My lovely XJL Super just hit 35k and 5 yeArs and I want to get something new. I wanted a Rover or F Pace but the dealership in Austin is the WORST!

They tried to cheat me out of my last scheduled service, never have given me a loaner (I purchased it in Dallas), and have always tried to blame any issue and not try and resolve it.

Their appraiser not only low balled me but I had to argue and be insulted to even get his numbers. I was told it was 'policy' to commit to a vehicle before they reveal the appraisal!

Anyway, as long as there is a single terrible dealer in Austin I need to buy another brand and wondered what suggestions you all had. Would prefer a diesel in an SUV and something with newer tech.

Help appreciated.

 

Your story is exactly what is wrong with car dealerships everywhere. It is one of the few businesses where the customer really is always right even if they are obviously wrong. One bad experience or a mistake without an appology often means they will lose a customer for life in a business that relies heavily on word-of-mouth for referrals.

I have had bad experiences with a local dealer, such that I make efforts to avoid their entire network and chose a rival whenever I have the option. Fortunately Jaguar dealers are in every major city over here so I have a few different franchises to choose from.

Refusing to give you an appraisal is very short-sighted, especially so if you were an existing customer for the servicing. The good dealers I use all know me now but when I have gone in to buy cars somewhere new I always make a point of dressing down and take a friend a similar age (early 30s, so about 20 years below the typical Jaguar age group here in the UK). I deliberately act dumb about the cars to let the salesman dig their own holes. I do the same for every dealer and I've not yet had a bad pre-sales experience.

Are you turned off LRs too, or just Jaguars? (I'm unsure if they are usually the same dealer network in the US - over here they are usually different franchises, but often part of the same corporate group.) I recently did a touch-and-feel comparison of the F Pace to various LRs from their top range RR and RR Sport through to their smaller Evoques and found that I did not like the F Pace as much as I thought I would. It felt clumsy getting in and out as the roof was about 4 inches too low for the step up to enter it, and the external visbility from the driver seat was poor. Inside it was a typical JLR car in that the interior contains elements lifted from every other current model - nicely trimmed, but nothing to shout about. I've never been in a Porsche Cayenne but I guess that is the market they designed it for, where the style and the brand are the key selling points over being a functional SUV. Even though the RR/RRS where a bit too big for me, the smaller Evoque was a very nice car and even though it had been heavily design-driven the practicalities of living with a vehicle with high ground clearance had been thought through much better than the F Pace.

In that style a colleague recently bought a Mitsubishi Outlander which is a similar sort of price and although I've only seen it from the outside it is a very attractive car. Are there any vehicle models that you are specifically interested in?

 

New Mercedes E-Class?

 

New E class is a very nice car. Lincoln Continental? Cadillac CT6?

 

I would look at Tesla both the Model S and the new Model X (saw my first one Saturday night and it was quite impressive.

 

Strange - I've had nothing but exemplary service from the service department there. And I bought my car in Houston.

I've never had to deal with their sales people though.

 

You are lucky James. I have experienced pleasant people but crazy situations. They disavowed my last service and only Jaguar corporate would fix it or try to not charge me $1000 for a 60k service. They miscredited my 30k service to another customer and used up my 45k service in the process. It took months to straighten that out with me playing detective. As I stated, never a loaner for me, but clearly for others who I assumed bought there. And finally the bad sales experience. As far as the service of the service department I presume all work was done competently though I have had little if any issues once the roof popping was fixed in Oklahoma.

Sadly there is only one dealership in Austin though the one I bought at up in Frisco is owned by the same man, Snell. Clearly different management at least that is my opinion.

Thanks for the suggestions. I would love a Tesla but not sure about paying $150k. I know the specs and rep of the Cadillacs but still have a psychological barrier with the brand. I now that's idiotic so maybe I will force myself to take a look.

 

Dochands....

I would alert the sales manager & GM of your issues and tell him that you want a commitment that you will be treated "right". Tell them that you will buy from them & service your car there in return.

