Ok, here's my story:

In April of 2011 I had sustained some hail damage on my 2006 XJR. I have USAA insurance and they had sent me to a specific repair facility to have the hail damage fixed.

When I received the car back the car looked perfect on the outside yet the techs had left some greasy handprints on the headliner in the backseat area. About two weeks later the headliner also started to come apart and droop around all the edges.

I called USAA back and told them about the problem and that I was taking it back to the repair facility. Initially the repair facility tried to tell me that "it's a Jag, the headliners just droop". This obviously was an unacceptable response and I pointed out that the car had sat in my driveway (even in the Texas heat) for 2 years and had been driven less than 2000 miles in that timeframe and never once did the headliner droop until their people had pulled it to fix the hail damage on the roof. Never mind that they should replace it anyway because they had left greasy handprints all over it.

They finally agreed to replace it (getting paid by my insurance company of course instead of handling it under their "lifetime" warranty) and I received the car back again.

Again the car sat for awhile being driven only occasionally. I took it out one day and noticed that there was a slight shimmy in the front end which ended up being due to the rust that had accumulated on the rotors and the brakes wearing across it unevenly. What does all of this have to do with the moonroof?

Well, for probably the 3rd time in the life of the car I opened the moonroof. When trying to close it it would not close all the way. I needed to get the shimmy fixed anyway so I took the vehicle to the dealer also to have the moonroof looked at.

The dealer replaced the front rotors and pads which immediately fixed the shimmy yet they told me that it was going to be about $2500 to replace the roof assembly. What they didn't tell me is yet to come in this story. I explained to them about the hail repair and subsequent headliner replacement and they suggested that the repair facility may not have properly reinstalled the assembly. I contacted USAA and asked (begged really) that they let me leave the vehicle at the dealership to have it repaired as I really didn't want to deal with the repair facility again. They insisted that I give the repair facility an opportunity to repair the problem.

I of course took the vehicle back to the repair facility and explained the problem to them. I also explained that I was certain that due to the cost of the replacement that either they, or their subcontract person who did the headliner would insist that they had done nothing wrong which is exactly what happened.

This was the beginning of October of 2012.
2 months went by and I didn't hear anything from the repair facility. When I called at first they didn't know what I was talking about and could not find my car. I then called USAA so they could figure out what was going on.
I was then told that my car was at a different repair shop and that USAA was going to send out an appraiser to assess the repair. The independent assessor determined that they could not determine the cause and agreed that USAA would cover the cost to repair.

A couple months more went by and I still had not heard anything so the round of calls came again. This time I was told that the original manufacturer of the moonroof parts was no longer in business and that there was another manufacturer that was going to start making the parts but would not have them ready for a few more months!
I contacted Jag and learned that there were people that at this point had been waiting for 2-3 years for these parts to come online. This is when I became seriously distressed. This is also what the dealership didn't initially tell me when I had taken my vehicle in to have the brakes replaced.

At one point a few months ago in discussing this with USAA they suggested that I file a consumer affairs complaint and then a class action suit against Jaguar!

Fast forward to now. A few weeks ago I started the round of phone calls again (which I had done about once a month since the beginning of this year). I finally got someone that was truly sympathetic at USAA to the fact that I was going on a year without having my car. At this point my argument was that if the vehicle could never be repaired (if the parts were no longer ever going to be manufactured) then the vehicle should be considered a total loss from an insurability standpoint. They finally agreed but wanted to send the specialist out (again) anyway.

I received a call from the specialist and he informed me (finally!) of all of the correct information as he had fully done his research.

It appears that my VIN number calls for an assembly that was not actually installed on my vehicle. What was installed instead was the prior year model assembly as being a "left over" assembly. In other words, Jaguar built my vehicle using an obsolete part even though they were starting to use the newer assembly on the vehicles. My VIN indicates that my car is suppose to have the newer assembly but it didn't.

When talking to Jaguar several months ago they did in fact allude to this but didn't give me the specific details and I wasn't exactly sure what they meant at the time. Now that I know the full story what they told me makes more sense. They had told me that they had a "work around" where they could replace the moonroof. I assume that what they were (not) saying was that they would install the correct assembly. But, when I asked about this "work around" not being "original", because at the time I didn't know what the specific issue was, they also said that they could fix it but they would not warranty the work.

Obviously that wasn't acceptable as what would have happened if the moonroof failed to work a month after they did the "work around'?

So, the outcome of all of this is, the repair facility that has my vehicle is now waiting on the parts (which should have been the correct assembly) and eventually I should have my car back. The one thing that I'm still not certain about is whether or not the correct assembly is even being manufactured or if the correct one is also obsolete/waiting for a new manufacturer. All I've been told is that I'm on some "list" to get the assembly.

The sad fact of all of this is that I will have been without my car for an entire year one month from now. My 2006 XJR has less than 23,000 miles on it.

 

Holy Cow!!!!!

 

Damn! That sucks. To go a year without one's car is truly horrible. Good luck.