July of 2009, the Military stationed us back home in CO. Coming from TX we had a Jetta TDI for a commuter car. But knowing that CO winters can be nasty, we wanted something 4WD. The search began. I wanted something diesel, with 7 passenger capability. Those are hard to come by in the US, especially in 2006 when the available models were too new to find one used. One day while looking at Audi's offerings, we looked across the street at the Land Rovers. My wife and I expected them to be out of our price range, but we looked anyway. We were surprised that we could afford a used LR3. Our sales experience here was the best I had ever had. Our salesman knew the product inside and out. That evening, we were on the search for the LR3 we wanted. After looking a couple months and not finding what we wanted, we made a deal in Oct '09 on the Silver '06 HSE we originally test drove.
This was by far the nicest car we had ever owned and we were very proud of it. We had a few minor issues in that first year, but being a certified Pre-owned, it was holding up pretty well. We were thankful to have bought the extended warranty. After the first year, I was astounded at how many miles were were putting on the Lr3, so the search began for a commuter. We used the LR3 as a weekend warrior and when we needed the cargo space, but drove the commuter car most of the time.
Over the course of the next 20 months, we had the LR3 in for service and repairs quite frequently. Probably an average of every other month. We'd get a loaner each time, but it was becoming increasingly annoying to take the time to drop it off, then return with a $250 deductible each time. I still had more of a love relationship with the car at this point.
We get orders that we are headed overseas, so we began to formulate plans with our vehicles. The Military will pay for one to be moved, so we were trying to see what was best. We were told that the LR3 would command a higher price there, so I listed it on a local website there to see if we could pre-sell it and maybe clear the loan by a couple thousand. It was looking good. I had two people interested in the car and plans were to ship it over there and sell it once we settled in. A few short weeks of the shipping deadline, both interested parties had backed out. So we cancelled our plans to ship a vehicle over there at all and began to see what we could sell locally.
I listed it on craigslist, here, and Autotrader among a few other free sites. I only got one interested party, who seemed to lose interest after a few emails back and forth. When I was in for one of the many service appointments in May at my local dealer I asked if they would be interested in buying it back. They made me an offer that was well below what I was asking online, but when our move date mid-july rolled around, I think it would clear the note...barely. So I said that if I could not sell it on my own, we'd bring it back. Earlier this week I took the LR3 back to the dealer for the final time. In making appointments, they were now telling me that their offer is $1600 less than a month and a half ago because the "market" changed that much.
That didn't change much on the day I brought it back. The manager gave me another $100, but said that was all he could. After it was all said and done, with the small refund from the warranty co., we still owed $1100 on the loan.
Here's where the hate relationship begins to over power the love part and I began to stop "drinking the kool-aid". I buy a 3yr old Lr3, whos' value was almost 50% of new then. Generally, you avoid the big drop in depreciation of a vehicle if you buy it two or three years old. Not a LR. It had again dropped nearly 50% in value, so at 6 years old it was only worth 25-35% of new? And the car was in excellent condition. It wasn't like I trashed it. To put salt in the wound, they had our car on the internet that evening listing it for more than $11,000 than he gave us! And we hadn't even finished the paper-work yet!
While owning the LR3, I told many people I wouldn't own an Lr3 without and extended warranty ever again. I'd like to revise that to say, I am nearly 100% sure that I will never own another LR again. They are simply a horrible investment. I can't imagine how you folks who bought new feel. You might end up ok if you keep the car for a long time (And have an extended warranty). I am somewhat disappointing in my local dealer, but I am horribly dissatisfied with the LR product because reliability is the sole reason these things do not hold their value. I've owned many more vehicles that were below this league and they gave me much less problems in the end.
Now, when I began to search for cars, I will see what the same model, a few years older, is selling for to get an idea of the depreciation before I buy. I am sure there are many of you in a similar situation that I am and I hope that this will help your decision.
J.D.
This was by far the nicest car we had ever owned and we were very proud of it. We had a few minor issues in that first year, but being a certified Pre-owned, it was holding up pretty well. We were thankful to have bought the extended warranty. After the first year, I was astounded at how many miles were were putting on the Lr3, so the search began for a commuter. We used the LR3 as a weekend warrior and when we needed the cargo space, but drove the commuter car most of the time.
Over the course of the next 20 months, we had the LR3 in for service and repairs quite frequently. Probably an average of every other month. We'd get a loaner each time, but it was becoming increasingly annoying to take the time to drop it off, then return with a $250 deductible each time. I still had more of a love relationship with the car at this point.
We get orders that we are headed overseas, so we began to formulate plans with our vehicles. The Military will pay for one to be moved, so we were trying to see what was best. We were told that the LR3 would command a higher price there, so I listed it on a local website there to see if we could pre-sell it and maybe clear the loan by a couple thousand. It was looking good. I had two people interested in the car and plans were to ship it over there and sell it once we settled in. A few short weeks of the shipping deadline, both interested parties had backed out. So we cancelled our plans to ship a vehicle over there at all and began to see what we could sell locally.
I listed it on craigslist, here, and Autotrader among a few other free sites. I only got one interested party, who seemed to lose interest after a few emails back and forth. When I was in for one of the many service appointments in May at my local dealer I asked if they would be interested in buying it back. They made me an offer that was well below what I was asking online, but when our move date mid-july rolled around, I think it would clear the note...barely. So I said that if I could not sell it on my own, we'd bring it back. Earlier this week I took the LR3 back to the dealer for the final time. In making appointments, they were now telling me that their offer is $1600 less than a month and a half ago because the "market" changed that much.
That didn't change much on the day I brought it back. The manager gave me another $100, but said that was all he could. After it was all said and done, with the small refund from the warranty co., we still owed $1100 on the loan.
Here's where the hate relationship begins to over power the love part and I began to stop "drinking the kool-aid". I buy a 3yr old Lr3, whos' value was almost 50% of new then. Generally, you avoid the big drop in depreciation of a vehicle if you buy it two or three years old. Not a LR. It had again dropped nearly 50% in value, so at 6 years old it was only worth 25-35% of new? And the car was in excellent condition. It wasn't like I trashed it. To put salt in the wound, they had our car on the internet that evening listing it for more than $11,000 than he gave us! And we hadn't even finished the paper-work yet!
While owning the LR3, I told many people I wouldn't own an Lr3 without and extended warranty ever again. I'd like to revise that to say, I am nearly 100% sure that I will never own another LR again. They are simply a horrible investment. I can't imagine how you folks who bought new feel. You might end up ok if you keep the car for a long time (And have an extended warranty). I am somewhat disappointing in my local dealer, but I am horribly dissatisfied with the LR product because reliability is the sole reason these things do not hold their value. I've owned many more vehicles that were below this league and they gave me much less problems in the end.
Now, when I began to search for cars, I will see what the same model, a few years older, is selling for to get an idea of the depreciation before I buy. I am sure there are many of you in a similar situation that I am and I hope that this will help your decision.
J.D.
