Dealer support.

[ATH]

I visited the main stealer in Perth last Friday and the salesman (only 3 days with LR) told me that LRA are opening new agencies to service vehicles in Geraldton, Karratha and Broome.
All of these places, especially Karratha had successful dealerships in the not too distant past which LRA did away with, so can we really believe they are going to reverse what they did then and improve the out of town service for LR owners?
I personally will wait and see before I get back into one of my favourite vehicles!
After all, it may just be salesmans bullcrap.:D
Alan.

[CraigE]

I visited the main stealer in Perth last Friday and the salesman (only 3 days with LR) told me that LRA are opening new agencies to service vehicles in Geraldton, Karratha and Broome.
All of these places, especially Karratha had successful dealerships in the not too distant past which LRA did away with, so can we really believe they are going to reverse what they did then and improve the out of town service for LR owners?
I personally will wait and see before I get back into one of my favourite vehicles!
After all, it may just be salesmans bullcrap.:D
Alan.
Geraldton & Broome currently have competent LR service centres, not official but LR service just the same.

[Ace]

Land Rover sales have improved with the introduction of the D3, RRS and the new freelander so with more vehicles getting about maybe opening dealerships to offer better service will slowly happen as the brand gains momentum again.

With all this crap over toyota hopefully a few people will look at D3's as an alternative for the extremely over priced 200 series.

[Banjo_pluker]

All the dealershps were closed except those who were Ford at the time when Ford owned LR weren't they.

It may be different now that Tata are at the helm, Just a thought

[ATH]

There may be efficient private service people but what owners of new LRs want is official dealerships who can do warranty work etc. as they aren't going to want their new pride and joy shipped back to Perth for work to be done.:mad:
I heard that the last official dealer in Broome, ****zu Motors or something like that, couldn't wait to unload it when they got the opportunity and when I went in there when I had a Td5 Defender the attitude was offhand to say the least.
As I said, I'll wait and see before coming back from the darkside.
Alan.

[away]

I am ready to replace my D3. I tow a 3.5 tonne Kedron caravan and like to go off-road. This really limits me to the D4 and the LC200. I have been agonising over this decision for months.

On the one hand, I absolutely love the D3 even though it has had its issues. On the other hand I want there to be a dealer nearby when it has those issues. And therein lies the problem. Having authorised service centres around the traps is not the same as having a dealership that can do warranty work.

So, here I am at Karratha atm and the nearest dealers are Perth, Albany, Darwin and Alice Springs. Sheesh, that's 1500Km to the closest one.

On the other side of the coin, I reckon LC200's are butt ugly, lack character, ride poorly by comparison but......there is a dealer in almost every damn town in Australia.

I'm still torn but I'm sorry to say that the call from the Dark Side is getting louder and louder.......

Cheers

Russ

[BMKal]

All the dealershps were closed except those who were Ford at the time when Ford owned LR weren't they.

It may be different now that Tata are at the helm, Just a thought

Had absolutely nothing to do with whether the dealerships were Ford or not.

As far as I'm aware, none of the dealerships in WA ever had anything to do with Ford - basically just another Barbagallo monopoly.

As far as I'm concerned, the best move that LRA could make would be to strip Barbagallo of all LR dealership rights, and give them to someone who is prepared to make a proper go of it, rather than just another string in his bow of "niche" car markets for city dwellers only.

At least one manufacturer, Subaru, seems to be listening to its customers in the country - they have recently stripped Westland Autos (the Ford dealers and probably worst service agents of any in Kalgoorlie) of the Subaru agency. Will be interesting to see who they appoint the agency to in their place (rumour is Goldfields Toyota).

[V8Ian]

Had absolutely nothing to do with whether the dealerships were Ford or not.

As far as I'm aware, none of the dealerships in WA ever had anything to do with Ford - basically just another Barbagallo monopoly.

As far as I'm concerned, the best move that LRA could make would be to strip Barbagallo of all LR dealership rights, and give them to someone who is prepared to make a proper go of it, rather than just another string in his bow of "niche" car markets for city dwellers only.

At least one manufacturer, Subaru, seems to be listening to its customers in the country - they have recently stripped Westland Autos (the Ford dealers and probably worst service agents of any in Kalgoorlie) of the Subaru agency. Will be interesting to see who they appoint the agency to in their place (rumour is Goldfields Toyota).
My dealings with Barbagallo were good. I walked in to purchase a pair of weathershields, they had nil stock but got them in and sent them to Port Hedland at their expense. Price was reasonable too.

[3toes]

I
On the one hand, I absolutely love the D3 even though it has had its issues. On the other hand I want there to be a dealer nearby when it has those issues. And therein lies the problem. Having authorised service centres around the traps is not the same as having a dealership that can do warranty work.

So, here I am at Karratha atm and the nearest dealers are Perth, Albany, Darwin and Alice Springs. Sheesh, that's 1500Km to the closest one.
Russ

Have too wait and see if the authorise service centres happens and what they are able to do. In the eighties when Ford and Holden rid their dealer net works of the smaller sites doing (from memory) less than 10 cars a year they had the opportunity to stay as authorised service centres. There were actually a lot of them which had a large admin cost to the manufacturer. Most of these were petrol stations that sold a few cars on the side located in small country sites. These authorised service centres as well as providing that magic stamp in the service book were able to handle warranty work however with the low labour paid by the manufacturers for this work and the 90 to 120 days to be paid they were not inclined to do the work for nothing and so tended to pass on the offer. They also had to order their parts via another larger dealer which slowed down the time taken to repair / service a vehicle when the part was not on hand. Perhaps Land Rover will offer something more attractive as they have such a limited service network.

