Convert a Discovery from commercial to passenger

Fitz3

I have an 2006 Discovery and want to get back seats fitted as a new edition to the family is on the way. Spoke to a couple of land rover dealers and they cant help. Has anybody got any experience of converting a commercial jeep to passenger?? I've no problem paying the VRT cost but would like info as to where to source the seats, who would carry out the work etc. I know it would be easier to just sell the commercial and buy a passenger but unfortunately the finance that is outstanding doesn't make that an option.
Any ideas would be great.

shogunpower

you will need to pay the vrt, and expect the tax to quadrupole. 1000-1256 a year i think. so all in all it will probably cost you about 4 grand from a guess, not including buying the full interior and labor to get the seats in, thats if the seat belt bolt holes haven't been destroyed beyond repair. if they are you will have to change vehicles.

Eric Cartman

landrover made them commercial from the factory afaik , id say the mounts and the like for seats and seatbelts arent even there, a passenger one is probably worth the same / less than the commercial if the tax is out so id try sell your one and buy a passenger one

marv1n

2008 - Commercial Discovery, 13,850
2008 - Private Discovery, 38,000

Is it really not possible to convert these commercial ones to private ones for less than the price difference?

Eric Cartman

marv1n wrote: »

2008 - Commercial Discovery, 13,850
2008 - Private Discovery, 38,000

Is it really not possible to convert these commercial ones to private ones for less than the price difference?

2006 (the year the ops on about)

Passenger - 15k - http://www.carzone.ie/search/Land-Rover/Discovery/LAND-ROV/201107201244394/advert?channel=CARS

Commercial - 14k - http://www.carzone.ie/search/Land-Rover/Discovery/3-2.7-TD/201105201124332/advert?channel=CARS

similar spec and less than 20k miles in the difference

and according to revenue theres 5715 euro of VRT due on the commercial one if converted to passenger , so no its really really not worth it

marv1n

Eric Cartman wrote: »

2006 (the year the ops on about)

Passenger - 15k - http://www.carzone.ie/search/Land-Rover/Discovery/LAND-ROV/201107201244394/advert?channel=CARS

Commercial - 14k - http://www.carzone.ie/search/Land-Rover/Discovery/3-2.7-TD/201105201124332/advert?channel=CARS

similar spec and less than 20k miles in the difference

and according to revenue theres 5715 euro of VRT due on the commercial one if converted to passenger , so no its really really not worth it

In the spirit of a discussion board, and everything that entails, lets expand the discussion to include my example.

Since you're obviously so adept at using carzone I'm sure you can find the relevant examples.

Up to 25,000 euro difference between similar spec'd vehicles - is it possible to convert the commercial to a private vehicle?
Are the 08 private sales vastly over-priced?

Eric Cartman

marv1n wrote: »

In the spirit of a discussion board, and everything that entails, lets expand the discussion to include my example.

Since you're obviously so adept at using carzone I'm sure you can find the relevant examples.

Up to 25,000 euro difference between similar spec'd vehicles - is it possible to convert the commercial to a private vehicle?
Are the 08 private sales vastly over-priced?

i dont know if its technically possible to convert a discovery to passenger as the seatbelt mounts may not be intact etc...

also on an 08 model there would be 9 grand of VRT due

your comparisson on carzone isnt really accurate as all the passenger models in 08 are the full spec models (leather, auto etc...) and the commercials are all manual , cloth seats, no navigation , the spec alone would negate a price difference of 5-6 grand , but yes they are very much overpriced for what they are and in this economy

Eric Cartman

ok here we go, similar mileage


commercial - 08 - 20k - http://www.carzone.ie/search/Land-Rover/Discovery/DISCOVER/201038199586191/advert?channel=CARS

passenger - 08 - 35k - http://www.carzone.ie/search/Land-Rover/Discovery/3-TDV6-7/201118202261352/advert?channel=CARS

so theres 15k difference in them , take away 9 for vrt so were left with 6k

what your 6k gets you in the passenger - 5 extra seats, leather, quite possibly sat nav (hard to see from that) and thats if you cant bargain the dealer down (really easy to to on a passenger 4x4) but even if you cant, a full set of leather seats for a discovery + seatbelts, mounts, windows, window regulators, switches and all the other gear (airbags and the like too id imagine) will probably set you back about 4 grand anyway , and at the end of the day its still not right , your still better off selling the commercial one

TrailerBob

Have looked into doing this with my landcruiser,(different jeep I know). Afaik they are converted here. Not 100% on discovery. Problem is availability of stuff that I met, all switchgear and belt mounts are there and should be in a disco, along with window regs in back doors.

But its a tricky one, would it ever be as good as a factory passenger?

Eric Cartman

TrailerBob wrote: »

Have looked into doing this with my landcruiser,(different jeep I know). Afaik they are converted here. Not 100% on discovery. Problem is availability of stuff that I met, all switchgear and belt mounts are there and should be in a disco, along with window regs in back doors.

But its a tricky one, would it ever be as good as a factory passenger?

the discoveries (unlike the landcruiser, sorento, santa fe etc) came out of the factory commercial so never had the parts sitting there , youd have to buy them all

and thats why its not commonly done, if i knew a jeep had had its back seats, seatbelts etc.. put in by some lad in his garage I dont think id buy it

TrailerBob

That would make it tough alright, thanks Eric, OP I think changing or buying a bangernomic mobile for family driving might be the way to go.

Top Dog

Looked into it for our Shogun previously - purely out of curiosity. Have everything needed to convert it back to passenger except the 2 rearmost seatbelts.

The €6k'ish VRT on top of the €1566 road tax kinda scared that notion out of me.

In our case anyway, if we needed a passenger it'd probably be cheaper to sell what we have and buy another at the moment. As time goes by though the difference will change (VRT lowering) so it might become more feasable if we find we need a passenger vehicle in a year or so.