If anyone has any advice, it would be greatly appreciated. Below is my experience from start to today.



My decision to write this has been for current owners and prospective buyers to know my experience with Jaguar of Naples and Jaguar Corporate. I do enjoy the vehicle I purchased when it does actually start, runs without sounding like its falling apart, and is not in the shop to be repaired, but I think my(hopefully others do not have to go through this) experience, at least in my opinion, may not be what other owners normally experience after they bought a new Jaguar vehicle.

• 24 months ownership
• 18 visits to service for mechanical issues & repairs outside of normal scheduled service
• Over 40 days in the shop for these repairs & mechanical issues
• Dozens of parts fixed & replaced
• The vehicle history of mechanical problems I experienced follows the end of my story

Upon writing this, and after asking for help since June of 2009, I finally sat (8/26/2011) with a Jaguar corporate regional representative to review my circumstance for the first time in person. I had met him before in person over a year ago about rattling noises coming from the vehicle, so this isn’t the first time he was aware of this vehicle having mechanical issues. The response was less than what I would have expected considering the continuous mechanical issues I have experienced with this vehicle. I was told, by the Jaguar corporate regional representative, that they always fix the problems when I bring the vehicle in and that they cover it under warranty. No sense that my vehicle, with the multitude of different mechanical problems, may be outside the norm of what a Jaguar customer should have to experience.
When I had asked, originally back in 2009, the Jaguar customer service representative about using the Lemon law for this vehicle, I was told that they would take care of me and not to worry about it, as I was part of the Jaguar customer family now and that I was important to them. Since that time in June 2009, the mechanical failures kept happening with my vehicle and no response was made until now by corporate- two years later. In my opinion, two years isn’t really a fast response time, but maybe I am being too unrealistic. I am a small business owner myself and when one of my customer’s has an issue, we try to resolve it ASAP. When I have had issues with my cell phone, cable tv, or any other warrantied item I have purchased through a national branded manufacturer, they always resolve the issue immediately, and if it is a mechanical manufacturer’s defect, well, they replace it. Oh yes, and the response from the jaguar regional corporate representative after two years is to trade the car in for roughly its current value. I paid for a product that is constantly breaking and never once has the manufacturer, considering my extreme situation, ever suggested they should replace my vehicle considering the constant, never-ending mechanical issues that don’t ever seem to end.

My Choice

Shopping for a new car is something most people become excited about, especially when they work hard, make sacrifices, and reach a point in their life and career that they are able to afford a luxury vehicle. It’s that same excited feeling I had when my father took me to buy my first car when I was 18 years old, thrilled to say the least. In the summer of 2009, I had ended my lease on my second and always reliable Infiniti M45, and felt it was time for a change. After hours of online research, I was excited about my choice to buy a Jaguar XF. Over the years, I had heard that there were problems with Jaguar vehicles, but now, Jaguar had cleaned up the mechanical issues and the cars were built better.

The Dealership

I had contacted Jaguar of Naples, which is almost a three hour drive across the state of Florida to find me the car I wanted. The GM at the store said there were only a few in the country to choose from that matched (silver XF supercharged) what I wanted, so he found one at the Baker Auto Company ( located in Charleston South Carolina) and he had it shipped to the Jaguar of Naples dealership after I gave him a deposit over the phone. I drove across the state of Florida to the dealership and paid for the car, once it had been through an inspection I was told, and then drove it back home across the state of Florida to where I live in the West Palm Beach area.
The dealership, Jaguar of Naples, never returned my calls in the beginning since I live on the east coast of Florida and they are a three hour drive for me to get service, as I get serviced in West Palm Beach by the local Jaguar dealership. From the first problem (7 days after I bought the car new) I called the GM who helped process my car sale at Jaguar of Naples for help and he initially brushed me off, as he said it wasn’t his problem since I took the car to a Jaguar dealership that was down the street and he never returned my calls once a lot of things started going wrong. I guess since I was out of site and had already paid them for this vehicle, and a three hour drive away, I was out of mind to them. I gave up on his lack of professionalism at dealing with customers that he said they will care about after the sale.

