Furious Land Rover driver blocks dealership in six-hour standoff over warranty repairs on £120,000 car
Exhibiting his determination (and a fair bit of spare time) a furious Land Rover driver ended up blocking off a dealership in a six-hour standoff.
Rob Kelly abandoned his truck in the road outside of Vertu Land Rover Leeds on 18 February over warranty repairs on his £120,000 vehicle.
The 31-year-old refused to move it out of the way until free engine repairs were done to his 2022 Urban Defender.
He claimed he’d got in touch with the dealership a number of times after his car broke down in January. Work was done to fix a gear issue under warranty but Kelly said further work was needed as the engine still didn't run properly.
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And the driver was adamant the repair should be free as it’s allegedly still under a three-year warranty.
Kelly said the Leeds dealership had ‘point blank refused’ to fix the issue without cost and it left him ‘feeling frustrated’.
And after a call from Land Rover that apparently said ‘under no circumstances’ would he be getting the warranty work done and that he’d need to pay, he decided to block the place.
The man, from Harrogate, said he parked his truck outside and ‘politely explained to everyone that the truck doesn’t move’ until he ‘got his engine’.
"They [staff at Vertu Land Rover] kept saying I needed to move the truck to which I said, 'I'm not going to do. I'll move it when I've got my engine'," he explained.
"They said they'd call the police. I said 'that's fine, I'm not bothered, you can call the police. They're going to come down and I'm going to say the same to them. I'm not moving it'."
Kelly said he’d parked it at ‘a nightmare of an angle’ and that ‘nothing’ would have been able to move it anyway.
"The police came, they couldn't make me move it, so they left and I stayed there with my truck," he added.
He even shared clips to TikTok with his claims over the issue and eventually, the next day was invited to the dealership where they said they’d do the work for free ‘as a gesture of goodwill’.
"They rang me and said 'can you come down for a one-to-one?' They asked me if I'd remove all the videos, which obviously I said no," Kelly explained.
"All I wanted was my engine doing. That is it, it's the minimum I deserved.
"At the end of the day, the car is under warranty. It's broken and you need to fix it, it's as simple as that."
He said he didn’t ‘want any extras’ and simply wanted his engine fixed ‘so he can get on with his life’.
"Just basic things you should be able to do as a car owner. It's ridiculous. Getting left with no car is just a joke," the dad added.
Believing it would’ve cost him £20,000 if he’d had to pay himself, Kelly said he’s been told the engine is on order and he’s getting a courtesy car in the meantime.
A Vertu spokesperson said: "After reviewing the case, we believe our colleagues correctly interpreted the warranty and service agreement terms.
"However, we have worked with the client and JLR [Jaguar Land Rover] to resolve the issue, repairing the vehicle as a goodwill gesture."
JLR acknowledged Vertu's comment in response to the row.
A West Yorkshire Police spokesman said: "At 12:42 on Tuesday 18 February police were called to a report of an HGV causing an obstruction on Sheepscar Way, Leeds, after it had been parked across the entrance of a business.
"Officers attended and the vehicle was removed voluntarily. No offences were recorded."
Jess Battison