What does it take to alter a Land Rover lightbulb? £2,629!

When Doug Fawcett took his four-year-old Land Rover Defender in for a new bulb at his local dealership last August, he did not expect to pay more than £20. He chuckled when the mechanic said the actual cost was £2,629.30, assuming it was a joke.

But the mechanic was deadly serious – and Doug’s case is not just a one-off.

Many modern vehicles now require you to replace entire light fittings and remove bodywork, such as bumpers, just to get to them. This can leave customers with garage bills that stretch to hundreds, or occasionally thousands, of pounds.

It is a far cry from a time when all you needed was a practical approach, a screwdriver and a bulb costing just a few pounds.

Doug, 81, a retired cosmetics company owner from Walton-on-Thames in Surrey, says: ‘I went down to the local Halfords to get the lightbulb changed, but they said it was a specialist job that my dealership would have to sort out.’

He went to the dealership in nearby Sunbury-on-Thames. The cost was £292.50 for the work to replace the fitting plus £1,898.58 for the new unit – then the VAT.

Leaking wallet: Doug Fawcett with his Land Rover Defender was quoted £2,629.30 for a new bulb

‘They had me over a barrel as it needed to be fixed to keep the car on the road,’ he says.

‘I had bought the car new only four years earlier – it had only 24,000 miles on the clock.’

Doug was so incensed he decided to sell the car for £41,000 in December, having initially bought it for £50,000. He has since purchased a six-cylinder Land Rover for £85,000 from the same dealership – ‘after making sure the lights worked’.

Przemek Chamack, who owns independent vehicle repair shop SG9 Autos in Stocking Pelham, Hertfordshire, says: ‘Modern cars are designed for the convenience of the dealerships, which can charge an arm and a leg to fix something because only their specialists can do the job.

‘It is a rip-off that you have to change the whole light fitting. It shows how vital it is to ask about such potential costs when buying.’

Driven to distraction: Many modern vehicles now require you to replace entire light fittings and remove bodywork, such as bumpers, just to get to them

Modern light fittings often have sophisticated settings, which make them safer but more complicated if they go wrong.

Some have so-called matrix systems that have individual controls with scores of LED bulbs that automatically respond to changing motoring situations. Some include blue lasers which fire through little mirrors and an element filled with yellow phosphorus to create a dazzlingly intense white light.

New Land Rover Defender models, luxury BMWs such as the 7 Series and i8, and Audis, including the R8 and A8, offer LED and laser light fittings costing up to £3,000.

Paul Lucas has been working on cars since the 1970s, when he started as a graduate engineer for British Leyland. He says: ‘Modern light fittings are jam-packed full of fancy extras. Unfortunately, this opens up the opportunity for a whole lot more to go wrong.

‘It means you don’t just put in a replacement if the bulb has blown, but must also consider the complicated wiring that it is hooked up to as well as computer systems that cost a small fortune to replace.’

Lucas says that if you are buying a new vehicle, it is always worth checking the details of the warranty – and even consider extending it to ensure expensive parts, such as headlight units, are covered.

Consumer group Which? warns that you can make a costly mistake trying to upgrade light bulbs on your car yourself – even if they are not high-tech laser or LED units – as drivers now face a fine of up to £1,000 if their headlights are found to be too bright. The Driver and Vehicle Standards Agency says that it has ‘stepped up surveillance to intercept the sale of illegal retrofit headlamp bulbs for on-road use’.

Jaguar Land Rover said: ‘Costs vary depending on specification –which varies by model and year – labour rates, supplier and supply chain. Due to the high specification of Defender lights, they need to be fitted by a specialist. We are committed to providing the best care and service to our valued clients.’