I have owned from new a Land Rover Discovery 3 which is coming up to five years old. I have taken out Land Rover's extended warranty for each of the two years, following the expiration of the warranty from purchase. It has been serviced as prescribed by a Land Rover Main dealer throughout its life. It is one of seven Land Rovers I have owned over the past 30 years.

Recently a knocking noise came from the engine, coupled with black smoke, and fortunately I was close to arriving home. The vehicle was taken in to its home Land Rover dealer and the engine stripped down in stages, after approval of the warranty inspector. I was advised that a main bearing had gone and that it could either be rectified with a rebuild or with a replacement stripped engine at a cost with VAT respectively of £5617.64 and £7935.93. The Land Rover extended warranty has, amongst the small print, a limit of £3000 inc. VAT on any single claim. Considering the premium for this was £800 this seems, in retrospect, rather expensive cover. The vehicle has covered 80,000 miles almost all of which has been covered on public roads and for normal pleasure use. I have not been given a reason for the failure. On asking I was advised that the oil level was correct and the service record perfect. The garage has said that they had not previously known a failure like this on this model.

Do you think I have a good case to seek from Land Rover the costs to rectify what can only be seen as an early engine failure, assuming that the design life, if compatible with the profile they present for the car itself, must be longer than 80,000 miles? I have asked my garage to make an approach on my behalf but get the impression that I must press hard to get satisfaction. I am very pleased with the vehicle otherwise and had intended to replace it in the near future with a new Discovery 4.