Delays are really bad with Land Rover. Discovery parts are hard to get.

I got in a minor fender bender back in July 2021. The vehicle was drivable so the soonest appointment with a certified Land Repair shop was in October 2021.

I dropped off my 2020 Land Rover Discovery in October 2021 and was given a car rental through Enterprise. I was told delay after delay in part shipments. All parts came in by January 2022 but one headlight assembly was damaged during shipment. It was not until early March 2022 that I got the new headlight assembly installed and my vehicle back.

I would expect major delays.

 

It is variable. Our driver door was viciously attacked by a low concrete post. Still drivable. Originally told 6MO for door so didn't bother. By chance checked in a year later & 2 weeks from order, one day turnaround & no loaner nor rental needed.

 

I work for JLR and I'm happy to address this. First, whoever told you that there's no "insert part name here" in the world is in no position to know that unless they're a senior member of management in the UK. Someone at a US Retailer has no idea what's available in Italy or Germany, nor do the French know what's available in the United States.

There are a handful of retailers out there that will have this part, but they won't give it up due to the shortage. They need it for their customers and they're hanging on to them with a tight grip.

We use a lot of the same suppliers as the other European manufacturers and in some cases the same exact parts for certain systems. Many of the factories that make these parts are not yet at full capacity or are operating on part-time shifts. The pandemic caused a lot of problems for us as well as BMW and Mercedes.

We don't manufacturer many of the parts on a car- no car manufacturer does. We take responsibility for things that we can control, but if ZF calls me and says "sorry-the order will fall short this month there's not much we can do." I have to eat it. We cannot just reach out to another supplier and have them start pumping out complicated parts. Molds are required, quality control and material testing is required, it takes a year or more to get part manufacturing going.

Unhappy customers mean lost loyalty and bad reviews and angry people on forums. All of these things cost us money and get people in a corporation sacked. We have people that barely eat and sleep going around the clock trying to find solutions, improve supply and get parts out to the countries. We have hired people from Toyota, Honda, Airbus, etc and other established companies that are experts at supply chain and logistics.

Once we get parts it's a balancing act though- you need a bumper cover and we need to keep the lights on and keep assembly line workers employed. If someone has to make the choice between allocating 5,000 bumper covers to the assembly line (which lets say will create 25 million pounds of revenue) or allocating them to the markets to shore up parts supply (generating we'll say 1 million pounds of revenue) the choice is clear. If you send them to the assembly line people stay employed and you don't lay off 400 people, if you send out 5,000 bumper covers globally (we operate in over 100 countries) then the cars aren't manufactured and you hurt workers in the long-term. It's even more complicated than that, but I'm trying to give some perspective.

In summary, I'm sorry we cannot get the bumper covers out to you and I'm sorry you cannot enjoy your new Land Rover. It's not what we want, but we've exhausted our options and we're making the choice to save our employees and keep the company out of the red. We'd have gone bankrupt by now if we didn't make these drastic decisions. Ford, VW and Toyota have the size and financial reserves to take losses and keep things chugging along until late 2023 (when the supply chain should return to normal), but we do not.

I hope this provides some insight into the situation.

 

Thanks for the response. For clarity, it wasn't a US retailer, it was a combination of discussions, including me, with NA HQ customer care and NA HQ CC confirming that they reached out to UK HQ to see what was available WW and/or an availability timeline. I assume NA HQ actually did that. I get the complexity of the issue and that choices have to be made. I'm not angry with JLR per se and wasn't trashing JLR in my post. I'm just frustrated that I have no use of my vehicle for an indefinite period of time and the manufacturer is not able to provide the slightest bit of assistance.

Meanwhile, 2 months so far of driving a loaded VW Atlas has my wife liking the actual throttle response and additional space it offers...anyone in the market for a low-mileage Disco in need of minor front end bodywork?

 

Thanks to The Insider for providing a balanced perspective from the inside. We all see the customer side and customer frustrations. It's helpful to hear both how mgmt is responding as well as a perspective around the workforce too
Thank you.

 

@The Insider
Thank you for your help here... I had my own experience with wife's Disco 5 MY'22.
First day at the dealership, driving the car off the lot, transfer case, dead. Long story why some one forgot to put oil in it at the factory.
5 months later, the spare if finally arrived. There wasn't one available in the world.
I mean JLR NA confirmed this.
They had to physically manufacture one.
Kinda scary for us customers. Don't you think ?
However, the dealership was above and beyond the call ! kept me posted and informed, and they gave the wife a decent loaner. Also the JLR N.A. HQ guy was amazing.
Honestly, made the whole story go bye bye with a great attitude and service.
THIS is why I am still sticking with JLR and will do so in the future.
As I told you in the other forum, I am still awaiting on 3 more and some how I trust that your supply chain will improve. It has to !
Again, thank you for your insights and support here.

 

Hi Insider,
Do you have any insight to my problem?
I have a 2017 D5 Si6 HSE being repaired by a great dealer here in the US while still under factory warranty.
There was a problem with my last in-touch update causing very slow (many minutes) boot up of the screen.
I brought it in for service prior to the warranty expiration even though it was still drivable.
Diagnosis and attempt at repair has indicated it needs a new instrument cluster part number LR081434.
And diagnosis and attempt at repair has degraded the existing instrument cluster to be non functional.
I understand that the instrument cluster is separate from the in-touch screen but have been told my problem was caused by communication between the instrument cluster and the in-touch screen.
The instruemnt cluster LR081434 has been ordered but is not available anywhere in the JLR system with no estimated date of availability.
Where my problem differs from the model year 2022 problem described above is that the part I need is not needed for production or keeping the assembly line open since it is for a previous model year vehicle. So I am concerned this part will not be manufactured.
Meanwhile my vehicle is not drivable since the instrument cluster is totally corrupt and no longer provides any warning indications and my dealer recommends not driving it.
I now wonder if the part will be manufactured in the future? I hope so or I'll never get my D5 back. I won't be able to drive it and I won't be able to sell it.
Can you provide any insight, advice, or promising words for me?
Thank you in advance.