Hello all,

I am a new member preparing to order a 2022 Defender 110. I live in Central Upstate NY, with the two nearest dealers respectively 1.5 and 2.5 hours away. Thus far, I have placed a sales telephone call to each dealer. The first dealer sales rep was polite, but seemed to have more potential customers than Defenders, and didn't even bother to ask me for my full name or contact information. The second dealer sales rep was brusque, bordering on rude, and had no patience for my basic questions on how the dealership provides service, repairs and loaner vehicles to customers who live some distance away. Thus, I am considering looking at different dealers, even further away/out of state. I think pricing will be MSRP, less $500, pretty much anywhere. For folks who have bought and considered different dealership locations, I have some general questions and would appreciate any feedback:

1) Will my local dealer treat me less well for service and repairs if I do not buy my Defender from that dealership?
2) Is it pretty common to get LR salespeople that don't seem the least bit concerned if you never call them again and buy elsewhere? (I presume this is because the LR dealers are easily selling every Defender in their inventory, so they can opt to do less heavy lifting in the form of answering detailed questions from educated enthusiast buyers like me.)
3) Are there any "enthusiast, "volume" LR dealers which Forum members would recommend for ordering a Defender? I'm guessing no, insofar as high demand; COVID; and low inventory/allotments mean that dealerships are much more pressed for inventory than for buyers.

Any input will be most appreciated. Thank you.

 

Who wants to tell him?

 

1) Will my local dealer treat me less well for service and repairs if I do not buy my Defender from that dealership?
The main difference will be perhaps not getting some of the dealership perks. For example, guaranteed loaner vehicles or free car washes. The service experience should be the same regardless.

2) Is it pretty common to get LR salespeople that don't seem the least bit concerned if you never call them again and buy elsewhere? (I presume this is because the LR dealers are easily selling every Defender in their inventory, so they can opt to do less heavy lifting in the form of answering detailed questions from educated enthusiast buyers like me.)
Yes - lots of people ask questions and never follow through with a purchase, so many sales reps won't get serious until you're actually talking about an order. From what I've read on this forum, it varies very much by dealer. The dealer I used was fantastic, and exactly the "luxury" experience I would have expected from Land Rover.

3) Are there any "enthusiast, "volume" LR dealers which Forum members would recommend for ordering a Defender? I'm guessing no, insofar as high demand; COVID; and low inventory/allotments mean that dealerships are much more pressed for inventory than for buyers.
I'm not aware of any volume dealers, but potentially the big markets (Dallas, Los Angeles, perhaps Denver?) might have dealers who are larger than typical.

A "good" deal on a Defender will mean pre-ordering, waiting ~ 6 months and paying sticker. Given all the supply-chain issues we're seeing world-wide, I suspect this will be the case for the next 1+ years.

If you buy off the lot, expect to pay at least $5-10K over sticker minimum.

 

RedAustinIX,

Thanks for your reply, which largely confirms my thinking. I will not be buying a Defender off the lot, and am aware of the inflated "in stock" pricing. I haven't see a truck in my exact specification anywhere in stock, and am prepared for the ordering wait. While I will tolerate paying MSRP on such an ordered vehicle, I don't want one bad enough to pay "$5-10k over sticker minimum" to buy one off a dealer's lot. Regarding the dealership salespeople, I think I'll try calling the two dealerships again and discuss the details of my saved build from the LR USA site. Hopefully that will give me a better read on the dealership experience. Thanks.

 

FWIW there was no premium at my dealership. My ordering process has not been very pleasant, but not sure if the two are totally related.

Have you tried searching the land rover inventory to find your spec? You can find a vehicle you like and have it shipped to you. I bought my last vehicle from the midwest and would go that route again in certain situations.

I would say that defenders with offroad and advanced offroad pack do not seem to be ordered by dealers. This is why I factory ordered myself.

 

Moretti,

I have been all over the LR USA website searching for inventory, but a Defender close to my spec has not shown up anywhere: 110, P300, offroad pack,11.1", no sunroof....

 

Everything I've found even remotely close that shows as "in stock" on the site is already presold. 2 of my local dealers each show over 12 of them with 0 actually available.

The problem is their system doesn't remove it from inventory until the buyer drives it off the lot.
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I’m in Texas and had a great experience with Land Rover of Hunt Valley, Maryland. Mine had just come off the truck. Paid MSRP, and would do it again in a heartbeat.

 

Bought mine off the lot 3 weeks ago, paid full MSRP. This is in Rhode Island.

2021 110s, steelies, green/khaki, perfect.

 

1) Will my local dealer treat me less well for service and repairs if I do not buy my Defender from that dealership? Not at all. Call ahead to schedule and request a loaner. They don't know the difference between you and the billionaire who just moved into town. Fundamentally, also start looking for Rover Service shops that are NOT dealer related. Often better service, better prices, etc. They just can't do warranty work.
2) Is it pretty common to get LR salespeople that don't seem the least bit concerned if you never call them again and buy elsewhere? Imagine that you are in a job that is almost all commission based and you have no product to sell. Then, when one comes in you have dozens of people willing to buy it above MSRP. Sounds like the housing market! Anyway, you get the idea - it is not set up to give you the service level that a luxury car implies. In fact, it poses an existential problem to Tata's investment. I had a great Sales Person, but they inherited a flawed deal.

3) Are there any "enthusiast, "volume" LR dealers which Forum members would recommend for ordering a Defender? Not that I've heard. You will pay MSRP, wait ~6+ months and be lucky to get what you originally ordered. Get EVERYTHING in writing, go to the Dealership to get the vehicle ordered, and contact them frequently. Then you will increase your odds to 1 in 4 of getting the order correct.