380 REASONS NOT TO GO TO A DEALER

[mrapocalypse]

My Series 2 Discovery was in the process of breaking down. Coughing, spluttering, backfiring, All the bells and whistles. (Still running mind you, fantastic vehicle!). In desperation I took it to the "Dealers" up the road from us. I usually go to MR up in Redcliff but it was just impractical in the time allowed.

Yes they could fit me in at short notice. Bring it in.

That afternoon I get the call... All fixed, simple problem of the LPG System causing the spark plug leads to die. Fairly common, I know.

Great.
Go in Yesterday and get the bill. 8 Plug leads, $160. OK. No problem.

Labour for installing those leads. $380!!!!!!!

Come on I said..... $380 for working out it was leads, and then plugging 16 little things in!

Yes sir that's what it cost sir... Very nice and polite people.... But $380!!!!.

Old mate who spent three days trapped under it with skinned knuckles and a headache installing the Long range tanks only charged twice that!
Live and learn. At least they washed it!

Ian.

[Redback]

My Series 2 Discovery was in the process of breaking down. Coughing, spluttering, backfiring, All the bells and whistles. (Still running mind you, fantastic vehicle!). In desperation I took it to the "Dealers" up the road from us. I usually go to MR up in Redcliff but it was just impractical in the time allowed.

Yes they could fit me in at short notice. Bring it in.

That afternoon I get the call... All fixed, simple problem of the LPG System causing the spark plug leads to die. Fairly common, I know.

Great.
Go in Yesterday and get the bill. 8 Plug leads, $160. OK. No problem.

Labour for installing those leads. $380!!!!!!!

Come on I said..... $380 for working out it was leads, and then plugging 16 little things in!

Yes sir that's what it cost sir... Very nice and polite people.... But $380!!!!.

Old mate who spent three days trapped under it with skinned knuckles and a headache installing the Long range tanks only charged twice that!
Live and learn. At least they washed it!

Ian.

$300 for wash and $80 for fitting the leads:D

Bastards aren't they.

Baz.

[Utemad]

Come on I said..... $380 for working out it was leads, and then plugging 16 little things in!

Yes sir that's what it cost sir... Very nice and polite people.... But $380!!!!

To be fair on them it is 18 little things including the coil to dizzy lead.
So that is where the extra cost lies :BigThumb:

That is certainly one reason I never go to any dealership.

[Lotz-A-Landies]

.... At least they washed it!

Ian.The wash probably cost $60 just for the 1 hour labour!

[Redback]

I forgot too add;

Going on LR rate of $95 an hour, which is the average for dealers, that's 4 hours to to the job, mate i'd ask for an itermised account of the work done.

Baz.

[mrapocalypse]

No coil on a D2 Utemad, in the Leads.... Itemised is the Diagnostic side of things, they ran it on the computer etc.... . So that means it took them three hours to find what was wrong with it, and one hour to get the leads connected.

Even I thought to check the Spark plug leads first.... Now i don't knwo whay I didn't.

Lesson is that I have a bit of techno fear of this car, which has now been cured. You can have all the BS about Engine management computers and doodads, but really, in many ways it's as simple as any other land Rover product, just more plasticky!

So nice to have it back......

[p38arover]

Ahh! A D2 V8. That's the problem. Replacing the leads on a Thor engine is a pain in the wallet. GEMS is easy, a Thor is not. You almost (maybe you do) have to remove the inlet manifold to do them.

[B92 8NW]

I thought that they approximated costs from their own published repair times - check the RAVE and see how close they were

[Pedro_The_Swift]

yea the THOR is a PITA!!!

very difficult to do without removing the plenum,,

more expensive to remove it though:p


EDIT;

just dug the bill out for the lead replacement on BUB002,,
280 odd bucks,,
so the hours are about the same,, just the rate is different,,
oh and you would have GENUINE leads ;)

[scarry]

And they said and i quote"common problem" so they should have picked it up pretty quick.......one would think.

