I keep reading about doing your homework when buying a used Rover, or any vehicle for that matter, but I'm having a hard time with a few things.

How do you go about getting a used land rover check out by a land rover mechanic? Might sound like a dumb question but it seems like it would be hard to get a seller to go along with it even if they are not hiding anything. Make an appointment, drive the it across town, drop it off for God knows how long. Is it easier than I'm making it sound?

Also, if I'm looking at an 07-08 there could be 3-4 different owners and tracking down service records can be darn near impossible. Even if you do some dealers won't turn it over.
I want to do my due diligence but I'm having a tough time with some of it.
Any advice would be appreciated.

 

I've never had a seller not let a mechanic look over the car. Sometimes they won't let you take the car by yourself, they'll want to go with you.

 

Short of maintenance records, A good LR mechanic should be able to identify any potential issues such as noisy differentials, drive line noise, worn out bushings, ball joints, broken or missing latches, and the overall appearance of the vehicle. Has it been well maintained, or was it cleaned up for a quick sale, look under the hood, was it 'cleaned up' or seem normal. Is the cowl warped over the air intake on the passenger side, and so on.

Overall, short of major issues, such as transmission, there isn't anything you can get into that can't be fixed, but if there are issues, the price should be fairly reduced to offset the expense required to bring it up to speed.

Good luck, they are great vehicles, and will bring you a a lot of enjoyment.

 

Thanks. So with an appointment they are good about getting you in and out of the service department with something like this?

 

I've had good luck, you should be able to identify the shop, and work it out before you begin, rather than just show up unexpected. It shouldn't take too long to go over the basics for someone who knows what they are looking for.

 

We just bought our second used LR3 and I was so surprised by how much information our mechanic was able to give us. We bought the first used LR3 without a mechanic check, and other than the light show on the dash board (every warning light went on whenever it felt like it- which we completely ignored), we had no mechanical issues- which is why we went ahead and bought a second one to replace the one that was totalled in an accident.

So our mechanic was able to run a computer report that showed whether or not there were any major malfunctions (I guess the computer records this stuff??) and did a quick diagnostic check. It took one hour and the seller agreed to meet us there. We had pre-arranged a time with the mechanic. The seller went and got lunch while this took place, so no big deal. What was most enlightening was how much information showed up on the Carfax report!!! Every single maintenence trip to the dealer was recorded on that thing! Spend the $ for the Carfax report for sure.

 

I just called the local Stealer and made an appointment for a pre purchase inspection, the PO even took it over and dropped it off and picked it up, heck of a nice guy. I was provided with a thorough inspection report of what they looked at and what they found. That was the second inspection performed on that LR3 as the PO had his guy perform and inspection before.