I wanted more up-to-date car reliability information that included actual repair rates. So in late 2005 I started getting people together to make this possible. TrueDelta now updates actual repair frequencies, not just dots, four times a year, to track cars closely as they age.

We've had excellent participation by XF owners, with nearly 100 signed up, and so had reliability stats for the 2009 far ahead of anyone else. I'd like to do the same for the 2010, to see how much reliability has improved with the second model year. But more participants are needed to help make this happen.

Participants simply report repairs the month after they occur on a one-page survey. When there are no repairs, they simply report an approximate odometer reading four times a year, at the end of each quarter.

To encourage participation, participants receive full access to all results, not just those for the XF, for free.

For the details, and to sign up to help out:

Car reliability research

 

Do you get paid for this? Do the owners get paid for this? Do I get paid for reading this?

 

I think mkareshis getting paid

 

I own the site. I have no outside investors. I pay for the expenses of running the site out of my own pocket. My wife doesn't care for these facts, but that's what they are.

Participants neither get paid for their participation, nor do they have to pay for access to the results.

Here's a little comparison for you:

Consumer Reports: Pay to subscribe, even if you participate in the survey.

JD Power: Get paid a dollar to fill out a long survey, but have extremely limited access to the results. Only high-paying corporate clients get real access.

My site: Free to join, short surveys, and full access to the results. Which are updated four times as often.

Give a better product awayfor free, and then people want to get paid...

Sometimes I think people are happier when they're getting ripped off.

 

mkaresh,

IMO, your post seems like spam, I think if you included more info links, your request might be taken more seriously. After reading your info I'm in.

Here are the links I went to:

http://www.truedelta.com/pieces/pric...?session_code=

The amount of reviews on epinions is impressive:

http://www.epinions.com/user-mkaresh

So I'm interested. In fact I signed up and didn't even have to give blood (yet) (I won't will I?)

Best,

Tommie

 

lol......I work at the dealer....I am always getting ripped off. People think they get had going to dealer....try working there and having people tell you that they are not going to pay you for fixing their car that just took 3 days out of your life.
Wow.....tangent.

I will look at your stuff and form my own opinion. If it is what it is, then a good thing you are doing.

 

In response to Tommieboy:

People generally don't like to read, so I try to keep the wordcount down.

I've been using the same screen name--based on my real name--on the Internet since 1996. I've been building the panel for three years. So far over 21,000 peopleare signed up, and if you look around you'll find zero reports that I've misused any of the information provided. As for money, I don't even request donations the way many forums do.

I have not posted to Jaguar forums before because I assumed the owner population is simply too small. But I know many people would like better reliability information on the cars, so I figured I'd give it a shot.

We could potentially have a reliability result for the Jaguar XF over a year before Consumer Reports does. That's what I'm trying to achieve.But I can only put the process in place and run it. I can't control how many owners participate.

In response to factorytech:

I have a good friend who operates a repair shop in Utah. He tells me the same thing. At the same time, a few months ago he was ticked off by another shop owner who launched an Internet site that blacklists customers that don't pay. Can't remember the details.

 

This will be TEMPORARILY locked until our administrators JimC64 or Patrick decide whether this is appropriate or not. In the long run, do YOU(mkaresh) benefit from this? I know you'll say no, but we'll let the admins determine that. For the most part, I think that if we aren't charged to see the results, then this could be unlock...but it's not my decision. You don't have any pop-ups, nor any advertising, and you seem to truly be interested in helping out the automotive community which is something we can all appreciate. What do you think Jimbo?

 

Seeing as I got no reaction from upper management about this, and thus no objections, this will be reopened. I hope you get the info you need mkaresh, and you sound like a really nice guy and you've been very professional thus far. Unlocked and hope you XF guys participate.

 

Thanks, I appreciate it.

Eight XF owners so far. Will need more for a result, but I've gone ahead and included it in the main survey to have a shot at an initial result in August.

Vehicle reliability research

 

Just to say....we sold 60 cars in the first month (March)....had none come back so far.

 

Wow! That's amazing! I would figure there would be a rattle or wind noise or something.

 

Sounds like someone's doing some fine PDI.

I had owners of the new 2008 Mercedes C-Class join up pretty quickly, so I was able to provide a preliminary result for that car last February. None of those owners reported a repair in their first month or two of ownership.

There will be some repairs on those cars with the May update, but still not many. Mercedes might have finally gotten its act together.

On the other hand, there's the new Cadillac CTS...

Whichwith Jaguar? Still hoping to find out.

 

Software updates for transmissions are VERY common these days, especially for new designs. I don't include these in the analysis unless they aren't covered by the warranty.

 

I'm doing nearly everything myself now, and the sample sizes are small, so I'm cutting the data just one way, and picked the way that would yield the most accurate results with small sample sizes.

If I included unsuccessful repairs in the current analysis:
--we'd be measuring dealer competence as well as product reliability, adding a variable; additional variables inherently require a larger sample size
--would increase the chances of a single car heavily influencing the results

In the future, when I'm not doing all the work and the sample sizes are larger, additional analyses will be performed, among them the percentage of repairs that are not successful the first time.

The survey has been designed to permit many different analyses.

 

We have had no issues so far. My opinion is great at this point. 2 customers came in last week for the 10k service with nothing but the maintenance request.

 

Good to know.

To measure initial reliability with reasonable precision, though, we're going to need at least a couple dozen responses.

So far 17 owners have signed up. Need more.

Vehicle reliability research

 

25 owners now signed up. This will probably be enought for an initial result in August, but with an asterisk for a very small sample size.

A few additional participants could make a big difference.

Vehicle reliability research