Hey guys, I'm an American living in Kuwait and got a sweet deal on a 2005 S-Type 3.0l with 105K kms (65K miles). Totally new to Jags and never saw myself as an owner, especially not an old model. Deal was too good to be true and I had recently made some plans that ended up falling through with without a vehicle, until I found the S-type.

I don't hold any car up on a pedestal, and am known for not babying cars. I do know the basics of car ownership, and while I would like to learn to be more mechanically inclined, where I live it's not much of an option since 1) lack of space to work 2) extremely hot climate (I burned my palms on the pavement before).
While I do speak the local language/dialect most mechanics do not speak the dialect, and thus it's hard to communicate. A lot of times the mechanics may be from South Asia, and depending on from where exactly it can be extremely hard to understand their English or Arabic.

What many of you guys take for granted, I cannot. Mechanics are merciless and overcharge by as much as possible. When I first arrived I got an old Ford that needed new brake pads and a single rotor replaced. The charge came to $530 and I almost landed in jail that day. Needless to say haggling is part of the culture and I did not pay that price or anything near to it. I've been priced $150 for cabin air filters before among other such silliness.

Another fun fact is that if you get in a car accident, you will wait at least a year until you can claim the insurance money. Luckily the only accident I've been in cost me about $160 (which was the insurance pay out) but sadly I lost the info to collect that payout. I literally remembered to try to collect 2 years after the fact.

While I'm in the Gulf, I usually drive cars I would never own outside of this area. I pay $70 for insurance a year, and if I told you what I pay for gas...

About myself, I'm kinda OCD when it comes to replying to posts. I probably already broke some rules about double posts since I don't know how to format yet (especially when I'm posting from my phone). I usually ask a lot of questions and prefer very detailed answers (at least in visual terms). Not sure what else to say but hope I can learn a lot from you guys!

 

Welcome to the Forums.

Lotsa fun to be had.

 

Welcome to the forum.
I often read other threads where occasionally the technical content i find bewildering.
Enjoy your stay on what is a truly international forum.

 

Welcome to Jaguar Forums S2005,

Good to have you with us.
Enjoy the forum.

If you haven't done so already you should add your car details to your signature to help others to help you.
If you need help with getting around and using the forum follow this link for some help Forum Help

 

 

Welcome to the forums.

 

welcome to the forum - enjoy!!!

 

 

HAHAHA yes that's part of the fun of living in a country where 99% of blue collar labor are not native. Often I only have a vague idea of what the mechanic is trying to do based on my limited mechanical knowledge and the language skills of the mechanic. I do know a very good mechanic that speaks the same dialect that I do, and is probably the #1 guy at diagnosing cars I've found. He also speaks good English. And he's also pretty pricey and has crappy customer service. When I deal with him I know exactly what's going on...any one else, it usually takes a lot of back and forth.