I have been a member since 2012. Recently moved to Las Vegas and looking for a reliable repair shop. 2001 XK8 convertible.
Thanks in advance for any assistance.
Rich Peterson

 

Rich,

I've moved your post from New Member Area - Intro a MUST to US Western Region forum. This is the appropriate place for this question.

Graham

 

I continue to take my 2001 XKR to Las Vegas Jaguar and ask for John, who heads up the service department. He has several long term Jag repair guys on the team, who've been fixing Jags for 20+ years each. They have unraveled some weird problems for me. While shop rates are high at every dealer, I never see them running up the bill or over charging me. They will also work from my supplied parts, so this worked great recently when I had the ABS light on and figured out I needed a new module. The part was crazy expensive from Jag, and I found a company in LA that rebuilds them from your old part. The repair was $800 instead of $3K.

The challenge with Jag and other small production cars is the parts cost is CRAZY. I once met a chap who did work for Jag in Coventry years back and Jag was ordering 50 brake sets at a time for the XK's while Ford probably orders hundreds of thousands for a Fusion. Now the crazy prices are understandable.

Brad

 

I should update this post and say John is no longer at Jaguar. Now I am taking it to Franks European and getting good results.
Brad

 

I have been taking my '04 XJ8 to a shop on Rainbow for four years now; honest, won't run up the bill, and done right the first time. Picking up an 06 XK8 on Tuesday and will be taking it there as well. Not free or cheap, but far less than Gaudin.

I Am Mechanic - 702.812.9824; Ask for Noe (Noeeee)

-Don

 

Found this thread a little late but will highly recommend Top Car Services at 980 N. Nellis in Las Vegas. The owner, Roje (Ro-jay), has been helping me restore my 2005 barn-find XK8 for the past 4 years on the items I'm too lazy to do myself or don't have the tools to replace, and now is helping me with issues on my newly-acquired 2010 XK convertible. Excellent work and very fair prices on parts or labor. 702-420-0338. Call ahead, he's usually booked 1 - 2 weeks in advance.

 

I'm currently in Vegas looking to get some work done to my 2005 Jaguar XJ Super V8 as the front is a bit lower than it should be. I have an appt with Kensington Motor Cars tomorrow morning at 8am. Took my Jaguar to I am mechanic off of 2075 S Rainbow Blvd earlier today and they quoted me 2,600 dollars to replace a single air strut which I found a bit high considering the parts alone he wanted $1,500 for a Arnott. This has been my experience as of recent. Will be calling the local jaguar dealers to source parts as I tend to be able to get shop price for things and checking the sng barrett website along with Arnott as well.

 

Found a shop called Kensington Motor Cars and am having them square away my 2005 Jaguar Super V8. Thankfully was able to source oem parts and the pricing was reasonable considering all they are having to do so I'm glad I found them.

 

Franks European does source jag parts from
the LV Jag dealer so they can be expensive on parts side but not so bad on labor. As usual being able to find and repair the car properly is the entire game and for this I appreciate them.

An example is my 2001 XKR which had a gas smell and the local dealer could not find it after many trips and many attempts. My wife refused to ride in it. She wanted me to sell it! Oh no! Franks found the gas leak in my first visit and resolved it for reasonable price. Never an issue since. They also knew about the mods to the engine that were needed to update it per Jaguar Service bulletins. The local Jag dealer offered none of these services. I guess the business is designed differently today where dealer service departments survive off factory paid warranty work- not diagnosing 20 year old cars with unique age related problems.

Franks will take your parts if you want them to, and install them. I did this on the ABS fault where the little box with all the connectors started to break down with bad solder joints. Jag wanted $2000 for this box (new) and I got a rebuilt one for $200 out of LA. They Installed it and I saved $1800.
brad

 

Well I know where else I can go the next time I am in town then. Sounds like Franks European is a good shop as well so that is good to know. I had called them earlier in the week and they wouldn't have been able to even see my car till this coming Monday 7/18. If I didn't have time constraints it wouldn't have been that big a deal to me and I would've simply waited to go to Franks but alas it is not the case at the moment. I've already signed off on repairs at Kensington Motor Cars so hopefully the car should be ready later today or tomorrow at the latest. The air compressor and two front air struts are being replaced with all oem equipment.

Are you currently in Las Vegas at the moment? Haven't seen many a Jag around yet. I am staying at the Hilton Garden inn on the strip south. Should be here till the car is ready this afternoon at least.

 

Yes I live here but north/northwest of town. A super V8! Wow, always wanted one. I think we share a similar power train to my 2001 silver stone XKR. Let us know how Kensington turns out!

 

Ah okay very good! Wouldn't surprise me if the powertrains are similar. Certainly shall! So far they have diagnosed and squared away the air suspension issue. That isn't the problem thankfully. When pulling it back into the shop yesterday the car had a leak from a hose by the thermostat so they're squaring that away thankfully. They've been quite through and sent me pictures and video's of everything so I'm quite glad I've gone to them.

 

Want to make a post stating my regret having gone to Kensington Motor Cars. They stated that the air shocks being installed on the Red Super V8 were going to be the Original OEM Bilstein's as that is what I had requested and I paid as such. Well over to the tune of +$4,000 dollars for the air struts and air compressor being replaced, as well as a ride height sensor having been finagled with as well as the coolant leak of course. Well come to find out from a trusted shop here in Houston and having looked myself since the repairs, Kensington Motor Cars did not in fact install the Bilstein's as they stated they would. They installed airnots. Normally I wouldn't have a problem with a shop installing aftermarket equipment, but being I paid extra to have the OEM Bilstein's installed and they in fact lied, I feel as though I've been taken advantage of. When I called about this and the issue in question, I was told to pound sand. I've tried communicating with the shop but they've been of no help, and since then I've filed a complaint with the BBB and will be taking legal action against this shop.

If I would have known, they were going not going to install Bilstein's I would have gone somewhere else. I hope those of you that see this go to one of the other shops that's recommended on this page as I've been scammed by this one.

 

Mclovin 22- that is a real sad story. Any chance that the Bilsteins are no longer available and someone was supposed to discuss with you?

Brad

 

Unfortunately this isn't the case. When I was there I reiterated the importance of having the Bilstein's installed and they said that's what they were going to install. We've already filed a complaint with the better business bureau which they've yet to respond to, and will have legal action taken against them.

 

Just bought a 33K XKR 2014 Coupe- from Car Max, Took it to Franks for a complete new car look over and they found the coolant leak mentioned (common to these X150s) in this forum. I just wanted to say they are helping me AGAIN by enabling me to work though this with some evidence on my side with CarMax. I had moved this car from a non production CarMax location so dont know how much effort they put in to the car before they offfered it up for sale..

They missed this but thank God for Franks.