Let's say you were driving to work this morning, and decided to stop
at a drive-thru kiosk for a cup of joe. The smiling young lady hands
it to you and tells you, "that will be forty dollars." You ask what justifies
this cost, and she explains the beans were processed by former soviet
virgins, flown to the US of A in a Gulfstream, then lovingly delivered
to the kiosk by limo. Now, in addition to dropping your soap in the
shower of a federal prison, and paying $40 dollars for a cup of coffee,
you know what it's like to visit a Jag dealer for service.

Last week, the DCCV was replaced to the tune of $850 dollars, then
the CCM. This week, the check engine light went on and I noticed
the temp gauge was staying near the lower end. I put the dash
info into the engineering test mode and noticed the coolant temp
was low and increasing very slowly. Looks like a bad thermostat.
So, far from home with no tools, I take the car in to an Atlanta Jag
dealer anticipating the usual insane repair estimate. Forty-four dollars
for the stat and twelve dollars for the gasket. The rest was labor.

So folks, don't do as I do, do as I say and replace the damn stat
if you're anywhere in the vicinity to 60K plus miles, the miles the
mechanic told me they usually go south...and he didn't look anything
like a soviet virgin. He also mentioned the gasket tends to come
lose, enters the stat, and prevents it from closing.

In any event, it's soon going to be ta-ta to Tata. We've all heard
the old tenet: Fool me once, shame on you; fool me twice, shame
on me. I've been shamed a lot by Jag dealers recently. But then,
to quote Forrest Gump, "stupid is as stupid does". I feel like
Forrest every time I pay another Jag dealer repair invoice.

Like the car, despise the dealerships. When my friends ask me
about whether I'd recommend a Jag, I just say no, describing
repair costs, even keeping a few invoices in the car to show
them when they don't believe me. (yes, I know...Mercedes, BMW,
Audi, etc. drivers have the same experiences)

I've reached the conclusion that, past a certain point, these
are 'throw away vehicles'. It's like the lady that I met at the
dealership in Greenville, SC; she was told she needed a new
DCCV, a CCM that was integrated in the console with the Nav
unit for $7,500 dollars, and finally $3,000 to fix her drooping
headlights. Over $11,000 dollars in repairs on an 05 S that was
probably worth 9 or 10 grand.

Probably very few actual Jag owners read this forum and don't
have access to Brutal's advice and others who help us maintain
our vehicles with a modicum of fiscal sense. I feel sorry for them.
And, of those that do, not all are mechanically inclined enough
to take on some of the more difficult tasks, or, they are like me,
many miles from home with no tools. That puts them at the
mercy of the dealers.

 

Truer words have not be spoken. Which is why I work on my car myself.

 

I've proclaimed it here since Day One of joining this forum: If you cannot or will not D-I-Y the majority of your maintenance and repairs, these cars will devour your wallet in short order. You must commit to learning and doing the weekly inspections of the components most prone to failure so you can manage to keep the wolf from the door. Those of us who use this forum as our most important S-Type tool and have the time to perform the necessary work that we uncover stand the best chance of not being driven into financial oblivion. As with any vehicle I own, I keep meticulous records of what goes wrong, when, why, and how much it cost me to rectify. Once the ongoing costs escalate beyond what my expectations were set at based on the research I did and continue to do, then the vehicle is exiled from our stable one way or another (usually either sold or donated to charity for the tax write-off). Thus far, our S-Type continues to comfortably hold its own. But there's no question that it costs more in required maintenance (both money and time) than either my 1999 Dodge Ram pickup does (it almost never breaks) or my wife's 2004 Lexus RX330 SUV does (it rarely breaks). However, the S-Type performs the necessary role of long-distance highway cruiser far better and more economically than either of our other two vehicles are capable of....

I do worry somewhat whenever my wife takes off on her solo trips to Tampa and back to visit her elderly parents. She makes that 1,600-mile round-trip drive six or seven times a year. The day before she leaves home, I go over the S-Type with a fine-tooth comb. All fluids are checked and topped up, all well-known weak spots and design flaws are closely inspected, and all tire pressures are checked and adjusted if necessary. I admit that I do that with any vehicle she makes that trip in, but the S-Type requires a much more involved inspection process from me than any previous vehicle she's deployed for that purpose. So far, so good. I attribute most of our success rate to the fact that I keep all of our vehicles in top running condition. Always have and always will....