DEALERS....DEALERS.....DEALERS.....DEALERS.....i wont go there


Guess where i go now......M.R.....just wish they were a bit closer.

[Lucus]

$380 does sound a bit steep, however i would rather pay for $300 in diagnostic and $80 to fix the problem if that means no rework or comebacks.

its better than spending 15mins guessing at the fault and then chucking parts at it until they (hopefully) change the faulty bit.

:)
Luke

[mrapocalypse]

$380 does sound a bit steep, however i would rather pay for $300 in diagnostic and $80 to fix the problem if that means no rework or comebacks.

its better than spending 15mins guessing at the fault and then chucking parts at it until they (hopefully) change the faulty bit.

:)
Luke

Ppainful as it is I agree. And as I don't have time or space then that's my bloomin Lot. Like anything, don't go there if you can't put up with the conditions.

[87County]

........Going on LR rate of $95 an hour, which is the average for dealers, ......................

Baz.

Cheap? :) I heard today that the going rate here for Ford, Holden etc is $125/hr (and interestingly they don't seem to have many trade qualified employees... "all gone to the mines" they say)

[DiscoStew]

I forgot too add;

Going on LR rate of $95 an hour, which is the average for dealers, that's 4 hours to to the job, mate i'd ask for an itermised account of the work done.

Baz.

Don't know what dealer mrapocolypse used but the head honcho at Austral Land Rover informed me that the labour rate is $140 per hour so actually closer to 2.5 hours + car wash. That was about 12 months ago.

Cheaper to send the car to MR Auto on a tow truck but it is a pain getting out to Redcliffe. BTW, bit of a tangent, MR Auto have an arrangement with a Ray King from Peninsula Towing in Redcliffe who has a key to their yard so that you can have your car delivered after hours. He gives MR Auto customers special service due to him being a fan of them himself. In my case this equated to coming all the way to Ferny Grove at short notice at 7pm when he would normally say "wait til tomorrow" cause he had knocked off for the day.

[whitakerb]

unfortunatly i dont have the funds at the moment to have problems with a landie, however 3 or 4 yrs ago, i did work experience at a landrover dealer over here in WA.

it was a few months before the d3 came out so they were pumping through all the updated series 2 discos

off the top of my head, one tradie controlling (i think) 5 apprentices

when they bring the cars in the workshop for the first time, they check the pressures, set them up on the diagnostics, peal all that plastic crap off the bonnets, and then take them for a drive (to check for stranges noises)

160 up the highway, zipping between traffic, redlining, and then racing through the streets behind the dealer, kurb hopping, cutting off traffic all in these brand new cars.

And people wonder why a new landie always breaks down, thats because the dealer got their hands on it in the first place.

just my 2 cents

[extreme]

Yeah, all of the above and the dealer can't wash mine because i have a roof rack:thumbsdown::mad:

[ATH]

That from Whitakerb reminds me of all the Jap crap sometimes 10 cars at a time I used to see being thrashed up Leach Hwy by dealer drivers from Fremantle docks when a Ro-Ro was in.
The 1 in front and 1 down the back had a dealer plate in the window and that was it, and some of the driving was shocking.
I always wondered if our blind as bats coppers ever nicked them or turned a blind eye because some filthy rich dealer employed them?
Alan.

[Bigbjorn]

The 1 in front and 1 down the back had a dealer plate in the window and that was it,
Alan.

A Holden dealer in Western Sydney, would, when their srorage yard was full, park a string of new cars in the street with bumpers touching and a trade plate each end.

Twas common practice in my trade days to move two cars on one set of trade plates. You always put it on the front so you could tell any inquisitive copper that the one on the back must have fallen off, and pray that your colleague did not drive past.

Qld. solved this problem by only having one plate. Qld. also had the system of two types of trade plate, daylight hours only with a D prefix and a 24 hour plate. Don't know if this is still the case.