Jason
2/5
Bought a 2012 Land Rover Freelander 2 (Roughly 200k miles) from Alan in September. Initial comms were great and when I went to see the car there was no pressure or the usual Salesman rubbish you get. Test drove the car, everything seemed great apart from a couple of smaller issues which is to be expected for a high mileage car. Decided to take the car then and there by part-exchanging my current car for £1250 and then paying £2200 in cash (£3450). The car came with 12 months MOT, recently serviced and described as fully workshop checked.
Two days into ownership I had a Low Coolant Warning. Topped up the coolant and continued on, in this period I also noticed the parking sensors were completely dead, the rear driver-side brake was binding and there was a weird knock coming from underneath.
10 days later I contacted Alan to say the warning light was on, did he notice anything before he'd sold the car to which I was told no. Fair enough. Alan got the car booked into his garage ASAP, was told there was an EGR valve leak, they'd order the part and let me know when it's in to bring the car back. Should've been picked up in the workshop check which probably wasn't done properly.
I spent over £150 in replacing the bonnet and tailgate gas struts and replacing every single bulb with high-quality Philips bulbs in this period.
2 weeks go by, no update, contacted Alan who then told me to take the car in on a Thursday for the work to be done which I did at 8am. I call Friday PM as radio silence again. Mechanic tells me over the phone they’ve ordered in the wrong part, they’re waiting on Land Rover contacting to quote a new one so they can get it fitted. Fine. The car sits in the garage and I get a call from Alan on the Tuesday saying the garage had repaired the leak as the Land Rover quote was too expensive and that the car was ready. The car was fixed and then tested on the Wednesday by the mechanic I was told. All fine.
I picked the car up and on way home noticed the cabin smelled of a chemical. Contacted Alan via text to ask how the repair was carried out and was told he'd let me know that afternoon. Heard nothing. I opened the bonnet and checked the coolant and the reservoir was filled almost to the brim with coolant and the cap was caked in foam. (See photos) I sent the pictures to someone I know at a Land Rover specialist and was told an additive was used. I called the garage to ask them and I was reluctantly told "We used K-Seal to fix the issue. Because we couldn't get a part."
Texted Alan and said I'd like to return the car as K-Seal is a cheap fix and WILL cause issues further down the line. I also said I would've been happy to let the other issues with the car slide and possibly even contribute toward fixing the issue PROPERLY had I been told BEFORE additive was used.
Alan called and said if I wasn't happy with the car he would take it back however as I'd had the car for 6-7 weeks he estimated that around £1400 should be deducted from the overall price as from his previous experience speaking with Trading Standards a ballpark figure would be £200 per week. So I'd be getting back £2000 from a car I paid £3450 for despite only having it 6-7 weeks and the car spending 10-11 days overall in a garage. I was asked for a figure over the phone to which I declined. Called Trading Standards and was told there was no guidelines on how much should be deducted. End of the day, it took them 5 weeks to attempt to fix the issue.
I initially wanted £3150 back given I’d driven the car but also spent some money improving the car as well as £60 on coolant and back & forth to the garage however £3000 was agreed upon and I handed it back.
I was very patient with the whole ordeal, a lot more than most because at the end of the day it’s a high mileage car at a low price point and you have to be realistic however this was overall a very poor experience.
Would’ve left the review out as Alan was fine with taking the car back however bit irritated I wasn't just given the full refund after all of the nonsense.
