The introduction of Land Rover Approved Service Plans for New Vehicles

16.11.2015 by Rovertune

AS OF THE 31st DECEMBER 2018 LAND ROVER NO LONGER OFFERS THE APPROVED SERVICE PLANS ON NEW VEHICLES. WE SUSPECT THAT ANOTHER ALTERNATIVE PACKAGE MAY BE OFFERED AT SOME TIME IN THE FUTURE. MEANWHILE, THERE IS NO BETTER TIME TO SAVE ON SERVICING COSTS BY BOOKING YOUR VEHICLE IN AT ROVERTUNE LTD

Land Rover introduced Approved Service Plan Options in 2013 for customers purchasing the new Range Rover Evoque and new 2014MY Range Rover Sport. It was thought that these service plans would become standard policy and be marketed as an option for future new vehicles. The introduction of the Discovery Sport in 2015 proved this to be fact. These plans were subsequently adopted for the now discontinued 2016MY Discovery 4 and have now been extended to the 2017 All New Discovery and 2018 Range Rover Velar

The approved service plans when introduced were designed to span a maximum 5 years of servicing, but were limited to 50,000 or 60,000 miles (whichever occurred sooner) depending on the vehicle model for a single one off payment at the time of purchase, or within a specified period thereafter. The plans are extremely competitively priced (originally starting at just £499) and clearly designed to ‘lock in’ customers to Main Dealer servicing, as the pricing levels set make it virtually impossible for any Independent Land Rover Specialist to compete on cost over the period if they are to comply fully with the requirements relating to the servicing of new vehicles whilst they are still under the manufacturer’s warranty. It is interesting to note that the maximum mileage limit was reduced to 50,000 miles for all qualifying vehicles from January 2015. However, customers can now purchase a higher mileage plan (up to 75,000 miles within the 5 year period) at additional cost. It is also interesting to note that the cost of these service plans have increased substantially since their introduction. Details of vehicles covered by the plans are set in the schedule below.

Currently the service packs are based upon the following criteria:- 

• Range Rover Sport 2.0 Ingenium Diesel:      5 years or 50,000 miles £750
• Range Rover Sport 2.0 Ingenium Diesel:      5 years or 75,000  miles £875
• Range Rover Sport 2.0 Ingenium Petrol:      5 years or 50,000 miles  £750
• Range Rover Sport 2.0 Ingenium P PHEV     5 years or 50,000 miles  £925
• Range Rover Sport 3.0 TDV6 Diesel:             5 years or 50,000 miles  £825
• Range Rover Sport 3.0 V6 S/C Petrol:           5 years or 50,000 miles  £825
• Range Rover Sport 5.0 V8 S/C Petrol:           5 years or 50,000 miles  £925
• Range Rover Velar 2.0 Ingenium Diesel:      5 years or 50,000 miles  £675
• Range Rover Velar 2.0 Ingenuim Diesel:      5 years or 75,000 miles  £825
• Range Rover Velar 3.0 TDV6 Diesel:              5 years or 50,000 miles  £775
• Range Rover Velar 3.0 V6 S/C Petrol:            5 years or 50,000 miles  £775
• Range Rover Velar 2.0 Ingenuim Petrol:      5 years or 50,000 miles  £775
• Range Rover Evoque 2.0 Ingenium Petrol   5 years or 50,000 miles  £625
• Range Rover Evoque 2.0 Ingenium Diesel:  5 years or 50,000 miles  £625
• Range Rover Evoque 2.0 Ingenium Diesel:  5 years or 75,000 miles  £775
• Range Rover Evoque 2.0 Ingenium Diesel:  5 years or 50,000 miles  £625  (2 Wheel Drive)
• All New Discovery 2.0 Ingenium Diesel:       5 years or 50,000 miles  £725
• All New Discovery  2.0 Ingenuim Diesel:      5 years or 75,000 miles  £875
• All New Discovery 2.0 Ingenium Petrol:       5 years or 50,000 miles  £725
• All New Discovery 3.0 TDV6 Diesel:              5 years or 50,000 miles  £825
• All New Discovery 3.0 V6 S/C Petrol:            5 years or 50,000 miles  £825
• Discovery Sport 2.0 Ingenium Diesel:          5 years or 50,000 miles  £625
• Discovery Sport 2.0 Ingenium Diesel:          5 years or 75,000 miles   £775
• Discovery Sport 2.0 Ingenium Petrol:          5 years or 50,000 miles   £625
• Note: Time and Mileage figures are based on whichever comes first 
• AdBlue® Top-ups are available for diesel engines and MOT Protect giving cover up to a maximum of £750 for work that may be needed  to rectify any MOT failure during the vehicles first three MOT tests (but subject to specific terms and conditions)