[SVX37]

I am ready to replace my D3. I tow a 3.5 tonne Kedron caravan and like to go off-road. This really limits me to the D4 and the LC200. I have been agonising over this decision for months.

On the one hand, I absolutely love the D3 even though it has had its issues. On the other hand I want there to be a dealer nearby when it has those issues. And therein lies the problem. Having authorised service centres around the traps is not the same as having a dealership that can do warranty work.

So, here I am at Karratha atm and the nearest dealers are Perth, Albany, Darwin and Alice Springs. Sheesh, that's 1500Km to the closest one.

On the other side of the coin, I reckon LC200's are butt ugly, lack character, ride poorly by comparison but......there is a dealer in almost every damn town in Australia.

I'm still torn but I'm sorry to say that the call from the Dark Side is getting louder and louder.......

Cheers

Russ

Best of luck with you decision which only you can make and then live by. You have aptly decribed the LC200 very well except for over priced and lacks value for money!;) Based on your own description, how could you possibly buy it? I personally think the D4 has all the opposite attributes: good looking vehicle, plenty of character, excellent ride. And based on that, I would run the risk of being so far away from a Dealership. There is always Landrover assist if required!:)

[Jamo]

My dealings with Barbagallo were good. I walked in to purchase a pair of weathershields, they had nil stock but got them in and sent them to Port Hedland at their expense. Price was reasonable too.

The parts blokes are terrific. Cos & Dave always went out of their way to help me.

As for the rest..........

[Jamo]

As far as I'm aware, none of the dealerships in WA ever had anything to do with Ford - basically just another Barbagallo monopoly.



The Esperance dealer was not linked to Barbagallo in any way and lost their dealership in early 2005.

Mind you, their sales staff at the time made Barbagallo look like gods!

[Jamo]

As far as I'm concerned, the best move that LRA could make would be to strip Barbagallo of all LR dealership rights, and give them to someone who is prepared to make a proper go of it, rather than just another string in his bow of "niche" car markets for city dwellers only.


Aaaamen to that Brother!:D

[ATH]

The Esperance dealer was not linked to Barbagallo in any way and lost their dealership in early 2005.

Mind you, their sales staff at the time made Barbagallo look like gods!
I bought my Td5 Defender from Esperance as they gave me a deal which knocked thousands off the Barbagallo price. Actually the vehicle had never left the yard in Welshpool and the pre delivery was done by RoverTech.
I can't remember the name of the bloke I dealt with at Esperance via phone/fax/e-mail but they were pretty good to deal with.

My son went the LC200 way because of the lack of dealer support in the North and loves his ugly brute of a vehicle especially the large boat towing power of the V8 diesel.
I'll give it until the end of year and then assess what LRA has done (if anything) and then maybe I'll let my heart rule my head...again!:eek:
Alan.

[PAT303]

I am ready to replace my D3. I tow a 3.5 tonne Kedron caravan and like to go off-road. This really limits me to the D4 and the LC200. I have been agonising over this decision for months.

On the one hand, I absolutely love the D3 even though it has had its issues. On the other hand I want there to be a dealer nearby when it has those issues. And therein lies the problem. Having authorised service centres around the traps is not the same as having a dealership that can do warranty work.

So, here I am at Karratha atm and the nearest dealers are Perth, Albany, Darwin and Alice Springs. Sheesh, that's 1500Km to the closest one.

On the other side of the coin, I reckon LC200's are butt ugly, lack character, ride poorly by comparison but......there is a dealer in almost every damn town in Australia.

I'm still torn but I'm sorry to say that the call from the Dark Side is getting louder and louder.......

Cheers

Russ

Most of the country ''dealers'' can't fix a 200 series,if it goes into protect mode it will be put on the back of a truck,the bloke over the road from me has one and it's still using litres of oil even though it's had 4 mods done. Pat

[PAT303]

The parts blokes are terrific. Cos & Dave always went out of their way to help me.

As for the rest..........

The bloke who owns Ultra Tune in town,he services most of the new LR's here deals with them,they are very good in getting parts here.I went through the Albany dealer for a service kit for the L322 and it arrived the same day,can't complain about that either. Pat

[Jamo]

The mechanic who worked for Barbagallo in Kalgoorlie, Trevor, was fantastic, Do you know what happened to him, Pat? After Alf shut the dealership, I didn't hear where he went.


Alan, you must have encountered diferrent sales staff. They tend to change a lot here. I couldn't get any joy from them in early 2005. A mate tried to buy a Prado from them and he got so frustrated he went across the road and bought a pajero. The dealership has changed hands twice since then.

[BMKal]

The mechanic who worked for Barbagallo in Kalgoorlie, Trevor, was fantastic, Do you know what happened to him, Pat? After Alf shut the dealership, I didn't hear where he went..

Trevor did a full service on mine just before they closed Jamo. I got him to go through everything as I knew it would be my last chance. He definitely was a very experienced and knowledgeable LR mechanic, and a nice bloke to deal with as well. He also used to service my D1 before I bought the D2 from them.

He told me he was looking at one or two positions in the mines, but hadn't made his mind up where to go at the time. I haven't seen / heard of him since.

The young bloke who was in sales was a mate of my son's. Shaun bought a Honda Civic from them when they had a bit of a range of Hondas in there as well. Don't know where he went either - Shaun hasn't seen him since the dealership shut down.