Man I'm so glad your wife is going to be fine and judging by your experience with geico on your stype you'll be fine!

 

Update:

Bodywork replacement and repairs look great. The paintwork is progressing on schedule. The replacement right front wheel was a veritable bitch to locate (we finally found one in California after multiple potential sources fell through) but is due in by Monday/Tuesday next week. Then it's time for final reassembly and taking the XK8 over to the local Jaguar dealership for an in-depth suspension inspection, suspension parts if needed, and a full four-wheel alignment....

I'm being told that we could have the car back in our stable by the end of next week but I still predict that it will be just before the Fourth of July holiday timeframe before we are handed the keys. We'll see....

 

Just wanted to mention that I tried to utilize Jaguar USA Corporate last week in an effort to find a replacement Atlas chrome front wheel for my wife's XK8. I opened a case with them, they let a couple of days go by and then closed the case by concluding that there is not an available replacement Atlas chrome front wheel anywhere on the planet. They did not bother to call me back with their conclusion. I had to call them in order to obtain their response....

On a scale of 1 to 10, Jaguar USA Corporate's helpfulness to me regarding this issue was a minus 27....

 

Seems like if you can't find a replacement for the single wheel then you should get 4 replacement wheels. I would convince the insurance company that this is their problem, not yours. They owe you some more money.

 

Read post #42. We finally found a suitable replacement wheel on our own. Jaguar USA Corporate proved to be worthless in this effort....

 

Update:

The good news is that the new front wheel from CalChrome arrived late yesterday and is in pristine condition....

The bad news is that the original front wheel is not only cosmetically damaged, it is bent beyond repair. So keeping it as a spare as I planned to do is no longer worthwhile....

Final body reassembly is taking place now. Then the car goes to our local Jaguar dealership for a careful analysis of its suspension components, new suspension parts if needed, and a four-wheel alignment....

It should be back in our hands by early-to-mid next week. We'll see....

 

Update:

The local Jaguar dealership just finished up with their portion of the repair process. No suspension components were damaged (in fact, the service manager says that the suspension looks great for a car about to cross 80,000 miles), the new right front wheel was Hunter Road Force balanced, and the car received a full four-wheel alignment....

Now the car heads back to the body shop for final clean-up and detailing. Perhaps we'll have it back in our hands by tomorrow. We'll see....

 

Update:

We picked up the XK8 a couple of hours ago. Looks great, drives great, and my wife is certainly happy to finally be back in her car again after nearly five weeks (goodbye Camry rental). Now the shake-down process begins in earnest. Then, probably by mid-July, my all-important Diminished Value pursuit gets underway. I'm looking forward to it....

 

Jon,

35 Days - you're getting better at this with practice!

Pleased to hear initial impressions on the repairs are good and your wife hasn't rejected it.

Good luck with the next stage.

Graham

 

Graham,

Thanks for the kind words and good wishes....

Driving that Camry rental for the past month (including a long solo trip to and from her mother's home in Florida) seems to have done the trick towards making my wife fall in love with her XK8 again. She certainly missed the style, the power, and the comfort. As she gets more windshield time in it, I believe her residual fears concerning driving a relatively small convertible vs. an SUV will continue to diminish. I'm betting at this point that we will indeed keep the XK8. I do not want to take a financial bath by having to sell it. We'll see how it goes over the next few weeks....

 

I bet you are. Good luck!

 

Update:

After 6 days and about 200 miles of shake-down, we have two issues on our punch list:

1. A very minor paint flaw where the right-side quarter panel meets the right-side rear panel at the seam. Not quite enough paint at the top of the seam just under the taillamp assembly, and too much paint drip down the rest of the seam towards the bumper. Not as smooth a transition as it should have been. The repair shop is aware of this and will fix it....

2. My wife complains of a steering wheel vibration at highway speeds (70 mph and up). I don't feel it, but I rarely drive the car so I don't get a vote. I had all four wheels Hunter Road Force Balanced by Discount Tire on Saturday afternoon. She says that certainly minimized the issue but did not cure it. The repair shop will be made aware of this when I speak with them tomorrow....

