Have to make a big decision. Despite high quality care, the black factory paint on my 2005 Sportwagon has developed sudden terminal failure. The rest of the car is currently near perfect and apparently healthy. But at 97000+ miles it's not unreasonable to think there may be some significant mechanical maintenance ahead. The cost to repaint the entire car (that's what it will take - it's not a small paint problem) is about equal to the current private sale value AFTER the repaint. So I would be, in effect, re-buying the car from myself. Repaint and keep or sell now as is? What would you do?

 

Seems like a lot for a paint job have you gotten other quotes?

Do you want the car? If you sold it now would you go out and buy another sport waggon in better condition or would you buy something else?

How much can you get for it now?

I would probably list it "as is" for sale at a high price and see what response I get.

In the meantime I would get more quotes for paint jobs. When people come to look at the car you can show them your quotes, if you want.

It might be hard to sell after a paint job was done.

Unless I was in love with the car and wanted to keep it for 10 years I would move on and let someone else bring love back into it.

 

Factors. Despite their rarity (only 1602 shipped to the US), the X-Type wagons (when available) do not command high prices. The wagons have been out of production for 5 years. Ignoring the paint issue, it's highly unlikely I would find another one in "better" condition than this one since I know its entire history. The paint quotes I'm getting are higher than one might expect because of the nature of the failure. It's not possible to fix by masking, sanding and spraying. The original finish has to come entirely off to get rid of the trouble (there's really no excuse for this kind of failure in this brand/price class but it's well beyond warranty and there's no help to be had from Jag). The current paint appearance is quite poor and, left alone, will continue to worsen fairly rapidly. Everything else about the car generally appears and functions "as new".
So. Current sale value won't make a dent in replacement cost. A quality repaint that can be expected to last will cost as much as this car would be worth if the factory paint had not failed. Which would still be less money than a comparable replacement car (some other more available brand) but which raises the question of what major mechanical parts that are working fine now may be nearing their end after 97K+ miles. I'm pretty good at math but there's no clear logical answer.
That's why I'm asking for the insights and opinions of others.

 

Sorry to hear that. Just what started happening to the paint? Can you post some pictures? Was it something that just started happening recently or has it been deteriorating for a while now? Are you sure it is factory paint and the car wasn't repainted before? Reason I ask that is don't think I have ever heard of anyone post on here that they were having an issue with the factory paint. Rust, yes. Paint, no.

 

Here's a discussion of the same problem. Not my car but the hood pics show what mine looks like all over. https://www.jaguarforums.com/forum/d...ar-good-48867/

and another one, https://www.jaguarforums.com/forum/x...g-hood-102134/

Seems to affect only black cars.

 

+1

British racing green too. My hood and trunk look the same.

They should have a recall for this. But won't

Damage only appears to affect hood, roof and trunk, despite warnings that all panels will fail. Mine are only affected on those 3 as well.

OP: are all your panels cracking?

 

Well mine is a wagon so there's no trunk in the usual sense. Worst areas are the hood, front fenders and roof but it's also started up everywhere else except the tailgate (so far).

 

Well, I for me this is my daily driver, so if decide to keep the car a while longer I will probably address it on a panel by panel basis. It's not really that noticeable all the time

 

wedgewa, this is my take on your situation and you can take it for what it is worth. If the car is simply just a car and you are not that attached to it, then trade it in on something else and go from there. If it is a car that you really like and like the features it has and just tugs on your heart, then spend the money and fix it up and drive it for awhile longer. This is one of those things that you are not going to get your money out of getting it back to 100%. So, you have to look at it in a different light. It is like people that modify their vehicles. I haven't seen a single person make a modification to a car and end up coming out ahead in the end. The same thought process can be applied here.

Granted, I would also say to look at some other shops and see what they say it is going to cost to make the needed repairs. You may find that there is a trick that someone else knows and it can save you a bunch of money in the end.