But I must acknowledge that if she encounters a disabling problem of any sort with her S-Type while on one of these solo trips, she's probably going to get her wallet drained in order to make the vehicle roadworthy enough to allow her to make it home again. If that ever happens, I'll be taking a very hard look at whether we will keep the S-Type for what we primarily purchased it to do, which is to get her safely, comfortably, and economically back and forth to Tampa alone....

 

Getting her "drooping headlights" fixed for $3,000 bucks is a deal. Just ask any plastic surgeon. So on balance she did pretty well. Hope the high beams still function properly ...

If that story is true then you should post the name of the dealership and the details. That's way beyond criminal.

 

My thermostat went out around 66k miles and it cost me around $400 to repair. Waterpump covered under warranty, thermostat not.

 

Yes, Staatsof, I am not making this up. If you Google their website,
it starts with "Jaguar of Greenville treats the needs of each individual
customer with paramount concern. We understand that you have
high expections....etc.

As I indicated in an earlier post, even after I took the service
manager to the computer located in the customer lounge and
showed him where the climate control module was located, his
response was, "you can't believe everything you read on the
internet".

In my opinion, Jaguar should yank this dealer's franchise. Now, to
be perfectly fair, the service manager did call me a day later, and called
the lady also, and explained that it appeared the mechanic had
made a mistake and that yes, we just need the CCM only, not
the entire nav/radio assembly. I'll leave it up to you decide the
ethics of this dealership.

Would you go there for service, or recommend a good friend do
so? Did the fact that both of us had out of state plates have
anything to do with the repair estimate? You decide.

 

I just want to make a couple of comments, then I'll leave you folks to your discussion.

First, the repair expenses spoken about could easily have been ANY car, not just a Jaguar. Now-a-days technology, trinkets and government mandates make ANY car more expensive to service or repair, whether you use a dealer or independent, if you can't do it yourself.

Second, if you have a beef with ANY service facility, take your grievance back to them and give them a chance to review, reconsider or correct the problem. If they don't do that or reasonably explain why they shouldn't, rake THEM, I say RAKE THEM over the coals, by name. Just don't paint us all with the same brush. I have spent so many years working so hard to disprove and dispel that kind of thinking, and building a reputation that is so far from what you describe that I can't see straight.

I could go on, but I've made my point. Please, just think about what you say; just like every other business you can think of, there are good and bad eggs. Just crack the right ones.

Cheers,

 

The OP could have been about any modern car. But... the prices tend to go up as the new price goes up. The biggest prices are commonly at the franchises (dealers).

I thought everyone knew that.

I suppose if you're under 25 maybe you don't.

Also, if you want a cheap and reliable car you need a mass-produced one, made part way through a model type. Dull but there it is. Probably from Japan or similar.

The alternative? DIY or before buying find a tech you can trust who knows both mechanical and computer (car electronics) things in depth. Modern cars are no longer mainly mechanical.

Instead of Jaguar you could probably say Audi or Porsche or Aston Martin or ....
The quality of franchises varies enormously, just as with anything else, and ought to be policed better.

 

xjrguy,,

I don’t disagree with your points; the problem is that honest dealers are so few and far between (for any Marque, not just Jags – having said that there is also a ‘come in spinner’ approach which I have noticed pervades Jaguar & Range Rover products – my opinion, anyway).

My personal experience is that one needs to hunt around and find a good independent ‘Jag Man’ and avoid the ‘franchise’ dealers as though they have Bubonic Plague + Fleas. Personally I don’t think Jags or Range Rovers or Mercs or BMW’s etc etc have any more real problems than probably any other Marques; they just have more vultures with the attitude “patience be damned, I’m going to go out and kill something” who prey upon the owners of such Marques because they think they can. That is the real hassle: finding the Good Eggs to crack. Forums like this, I believe, can help.

My personal experience as a reasonably competent DIY person is that the vast majority of parts for all different Marques of vehicles cost pretty similar prices; it’s the ‘Authorised Dealer’ that actually makes the difference.

Cheers,

Languid

An old Russian Peasant crossing the Steppes came across a near frozen bird lying in the snow, and took pity upon the bird. He picked it up, and observing a pile of fresh, steaming elk s**t nearby, dropped the bird into the middle of it. The bird, warming up and feeling full of life, began to chirp its pleasure of being alive to the world.
A hungry wolf prowling nearby, heard the bird singing and immediately pulled it out and scoffed it down.
The Moral of this story; not everyone who drops you in the s**t is an enemy, and not everyone who pulls you out is a friend.