Rust under brand new 90

The 6 year warranty only covers officially if a panel rusts through and is perforated. LRA do go outside of this to help on occasion.....

My 2009 PUMA chassis was rusty, each weld the paint had cracked and surface rust was evident. The rear crossmember paint was also already oxidised when I got it and very thin. (I've had experience of this with my TD5 which I had bought 5 years before, and after 4 years the rear cross member was basically red with rust. LRA fixed it outside of warranty though...) LRA were not interested in fixing the rusty chassis welds, but they did repaint the rear crossmember. I fixed the chassis myself, and went to town with a good coating of Tectyl 506 wax...

Certainly put me off buying another land rover new...

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Originally Posted by Defender90owner

Hi, I was just told that the body of the defender is covered by the 6 year corrosion warranty. The undercarriage (where our defenders are rusted) are not covered under this warranty.

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I would stand your ground and argue that the vehicle was delivered to you in that faulty condition, not that the rust occurred after delivery. This puts it out of the realm of warranty and into the realm of consumer rights.

Opps looks like I posted that twice..

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Originally Posted by isuzurover

This surface rust issue seems widespread and quite poor on the part of landrover...

However, if it is surface rust, it can be fixed with a coat of phosphoric acid (rust converter), followed later by lanotec/rustproofing/paint.

If LR replace the vehicle (unlikely IMHO), sounds as if the new one will be the same...

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Well you would hope they would change whatever they are doing and the next batch of cars would turn up rust free... Ultimately it would be better to apply anti rust treatment to a rust free car than fix up damage that could spread.

I wonder if buyers in the UK are finding rust under their cars 3 months after purchase? This would indicate if it's the snow or shipping.

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Originally Posted by subasurf

Geez I would absolutely flip my **** if I purchased a new vehicle to find it was already rusting.

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This has coincided with a "Sale" as we all saved about 5-10K off the new price on this batch of Defenders. Otherwise I think people would be flipping out big time. Although I'm sure none of us would have purchased had we know this was a limited edition 'Defender R'.

The way I see this there has been a chain of event:

1. LR UK have sent vehicles that should not be sold to customers. They have arrived showing signs that they are contaminated and not fit for sale to the public.

2. LR AUS received and accepted the defective vehicles then supplied them to dealers, thus screwing the dealers and damaging the LR brand in Australia. They should have refused to accept them and sent them back to the UK or disposed of them.

3. Australian LR dealers accepted the defective unsellable vehicles, and then unethically sold them onto the honest everyday general public. They should not have accepted them from LR AUS and refused delivery or sent them back when they saw the issue. This has damaged the dealers reputation and will effect their future sales.

4. General public pays a huge amount of money and receives a defective contaminated vehicle, that is an infringement of consumer rights. We get screwed in the end, rather than LR UK doing the right thing and rectifying the fault in production - preparation - delivery, then sending a replacement vehicle.

The outcome is, Defender buyers this month get screwed. Dealers will have bad publicity possible lose sales due to word of mouth and affected customers never purchasing again from dealer. LR Aus will lose sales of their premium vehicles because of bad reputation and damage to brand. Meanwhile LR India don't really care, as the Defender is finished for them and the cheapest of their products anyway.

All of this seems to confirm the theory that (at least the recent batch) came over as deck cargo???

I am sure it would be possible to find this out if you can track down which shipping company Land Rover uses.

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Originally Posted by isuzurover

All of this seems to confirm the theory that (at least the recent batch) came over as deck cargo???

I am sure it would be possible to find this out if you can track down which shipping company Land Rover uses.

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Should be easy to check.I think the RAN is the only shipping company with submarines.:)
Wagoo.

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Originally Posted by wagoo

Should be easy to check.I think the RAN is the only shipping company with submarines.:)
Wagoo.

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:D Yes - very droll Bill. I am sure the RN has some as well? Maybe they swap subs half way :D

Seriously though, RoRo shipping of new cars is very common according apparently. And it would make sense that the cheapest cars would be places in the worst spot...

said Land rovers, come ro ro, but not as deck cargo, there all inside.

Theres a number of different ships that leave the Uk, and they go via the US before arriving at a number of ports here, then finally to NZ.

As for the issues here, if indeed there all 90's that are affected, then its very possible that said 90's have been sat in a yard here for along time, couple that with any contamination on the boat, and you have the rust problems.

Another factor could be the time of year of export from the UK, if indeed the salt/snow issue is used, however this would then make a mockery of AU quarantine rules and inspections, as you would like to think all cars leaving the uk are cleaned . However if they are cleaned and there on a dark and damp boat for 8 weeks, then sat in a yard for a few months you will get the rust issue. ( where the 90's not sat here for a very long time ) checking the build plates will give more clues to that.

However my 130 was built in November and arrived in Feb, had no rust whats so ever, and i had it rust protected once i got it, but i know it did not sit in a yard for a few months. Bruce Lynton did indicate a number of 110's had had rust problems, to which they attended to.

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Originally Posted by Coffee

The way I see this there has been a chain of event:

1. LR UK have sent vehicles that should not be sold to customers. They have arrived showing signs that they are contaminated and not fit for sale to the public.

2. LR AUS received and accepted the defective vehicles then supplied them to dealers, thus screwing the dealers and damaging the LR brand in Australia. They should have refused to accept them and sent them back to the UK or disposed of them.

3. Australian LR dealers accepted the defective unsellable vehicles, and then unethically sold them onto the honest everyday general public. They should not have accepted them from LR AUS and refused delivery or sent them back when they saw the issue. This has damaged the dealers reputation and will effect their future sales.

4. General public pays a huge amount of money and receives a defective contaminated vehicle, that is an infringement of consumer rights. We get screwed in the end, rather than LR UK doing the right thing and rectifying the fault in production - preparation - delivery, then sending a replacement vehicle.

The outcome is, Defender buyers this month get screwed. Dealers will have bad publicity possible lose sales due to word of mouth and affected customers never purchasing again from dealer. LR Aus will lose sales of their premium vehicles because of bad reputation and damage to brand. Meanwhile LR India don't really care, as the Defender is finished for them and the cheapest of their products anyway.

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It's quite sad that ultimately Land Rover will get away with such blatant disregard for their customers.

I've got a background in web design and am considering setting up a website, along the lines of "vodafail.com", which will allow affected individuals to vent and possibly convince others to be more diligent if considering purchasing a car from land rover. If I could do it over again, I would definitely have gotten a pre-delivery inspection from an independent mechanic (at the time I thought a new car would be in a new condition. I was wrong).

If you're up for it, can you please send me some photos of the rust on your new defender?

Can I ask what's the current status of your dealing with land rover?
I'm still waiting for them to get back to me.

Hope you're having better luck!