Found my defender!

Two weeks ago my 99 defender td5 Was stolen from outside my house. Over the last few weeks I've been going through the usual Insurance related fun. Then today I had a letter from a recovery company saying they had found my landy and it was at their storage yard. I went over to go and have a look and on the whole it's not to bad. The winch bumper has been bent and the drivers door has been completely removed. Apart from that it was just covered in mud. Just before leaving I thought I'd see the state under the bonnet. I noticed the coolant was nearly all gone from the expansion tank and the oil was 5mm over the maximum mark. I know that it wasn't like this when they pinched it and I don't want to assume the worst. But everyone knows the td5 problems. The insurance Assessor is going to look at it on Friday and ive let the insurance company know what I have noticed. Does anyone know if the can check the engine internals or what they will do if they also think there is a problem?

Cheers tim

Itf sounds cooked

tim123 said:

Two weeks ago my 99 defender td5 Was stolen from outside my house. Over the last few weeks I've been going through the usual Insurance related fun. Then today I had a letter from a recovery company saying they had found my landy and it was at their storage yard. I went over to go and have a look and on the whole it's not to bad. The winch bumper has been bent and the drivers door has been completely removed. Apart from that it was just covered in mud. Just before leaving I thought I'd see the state under the bonnet. I noticed the coolant was nearly all gone from the expansion tank and the oil was 5mm over the maximum mark. I know that it wasn't like this when they pinched it and I don't want to assume the worst. But everyone knows the td5 problems. The insurance Assessor is going to look at it on Friday and ive let the insurance company know what I have noticed. Does anyone know if the can check the engine internals or what they will do if they also think there is a problem?

Cheers tim

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Buy it back from them at scrap value or take advice from Fanatic as to best course of action for money in your pocket

Work on replacement engine cost and hope lucky

Yup see if insurance will pay up for new engine and door

sorry to hear about your landy being stolen but good to hear you found it again.

Congrats on getting it found now the fun begins get it back and build it Better and obvs safer

You know what insurance companies are like they will possibly write it off due to age and the general cost of repairs
But on a possitive side you could buy it back for peanuts, thats if you want it back.

Point out fuel contamination in oil = cracked head or knackered engine

The defender has to be the most fixable vehicle in the world, buy it back for buttons

They don't want it and selling it to you is easy and more cost effective

wack61 said:

The defender has to be the most fixable vehicle in the world, buy it back for buttons

They don't want it and selling it to you is easy and more cost effective

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....with a replacement engine!

Receive your payout and buy it back for a few hundred if that

Congrats on getting back. Most are lucky to get a burned out shell back if that.

Is it not strange that the recovery company contacted you saying it's recovered and they have it rather than the police? Do the police know it's recovered.

I did wonder why the police didn't let me or the insurance company know. They do know it's been found as they instructed the recovery company to pick it up. Policing at its best.
I did find out that just down from where it was found the farmer had 50 sheep, a trailer, and a quad stolen. Probably what the landy was used for.
The insurance companies engineer went and looked at it. He said there isn't much damage to the body and it will probably be repaired. When I said about the lack of coolant and the raised oil level he asked why I was looking at the engine, and why I think there is something wrong with it. He then went on to imply that the engine was broken before it was stolen and i'm using this as an excuse to get it mended. Also saying how the lack of damage is funny, again implying I had someone steal it. Cheeky fu**er.
The next step is he is now waiting for the keys and is going to go back again Monday. He is then going to fill it with coolant and run it up and see what happens. Then call me.
Am I entitled to get a second opinion on the mechanical side of the Landy, The engine, gearbox, etc....? The local repair centre they use is a Ford dealership. Not meaning to be rude to the mechanics but I doubt they know the ins and outs of landies. I would love to have it back but if in two months time there is an under lying problem with something It'll cost me a fortune.

Id say your right to be wary.

If it has been used to steal a trailer and a load of sheep then its probably cooked itself trying to pull that lot out of a field or similar. Especially if the driver has no experience of how to get the best from a 4x4. Balls to the wall and go for it!

I would be asking for a second opinion and at the least getting them to take the lid off the engine.

Good luck

tim123 said:

I did wonder why the police didn't let me or the insurance company know. They do know it's been found as they instructed the recovery company to pick it up. Policing at its best.
I did find out that just down from where it was found the farmer had 50 sheep, a trailer, and a quad stolen. Probably what the landy was used for.
The insurance companies engineer went and looked at it. He said there isn't much damage to the body and it will probably be repaired. When I said about the lack of coolant and the raised oil level he asked why I was looking at the engine, and why I think there is something wrong with it. He then went on to imply that the engine was broken before it was stolen and i'm using this as an excuse to get it mended. Also saying how the lack of damage is funny, again implying I had someone steal it. Cheeky fu**er.
The next step is he is now waiting for the keys and is going to go back again Monday. He is then going to fill it with coolant and run it up and see what happens. Then call me.
Am I entitled to get a second opinion on the mechanical side of the Landy, The engine, gearbox, etc....? The local repair centre they use is a Ford dealership. Not meaning to be rude to the mechanics but I doubt they know the ins and outs of landies. I would love to have it back but if in two months time there is an under lying problem with something It'll cost me a fortune.

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No td5 are known to crack heads and symptoms tend to only show when on boost at 50 mph.

Inurance can be ****ers, many years ago my mate had a range rover and we met at pub and had a pint. Wishing to continue the evening we left his range rover in a car park and continued into next town after my brother agreed to give us a lift back and into town the following day to collect my car and range rover on way.

We went out had few drinks and all was good, lift to homes and onto our beds, police came banging at door and told mate his range rover had been stolen and parts removed and burnt.

Police happy we had bar staff who could confirm that we had been at pub and mate had both sets of keys and too drunk to have driven it.

Insurance company first asked if car had been locked and I said yes I saw the indicators flash and presumably alarm on.

Then they wanted to do video interviews and asked me why my friend had fitted new tyres and we had done a load of repairs etc and fitted new parts.

Told them that we had #### all to do with it and why the hell would we fit new parts and tyres and burn it? Secondly as the police agreed we had #### all to do with it.

The insurance company last ditch attempt was to ask us how the crime rate was increased on a main A road-we said we didn't have a clue about thefts in area and if it went on A road then it could have been anyone.

Moral of the story is if you have #### all to hide tell them straight as my mate got paid £4800 and I believe they told him not to buy a range rover again.