Land Rover on finance with Engine failure

kme2023

We bought a Land Rover Discovery early Sept 2022. On the 27th of September 2022 we had a dashboard warning light coming on intermittently, we called the Car dealer who advised us to ignore it until the light stayed on permanently in order to be able to identify the problem. 

The intermittent light fault continued and on the 8th of July 2023 the Turbo failed which was repaired, partly covered by warranty and at a cost of £490 for us. The intermittent light fault continued and on the 5th of September 2023 the engine failed. The car dealer recommended the vehicle went to Land Rover Specialist for a full diagnosis. The specialist garage advised the assessment would be £1000 (which we paid) and told the they were not able to assess the car until November. 

The garage submitted their detailed report direct to the warranty company for their approval to proceed with repairs which was effectively a new engine and the warranty company have refused the claim on the basis that the cause of the problem was wear and tear. They advised us that the warning light we had been advised to ignore, was an Oil sensor and the intermittent light was advising defective Oil pressure , the result of which was the collapse of the engine.

In summary , when we bought this car, it had 55,000 miles on the clock and as it stands now the mileage is 61,000 miles, so we have only covered 6,000 miles in it

.The juncture we are at now is that we still have 34 months of payments left (before we can change car) and no vehicle. It is our claim that the vehicle was inherently faulty when we bought it, and had Car Seekers acted on our initial alert on the dash warning light which was advised to them 3 days after purchase then there might have been a different outcome .

So now we are in a situation in that we bought a vehicle in good faith even paid for the top of the range warranty and the warranty company, Car Seeker & the finance company are disowning the problem.

We now have a car with no engine - have paid over £1500 in repairs/assessments, and have to continue to pay monthly  finance for a vehicle we can’t use- unless we pay for a new engine!

Does anyone have any advice on where I can turn as I am at my whits end. 

Thanks 

sevenhills

kme2023 said:

On the 27th of September 2022 we had a dashboard warning light coming on intermittently, we called the Car dealer who advised us to ignore it until the light stayed on permanently in order to be able to identify the problem. 

The intermittent light fault continued and on the 8th of July 2023 the Turbo failed which was repaired, partly covered by warranty and at a cost of £490 for us. The intermittent light fault continued and on the 5th of September 2023 the engine failed.

They advised us that the warning light we had been advised to ignore, was an Oil sensor and the intermittent light was advising defective Oil pressure, the result of which was the collapse of the engine.

What was the original warning light and if you are saying it was an oil warning light, why did they replace the turbo?

The car dealer recommended the vehicle went to Land Rover Specialist for a full diagnosis after the engine failed, so why not go before it failed with the warning light, what expertise does the dealer have with Land Rovers?

Arklight

If you paid for a full report, does that say the engine failed from wear and tear? Car warranties are a scam, for the most part. Your contract of sale is with the dealer which is who you must pursue. 

Keep_pedalling

I think even a manufacturers warrantee would be voided by driving with a warning light coming up for 19 months. Do you have the advice to ignore the warning light in writing or was it just verbal? If the former then you could consider the small claims court against the seller.

Ayr_Rage

Ignoring an oil pressure warning light for months on end is probably one of the worse things you can do.

You should have taken it straight back.

Trying to prove an inherent fault 18 months later is going to be problematic.

Mildly_Miffed

This wasn't a new car in 2022, was it? How old?

Was it a Discovery, or was it a Discovery Sport? 2.0 diesel...? The Ingenium engine is notorious for oil failures and concomitant engine failure.

You knew, surely, that the light was oil pressure... After all, the owner's handbook tells you that, even if you didn't recognise the light's icon from just about every other car on the road, and if the dash didn't accompany that light with a message...

At this stage down the line, your car, your bill.

sheramber

Surely, the purpose of a warning light is to alert you that somthng is wrong and needs  investigated.

Nebulous2

There's a company called MDRS Automotive who popped up on my facebook feed a few months ago, and I've read a few of their posts. They seem to spend their lives fitting new engines to Landrovers / Range Rovers and they have strong ideas on what causes them to fail, and what can be done to prevent it. 

Your best bet may be to find a Landrover specialist who can replace it for you - outside the main dealer network. 

Stateofart

Your dealer fobbed you off with terrible advice unfortunately.  Have you got proof they said this to you? 

ThorOdinson

Stateofart said:

Your dealer fobbed you off with terrible advice unfortunately.  Have you got proof they said this to you? 

It sounds like the dealer knew what they were doing. Everyone knows that LR are unreliable and expensive to fix. They probably knew about the fault before they sold it and were just hoping someone like you would come along to offload it onto. 

They may have even got it from an auction, via someone like WBAC, the place you go to dump a broken LR with an intermittent fault.

Herzlos

At this stage your only chance of getting someone to pay for the engine is if you can prove the dealer told you to ignore the warning light.  You can always explain it to the finance company as they may have more clout than you in this regard and the car is technically theirs.  Any claim here will no doubt need to go via court and it could take years to see the money.

The light doesn't need to stay on in order to diagnose, as it's all electronically recorded now and any garage should be able to check the recorded codes.

I suspect the dealer told you to leave it until it's on permanently to get you to go away until it was too late to be their problem.

You're most cost effective option at this stage is to pay the specialist to fit a reconditioned engine and then attempt to sue the dealer to recover your losses. You won't be able to hand the car back to the finance company with a dead engine, and it's worth peanuts as scrap.