Land Rover insurance problems mount as owners are refused in-house cover

Land Rover owners are up in arms over the brand’s insurance scheme refusing cover for some of its own vehicles. The Land Rover insurance scheme was relaunched last month to help owners, some of whom have been claiming that their vehicles were “uninsurable”.

Auto Express reader and Range Rover Velar owner Jonathan Hardwick contacted us, saying “I am alarmed at how my car insurance has gone up three-fold this year. The car has a tracker and is kept behind a locked gate at night, always having a Krooklok fitted when parked. But on comparison sites, the cheapest premium I can find is £1,780.”

In an attempt to reduce his premium, Jonathan tried Land Rover’s own insurance but received a message saying “Sorry, we are currently unable to provide you with a quote for your Land Rover.” This was despite Jonathan having had his Velar updated by Land Rover with its latest security system designed to prevent thieves from ‘hacking’ into cars.

“Surely if this is Land Rover’s own insurance offering, albeit via a third party, it should be trying harder to provide cover,” said Jonathan. “If it isn’t careful, Land Rover will become guilty of peddling uninsurable cars, which will inevitably affect its market share, especially if it won’t even insure its own cars.”

Land Rover told us it is sorry that not all clients have been given a policy, releasing a statement saying: “Land Rover Insurance is a new opportunity to support our clients in insuring our vehicles. Still in its infancy, we are collating data to enable us to refine and improve the offering, but we are in challenging market conditions where all motor insurance prices are continuing to rise.

“As the data matures, we are working to be able to extend the offering to even more clients. As this occurs, we will be proactively reviewing previously declined quotes to determine whether we can offer an insurance solution and will contact clients accordingly.

“Insurance is market-led and eligibility based, and a broad set of criteria determines whether an application will result in being offered a policy, and with what premium. Criteria is based on an individual’s personal circumstances and will therefore vary between clients. We are sorry that not all clients have been offered a policy with Land Rover Insurance. We are confident that as we continue refining our service, we will be able to offer even more clients a policy.”

That said, since launching its insurance in October 2023, the company says it has already provided quotes for more than 8,500 clients, at a cost averaging less than £200 per month. “In December 2023 alone we provided more than 3,500 quotes – which is a positive trend and we're confident this will grow,” a spokesperson told Auto Express.

Meanwhile, the world of social media is awash with stories from unhappy Land Rover owners. Posting on X (formerly Twitter) RSJKeeley said: “All-new 2023 Range Rover parked in a locked garage with 13 years NCD and no convictions/points, and Land Rover won’t even quote on their latest model (despite boasting upgraded security and only 0.03% theft rate)”

JT wrote: “I honestly think this is a catastrophe for JLR. My father’s insurance on his old Disco Sport tripled, he’s got rid. My RR Sport is the same and I’m getting rid. I’ve withdrawn my interest in a Defender. Sales must be crashing.”

DVLA data released in 2022 showed Range Rovers of all years near the top of the stolen-vehicles table with more than 5,500 thefts (up 47 per cent on 2021), however, JLR points out that the DVLA data conflates all Range Rover models (Range Rover, Range Rover Sport, Range Rover Velar and Range Rover Evoque) into one single statistic, while other brands' theft data was collated and ranked by individual models, which JLR says results in misleading comparisons.

Since January last year, JLR says the data shows just nine of the 12,200 new Range Rovers registered for the road in the period have been stolen, while just 13 of the 13,400 Range Rover Sport models have been snatched by thieves.

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