Frustration with '14 availability

[JotaDe]

Oh, Man. I was really hoping the stereo on mine was going to be 1280 watts. Especially for when I am out in the back country camping. ;-)

It appears the "only sell in region" rule has created some significant anomalies in availability.

Have also checked in with Denver (5 available '14 LR4s), they too are only selling to the "Denver area."

Even if my region was large, there is a single 2014 LR4 within 500 miles and it's out of state.

At this point I have to hope that my deposit has me early enough in the order queue so that if my local dealer is allowed to order some LR4s my name is called (1 of 3 nearby dealers has told me they are taking no more 2014 LR4 orders period).
Otherwise I'll be waiting for the 2015 model.

I'm tempted to put in a deposit at a second dealer to get in the queue but I think my wife will throttle me because this is pretty insane.

 

[danrhiggins]

Have also checked in with Denver (5 available '14 LR4s), they too are only selling to the "Denver area."

Even if my region was large, there is a single 2014 LR4 within 500 miles and it's out of state.

At this point I have to hope that my deposit has me early enough in the order queue so that if my local dealer is allowed to order some LR4s my name is called (1 of 3 nearby dealers has told me they are taking no more 2014 LR4 orders period).
Otherwise I'll be waiting for the 2015 model.

I'm tempted to put in a deposit at a second dealer to get in the queue but I think my wife will throttle me because this is pretty insane.

Presumably your nearest dealer is not that far away! One of the things my wife wanted to know is, "Can anyone work on it if it breaks and what if we are a long way away from a dealer?" I am actually only 20 mins from the Denver dealership and an hour from the Boulder dealership. So I lucked out there. The "what happens if it breaks down?" question was one of the things that had me looking hard at the Land Cruiser. But you can't always live in fear of what might happen, right?

Anyway, good luck on this "lottery." ;-) With the focus on the Discovery Sport launch maybe the MY15 LR4 won't be that dramatically different and if there are any MY14 issues they might have worked them out. And maybe introduced a handful of new updates. You never know.

 

[JotaDe]

In the last couple days I fired off a short email to every dealership in northern Ca to see if I could first find someone with open LR4 orders to fulfill and second someone to work with me on the "locals only" problem I've been facing. I've been inspired by the fact that my local dealer has seemingly provided zero effort in the last two weeks since taking my 1k refundable deposit. I've sent the salesman two emails in that timespan with questions and received no reply.

The good news. The 6th closest dealership (about 2.5 hours away) told me they have an open LR4 order to submit in a couple weeks for delivery late August. They also said it was mine without any deposit needed.

The interesting news. The dealership is willing to provide the order to me because I have family in the same city in which I could "register" the car at purchase to their address. Then change the address at the DMV after the sale to my current residence. To clarify this is for DMV registration, not insurance.
This caught me off guard, but after preliminary googling I have seen that this is common and doesn't seem to be illegal (incorrect address for insurance is).

Do any of you have any experience with a situation like this, a vehicle registered to a family members address but still in your name?

 

[samcarloso]

In the last couple days I fired off a short email to every dealership in northern Ca to see if I could first find someone with open LR4 orders to fulfill and second someone to work with me on the "locals only" problem I've been facing. I've been inspired by the fact that my local dealer has seemingly provided zero effort in the last two weeks since taking my 1k refundable deposit. I've sent the salesman two emails in that timespan with questions and received no reply.

The good news. The 6th closest dealership (about 2.5 hours away) told me they have an open LR4 order to submit in a couple weeks for delivery late August. They also said it was mine without any deposit needed.

The interesting news. The dealership is willing to provide the order to me because I have family in the same city in which I could "register" the car at purchase to their address. Then change the address at the DMV after the sale to my current residence. To clarify this is for DMV registration, not insurance.
This caught me off guard, but after preliminary googling I have seen that this is common and doesn't seem to be illegal (incorrect address for insurance is).

