Friends - you may remember me. I posted starting in December about my 2 month old Jaguar XF catching fire in my driveway. Well - It's been almost 2 months since that incident and I still have no resolution. No car. 3 inspectors - one from corproate Jag, one from Hennessey Jag and one from my insurance company determined that the alternator was the source of the fire.

Brief history here - I had the 45K service done early (at 38K) just because, then had a low battery and transmission/engine failure light up the dash - took it in for a new battery and infotainment upgrade. 1 week later, hood of my car 3 hours parked after driving 12 miles very warm to the touch and a faint smell of burning plastic the next morning while driving. I took it in immediately and Hennessey Jag glanced at it and gave me the all clear. 1 week later - engine compartment on fire and fire trucks at my house.

Since then - Jaguar corporate has done nothing except open a case file and tell me to call my insurance company. And Hennessey Jag hasn't called at all. The tear down to determine cost of repairs starts Monday. Why would i want this car now? And why isn't Jaguar helping me at all? It's all on me - and the car is still under factory warranty. During my investigative work - i found out the alternator and battery was changed at a Jag dealer in NJ at 5K miles.

Is it normal for Jaguar, corporate or dealer, not to take care of their consumer? Is this the brand experience i should expect as a Jaguar owner? What would you do?

Thanks all!

 

This is how the insurance industry works. It is an evil business. I know, I litigate.

The insurer wants this to be a factory or servicing issue and Jaguar wants it to be an accidental damage event covered by your insurance. You are caught in this cross fire.

99% likely this is not covered by insurance and is Jaguar's problem. Persevere as one of the two has to pay. Jaguar will have to fix it to maintain your warranty and you won't have to pay until it is fixed. Patience on your part should produce a solution. Aren't you entitled to a courtesy car? Does your insurance policy cover loss of use? Jaguar's warranty used to cover loss of use. If you can get your hands on a free replacement car then do so, even if you don't need it, because that cost will rack up and put pressure on whoever is paying that bill.

 

Thank you for the reply Jagular! I can't tell you how desparate I am for help/advice. I just want to be treated fairly. I really appreciate the reply.

 

If your car is still in warranty and it was determined that the alternator was the problem, Jaguar should repair it, no questions asked. If a part in warranty causes other damage to the car, the other damages will also be covered by the warranty.

 

Were the replacement battery and alternator at 5k miles the correct ones??

 

Jayt2 - i can only assume it was the right one - a Jag dealer installed it. My local dealer will do a tear down on Tuesday of next week to take a closer look. And also to determine all the damages, including the cabin which smells like smoke. At this point - i just want a new car. I have serious trust issues with that one. I did talk to the head sales manager yesterday and am hopeful that he can help me. Still very disappointed at the lack of concern/response from Jag corporate. I have a few letters to send to headquarters. I want to stay in the brand - I worked a long time to get a Jaguar and love the brand, styling and performance . . right until it caught fire. I just need resolution and to move on. Thanks again all for the responses!

 

This seems like a very long time to have this issue resolved. It would seem that the tear down inspection should have been undertaken immediately regardless of who was going to pay for it. Jag and the insurance company can have their attorney's fight over it. Without knowing the source of the issue the fight can't even start and it may be moot once the problem is known. Hope it gets resolved to your satisfication soon.

 

F/C, do you have a local newspaper and reporter who might want to do a story about all of this??
Also, a TV reporter doing a story might get some action from the insurance co. and Jag Corporate. Negative publicity can sometimes get people to "git'-er-done".

 

Great idea. I am currently using this technique against Audi here in Canada. Their dealer broke my suspension during a routine service and refuse to pay to fix it. The dealership is now resorting to lying about it. The funniest part is they know I'm a litigation lawyer!

 

Take them for all they're worth! Disgusting what that dealership has done to you...

 

I'm not sure in why any dealer would give you a whole new car. The car isn't new it has 38k miles on it so I'm guessing you bought it used. If it's bad enough it might be a total loss which might be what you want to hope for. I'd think you'd file a claim with your insurance, get it fixed immediately, and your insurance would go after Jaguar for the bill. That's just my opinion though. When it's fixed trade it in if you don't trust it. They might work with you on a trade.

 

Agreed. At best, the insurance company owes the OP an identical car in identical condition, but never a new one. This is not the first car (Jaguar or not) to catch on fire due to some electrical fault and that's specifically why fire coverage is part of a standard insurance policy.

