Okay, here's a little dealer story that I'd like to share...

I bought a 2002 XK8 convertible this past July for my wife from a dealer in Texas. We flew down to pick it up, having bought it sight unseen and on the salesman's promise on the phone that it was a "creampuff" with no problems.

After picking the car up, we noticed a lot of tire vibration, and the dealer replaced one tire that day. However, on the way home (about 600 miles), we noticed a few other things -- e.g., really loud tire wheel/howl, intermittent airbag light and an inoperable passenger headrest.

I took care of the headrest problem using info from other postings in this forum (good tech support). However, my wife (her car) was still pretty ticked off at the dealer and became a real burr under their blanket over a series of several months.

To make a long story short, our local Jaguar dealer will be repairing the airbag light issue, plus will be installing four new tires with an alignment -- all at the expense of the Texas dealer who finally gave into my wife's persistent calls and has agreed to cover those expenses. Belated kudos to them for doing the right thing, even though it took a little bit of prodding from my wife to come through.

Other than these few problems, the car is a cream puff, and I'm sure we will get many years of enjoyment out of it. Of course, I have again been reminded that there is nothing more fierce than a woman who thinks she's been slighted when finally getting the car of her dreams. Perseverance (particularly, that of a woman) really does pay off.

 

Sorry if there are any dealer folks here but I HATE THEM. I never have good experiences with them. I am a strong believer of private party purchases and stand alone shops (no chain repair shops) for repairs.

 

thanks for sharing tosaman......nice to know the dealer came through even if it was after some prodding

Lets be honest, if they wanted to walk away I'm sure they could have done.

Brgjag - Its really wrong to slate ALL dealers with the same brush. Like all things in life there are good ones and bad ones I guess, and some are just way better than others, usually, thats down to people IMO though

 

NAh, they get the broad brush. I have owned a TON of cars in my many years of driving, and they all try to get over on you in one way or another, be it in the front end at Sales (THE DEAL MAKING) to the shop when you need something fixed, to the parts dept when your looking for a part and the dude can't figure out what it even is in his system.
Hell when I bought my Jag which was not from the local dealer, I went in and asked him to please pull the repair info on the car that he could get which was a lot but he was like, that is a lot of codes, I don't know what they mean, I would have to look'em up to see what they mean as far as what was done to the car. That lost me right there. I have a new jag to me and you are treating possible new busn like that???? When I went to the same dealer when my timing chain went south he said TIME FOR A NEW MOTOR with out even looking at it, I took it to a stand alone shop, easy fix, car runs like a charm (once current electrical gremlin is done with it will again, ha ha). I was like F'u, have not been in there since. They don't care, you are a sales number to get them to the end of month targets, be it for new car sales, used car, parts, repair shop, etc. They have no dog in the fight, they mess up they can bury it in the numbers. A stand alone shop can't, they live or die buy how well they treat you.

 

Now most of the folks in these places are GOOD people, but the busn end of a dealership is UGLY I think.

 

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everythings relative brgjag.....its just the same when you're buying any big purchase, be it a house, car, boat, caravan or the bigger items for your house maybe?
Everybodys trying to make the best buck they can, the best way they know how.
Me personally, I'm in sales and like to think I know how it works ( its not rocket science btw ) I've dealt with dealers for Vauxhall (GM) Saab, Ford, Jaguar and Audi.....and got on great with them all pretty much.
Ok, maybe some better than others and maybe had to fight my corner a few times here n there, but thats life.....deal with it!

Why some people have this paranoia that ALL dealerships are out to rip everybody off I don't know....its simply not true!

Anyhow, back on topic and once again thanks for the positive spin review of the dealers from tosaman

 

This past summer I went to a small dealer to look at a nice redone mid 80's Camaro (no comments, ha ha ha). Rebuilt hopped up motor, clean orig interior, etc.
Wel I went and looked at it, didn't drive it just started it up. I was on lunch had to get back to work. Told them my wife in a green tbird with a 5 years old kid will be there in 10 min to check it out. Well from the lot she calls me and tells me the dealer dude won't let her drive it because it was a special car, aka, too much power for her and it was a stick, I got him on the phone and ripped him hard and told him I won't be buying the car, I was going too. Well, lets see, about 6 months later now the car still sits there. I send him an email time to time reminding him of his stunt and that I was a buyer. HA HA HA

 

Wow! I couldn't have generated more discussion than if I had made a post saying that I thought Nancy Pelosi was hot!! In my 64 years I've been treated both well and bad by dealers -- just like every other kind of business that I've had to deal with. Worked my way through law school selling cars for a Chrysler dealer (here come the jokes) and know it's not the easiest of jobs -- dealing with the public and consumers never is. When you find a good and honest dealer, patronize him and tell your friends.