Do any of you have any experience with a situation like this, a vehicle registered to a family members address but still in your name?

Yes I did this to receive a additional $750 rebate for a ford f150 I purchased last year. I used my mothers address. No big deal since the car was still registered under my name. As long as you have access to the mailbox at that location as you will receive mail there.

 

[JotaDe]

Awesome, glad to hear more good news on that. Just spoke to the GM and he reassured me it's common and not a problem for the sales process. I can change the address any time after the sale is done.

His reasoning wasn't for a "local bonus" from LR that my local dealership told me, but said that he loses his allocation of the vehicle to the dealer that is nearest the registered address. Maybe that ultimately comes down to a "bonus" I'm not sure, but LR is making it tough to find LR4s.

 

[eye.surgeon]

Amazing the demand is so high for a vehicle that by conventional standards is past due for a redesign. Still looks very contemporary and fresh in my opinion, but then again so does the L322 Mk3 Range Rover, the "old" one. The current LR4 and the Mk3 was the pinnacle of LR design IMO.

 

[JMC08]

Amazing the demand is so high for a vehicle that by conventional standards is past due for a redesign. Still looks very contemporary and fresh in my opinion, but then again so does the L322 Mk3 Range Rover, the "old" one. The current LR4 and the Mk3 was the pinnacle of LR design IMO.

Small cars in general just don't seem to take off as well here in the States. I suppose demand has risen over the past few years, but larger suv's are still preferred in most households. I too think the more original Land Rover products are superior and what should mostly fill the product line. Over on RangeRovers.net, I've heard that Land Rover has temporarily stopped making/slowed down production on the regular wheelbase Range Rover and are focusing on just the long wheelbase version. This along with not making any/many LR4's seems to be irritating many customers here in the States.

 

[gaogi]

Visited the dealer last night in the SoCal area and was told that they only have one LR4 available with a 60K MSRP, but they want a 5,000.00 mark up. Lease rates are horrible at .003 money factor and 51% residual for 36 months/15K. Asked about ordering a car, and they said they don't know what their allocation is from month to month, so they will let me know if they will be able to order a car in June. They told me that the bulk of the LR4 will arrive in July/August. The sales person told me that in general, LR4's that are not ordered for a specific customer will be marked up 5K from sticker. They had a FFRR in the show room, and it was marked up 50K!! At this point, I think it would be cheaper for me to look at one of the 3 German 7 seaters.

 

[JotaDe]

Crazy. Seems like ordering an LR4 and paying MSRP is about as good as it gets for the 2014 model. And that's not easy because local dealers get so few allotments if any on a month to month basis.

You could try what I'm doing. If you have family in other zip codes check their dealers for 2014 LR4 orders, you're able to register your car to the address in that zip and then change it after receiving the vehicle.

 

[aj22]

I was similarly frustrated in the NYC area - went to the Manhattan dealership where they had no LR4s, but could order one with 3-4 month delivery. There were some dealers in the area(say 50-75 mi radius) with some inventory, but still, pretty tight. I went to a dealer with one in stock, it had just come in, was being prepped, so they asked if i could come back in 2-3 hours when it would be ready for a test drive. When I came back, it had been sold. It was annoying, as it was close to what I wanted, so I may have bought it. Wound up driving 30 min to another dealer for a test drive(I had never ridden in an LR4 before), and loved it - exceeded expectations. Bought it on the spot, as it was their only LR4 as well. (Full disclosure - my previous car was totaled in an accident, so I was in something resembling a hurry. As in, couldn't wait 4mo for a custom order).

A couple of oddities - they wouldn't let me register it myself, due to this exporting issue. Fine by me, but interesting. But, they didn't have any issue with registering wherever you wanted, but just that they would do it.

Anyway, two days in, and I'm happy as can be. I had a LandCruiser many years ago, and while it was awesome in many ways, I vastly prefer the LR4.

Hope to be a regular here!