A man has parked up and left vehicles covered in angry signs outside of a Land Rover Dealership, claiming the company has failed to honour a warranty.
Michael Cox left his Range Rover, along with a can, caravan and other vehicles outside of the Stratstone Land Rover dealership on Hatfield Road in Cardiff, Wales Online reports.
The 36-year-old claims that the extended warranty he took out on his eight-year-old Range Rover Vogue SE, which he bought from the dealership in 2018, has not been honoured by Land Rover and he says he has since had a string of issues with the vehicle - leading to its engine failing in December.
Land Rover has said it is investigating the case and the Cardiff dealership has not provided comment. Mr Cox says he has now received an injunction ordering him to move the vehicles, which have already been outside the dealership for three weeks, by Saturday (May 14).
Signs on the vehicles he has parked at the dealership read: "Don't buy a Range Rover/Land Rover!!! They don't honour their warranty".
Instead of moving them back home, however, he plans on moving them to another Land Rover office, adding: "I told Land Rover's head office, I’m going to move it around all your dealerships and make a point, because what you’re doing is wrong. I’ve had to send that car into the dealer eight times because of the coolant problem, the engine has gone bang because of the coolant problem and they're trying to blame me.
"It’s not like I’ve taken it to a back street garage, I've brought it back to the main dealer. They need to stop messing people around and instead give them the service that they expect to get. In my case, they are just trying to backpedal now and are using excuses. It's ridiculous."
Mr Cox said that the repeated problems with the coolant issue meant he had taken his car back to the main dealer to be fixed "around eight to 10 times" since buying it in 2018.
He said: "For the last two years, I've bought a top of the range warranty which costs £2,000 a year.
"But since I’ve owned the vehicle, bearing in mind it’s only got 42,000 miles on it, it’s been back and forth to the main dealers with a coolant problem. I've taken it in to the main dealer around eight to ten times and they’ve never got to the bottom of the issue."
He added: "It went back in last December with the problem, and two days before Christmas they phoned and said my car was ready. The following morning, the cooling light came on again, so I went back to them and said about it. They told me that it was probably an airlock and I should keep the water topped up, and if I had any further problems I should come back in the new year.
"Well, over Christmas, the engine went bang. I took it back in at the start of January and asked if they would replace it, but they said no. They said I had driven it because it was hot. But they told me to drive it - I’m not going to blow my own car up for the sake of it."
Mr Cox claims that he purchased his Range Rover with an original warranty that lasted two years. He then extended this warranty by an extra 12 months for the past two years, costing £2,000 per year, and says the company now tells him it won't pay out because the car is eight years old.
He said: "I told them that on their warranty it clearly says it covers vehicles up to 10 years old or under 100,000 miles. They charged me for an extended warranty and now they are using the excuse that the car is too old.
"Why charge me for the warranty if it's too old? The car is seven or eight years old with 40,000 miles on, and it’s immaculate."
Mr Cox decided to make his point by leaving the Range Rover outside the dealership he bought it from. The car is now wrapped with messages including 'Don't buy a Land Rover! They don't honour their warranty," and "How can Thierry Bollore - the CEO of Land Rover - let it get to this?".
He claims that he has received an outpouring of support from friends and strangers alike since launching his protest. He went on to say: "I've had a hell of a lot of support from it, social media wise. People offered to lend me their vehicles and to help me pay for the wrap.
"People even offered to leave vehicles there for me - the other day a friend of mine wanted to put a 40 foot trailer there. A friend of mine was actually driving down Hadfield Road and he watched them put the cover on. He rang me and asked if I wanted him to take it off, so obviously I said yes."
A spokesperson for Land Rover said: "Land Rover always aims to provide the best customer service. We're currently investigating this case and are in regular contact with the customer concerned."
