So, I've been missing in action for a while here on the forum; life has been a bit hectic recently, especially in the past year...

Late last year my S-type was totalled in an accident. Usually, my car would have been deemed fixable, but with the age and fair market value of the car, the repair cost easily passed the 80% Florida mandated total loss threshold.

I really liked my S-type and was planning to run it for much longer. Even though it had about 115k miles on it, it had most of the creature comforts many current cars have like GPS and bluetooth phone. The insurance company gave me an option to keep the car and have it repaired under a rebuilt title, but considering that the car was already this old and because there was some undercarriage frame damage due to the accident, I decided to take the total loss check and walk away.

Odd (and maybe funny) thing was that the other car involved in the accident was a 1998 XJ. My friend said it was a "cat fight."

Anyway, I wanted to personally thank everyone at Jaguar Forums. All of you have helped me save alot of money over the years when it came to repairs. Not only that, many of the "walk through" repair threads have made me somewhat of a diy-er and helped me feel a little more confident in doing my own repair work.

I wanted to also give a public service announcement to everyone here. I highly, highly recommend that everyone on this forum gets a dash-cam for their car!

At the scene of the accident, the police officer who arrived was not able to determine fault. The officer claimed that my story, the other party's story, and the witness' story of what occurred were all different. The officer said to let the insurance companies determine fault. Luckily though, I had installed a dash camera in my car a month prior (good timing I presume) and had a clear recording of what happened showing the other party at fault. Not only was I able to avoid paying my deductible, but I was also able to skip the aggravation of going through any litigation and insurance premium hikes.

The dash cam I purchased only cost about 80 bucks on Amazon and took me an hour to install both front and rear cameras. I have included the link of the camera I had:

https://www.amazon.com/AUTO-VOX-Rear...rds=autovox+m2

I was able to remove these cameras and place them on my new car.

Now I was keen on purchasing another Jaguar. I was looking into the XF's but due to the time constraints, I wasn't able to find a deal I liked. Ended up switching over for a Mercedes E350. Sure, it's a nice car and still has the factory warranty available, but I still prefer how my S-type handled on the road.

Once again, thanks to everyone here on the forums. I really appreciated everyone's friendliness and eagerness to help another Jag owner out.


PS: Once again, I highly recommend that everyone here gets a dash cam!

 

Glad the bits all fell into place for you.

YES, dash cams are mandatory in my opinion also.

Stuttgart will suffice for now, but

NOTHING RIDES LIKE A JAGUAR.

You will be back.

 

Sorry to hear about your loss. When my wife owned my 02, she had damage that barely crossed the threshold, but the estimator worked with me, since I could source alternative, and lower priced parts. That brought in under the "totaled" line. It was a mild hit, but it deployed the airbags, cracked the windshield and broke the sunroof track.

Cosmetically, the cat came back looking brand spanking new. Still addressing issues, but the only residual from the hit are 2 "slightly untrue" rims.

I was afraid of looking for an early XF, only because owning a first generation ANYTHING could be costly....as I found out with the ST.

 

Enjoy your E350. I came close to picking up a 2010 E350 several years ago. Very nice car, much more legroom and headroom, very tempting, but I stuck with my financial algorithm and held onto my S-Type instead....

 

Sorry to hear about your total loss.

Dash cam is a good idea.

I had a PepsiCo tractor trailer ( artic) back into my parked car two years ago, made $4k in damage.

Luckily, Pepsi easily paid for it otherwise my car might have been totalled, too.

My old headlights were fogged, now I have clear new ones!

 

Thanks everyone. The way I look at it is: "Stuff can be replaced, but your body can't" so I'm just happy there wasn't any physical injury.

Part of me wanted to go after the premises owner. The accident occurred on the street, but due to the force of impact, my car drove over the side walk in front of a store's parking lot. I recall 2 years ago that the store owner, while re-paving his parking lot, made the side walk cement barrier taller. I'm sure it wasn't allowed by code. The undercarriage damage was primarily caused due to the impact to that barrier.

Unfortunately, time wasn't on my side so I let that idea go...

Yeah that’s a good point. I'm usually a bit weary when it comes to getting a first batch. I usually try to get something once they refreshed it. (Same thing when it comes to electronics)

The one I was looking at was a 2013 XF 3.0 and the dealer (non-Jaguar) I was at dropped down the list price by $1k, but then when it was time to write up the deal the salesperson tagged on a non-negotiable $1,299 dealer fee on it. After that I decided to walk away....

You know, I actually remembered your posts from back then so that's why I decided to check the E350 out. I agree that it feels more roomy, and I feel as if the wind-shield is bigger too allowing more light in.

I was able to get it from a private owner who bought it under CPO. Their CPO warranty isn't as great as Jaguar's though, but it gave me some assurance going forward with the deal. Not only that, the seller provided me with a binder of his service records so I knew it was well maintained.

I am actually openly looking for a well maintained second generation XK as a second car. I always liked the look of it. So, I'll be back for sure. But, that purchase has to wait until I finish all these board exams ahead of me....haha