 

LOL! That reminds me of my first attempt to purchase an XK8. It was from a used car dealership, and they were asking way too much for it, but that's typical. They were asking $16K for a 2000. It was the exact color combination I wanted, and it was beautiful, but $16K??? I drove it and discovered that the AC wasn't working. Other than that it was in great shape. I offered $13K, but the dealer wouldn't budge from $16K. He didn't even make me a counter-offer. He said he had $16K in it and he needed to get $16K out of it (I've heard that many times, too).

Anyway, here we are, 9 months later, and the car is still sitting on the lot. Here's the CL ad: http://raleigh.craigslist.org/ctd/2074449479.html He could have sold it to me 9 months ago, but instead he's been sitting on it for 9 months while it loses value every day.

 

IMO the best part of ownership is working on ones own car. Even if you are not mechanically inclined now, you can learn. If the car is your daily driver, that is a different story; but if it is your hobby car... then make working on it your hobby.

 

A very good friend on mine worked for a Chevy dealership as a mechanic. We were having a discussion much like the one that is going on here. I took my 5 year old car in for a recall and the dealer told me I could use new brakes in the near future and quoted my $600.00. (this was many years ago) I was mad and went to the local auto parts store and for $20.00 and 30 minutes work, changes the pads. I told my friend this story and he asked me "If 2 weeks after YOU changes your pads your master cylinder went out, you would say that now I have to change the master cylinder, If you took it to a dealer, it would be his fault" He was right. I bought a 2000 XK8 and there is no way I could afford to have the work done by a dealer. I can spend $400.00 in parts and one or two days work to replace the hose for the top, but no $1,800 for someone else to do it.
I had a 2001 S-Type, never had a problem. When the maintenance was due, the dealer sent a guy out with a loaner car and brought it back that night. That is expensive service. If I brought a $90,000+ car and had a problem, I want it fixed right. If I couldn't afford it, I would by a $12,000 10 year old car that I would do the maintenance on...
Sorry for venting, just my two cents

 

Finally somebody who understands. I really apprecitate your post. There are too many people on this forum who bitch and complain. About how they've been done wrong by some evil dealership. Now when you own a Jaguar there are certain things you expect. Sometimes you have to give a little and let somethings go, but you expect a certain amount of service. Another way dealerships look at things is just because you spent money in the sales dept, doesn't mean the service dept gets a cut of that. Now don't take that to be cut troat, because it's not. It's a business, and in order for a business to exceed, it needs to profit. ANY BUSINESS, not just the automotive business.

 

I've dealt with dealers for most makes of car and never really had a problem....maybe thats cos being in sales I know " that people buy from people" and always make a concious effort to really get to know the guys in the dealership.......you REALLY want these guys on your side rather than not.
Of course we can ALL find someone who will do the job a little cheaper, or buy the parts ourselves and do the job ourselves.....cheaper still.
If you have some knowledge and or are mechanically inclined , great and the self satisfaction must be awesome.
If you're not mechanically inclined, you're gonna have to pay, that simple......sometimes the cheaper option isn't ALWAYS the best.
To sum up....some people do bitch n complain about dealers BUT......If they weren't there to offer service / backup / warranty / technical info etc trust me, you'd be complaining a lot more.
All this comes at a cost to the dealers which has to come from somewhere - the customer!

 

glenn barickman,your a wise man.this is a great site,there are some of us who can aford the best.then again there are those of us[me] who really love the looks of these cars,but can not aford dealer repairs.just about all my cars have been bought from anywhere but dealers.true everyone needs to make a living,but i can't see paying the extra cost to a dealer.still there is an upside,if you buy new enough you get a warenty,but your still at their mercey

 

LOL! Here it is two months later and that dealer I mentioned above still hasn't sold his XK8. I don't know how long he's had it, but I test-drove it last April. He's had it at least ten months, probably more. I'm glad he didn't accept my $13K offer last April. I ended up getting an awesome deal on a 2003.

http://raleigh.craigslist.org/ctd/2198803449.html

 

Rev, you should send him a Thankyou for putting you off to find the 1 you now own

 

Just mentioning a Jaguar franchise dealer name on this forum is like stirring up a bunch of yellow jackets. Please understand the mode of operation for all luxury car dealerships--from a new Jag forum member with 24 years experience working in Big 3 dealership management:

