it

Ectophile

Land Rovers may be classy vehicles, but there's a good reason why they only offer a 3 year warranty as standard.  And aftermarket warranty companies will find any excuse they possibly can to avoid paying out on anything, ever.  You might have stood some chance with an official Land Rover extended warranty.

That leaves you with your consumer rights, against both the dealer and the finance company.  You would need to find some independent specialist who can produce a report showing that there was an inherent fault in the car, which caused it to fail.  At that point you would have a claim both against both the dealer and the finance company.

Lomast

Have you had the oil changed every 6 months (5k miles)as reccomended?

Longtoe1

Hi thanks for all your replies.

Yes it is the same car. The car was not replaced. They said last time they replaced the engine. Whether they did or not I don't know I'm not sure how I would prove that. The services and oil changes have been done to the schedule after the new engine was put in. I have just had a manager call me and apparently they thought I hadn't had the recent service done. I have provided evidence as it was done at an independent with Jaguar Land Rover parts. Whether that makes a difference I don't know.

Does anyone know of a good independent specialist near Bolton that would do such a job? 

Also does anyone know of a good motor legal person who would be able to give advice in this case?

flashg67

Lomast said:

Have you had the oil changed every 6 months (5k miles)as reccomended?

is it still 1976? Might not do any harm, but it's not a requirement of JLR, or needed to keep any warranty valid afaik

facade

The new engine will only actually be warranted until the end of the standard warranty, but, JLR should accept some responsibility as it is unreasonable to expect a complete new engine, properly driven & serviced, to only last 24000 miles, so the "unfit for purpose" argument starts to come into play.

flashg67

Worth trying JLR customer service, but I suspect you're into the realms of 'goodwill', but using non dealer serving won't help your chances (they look at it as goodwill working both ways).  
An engine remanufacturer might be your only choice - Dragon Engines and Motorman spring to mind as national companies that provide warranties (no particular recommendation for either though)
A sudden turbo failure would give you very little chance to prevent damage, esp at motorway speeds - it won't take long at that engine speed to suck all the oil through.

Do you have legal cover/advice  on your home or car insurance?

Lomast

flashg67 said:

Lomast said:

Have you had the oil changed every 6 months (5k miles)as reccomended?

is it still 1976? Might not do any harm, but it's not a requirement of JLR, or needed to keep any warranty valid afaiki

I was looking at 2012 schedule. It seems the later models are 15000 miles