Customer Service

Upon the first problem I had in June of 2009, I contacted Jaguar corporate customer service to help me figure out why this is happening so early on when I was buying a brand new vehicle, and I was given the runaround after I started having numerous issues. I had left a few messages for this customer service representative (who does not work there now as I was told by the new representative that contacted me just recently) and was never gotten back to regarding my request for assistance with my Jaguar vehicle. This new customer service representative I spoke with even acknowledged that they did a poor job of following my case from the beginning and should have paid attention as this car was an “anomaly”. I don’t feel, and this is just my opinion, that it is the customer’s job to maintain Jaguar corporate customer service processes in hiring and managing customer relations and processing manufacturer defects in Jaguar workmanship. Jaguar corporate, I would hope, would have access to my service history since the beginning of my Jaguar ownership experience and paid a little more attention to what was quoted as being an “anomaly”.

Part of the Jaguar Family?

As a paying customer of a luxury vehicle, I should not be scared to start the car every day and have my life drastically inconvenienced by owning a Jaguar vehicle that has to be towed or brought in for service with this many problems. As a business owner, I have missed numerous meetings due to the lack of reliability of this car. As a parent, I have 2 children and shouldn’t be concerned about the safety of a vehicle that Jaguar sold me, and I should not have to consider thinking about trading this car in to get another brand due to it not being reliable, or feel that it is not safe in its craftsmanship and usability. Leaking pumps, brakes popping, cracked engine seals, loose parts, missing bolts, car won’t start, car won’t go into park, and transmission slamming,…etc doesn’t make for a safe or enjoyable vehicle in my opinion. The lack of care, response, and professionalism to cure an obviously defective vehicle is too say the least disappointing in my opinion.
I think all prospective jaguar owners, and maybe I am just an “anomaly” as the customer service representative called it, should know how a car that Jaguar builds, markets, and sells to a customer may have issues, and that Jaguar corporate or Jaguar of Naples haven’t done anything other than brush my problems off to date, and not dealt with replacing a product they manufacture, market, and sell to a customers. I had asked for help numerous times from the customer service rep(who isn’t with them anymore and the current customer service rep acknowledged them not treating or following my case in the proper manner) and it is sad to have feel like your request for assistance is never heard, as I would have thought Jaguar would have stood behind their product even when, in my opinion, it is clearly defective and try to remedy this anomaly(to quote what they are calling my vehicle they manufactured and sold me) like any other manufacturer of a product that wasn’t built correctly. If my cell phone isn’t working properly then it gets replaced under the warranty, so why is this so different? I never asked them to give me free oil changes, tires or anything for my troubles, but maybe since I was quiet and not rude, is why Jaguar is treating me like a doorstop in my opinion.
I hope this isn’t what other people experience, but this is my situation. I don’t want any potential jaguar consumers to go through what I have, and am “STILL” currently experiencing, and have them have their problems fall on deaf ears like me. Consumers who are interested in buying this brand of car need to know what can happen if they have problems with their Jaguar, and know how poorly (in my opinion) jaguar customer service has handled my ownership experience. Also, I feel that Jaguar of Naples doesn’t want to deal with this car they sold me because I live a few hours away from them. At present, it is 8/27/2011, and I now have to bring the vehicle back in because when I turn off the car and open door to get out, the steering column which automatically raises to allow your legs room to exit vehicle, the steering column makes a squealing (old rusty noise)like it is rubbing something. Also, the electronics in the center console are starting to flash intermittently. So this will be visit 18 in a little over two years.

Mechanical Problems

I recently sat down with a service advisor at the dealership and he printed out all my tickets and reviewed each ticket with me in person and in detail. Unless this is normal (again this is my opinion only), my Jaguar wasn’t put together to what I would have considered manufacturer’s warranty specs, as there are numerous things that keep breaking, creaking, cracking…etc. I don’t drive the card hard, have ever been in an accident, nor have I ever taken it to a track to have these issues keep happening. Oh yes, by the way, it is garage kept every day, so it isn’t because it is poorly maintained on the owner’s side. Again, this is only my experience to date, as I hope others have not had to experience this same situation.

