Hi,

I am shopping for a new 2011 at closeout prices, and there are lots of them.

However, using the TOPIx website that was graciously pointed out to me, I am finding some unusual build and in service dates.

Some of the cars were built as long as 1.5 years ago. And some have in service dates that are almost as long ago.

But the dealers claim they are new and only have delivery miles (~10 miles).

Is it something to be worried about that a Jag has sat at a dealer for 1.5 years without selling? Is something wrong with it that I should be looking into?

Also, one dealer did disclose to me that they took up an offer from Jaguar to burn a year of warranty in exchange for a $1000 kick back, which is why their new car has an in service date of more than a year ago.

I feel like I might be walking into one of those hard lessons. Any wisdom would be greatly appreciated!

 

I found out some info talking to dealers that may be helpful to others looking for a new car.

Some dealers are designating new cars as loaners, but they don't let anyone loan it. They do this to get a break from Jaguar that helps them increase profits when they sell it later still as a new, unregistered, undriven car.

The trade off is that the new buyer loses some of their warranty time.

Considering that the warranty is 5 year/50000 miles, it's not really a problem for me because I always drive 13000 to 14000 miles per year. So even if the car is missing a year of warranty, I am going to run out of miles before I run out of years.

On the flip side, if you are in the need of more years, it looks like extended warranties are crazy expensive for the XF. Something like $2000/year from warrantydirect.com.

At that price for extended warranty, I am going to just risk it and take the car to a less expensive/more reliable independent after the warranty expires.

On a side note, it pays to use TOPIx to see if the dealer started the warranty on the car. None of the salespeople I have spoken with have mentioned that they "punched" the car upfront to me, but the TOPIx website immediately shows that fact. You can definitely get these cars for a lot less, which makes it worthwhile, but they should tell you upfront.