This Forum that brings Jaguar owners and enthusiasts together, is a fountain head of knowledge and experience, it brings together those like myself who own and love Jaguars.

My experience, I now know is far from unique. Jaguar is a wonderful marque and the attraction to own one an aspiration, they are available as used cars and can be a cheap option to buy, with good low mileage examples available. The delight of owning and the pleasure of driving can also be a drain, as the costs of running seem to be escalating. Main Dealerships, many part of a larger organisation, with dealerships in dozens of different marques and organised to make large profits and in doing so, absorb many of the Old established dealerships.

My experience has been since owning four X.J.s very frustrating and expensive. I have suffered excruciatingly painful bills and very shoddy service, to the state where I have seriously questioned my allegiance to Jaguar but thanks mainly to the support of the members of this forum, I have kept going.

So much for the gloom!. I have found an Independant Jaguar Service Centre who have proved that you can service, repair and run your Jaguar, with first class service and at a price that is a fraction of the Main Dealers but more importantly I have also discovered that there are similar Independant Centres opening all over the Country and the U.S.A.

Highly skilled and fully trained Technicians have recognised this gap in a specialist market and have taken the opportunity, they back their skills, equip themselves and offer an excellent personal service to Jaguar owners, at a price that is affordable. Specialist companies producing repair kits for expensive components, refurbishers running exchange unit schemes and recycling of salvaged spares are feeding into the system. So Jaguar ownership is a realistic ambition.

 

Hi!
I am thinking about selling my beloved X-Type 3.0 SE Manual Petrol AWD because of skyrocketing repair costs.
The autoshops went mad with the labour-hour charges.
I am tired of not being able to do the regular service myself, like exchanging the spark plugs - what a nonsense to remove the upper intake manifold just to replace spark plugs - what were the Jaguar designers thinking?
I miss my 1971 Pontiac GTO, it had 6.4 litre V8 engine in it and I could do all maintenance and performance adjustments myself then in 1993 (USA).
And it would beat this X-Type in any competition (I had nitrous oxide on it too).
The entire car market is on the downfall...
I cannot even change a stupid front wheel bearing on my X-Type in my driveway because the 15-ton press is needed... and stuff like that.
Stupid automobile designers - just crooks to make profits.
I am selling my X-Type to the scrapyard for £200 and will drive taxis instead, which in my case will save me a lot of money.
Paul

 

I am sorry to hear that.
I was very close to doing the same but fortunately for me I joined this forum and found a Jaguar Technician with labour cost 1/4 of the dealers, who will source and fit good used parts, which I can afford.

I believe it is the pay off to the dealers, that owners of all marques are being blocked from servicing their own cars. The sheer quantity of non tamper parts requiring specialised equipment and access to detailed information these days is bewildering but easy for the official dealers to exploit.

It has now got to the point that £200 per hour is not unusual and in my area the norm.

All my best to you and thank you for sharing your experiences

 

I'm trying to keep my hopes up, I just found somebody through the forum who will help.
And regarding future maintenance - what I will be able to do on my own in my driveway, I will do, no matter how dirty I get
Paul

 

While we're on the subject can anyone recommend a jag specialist in middle England somewhere, also anyone used a body shop for the usual jag 308 rust with good results for a fair price.

 

I am in the West Country and now use The Wiltshire Jaguar Centre Swindon. The service is excellent, with fully trained Jaguar Technicians and all the diagnostic and tools, the labour charge is a quarter of the local main dealer and cheaper even than local independent servicing garages.

As far as body repairs, there are many specialist Jaguar breakers who can supply salvaged body panels and parts, it's just a point of contacting them and making sure you get the vin number correct, they will despatch the parts and usually delivery is within 48hrs.

 

Neilr3njf

Check the recommendations thread on the forum, you'll find recommendations from other Forum users and they are broken down into regional areas.

 

I read posts from all over the World with a similar message. Members buy a used Jaguar at a very attractive price and then are disappointed/surprised/annoyed to find maintaining and repairing them can be very expensive.

Keeping an older Jaguar running has always been a challenge and considerably more so before the advent of forums like this.

The basic requirements for the older vehicle owner are:

1. a well filled tool box
OR
2. a well filled bank account

Jaguar Dealers are in business to sell and maintain current models. Unless their staff have many years experience, the dealerships won't have the expertise to tackle repairs on non current vehicles. It's usually 'nuisance' work to them and prices quoted are often designed to discourage potential customers.

Dealerships are expensive places to run. They have to be 'corporate' and meet the standards set by Jaguar. Margins on new cars are slim and most profits come from servicing and repairs.

New Jaguars are rarely purchased by individuals - the vast majority are company funded and the associated costs can be set against revenue. This sector doesn't wince at high bills the way those of us who are paying out of our own pockets do. They are also more amenable to taking the initial depreciation which then makes two or three year old Jaguars more attractive to individual buyers.

A number of independent specialists have set up to cater for owners of older models who either can't or choose not to do their own maintenance and repairs. Their overheads are much lower than dealers and their prices reflect this. Their knowledge of the older models is usually superior as these are the ones they work on every day.

There's three independents within a fifty mile radius of me. Although I prefer to do all my own maintenance repairs, it's good to be able to use them when required.

Doing as much as you can yourself, using the services of an independent for the more complex jobs and sourcing parts carefully all help to reduce the costs of ownership and increase the pleasure.

Graham