2009 Experience

• 5/9/2009 – Baker Auto Company has car and adjusts fuel filler door
• 6/18/2009 – jaguar Naples gets car shipped to them and sells to me with 161 miles on “new” vehicle
• 6/24/2009- 6/30/2009 – car won’t start, shift knob came up and won’t go down, but air vents and all lights flashing, and have to have car towed to dealership. Replaced central junction box, fuse panel looked like been tampered with as noted from dealer, leather seats front sagging leather, water in rear tag lights, parking brake handle is extremely hot to touch.
• 7/15/2009-shift knob won’t go down and out into park bring car in and replace transmission rotary switch
• 8/26/2009 – driver’s leather seat cover replaced due to sagging and car makes noise in lower Vance/front end
• 11/17/2009-11/18/2009- windshield wipers not working properly, car slams into reverse from park, transmission control module fixed
• 12/17/2009-12/22/2009- car making creaking noises when open front doors, braking pedal popping at slow speeds, rattling under hood when close drivers door, rear a/c ducts making popping noises

2010 Experience

• 3/2/2010- 3/4/2010- replace seat back cover as still sagging, left front air deflector cracked, replaced missing under bolts
• 4/13/2010-4/16/2010- cracks in door seals and sunroof
• 4/21/2010-4/22/2010- check engine light on for three days, supercharger leak on intake side gaskets
• 5/27/2010-5/28/2010- noises coming from loose underbody panel carriage
• 6/10/2010-pinging noise coming from left front suspension, fuel filler door hinge needing to be fixed
• 9/17/2010-10/7/2010- wood trim loose due to retaining clips bent and car slams into reverse from park

2011 Experience

1/4/2011- coolant/water pump leak, thermostat sticking due to being cocked
4/25/2011-4/27/2011- burning smell coming from front of car, leaked coolant
6/16/2011- smart key housing replaced and not transmitting to start car
7/13/2011-7/15/2011- car towed in, car won’t start says smart key not found, had to replace keyless vehicle control module
August 2011- taking car to jaguar to have steering column squealing noise looked at. Also having electronics looked at as lights in dash are flashing sometimes. Dates in shop- TBD

 

Welcome to the forum,

Sorry I don't have much advice that would be useful to you, from what you say it does sound like you may have a lemon.

What was the result of your meeting with the Jag rep?

Did he offer anything or just advise keeping a stiff upper lip?

I'm going to move this thread over to the XF section so that the other owners will see it and can comment.

 

The jaguar rep I sat with came across in a manner that made me leave feeling like this was not an unusual situation. He said that "when the car breaks they fix it under the warranty every time". I asked if he considered this to be a normal amount of problems with one of their vehicles and he would not comment one way or the other. He just looked at me. I hope others have a better experience with these vehicles, but the amount of days in shop, times it won't start, parts that break, meetings I have missed, and hours wasted are way beyond anyone I have ever heard to date. I feel really disrespected by the corporation & the dealership I purchased from, as they said they would handle this, but telling me to basically just trade it in on a new car is something I can do on my own. Their is no resolve in this matter as of today, as I would have hoped for a little more concern for a product they built that I purchased.

 

I just bought my XFR from Jaguar Naples. As my time of ownership is quite low (only a couple of months now), I cannot offer much in the way of valuable information on how trustworthy they are or are not. All I can say is that Gabriel (my salesman) and Joe Parisi the Sales Manager were both superb.. far beyond anything in my own car buying experience to date.

Any minor issues that we've had were dealt with decisively and quickly with no questions asked.

I really wish you the best of luck and I hope that your situation gets resolved so that you're satisfied with it.


Bob
Naples, FL

 

Unfortunately, you do not have a lemon - Lemon Law only applies to vehicles 18 months or younger with 18000 or fewer miles.

Having said that, you can still persue legal action. It is unlikely that Jaguar USA will agree to buy your car back from you (since legally they are not obliged to), but there is a chance of you getting a sizeable settlement from them for your troubles.