1. There is very little new and used car sales volume at luxury car dealers—maybe 1/3 the sales of a Chevy or Ford dealer. 100 units per month is a large luxury dealer.
2. Manufacturer “dealer standards” require luxury car dealers to build “palace facilities”—i.e. service department drive throughs that look like malls, in house cafeterias and waterfalls. Their occupancy expense, utilities and general overhead is tremendous—per vehicle sold.
3. You can buy a domestic auto @ $300 over cost, where big Jag, BMW or Mercedes gross profit may be closer to $7K-$9K. Their lower end cars sell at $4K profits.
4. Back end profits from $449 documentation fees, $500 paint sealants and $250 etching the serial number in the glass (theft protection) are totally unreasonable. The Business Manager will knock the head off anyone with a low FICO score—if he can get’em financed.
5. A BMW salesman might sell 10 or 12 cars monthly, where a top Ford salesman might sell 30 cars. An uninformed customer is “fair game/dead meat” in the hands of a 25 year sales professional wearing a $1K Hickey Freeman suit.
6. Luxury car dealership owners usually own the best domestic/import car dealerships in the area. The 2nd and 3rd generation children are running these businesses, and these kids personally have a very high standard of living.
7. Successful dealerships cannot just deal with the wealthy. The middle class—school teachers and mailmen (with working wives)—is where sales profits are from--purchasing used cars and entry level luxury cars.
8. Parts Sales gross profits are around 48%, which would be around $2 million gross profits at a dealership selling 100 units monthly. It’s not the dealer setting the Parts prices—it’s Jaguar.
9. The Service Advisor is not your best friend. He is a $100K commissioned salesman totally without conscience—selling $2000 brake jobs to little old widows. “But he seems so nice.” 5,000, 10,000 and 20,000 service packages should be outlawed by every state—knocking the customer’s ___ off.
10. Do luxury brand car mechanics reading flow charts and putting in plug and play parts deserve to make $75-$110K per year? Hopefully they’ll keep one mechanic around that can actually diagnose and fix something without a computer. Real mechanics are an endangered species.
11. Luxury car dealerships didn’t fare the last two years economic downturn as well as you would think. The cafeteria and waterfall dealerships sucked—in a big way.
Other Observations:
People driving luxury automobiles must simply pay the price if they want to keep up their exclusive lifestyles. Dealers have a great responsibility to properly diagnose problems—and not just throw unneeded parts at the problem. It’s hard to believe that Jaguar lost $ billions for Ford (1988-2007) with Jag Parts pricing like this. It’s nice to see that there are some great dealerships out there--i.e. Nally Jaguar in Atlanta/Alpharetta. There’s still no substitution for a great independent shops. It’s great that salvage Jaguars are so easily found on the internet—and that there are so many of salvage cars of every model year.

Lexus, BMW and some Mercedes drivers put very high mileage their cars. Jaguar owners are 55 years old, the kids are gone, and they have 4 cars for 2 people. I’ve never seen any car brand with so many pristine, low mileage cars available—4,000 or 5,000 miles per year usage.

Be thankful that you can buy such exclusive, timeless and beautiful Jaguars at such depreciated prices. Also be thankful for this Forum’s members and the time spent working on their cars—and that they’re willing share so much information to save you so much $.

I’ve got to close up my post. My Lexus dealer has invited me to fly to Puerto Rico tomorrow in his Lear 35.

 

Uh... just wear your oxygen mask the whole time. Payne Stewart was killed in a Lear 35 when the aircraft lost cabin pressure.

 

Hi, Good discussion. This is a HOT issue. No one likes to be overcharged. Jaguar Dealer's do have beautiful Dealerships and they must make their money somehow.

I just bought my 2001 XK8 from a private owner. My Jag is in really good condition and was driven very little. I talked to the Jag Dealer and he suggested that I have the car checked out before I drove it the 2600 miles home. The Jag Dealer did very little for the $1500+ bill. When I got home I changed the spark plugs and actually repeated a great deal of the mechanic's labor and I found that I paid for work that had not been done. I filed a Better Business Bureau complaint, but we failed to reach an understanding and nothing was done.

I realize that very few of the West Palm Beach Jaguar customers ever look at a repair invoice let alone actually repeat the mechanic's labor as I did. They only deal in Austin Martin (200K+) and most Jaguar (90K+). I have a good working relationship with my Corvette Dealer's mechanic and I have grown to trust him and have never felt to be overcharged. I have learned, maybe the hard way, that Jaguar Dealers have extremely wealthy customers and that they can get away with charging outrageous prices. I will NEVER take my Jaguar into a Jaguar Dealer, again. Thank everyone for this forum. It makes owning a Jaguar affordable.

Ron

 

I bought my 2006 from the dealer a couple of months ago. They have been great about things so far. Bluetooth didn't work - they ordered a part from England and it works. When I picked the car up they put a maintenance sticker on the car showing it needed routine maintenance in a week! I questioned them about that - they changed the oil for $0.

I have a warrantee that goes through April 2014. I plan to use them for repair and maintenance til then unless something happens to change my mind.

I usually drive daily drivers about ten years. My pattern is I then sell a perfect ten year old car to a friend. I would like to do the same with this beautiful car.

I plan to make a go or no go decision when the warrantee runs out. Keep it or sell it based on service history. If keep - continue to use the dealer or start using independent based on my experience with the dealer through the warrantee period.

Jack