 

These cars are VERY intolerant of Wheels that are bent or otherwise out of round. The Hunter Balancer should identify this of course.

 

The Hunter unit proved that none of our four wheels are 100% perfect. But they are supposedly within acceptable tolerances. According to my wife there was no steering wheel vibration before the accident on May 27th. I'm scheduled to speak with the repair shop tomorrow. We'll see what must be done to resolve this issue....

I notified Allstate by phone today that I intend to file a Diminished Value claim against them. My next step is to get the car appraised by my Diminished Value agent specialist. I hope to get that accomplished by the end of this week....

 

Update:

My wife's XK8 went back to the local Jaguar dealership this morning in an effort to find the issue causing the steering wheel to vibrate around 70 mph. The replaced right front wheel was Hunter Road Force Balanced again (for the third time since June 30th), the front suspension was supposedly thoroughly checked again with no issues found, and the right front hub assembly and axle were supposedly thoroughly checked. Do we have a faulty right front tire that perhaps slipped an internal belt when the car was struck? Did we get a faulty replacement right front wheel from CalChrome (it was a reconditioned one because no new Atlas 19-inch chrome front wheels were available)? No one has been able to answer these questions at this point. The car is now back in my wife's hands. She'll continue to test-drive it and make the ultimate decision on whether this issue has finally been resolved, but she's now reached the point where she's fed up with the entire ordeal and wonders if her car is truly safe at highway speeds again....

On another note, we had a silver 2014 XF 3.0 AWD as a loaner car. Nice sedan for sure, but it certainly doesn't say "Jaguar" to me. No interior wood, no gorgeous lines, an inferior leather interior compared to her XK8, just another Buick/Lexus/Infiniti/Volvo lookalike to me. I would daily-drive it through the warranty period if they gave it to me. But I wouldn't spend my own money on it....

 

Update:

The local Jaguar dealership found no issues with the wheel, tire, or suspension. They Hunter Road Force balanced the right front wheel yet again and said there are "too many variables" to pinpoint one specific cause. I haven't trusted this local dealership for years (I drive to the fantastic dealership in Greensboro 80 miles away on the rare occasions when I need dealership service) and I think they are just hoping we will eventually go away. My wife will continue to drive her car for a couple of weeks and we'll see if the steering wheel vibration (which has seemingly improved) will finally settle down with her normal daily usage again....

I've scheduled the car's Diminished Value appraisal to take place this Thursday morning if the weather is clear. I'm looking forward to getting that process underway....

 

Update:

The comprehensive Diminished Value appraisal did indeed take place this past Thursday morning. Having to accept a reconditioned right front wheel because no new ones were available anywhere in the world, having to put putty on the passenger door and rear quarter panel to restore those areas, and having to send the car back to the Jaguar dealership multiple times due to the steering wheel vibration issues my wife has experienced will all prove to be significant in the final determination of how much value the car has lost due to the May 27th accident....

I hope to have the completed appraisal report in my hands sometime next week....

 

Update:

I should receive my completed Diminished Value appraisal report today. My appraiser's research and calculations show that my wife's XK8 has lost $4,847 in local market value as a result of being struck by the other driver on May 27th. I was expecting a figure of a few hundred dollars less than that amount so my ballpark guess based upon going through this process the first time nearly five years ago was fairly close....

Over the weekend I'll compose my letter to the other driver's insurance company, include a copy of the appraisal report and other supporting documents, and I'll mail the entire package on Monday morning to the Dallas address I've been provided for my case. I'm essentially presenting them with my bill for our loss....

Then it's just a waiting game to see what the first response will be....

 

WOWZA...is that to say that even AFTER the repairs, it's still worth $4,800ish, LESS than before the crash ?

 

Exactly. That is the basic concept of Diminished Value and that is why everyone who owns a vehicle that carries some degree of importance to them should familiarize themselves with the subject. When your vehicle is struck by a careless driver and suffers extensive damage due to no fault of your own, you also suffer a significant loss in value regardless of how well the repairs are made. Keep in mind that your car's history now forever carries that blemish and in most states, you are required to disclose those facts to any potential buyer. Such a negative mark on your car's history definitely reduces its value as well as its appeal to any discriminating buyer that does proper research....