The Rover-Landers of BC

My recently arrived 130 and Range Rover were damaged in the container whilst in transit from the UK - a strap broke and the 130 spent at least part of the journey smashing into the back of the Rangie at will.

Anyway, marine insurance is a wonderful thing and if I can get a reasonable quote it'll pay for the repairs.

Back in the UK I'd just trailer the trucks down to my main dealer and have them give an outrageous quote which the insurance company would reject out of hand. Then I'd get a sensible quote from an independent shop who would pad it out a bit and still come in way cheaper than the dealer so the insurance company would accept it.

Attempting to do the same here I've hit a problem - Land Rover Victoria don't do body work so passed me on the their parent, a Ford dealer, who don't do Land Rovers. Nice.

So, advice required: Should I just punt around local body shops until I find someone willing to do Land Rover work or haul the trucks to the main land for one of our members shops to do the work?

Problem is that I doubt I'd be able to claim back the considerable expense of trailering two land rovers to the mainland.

FYI - the repairs needed are simply unbolting pretty much the whole of the front of the 130 and replacing with new (fenders, bumper, radiator grill, lights, hood etc.) then painting. On the rangie it's replace bumper and upper tailgate then paint the whole vehicle as it's scratched to buggery.

And yes, I could do all the work myself (with the exception of the paint) but the insurance company won't go for that.

Ok, fire away with suggestions.

Thanks,

David

Wow, that's a tough one. And most of our experience here is dealing with ICBC, which handles claims quite different than independent insurance agencies. So the big question is where do damaged Land Rovers in Victoria go to for bodywork, if not the dealer or the parent Ford dealer?

I'd be inclined to chase that down first. The second challenge may be finding the parts for the Defender as these weren't sold directly over here. You may have to connect the bodyshop with one of the suppliers on the site here, although I don't know of any offhand that carry a lot of body panels.

Good luck with your search.

Dave

For an outrageous local quote. Try GT Collision on the corner of Allenby and Boys road, right across from Harpers Scrap Metal.

For actually getting them fixed, try asking Rob at Highway Auto Body and tell him David Sutfin recommended him.

Greg S

The issue with the parent dealership of Land Rover Victoria is not that the vehicles are Land Rovers - they'd quite hapilly bung them through their body shop if they were NAS Discos - but that the 130 (despite being LHD) is UK spec and, shock horror, made of aluminum - who knew! The Rangie is French spec, by the way and diesel which was why they turned it down.

Other than the painting, there's no traditional body work to be done here anyway. It's all a case of bolt off damaged parts and bolt on new ones.

I'm thinking I'll approach a guy here in town who used to do Land Rovers but now concentrates on old Toyota Landcruisers. He'll understand the nature of the job and may be able to give a sensible quote.

I'll keep you posted.

BTW - the conversations with the Marine Insurance Surveyor and I are a laugh a minute:

"The Range Rover needs a new upper tail gate"
"I thought you said it was a Land Rover"
"It is"
"What? You just said it was a Range Rover, or are you talking about the other one?"
"No, they're both made by Land Rover, but the model of this one is Range Rover"
"So what's the model of the other one?"
"Land Rover"
"But you just said the make was Land Rover, what's the model?"
"No the make and the model is Land Rover"
"Huh?"
etc. etc. etc.

Ah, forgot to mention that I suspect the real reason the ford dealer didn't want to quote was because the trucks are not registered in BC yet.

This is something of a Catch 22 when it comes to the 130. I can't get it registered because it won't pass provincial inspection because it's damaged and I can't get it repaired because it's not registered.

Greg - I'll look into those two shops if all else fails, but I still hold out hope that I can find someone with some experience of Land Rovers who understands you can't simply hammer out the dents in the seam of a defender wing and expect it to look any good.

Ok, I think I may have sorted this one out.

Dixon is going to supply all the parts and the guys at http://www.raddcruisers.ca will fit everything and arange the re-sprays. Whilst they are obvoulsy Toyota specialists, they were very interested in the 130 and keen to do the work.

Cue one month pause whilst all the parts arrive and I'll post an update.

yep, rob and john are good guys... john told me I needed therapy when I said I was thinking of getting a rover.... :lol: