So a Jaguar meets a Garage Door...
 

I need some advice, guys:

Many of you may remember that I finally made the commitment to buy an XF in June. For those of you unfamiliar with me, I purchased a 2009 XF Premium with 20,033 miles on it. I took delivery June 13, and have loved the car. Now up to just under 23,000 miles on it. It has done fairly well with no major issues ;keyed once and the sunshade motor has gone (I just haven't gotten around to getting either fixed yet).

And then today came. Backing out of my garage today, just like any other day. I have gotten in a bad habit of sometimes leaving my keys in my pocket since the car is push-button start. Never again. Apparently the Jaguar "smart key" hit the garage door button while I was backing out. When I was about half way, I heard this grinding noise on top of the car. At this point, panicing, I tried to back out faster (bad idea) and luckily the door started going up. There for a minute, I thought I was a 'goner'. Got out to inspect the damage. Lots of minor scratches, the worse is it shaved right across the top of the antenna and about an 8-inch dented in scratch above the passenger side door, going down to the paint.

I took it to two different garages, first my friend's body shop, then the local Toyota/BMW body shop.

My friend has a local one and they do a lot but he said this would be the second roof job he's had (apparently these are rare). Scratches no problem, but he noticed two spots behind the sunroof where it closes that are in the frame. He said that there were two options: 1) They try to weld them out. Since the roof is a flat surface, this could (and probably would) ruin the entire roof. $1,000 if the welding miraculously works, but $3,000 for a new roof (he's 90% sure it would be the latter). He said if they didn't do that...water would leak down under and rust the frame. I thought the frames were Aluminum (therefore can't rust) or is that only the XJ? I'd trust this guy with my life, but I had him repair a front fender two Camry's ago and I wasn't happy with how he left it (though he might not have even seen it leave the shop...its a big operation).

Then to the Toyota/BMW dealer body shop. They said the same thing about the scratches (roof needs repainted, blah blah blah). In regards to those two dents, they said that since the Jaguar's sunroof is flush mounted on the inside, there is no way that water can get down under because it angles down under in such a way that water can't get in. Plus, I've never used a sunroof in any car I've owned, so it's not like it would be open for exposure. Their total for the job: $825.

I also liked that Toyota/BMW would order the OEM Jaguar parts they'd need (though I don't think they need any just buffing and painting...) whereas my buddy's garage uses "Quality Aftermarket" parts.

What are your thoughts...should I get a third opinion, or just suck it up and take it to a dealer. There are 2 dealers in my area (Pittsburgh, where I will be for the next two weeks). Bobby Rahal doesn't have a collision department, though I believe A&L does and it's pretty highly distinguished at that.

I will upload some pictures of the damage.

Sorry to hear that, I can imagine the feeling!
I wouldn't be too concerned about it being a Dealer bodyshop as long as your confident with their reputation, but having said that there is no harm in getting an opinion from them.
Is this a Jag secialiast place or a multi franchise dealership where the body shape works on all kinds of vehicle.
Doesn't the garage door have a safety electric eye to prevent this?

Neither are Jag specialist places...let's put it this way: there are 2-3 other Jags within a 50 mile radius of me...so it is highly improbable that either have ever even touched a Jaguar.

Here's the thing with the garage door. There is a safety eye mounted about 4 inches off the ground on both sides, sensing straight across. My rear tires were already out when it started coming down. Because the height of the bottom of the car is 5-6 inches, it didn't sense anything because there was nothing in the direct path...it was ABOVE IT! Therefore, it didn't stop and go up until the front tire told it to...luckily I caught it before that, so my windshield is fine! (and luckily my rear window!)

Pictures are coming.

And when I say 2-3 other jags within 50 miles, I'm not talking about dealerships...I'm talking about the cars themselves.

I meant the dealer bodyshop not the ones you visited.

I had a feeling you would say that about the eye, the standard fitting seems to be very low, I wonder if it's a code?

Figuring out how to upload pictures (Norri - an old post of your's is helping me!) so my next post will have pictures.

The Jaguar Dealership (A&L) is a Jaguar/Land Rover/BMW dealership and their collision center has all sorts of Jaguar awards for excellence in collision repairs.

Certainly worth an opinion then.

Wanted to make sure you all had full image clarity and whatnot so hosted them on photobucket...link:

http://photobucket.com/xfdamage

Another thing to do is to raise the eyes up several inches so there's no repeat..

Should mention that I included a picture of my now-warped garage door to show that THE CAT FOUGHT BACK! :(

If you decide on another opinion, Quality Auto Body on Draper Dr. in Fairfax City does very good work. I have used them several times.

I thought about that, but was wonderig if there was a reason they are so low, you could have two sets if the low setting was a code.


It was a bad day!

Thanks WhiteXKR - your recommendation is welcomed. I may call them (I wasn't planning on coming down to the DC area for a few weeks, but could swing a trip tomorrow if they can see me...); will see!

Garage door company guys coming Tuesday, so will be sure to ask if that's possible...I don't know the slightest about building codes...

I feel for you. Before you let a body shop go to town on it, find a reputable independant "paintless dent repair" guy and get his opinion. With luck, it's only your top coat that's damaged. I've had dents that I thought also had paint damage, and the pros just hit it with some fancy paste and a microfiber cloth and viola!

Here's a few links to get you started (I know nothing of these guys, just a quick google search)...
Auto Detailing Rockville Gaithersburg MD - Total Recon Auto Salon
Dent Repair Maryland & Virginia | Dent Masters
Go Dentless, Inc. | Paintless Dent & Hail Repair - Auto Reconditioning Chantilly & Manassas, VA

I did some research and it seems that the idea of the sensor is to detect a child or person lying in the beam and are supposed to be no more than 6 inches from the floor.
I'd imagine that there is much more chance of arlingtonmans type of incident happening so maybe a second higher sensor could be installed in series to detect a car in the opening?
I have a scar on my S Type rear bumper which was there when I got it and I'm sure it was from a door when the car needed to be a couple of inches forward, and have seen the same mark on other vehicles.

How did the smart key activate the garage door. Does the 09 have such a button on the smart key?

Lots of good advice here, particularly starting with dentless repair. I would get multiple opinions incuding a reputable Jag dealer. Go with a process and a shop that it will get right the first time. If they don't have a stellar reputation there is a reason.

Will your insurance cover this?

Thanks, Escolar, I will start with these.

Yeah, because people really lay across the bottom of the garage door opening. My idea is if someone is stupid enough to lay there, they deserve getting crushed by the door. And if a parent is that negligent, their kid won't be around for long anyways.

That's what I'm hoping they'll do on Tuesday. Not getting my Jag fixed till next week, obv, and I'm going to park it in front of the door so they see what it did when they come. Why all garage door companies don't install 2 in the first place is beyond me. I hope the poor repairman wets himself when he sees what it did to my roof.

No, I have my garage door opener and my smart key on the same key ring. The button is pretty big on the opener, so I assume (well, am certain, actually) that it brushed against it and caused it to come down.

Yeah, I'm sure it would, but with a $500 deductible, I'm not going to bother with the hassle if its an $825 job. If it's $3000...then its a different story. But it leaves me without the car for 18-22 days if I go through a claim...otherwise, I'm looking at 3 days, so huge difference.

Thank you to all of you for your help...I love it. Keep 'em coming!

How I'm going to make a killing in life:

I'm going to invent a sensor panel that runs the entire height of the garage door opening that is about 2 inches wide and has sensor strips every 6 inches going up the panel, to be mounted where the eye normally is. You can't tell me one luxury car owner wouldn't spend an extra $100 or $200 when having a garage door installed to have this feature.

Ah, if any of my ideas ever came to fruition!

Do you have the buttons on the mirror to program your garage door so that you wouldn't need to carry a fob on your key ring?

It's obviously designed for your own safety, imagine you had tripped and fallen with your keys in your pocket.......need I go on? :icon_lol:

Yes, but I'm not sure if my garage door opener is programmable with it. I will have to ask the garage door guy Tuesday. Its home link, Isnt it?

Yeah, I know it's smart (got caught up in the heat of the moment if you couldn't tell...) but why they don't put a set up about 2 feet higher is beyond me...

Our garage at work has a residential type door and the sensor is not that low. Stops the doors if you are under it.

Oh, we also have a green/red light signal as this is a common problem.

I just opened a auto dismantling yard specializing in Jaguar & Porsche. Prior to that I owned a Mazda only yard that I opened in 1988. I've had countless vehicles repaired and helped way too many people find parts and consulted and advised about every sort of damage. It never ceases to amaze me what body repair shops will tell customers. From the photos you posted the damage seems very minor. In a worse case scenario the headliner would need to come out. To tell you the roof panel may need to be replaced is just ridiculous. Contact me if you need info or XF parts. I have 2 for parts.

To explain. The headliner may need to come out during the repair, to get to the inner side of the roof panel. But that is a worse case scenario where the roof panel has damage that stretches the metal and requires hammer work to straighten it.

My main point is this. If you have a 'friend' that told you the roof panel may need to be replaced, you may want to re-evaluate your friendship.

As far as the garage door is concerned, move the motion sensors up a few inches. They are too low to the ground.

Also the XF is not aluminum except for the hood.

