Farnell Land Rover Bradford | |
Thought I’d post a review of this dealership, having some history with them and also some recent problems with the 405.
My first car from them was in the late 1990s when I was able to get a new Freelander from the firm I worked for.
Since then I bought a Defender 110 in 2007 from them, PXd it there for a new RRS in 2010.
Then in 2014 bought a new Defender 110 which I had planned to keep but you know what plans are like!
Anyhow, when I made the decision to change for a FFRR I didn’t even think of going anywhere else as I’d been more than happy with them. I think it’s a good sign when the guy I deal with in sales (Abu Kyher) has been there for over 7 years (10 I think).
The 405 AB I bought in July was a pre reg car, 25 miles on the clock so in effect a new car that the dealer had registered to meet targets ( I presume).
All was well with the car for the first 800 miles* and since then there had been a succession of problems all relating to the infotainment unit. The unit was replaced under warranty which fixed one fault (no sat nav) but not others (no Live Services, random camera operation, pdc which seemed to see non existent objects). Also the new infotainment unit would run in night mode during the day or day mode, as it saw fit.
Eventually all seemed well apart from the ongoing night mode but...
The upshot of all this was that after 9 trips to the dealers since the end of July I had had enough and wanted to get out of the car and into another.
Throughout the whole process of returning to dealer, they were excellent to deal with and kept me posted as to what was going on. That the faults were intermittent didn’t help diagnosis and the fact that they couldn’t fix it in one hit didn’t put me off the dealership, often they were waiting for Land Rover to provide guidance and software patches .
To cut a long story short, the 405 has now been sold back to the dealer and order for a 2018 placed.
The car won’t be available probably until March and I have been loaned a RRS for now, and have been promised a courtesy car until my new one arrives.
I’m disappointed that the original car had so many issues but loved the experience so much I’m not put off the brand. I can’t think of another vehicle I’d rather be in.
Farnells have been so professional and helpful throughout the process the experience has been far less painful than it might have been. I did not hesitate in placing my order through them.
Hopefully you might find this review helpful if you’re in the market for a new or approved used RR.
* in fact I had a problem on day 1 as nobody could get the icontrol link for the car to work so I spent 3 hours at the dealer the day after collecting it while that was sorted out...
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