Anyone had an LPG conversion? Was it worth it?

[tissy]

I'm thinking about getting my Freelander converted to LPG. Apparently it would cost between £500 and £100 (haven't checked that yet), which would mean tha it could pay for itself within a year, with LPG being less than 40p a litre at the moment.

What I need to know is:

Are there any problems with performance? (I'm not a racer, but get irritated with my dh's diesel car which is like a slug when I want to move off quickly, eg at roundabouts).

Any problems with supply- I know of a few garages round here that have it- do most petrol stations?

What about servicing? Usually get my car serviced by LandRover (Mug, I know, but only just out of warranty). Does it have to be serviced by the place that does the conversion, or would any garage be able to do it?

What about re-sale value? I'm not planning on selling it, but usually trade-in rather than having the hassle of a private sale- would I get less for it?

Anything else you think I should know?

that should be "between £500 and £1000"

im getting it. im getting it....

yeah ours will cost us £1200 cos its a 2.6 litre and it doesnt lose any speed as it will run the same plus if we put in £20 petrol, it will cost us £10 in gas.

the only problem we have got is that we will have to take the spare tyre out from under the boot so it will be a ring style LPG tank as we have got an estate so we are looking to buy some special gel stuff to fill our tyres on the car so if it go over a nail, it wont deflate...

we are deffo geting it done as petrol is getting a joke now

Also if your car is FROM reg m or n, you get most of your money back by claiming it back off from another company (we just found out that ours is 1 year over the money back - boo!!).. ill find out more later if you want me too..

hmm, have just googled, and it looks as if it will cost £2000-ish, but would pay for itself in 2 years...

I'm definitely tempted.

Yes, if I can claim back the cost of conversion, I'm DEFINITELY interested!

we had our volvo converted and it cost 700 and was worth every penny. do you know where to go for it???

There are a couple of garages around here that do it.

Our Astra has an original manufacturer conversion (ie done by Vauxhall before sale) when you switch on the ignition, the car starts up on petrol and switches to LPG automatically after about one minute. The performance is fine - I cannot detect any difference between petrol or LPG. More and more petrol stations are stocking LPG. If you run out of LPG , and can only get petrol, then (on our car) you can flick a switch and run on petrol until you are able to refill on LPG. - You need to keep some petrol in the second fuel tank anyway.
There are no special requirements for servicing - our local garage has been able to do it.
I think resale values are higher, especially in South East - I think LPG cars exempt from or have reduced congestion charging??

There are a few articles on LPG on the web. Here is a good start;
article with good links here

Our discovery is converted to run on Lpg and we pay 34ppl. You can have your car serviced by anyone doesnt have to be the person/garage who converted it. Do be careful when having it converted though as there can be some cowboy jobs done. If you're in the Midlands/Shropshire I can recommend someone in Telford.

The resale value would probably be slightly higher as it is actually a more economic vehicle now esp if the original is the 1.8 petrol variety which can be quite thirsty.

Also check out countrywide autogas as they have filling pumps all round the country and work on a key system - most sites are 24 hour access and they bill you once a month (plus no queues)

Do be aware that currently LPG has low tax on it and it's due to be "normally" taxed again in the near future. Might be worth investigating when that's due to happen and see whether it's worth waiting to find out "true market" prices to see whether the conversion is worth it.