Another option is to look at CPO jaguar select XJ. Or CPO from Mercedes (unlimited millage warranty)

 

My dealer has been horrible too. I bought my XJ CPO. Have had issues with them since the day I bought it with customer service and general carelessness. I just had to drop the car back off after getting new tires to have my interior cleaned up, my rim repaired where they scraped it and my interior wood panel buffed where the scraped it.

My wife wants a Range Rover and I'm dreading buying it because that is where I will have to take it for service. If I didn't love the XJ I would have sold it and got something different because of the service issues, as it is the only place to go.

Anyway..I bought the XJ because the newest model CTS V hadn't come out yet. Maybe that would be a good alternative. I get your point about the mental roadblock to buying a Cadi but the car has universal acclaim as far as I have read and its cheaper than a Tesla, and far more luxurious inside.

 

Called my purchasing dealer in Dallas. They offer an extended warranty for $1k less than Austin.

That is part of the good news. They are also opening a new Jag-Rover dealership in North Austin much closer to my house.

 

Where is the new dealership going to be?

 

North Austin. Not sure of exact location.

My good news is not so good now however. The administrator for the extended warranty will not even sell me a warranty now. This is despite an open case file on this at Jaguar Austin from March and my attempt to get this done at the time of my last service (which they postponed and rescheduled a month later).

I have called Jag Corporate but am being given the officious party line that we do not control the third party warranty and we don't own the dealerships. My response was I bought a Jaguar (clearly my last - love the car - hate all this frustration) not your internal company shunting of responsibilities. Case is open. We will see. It is so odd to have to beg to spend thousands of more dollars for a third party warranty riddled with loopholes.

 

This story has an unhappy ending. If you get Terrence at Jaguar Corporate hang up. He is the least helpful person there I have ever talked to and was from the beginning. He kept telling me options and clearly wanted to be done with the matter. He also refused to let me speak to anyone else or name his supervisor. Not a very nice thing to do with a customer.

Jaguar will do nothing and take no responsibility for what Jaguar Austin did in preventing me from getting an extended warranty. In fact, they called the dealership and the finance girl who is the gatekeeper to the warranties actually lied through her teeth saying I had never spoken to her. This is particularly hurtful because I had known and liked her for over 2 years. Clearly covering their behinds. I am sure my file has been destroyed as well.

Love my Jaguar but will never buy another one as long as I am in the Austin area (unless the new dealership opens).

It is sad that the dealerships hide behind the corporation and the corporation disavows any responsibility for the dealerships and the third party warranty company does both.

 

The saga continues. I received an email on Friday (lost in spam until Tuesday) that I am being offered a 4 year/75000 mile warranty for $3955. This is from the dealership that has given me so many problems and after Jag central said it would not happen.

Such an odd narrative but at least I have a warranty. The manager at Jag corporate called me last week and apologized for all the chaos and that the warranty would not happen. Clearly they are as lost as everyone else in this process.

 

Good for you Dochands. All's well that ends well.

I was going to suggest Volvo XC90 or MB GLE.
CT9 is nice too despite some cheap plastic in the cabin & rather anemic V6 engine sound... you will not like it coming from a V8 SC.

I checked out Austin JLR on Yelp and their ratings are either 5 stars or 1, with 3 stars overall. I guess people either love it or hate it.

 

I just received a response through the BBB. Apparently that complaint somehow motivated the dealer to get me 'an exception' that finally got the extended warranty. I had no idea that the BBB had that sort of clout.

Wolfe you have suggested the two cars I am considering as well as the Porsche Macan. A second dealership is slated to open in North Austin in a year and a half so an F Pace is still on the table as well.

 

XC90, GLE = 3 rows
Macan, F-Pace = 2 rows

I am leaning towards the F-P with Technology package (10.5" sat-nav + 12" gauges + Intel quad-core cpu). I was hoping JLR would put their 'ghost car sat-nav' concept into actual products but no dice yet.

 

I think Tesla or Maserati. If your after an SUV the Maserati Levante is getting rave reviews from even their harshest critics.

I would buy another Maser again without hesitation.

Best,
dsd

 

Noticed on your signature that you have the Ferrari 575M Maranello...nice! That is one of my favorite modern day Ferraris, especially since Michael Schumacher had a part to play in the original design.