If you persue the case and it went to court, the end result is anyone's guess, really. If that were to happen, I'd build the case on the simple premise that when one buys a new vehicle he/she can reasonably expect 2 things:

1. That he/she acquires a reliable transportation and
2. That he/she will be able to sell or trade in that said vehicle freely

In your case (one could argue), what Jaguar has sold you is, in fact NOT a car, since it doesn't qualify as a reliable transportation and you can NOT sell/trade-in it freely, since no reasonable person would be willing to purchase such troublesome device (and you would have to disclose the service records prior to sale). Therefore (agian, as one could argue), Jaguar USA has to buy the product back from you, since what they have sold you is not what one reasonably expects from a car...

If you do choose to file a claim, do be prepared for a lenghty battle.

 

Only one problem resulted in a tow to the dealer.

Only one problem required an engine repair (and a thermostat replacement is pretty trivial).

The fuel filler door is a known issue possibly resulting from a new model design. Your dealer should have replaced it the first time as all 2009 were subject to this repair, whether the filler door worked (as mine did) or not.

Shifter issue is also a well known issue and all 2009 XF were subject to a replacement program whether the shifter worked (as mine did) or not.

The creaks you refer to seem normal to me. There is a fix for sunroof creaks. The other seals probably need cleaning and spraying with silicone. Cracked seals are covered by warranty.

Smart key probably just needed a new battery, (that's about $3) and they last about 3 years if the car is used frequently.

I have found that you should set the EPB while your foot is on the service brake if you park on a slope of any significance. Otherwise, the weight of the car rolls onto the transmission pawl (internal Park brake) and pings when you select a gear to move off. Sometimes that ping is quite disconcerting. Actually, one should not park a car with the weight on the transmission pawl and ZF who makes the transmission would be justified in taking that position. A parked car in Europe is required to have the park brake set and the transmission left in gear (which is why no European needs reminding to step on the clutch before engaging the starter, in North America some manual transmission cars won't even let you start the car until you step on the clutch, that's because we are not properly trained to drive). Proper driving technique in Europe expects you to set the park brake before you step off the clutch or select park. Very few drivers in North America even set their park brake and when they do they do it too late. In North America, I've actually seen people in North America select park before their vehicle is even completely stopped. Auto transmission repair shops are everywhere here, not so in Europe.

If you were trained to drive in England you would automatically and unconsciously set the park brake first and only then select park on the transmission as most drivers obtain a full license, including permission to drive a manual transmission car, and setting the park brake is a requirement to pass. Most North American drivers could only qualify for an automatic transmission driving license in the UK.

If you adapt your driving habits a little to the Jaguar, and perhaps your expectations of what a perfect car is supposed to be like, it will reward you with a driving experience unlike any other maker. Alternatively, perhaps you should try a Cadillac.

 

I would love to know how much of Jagular's insights resolved or would have resolved ajleblanc's issues. Seem's highly plausible. I always use my service brake, and worry when I take it for service that the mechanic or porter will drive it around the service bay with the brake engaged. (service brake does not disengage automatically in D on my Hondas)

 

Perhaps a wild guess, but this car almost sounds like it has been water damaged. If Baker Auto Co. had the car in early Sept. of 2008, Hurricane Hanna hit Charleston SC and caused some flooding I think. You might check around the interior of the car (under seats, dash, and carpeting) and see if any evidence of rusting has occured or if their any signs of water being present in the trunk. Out of curiosity, why didn't you have the West Palm Beach Jag dealer order the car? I hope the car actually came from Baker Auto Co. and not Baker Auto sales. Both are in Charleston and Baker Auto Sales is a nationwide franchise operation that finds new and used cars across the country.

 

Sorry to hear of your trouble...I have owned many Jaguars and love the cars, but your story is not unique. My 2001 XJ8 was the nearest to "trouble free" of all of my Jags and it still required many more repairs than my daily drivers ever have.
p.s. I believe that many visits to the dealer for ANY reason large or small is not "normal" no matter what continent you learned to drive on.