IMHO- let the insurance company do their thing. Excessive meddling in the middle might just slow things down, not speed it up.

Good luck.

 

I would treat this as an insurance claim. Under your comprehensive policy, you covered for fire, theft and vandalism, and this is definitely a fire. Your insurance company may choose to seek reimbursement from Jaguar Land Rover, but that's their decision, and if they recover, you'll get your deductible back.

Meanwhile, I agree that JLR corporate is very lame and disappointing. I learned this when I had a battery issue recently and I thought JLR corporate would gladly help a loyal repeat customer. I did eventually get resolution, but only after I spoke to 4 different idiots. If you want to continue pursuing that route, call the president, Andy Goss's assistant at 201-818-8158 and leave a detailed voicemail with your case number. You should at least get a call back from someone.

 

FC, I assume that you have comprehensive insurance, if so, call you insurer, this is what you pay for, then the insurer can subrogate...

 

Is this a common problem with Jaguar? I had problems with my Jaguar dealer as soon as I bought the car. It took weeks of calls (typically unreturned) to my salesman and then finally an outright refusal to speak with him anymore and only to speak to the manager in order to get any response and resolution.

In contrast, my Audi dealer, whom I didn't even buy the car from (I moved into the area), treats me like an all star. One time a valet got ink on the seat that I couldn't get out. I called the dealer and they told me to bring it right in. They buffed the seat and had the car back to me in perfect shape in 15 minutes. I asked what the charge was and they just kind of laughed and told me they would never charge me for that.

I hope the other Jaguar dealer near me has service like that. While service is, hopefully, a small aspect of owning a car, bad service can really sour the whole experience.

If I were you, I would be calling the person above. Business people don't like getting these calls and will make sure it goes away quickly.

 

If you ever get to the bottom of it I suspect it will be a servicing issue as not all XFs are self immolating, so Jag design isn't likely at fault. The dealer(s?) will have to fight it out to dodge responsibility. Regardless, your insurance needs to cough up, how they choose to subrogate, or not is up to them.
All this delay and finger pointing doesn't speak well of Jag and their already sterling customer service reputation or your insurance company.
The only thing for sure is YOU aren't at fault and are the one suffering.
Is this a Jag leased or financed car?? I'll bet stopping payments could be justified if so but that's my layman's advice.
This all sucks but it's time to lawyer up.

The XF is a pretty car to my eyes and I was considering one BUT stories like this(not the failure, **** happens, but how it is handled)prevent me from pulling the trigger.

 

In my experience Jaguar corporate sucks. They have little concept of customer relations. They have a ridiculous "high & mighty" attitude which, in my opinion hurts their sales.
The attitude is reflected on many of their dealerships. There is no doubt in my mind that their sales suffer for this.
The "We're British" attitude shows. Maybe the Indians can change for the better but I doubt it.

 

Even same owned dealerships will treat you different. There are 3 Jaguar dealerships here owned by the same person. I have been treated like a sub-human at one and like a super-human at another. Guess which one I go to now!

 

It can't hurt to politely remind the insurance company of your plight, good natured and kind reminders may just keep your issue toward the top of the pile.

 

FWIW....

I spent most of my adult life working at new car dealerships. None of them Jaguar, though.

Car fires on new/newer models were a bit unusual but I dealt with 7 or 8 of them over the years. In every case except one the manufacturer took the "call your insurance company" route. Same with (alleged) brake failures, (alleged) unintended acceleration, [these being much more common, btw] and anything else that might be considered a product liability issue.

In most cases dealership personel were strongly advised by corporate management to do nothing and say nothing....unless specifically instructed otherwise.

The wheels of justice, so to speak, always turned very slowly in these situations. In most cases the insurance company was the first to step up and it's a sure bet that they subrogated.

There was only one instance where things happened very quickly. A few-months-old GM product burned right to the ground in a parking lot. I never knew what was unique about THAT particular case BUT we at the dealership did nothing whatsoever except order the guy a new Tahoe as instructed by GM. It was all over and done with in less than a week and AFAIK GM absorbed every penny of expense, except modest mileage/usage on the customer's Tahoe.

The burned out Tahoe, which we were told to absolutely leave untouched, was hauled away immediately. I never got an answer from GM as to why that particular situation was different but they obviously had a good reason for wanting to make the issue "go away" immediately.

Cheers
DD