Vehicles with 2.0 litre Ingenium diesel engines will receive a maximum of 2 services within the plan. Higher mileage plans for the same engine will give a maximum of 3 services, whilst vehicles with 2.0 Ingenium petrol engines, 3.0/5.0  S/C petrol engines and 3.0 TDV6 diesel engines will qualify for a maximum of 5 services. This is based upon service intervals of 2 years/21,000 miles for the 2.0 litre Ingenuim diesel engines and 1 year/16,000 miles for all other engines

The costs set out above are not far above those that can be offered by Rovertune Ltd. for vehicles with 2.0 litre Ingenium engines, albeit the price difference is larger for all other engines. 

At Rovertune Ltd. we have been servicing all variants of new Land Rover vehicles still under the manufacturer’s warranty since the EU Directive on Block Exemption was first introduced in 2003, without a single warranty problem for its customers. We intend to carry on the servicing of new vehicles, even in the face of this new extreme competition. Our tooling and fully up to date Official Land Rover SDD and Pathfinder diagnostic systems and TOPIx technical systems, together with a new range of lifting platforms and specialist Land Rover approved equipment and tools will allow us to continue this process.

A number of our customers who have recently purchased new Land Rover vehicles have not taken up the main dealer service packs, as they wish to continue to benefit from the very high standard of workmanship, customer care and competitive pricing they have become accustomed to across the whole range of works undertaken on their vehicles previously by Rovertune Ltd. Others have indicated they will do the same when purchasing a new vehicle. We are seeing a progressive increase in the number of the vehicles that would have qualified for the approved service packs coming into Rovertune for service rather than their owners taking up the option of Main Dealer servicing. Owners of L405 Range Rover and Defender vehicles have never had the option to purchase an Approved Service Plan and we are see many of these vehicles.

We would also advise any prospective purchasers of new vehicles who do take up the option of an Approved Service Pack and hence will have their servicing carried out by a Franchised Dealer, we at Rovertune Ltd. will be happy to undertake at any time throughout the five year period, all of their non basic service and ‘wear & tear’ items, which fall outside of the Service Plan Agreement, such as accessory fitting, brake disc & pad renewal, exhaust and tyre replacements, together with all other forms of general vehicle maintenance and repair etc. On these items we will continue to offer customers substantial cost savings against those charged by the main franchised dealers as it must be remembered that these items will be charged at the main dealer’s normal standard hourly rate and not the very substantially reduced labour rate that has been calculated for use in the Approved Service Plans. Our labour rate at Rovertune is currently approximately 50% lower than the standard rate charged by local franchised dealerships (£79 per hour compared to £145 per hour, not including VAT) and is considerably lower when compared to rates charged by franchised dealerships near to, and within the London area, so very considerable cost savings can be made on any item falling outside of the basic service plan.

If you are presented with a list of items from a Franchised Dealer for any work requiring attention which they have deemed falls outside of the Service Plan, first obtain the cost of having the work carried out at the dealership and then let us see just how much can be saved by coming to Rovertune Limited. Many of our new customers have done this and have not gone away disappointed.