12:06 pm, November 1, 2023
Jaguar Land Rover dealers have been accused of using second-hand parts to fix a huge backlog of used cars stuck off the road.
A report suggests the manufacturer has instructed its dealerships to use second-hand parts to help speed up the repairs on customers’ cars, some of which have been off the road for as much as nine months.
Car Dealer reported two weeks ago that up to 10,000 Jaguar Land Rover models were currently off the road due to a huge parts backlog.
It came as a result of the firm condensing its parts warehouses into one supercentre that was struggling to cope with demand.
A leaked report from a meeting between dealers and the manufacturer revealed that parts trucks were stuck waiting to be unloaded outside the new ‘Mercia’ parts centre and staff were struggling to fulfil orders.
Reports claimed the manufacturer was running out of courtesy cars, with some 5,000 customers currently using them across the country while their cars were off the road.
UK client care director Andrew Woolliscroft admitted the issue was currently seriously impacting the car manufacturer, its dealers and its customers at the summit.
‘We’ve run out of cars to put clients into and we’ve run out of space to park the cars waiting on parts,’ he told the conference.
‘We’ve nearly stopped our workshops from being able to operate and it’s unacceptable.’
Car Dealer was inundated with emails from angry JLR customers following our initial report, with some customers saying their cars had been off the road for as long as nine months waiting for parts.
Autocar reported that one Jaguar Land Rover employee told the publication that to ‘beat the waiting list for new parts and speed up repairs, the manufacturer has instructed dealers to use second-hand parts’.
The source told Autocar: ‘JLR has told retailers to source non-genuine parts to get cars fixed and out of their workshops for the last six months.
‘One JLR senior manager even suggested we use second-hand parts if necessary, although this was ridiculed by retailers.’
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One JLR dealer Car Dealer spoke to said they had ‘certainly not been told to do that’ when asked if they had been asked to use second-hand parts.
‘That would be an absolute disaster,’ said the dealer boss.
‘It would be a road to ruin. If a customer that has bought a premium product then had their car repaired with second-hand parts, can you imagine the disgust? It would be ruinous.
‘But it’s no secret it’s a disaster at the moment. Customers are very unhappy and rightly so. We are firefighting.’
Car Dealer spoke to several customers who had been forced to wait months for parts to fix their car. Customer Paul Atton, a company director from Filey, North Yorkshire, told us he had been waiting on a part for his 2017 Range Rover Velar for four months.
A spokesman told Car Dealer that some dealers do use ‘locally sourced parts’.
‘It is a long-established practice in exceptional circumstances, provided those parts are fit for purpose and meet JLR specifications,’ said JLR. ‘This is clearly stated as part of any warranty agreement.
‘All fitted parts are subject to the same industry-standard specifications and are fit for purpose. It is JLR’s top priority to resolve the temporary parts delays some of our retailers are experiencing and minimise the impact to our clients.’
