Hey everyone,
I wanted to know if there was any special thing to do to get the dealerships to do their jobs? I have 3 recalls now for my car: transmission, fan controller, and door not opening from the outside. I call the local dealership and they told me that they no longer do service calls on anything older than 2006. My "X" 2002. What's the deal? I talked with the service manager and told him that I'm a customer and if Jaguar didn't do their specific service actions that I'll never buy a Jag again; he didn't care.

Do you think contacting Jaguar corporate would do anything? Or am I just out of luck? (in which case I'll do it myself.)

 

If these are *actual recalls* (as opposed to technical bulletins, technical updates, or similar) then the dealer is obligated to perform them. As far as I know it's written right into the franchise agreement.

Yes, I'd call Jaguar corporate. Outright refusal to perform recalls is something they'd like t know about.

Cheers
DD

 

Jim, I would try to get the service manager to write it down on a piece of paper to say that they don't work on "...." (whatever their rule is). That way, if you do go to corporate, you have something in writing, not just someones word. As I am sure you are aware, if corporate calls complaining, the first words out of their mouth will be "I didn't say that". If it is in writing, hard to argue that.

LIke was mentioned, if it is a recall, they are mandated to do the recall (unless the recall action has already been performed). If it is just a TSB, that is simply a letter from the manufacturer to the dealership on how to perform something and most of the TSBs are covered as part of the warrantee (whatever it may have been). Since your car is a 2002, odds are, it is well outside of any Jaguar warrantee that came with the car.

 

If you post the last 6 digits of your vin I can tell you if they are recalls. Where are you located?

 

I'm in Utah, I have 2 accounts on here, one is James Brandon Justice, the other is Justicejamesb, I forget the password for the latter account. The VIN is "SAJEA51C22WC14355," is there a way I can find out what work has been done to it so far?

 

Hey Thermo,
How do I tell if it's a recall vs a TSB? Does anyone have a website with the jaguar recalls on it??
Thanks,
Jim

 

FSA Message
This Vehicle does not exist in any Field Service Action

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Claimed Field Service Actions
Code Actioned By
I140J 02-Jun-2004 Ken Garff Jaguar
S939C 02-Jun-2004 Ken Garff Jaguar
I130J 17-Sep-2003 Ken Garff Jaguar
R935G 03-Jun-2003 Ken Garff Jaguar
S928B 03-Jun-2003 Ken Garff Jaguar
S932B 03-Jun-2003 Ken Garff Jaguar
S937F 03-Jun-2003 Ken Garff Jaguar
S934B 03-Jun-2003 Ken Garff Jaguar
I120J 23-Jan-2003 Ken Garff Jaguar
I110J 24-May-2002 Ken Garff Jaguar
I999 01-Oct-2001 Ken Garff Jaguar

 

It looks like what I'm complaining about are TSB, and from my understanding the dealership doesn't have to do anything with a TSB. Well, at least I know now.

 

JgaXkr, I'm not sure what that means... sorry.

 

It means there are no outstanding recalls on your car.

Cheers
DD

 

Jim, some of the data services for cars (Alldata.com for example) have sections where you can look up the recalls that were issued for a car. From there, you can simply go to a dealership and ask to see when the recalls were done on a vehicle (the manufacturer has to keep records of each vehicle and what recalls were done on them). The same data service will also have a separate section for the TSBs. These are really meant to help with diagnosing problems based on feedback that the manufacturer has gotten based on feedback from the dealerships. These are normally put out because it saves the manufacturer money in the end because what they perceived to be a "weak point" in the system isn't and it turned out to be something else. So, instead of replacing the perceived weak part first then having to do more troubleshooting, the TSB tells the dealership that if they see a certain problem, ignore the other procedures and do the TSB.

If you are after TSBs, I think I have most of them. But, the data services will have the complete listing. Unfortuantely, the data services normally cost a little bit each year for the subscription.

 

Correct me if i'm wrong, but don't recalls have a certain life? My Jag guy told me that any recalls on my 2002 have probably expired by now.

 

In almost all cases a recall does not expire. I've seen a (very) few over the years that had expiration dates/times but these are an exception. I can't think of any Jaguar examples.

Cheers
DD

 

There are also recalls that are impossible for a dealership to realistically perform. One example is the passive seatbelts on the XJS. The parts are not available and out of production. If you insist, you will be put on a waiting list for parts.

 

In the US the seat belts are not under a recall, it is a lifetime warranty (S427). They are available now but were unavailable for a long time. I have heard Jaguar has bought back some of those cars & crushed them.

 

How to get a dealership to do their job?

A nice, big liter jug of Jack Daniels in a brown paper bag, handed discreetly under the counter to the Service Manager before any discussions. Just act like it's a contribution to the Widow's and Orphan's Fund down at the Union Hall, make no nod towards or mention of the gift whatsoever, and even deny having done so should he bring it up right then and there.

When the guy sees you are ready to play ball again, he'll do what needs to be done, and will remember you fondly in the future.If you ask him for his "specifics" (birthday, wife's name, etc) as you enter him into your cellphone contact list, he will probably have the lot boy wash your car gratis when they are done working on it!

God Bless Social Engineering, and God Bless Jack Daniels!

 

I found having info that the dealership doesn't have is a good one too. I did that when I had just bought a new Expedition. I was handing them TSBs that they had not gotten yet. Needless to say, they were not sure who I was, but they were sure that I was someone important. I was the only customer that they knew by name and when I opened the door into the service area, they were greeting me there, not when I finally made it to the desk. Granted, the guys on the sales lots got to know me to as I would point out problems with various vehicles and tell them that they needed to send the vehicle back to have the items looked at. No one I think ever really figured out who I was, they just knew my face and pondered where I fit into things.

 

I have wonderful dreams just like this

It's similar to when I show up at Toyoto events wearing one of their racing team shirts ... they just don't know who to expect :-)

(complete disclosure - I bought said shirt on eBay more than 10 years ago)

 

Jim, as you can imagine with what I post here, I know a thing or two about cars and most of the dealership people don't. Some of the techs in the garage know the cars pretty well. But I also hunt out the good information relating to the cars I own. If you know where to look and what to look up, you would be amazed as to what information you can find.

 

Back in my dealership days (30 years in the business) it was very common for customers to have recall info before we did. The media makes announcements (invariably with some incorrect or misleading info) before the dealer gets official notice and/or repair info from the factory.

As for TSBs and the like, well, I never worked for a Jag dealer but for other brands the sheer volume of tech info sent to dealers can be overwhelming. The electronic age and internet naturally eased the problem quite a bit but, still, it can be a challenge to keep all the staff and technicians 100% current on all incoming info. 'Multi-line' dealerships naturally struggle more with this problem. The last dealership I worked at had *five* carlines. The information overload was a real problem.

Cheers
DD