Car Repairs Required Warrant Expired?

I bought a 02D Landrover Freelander back in August with a 3 month guarantee. Just last week the headgasket blew and the timing belt went. The cost of the repairs is €1900. Even though the guarantee had just expired, do I have any rights, in repect of having the dealer pay for the repairs? During the repairs the mechanic discovered that the head gasket had blown before, even though the car salesman had told me that the car had been owned by his neighbour and that it had never experienced any problems before. Therefore he he lied to me. Do I have a leg to stand on at all?

The place to take this matter to begin with is the Office of The Director of Consumer Affairs, for information and advice. It sounds like a false trade description under the Consumer Information Act. See the website at:-

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There may have been a cracked head at the time of your purchase and they did not inform you of this, there are lemon laws, you could report this to better business bureau or threaten to.

Good advice above.

Was the timing belt due a change?

Most of the petrol Freelanders blew their Head Gaskets and any Salesman who told you otherwise is a liar. The petrol version is not a good car and is an accident(engine blow) waiting to happen.

I would approach the garage and see what they will offer, indicating the evidence the car was damaged previously. Then I would take Legal action. The SMall Claims Court would suffice. It's practically free and no solicitors are required.

Go to a good solicitor and get a reputable car assessor to view the car and all documentation I bought a new Freelander in 2000 it blew HG in 2004 I had to replace the engine, the second engine has now blown and I have every intention of following up legally, did not do so originally as my dad was ill and did not have the time. But now I am close to €7000 euro out of pocket and Land Rover know of this problem, many dealers refuse to stock the petrol version. You can get the documentation online visit Preloved and follow some of the links there, this documentation shows they are well aware of the problem and supplying an engine which is still defective

A bit late for you now but here is what Honest John hadto say about the discovery. It's a total lemon. Get rid of it soon.

Murt

Appalling catalogue of build problems - worse even than 300 model. Sometimes delivered with wrong spec. Hard to distinguish visually from older model except for forward facing 6th and 7th seats. Fuel consumption of TD5 around 17% worse than previous four-cylinder diesel and has reputation for poor trailer pulling at low revs (ECU chip now available from Land Rover dealers to increase torque at low revs). V8s guzzle fuel and can develop porous bore liners/blocks. Useful site for information about V8 and for replacements: www.v8engine.com Water leaks onto fusebox, knocking out electrics. 6th from Bottom of 100 models for reliability in Auto Express 2002 survey. Joint 16th from Bottom in 144 car 2002 JD Power / What Car? Customer Satisfaction Survey of V and W reg cars. Facelifted with 700 improvements in Spring 2002. LandRover had joint highest average cost in warranty claims for cars up to 10 years old in 2002 Warranty Direct index. Joint second bottom in 2002 Which reliability survey of cars up to 2 years old; 35 cars surveyed. Land Rover 3rd least reliable of 31 makes of car in 2002 'Which?' reliability survey cars 2000 - 2002; least reliable of 32 makes built 1997 - 1999. Spate of engine power, gearbox and exploding clutch problems which LandRover will not repair under warranty. Floodwater or water from fording streams gets into rear air suspension and causes it to collapse. TD5 Oil pump prone to sprocket bolt falling out and without oil pressure engine self-destrects. More on this at www.amanet.co.uk/td5oilpumpfailure.htm Later exposed on BBC Watchdog 12-4-2004. Only 89% breakdown free in 2003 Which survey. Land Rovers had third highest warranty repair costs in 2003 Warranty Direct Reliability index (index 167.53 v/s lowest 31.93). 98-2000 models average for breakdowns, problems and faults in 2003 Which survey. Land Rover 4th bottom of Reliability Index for 2004 combining average cost of repair of £367.03 with highest 46.23 failures per 100 Warranty Direct policies. Link:- www.reliabilityindex.co.uk Oil can contaminate an engine wiring loom. www.web-rover.co.uk/images/td5kb/Td5OilECU.gif?PHPSESSID=40286f326e9b
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