Entrepreneurs typically fail. Others perfect the model or concept, and profit. Times, they are a’changing….

 

Is it the only LR dealer near by you? Might want to take it to another one with a proper outlook on these types of issues.

 

Happened to us - my wife bought a Model Y before the price cuts. But that wouldn’t have been prevented by a dealer - it would simply have imposed a dealer in between new buyers and the lower factory price to claw back the reduction and call it a “dealer availability fee.”

It’s long past time for dealerships to lose their political protection. Let people buy cars from the factory. If the dealers add real value, they’ll survive. If they don’t, they won’t. I know which outcome I would bet on.

 

I really have to take the other side of this. I don't understand how the factory direct model is better.

My experience dealing with JLR, Porsche, and Ford at a corporate level has been absolutely dreadful. It's a faceless corporate stew with chunks of ambivalence that have the same texture and scent of incompetence. They seem to only step up when an issue becomes loud enough online that they can't avoid it.

Individual consumers would lose power. You're stuck dealing with one single entity and, when they decide you are done, where do you go?

At least with the dealership model, there's competition. My local LR dealers are poor at sales but their service is pretty good. I bought a couple hours from home to get a better experience. I was also able to get my order months faster.

Most dealerships have something of a reputation that they at least try to uphold and they want you to come back and buy again. They're subject to online reviews, social media, and conversations in forums (Bronco 6G forum, for example, has extensive info on dealers and I found an exceptional one there).

You have layers of options within the dealership for a face-to-face resolution and you can always move on to another dealer if you aren't happy. You simply can't do that talking to some corporate ding-dong who's getting paid by the hour to get you off the phone.

Do we really only want to deal with corporate JLR? Look no further than The Insider who pops in here in tame conversations but has anyone received a genuinely helpful resolution on broken windshields, bad halo lights, or any other real issue?

Ford does that crap in the 6G forum. If you mention a problem they tell you "oh, we're so sorry (sorry you have a public voice), reach out directly (stfu in the forum) and we'll help you (but we won't). I went through multiple major problems with them (airbags, fuses, goat modes, missing parts) before, during, and after delivery of a Bronco. I talked to Ford directly and you know who helped me? That amazing dealership 1500 miles from home, Laura Ford. They did what Ford said would be impossible.

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My experience with dealers has not been as positive. More than one has outright lied to me. The JLR dealer I bought my 110 from changed the deal eight months after I placed my order and told me I had to finance through them at a much higher rate than I could get at my bank. I had to escalate to the GM to get them to accept cash. There’s another thread here about a dealer selling a customer’s Defender out from under him once it reached the dealership, presumably because they had another buyer willing to pay more. There’s a reason car dealers have a terrible reputation.

I’ll take your point that some dealers are good. Most aren’t. I’m advocating that we remove their legal monopoly. If they provide value, they’ll survive in the marketplace. If they don’t, they won’t. I suspect they won’t.

 

This *1000. I will say having bought 'direct' with Tesla and through dealerships a great dealer is a nice thing. A terrible one though? drawn and quartered.

Dealerships have financing down to an art form, and compared to Tesla if you do your own financing it was painful and caused a lot of delays for me. My LR dealer here in Raleigh would fall into the 'fair' state. Nothing special, no hiccups, they did push financing a tiny bit but I said 'i have this rate, can you match?' and they did so it was just easier to go through them, there was no bonus to me for using my other source.

There are reasons though that I've never owned a Volvo, a Honda, or a ford in the 2000s The dealership experience was terrible, and I did not buy from them and refused to buy until someone else came to town. There should not be the level of legal protectionism for the NADA. If JLR or whomever wants to give direct sales a go, let them, if they screw the pooch on it, there's always room for non-direct sales. I mean you can buy a Mac from Best Buy, or Apple at the same price, there are reasons you'd buy from one or the other.

 

They are cutting dealers and doing direct sales. Pre-set dealer margins are getting cut in half... in the UK.

None of this is designed to give the customer a better experience. This is to increase profits. Prices are going up. Service locations will be fewer and farther between. You do not matter. There's another you in line to buy.

Anyone who expects a company with an electrical engineer as their head of customer service to be focused on the end user is not thinking it through.

JLR has a corporate culture of duct tape and bubble gum fixes. Deny deny deny and who care if people wait 7 months for headlights.

 

Exactly. All Tesla needs to focus on is preventing their cars from bursting into flames, having their steering wheels come off while driving, and crashing into objects while being operated autonomously. Maybe then I’ll believe that prediction.

 

One step at a time…..even Ford’s and GM’s stock both bumped up a tick. Thanks, Tesla…..

 

The "Wear and Service Adjustments" factory coverage on new Land Rovers should be 12 months or 12,500 miles, whichever occurs first. Unless you are above that mileage, your dealer should fix that rattle or squeak free of charge.