I can't look at the pics at work, but from the text in this thread, I am amazed that so much damage could be caused by a garage door. To hell with worrying about sensors etc. - I would be more concerned about replacing my 10 ton garage door and/or replacing the motor unit with one that has somewhat less horse power than my Jag. From the comments just above this, it sounds like you (and others who have advised you) have over reacted to the level of damage caused. I don't blame you for that - I would be very upset too, but it sounds like you are getting bad advice...

Call your garage door guy
 

First the spring tension must be set properly to counter balance the weight of the door. The door weight is then about neutral moving up or down. Then there are two features to reverse garage door to prevent crushing cars, kids and small animals. On residential openers there is a clutch type setting adjustment that will reverse the door if it contacts and obstruction like your car. It can be tested usually by placing a 2X4 under the door and operating the closing cycle. The clutch is set to apply just enough downward force to close the door. When the closing door contacts the 2X4 it should instantly reverse and open. If not then it needs to be adjusted. The electric eye beam at about 5" is set up is to keep from crushing small children or pets in the doors path before it encounters them which is why they are set so low to the floor. As soon as the opener struck your roof it should have instantly automatically reversed.

Back to the thread. Using to Home-link opening system in the car would have eliminated the need to carry an opener on the key bob. It would seem that a competent body shop could fix this without replacing the roof. Good luck. I would avoid moving the electric eye or beam to bumper height, I would rather scratch the roof of my car than have the door crush a small child or a pet.

I have a 2012 XF Portfolio with the Homelink garage door opener. It was very difficult to program with a Genie Garage door opener with the Intellicode Rolling Code technology.

I tried programming a bunch of different time and finally working. Once programmed, I kept having my garage door open and close randomly. I would leave garage door closed and come out several hours later to find that my garage door was open. I couldn't figure out why it was happening. When I reset the Genie and erased all of the receivers memory, the problem stopped happening. I haven't retried to program the Homelink yet.

It wouldn't supprise me if the garage door closing on the car was due to this problem.

^Exactly how my garage door operates. The sensor is only few inches of the floor. Has been working very well.
I have actually pulled the car in and out of the garage, with the door open half way. The rear bumper cover sets the sensor off and gets the door moving up.

Back to the issue at hand, I now have three estimates, all across the board.

Body Shop #1 (BMW)
Repair roof panel, buffing out minor scratches and the one deep scratch that is dented will be filled and sanded, repainted. Repair and Install right and left roof molding, mask the sunroof, loosen the headline to repair and reinstall the antenna, plus misc. charges. Total with labor and tax = $825.

Body Shop #2 (Jaguar)
Repair and refinish roof panel, repair and reinstall glass panel, roof. Replace OEM Glass Panel with Strip ($74.50), repair, refinish and reinstall roof side moldings on both right and left, remove roof headliner, repair antenna, urethane kit ant. and refinish antenna and reinstall, other misc. charges. Total with labor and tax = $2250.

Body Shop #3 (Not dealer affiliated, my friend's)
Same as the others, but thinks that this small crack by the windshield will cause water to leak in under the headliner. Says it will need welded, but because the roof is so flat, it will probably warp the roof, and is 90% sure the roof will be ruined and I'll need a whole new roof. $1030 if new roof isn't needed, $3100 if new roof is needed.

I don't know what to do...get more estimates? Advice is needed!

Also, for all 3, I am worried about them removing the headliner to repair the antenna because way back when, on a Ford Crown Victoria my family used to own, they had the headliner removed for service and a few years down the road, it really started to sag. The dealers say its coincidental, but I'm sure taking off the headliner would certainly make something like this more prone to happen, if nothing more. Therefore, was thinking about just getting a chrome antenna cover for $50 and saving the money and possible problems down the road by doing the other:

Jaguar XF XFR Luxury 08 09 10 CHROME ANTENNA Cover j8 | eBay

Thoughts? Will someone please be honest and tell me if that looks silly in chrome? I have a feeling it does...

Also, I did ask about dentless repair at the Jaguar Collision Center today, because their flyer had it advertised...the guy (who has has done jaguar collision repair for 40 years) laughed in my face and said "Don't you wish!"

Filled and sanded? Please, don't. I'm telling you, the PDR guys can work miracles. Of course the body shops want a $1000 job. They got bills to pay. Maybe they'll just PDR it for $150 and charge you $850 because you'll never know. Don't take their word on it. As I said before, get an indepenent PDR guy or two to give you an evaluation. Many of them will guarantee your satisfaction or charge you nothing if you aren't satisfied.

If you can find a good PDR person who will give you an evaluation and cost, it may not be that much of a cost to try it - you can always spend more money going one of the other routes. If I was going to claim it as an insurance claim, I would have Jag dealer do the work, particularily if this is your normal service dealer. I suggest getting the PDR evaluation and estimate so you can eliminate or try it, depending on the evaluation.

The PDR guys do amazing stuff. That said, they can't do magic. If there are big scratches it needs paint.

Example...this you can not see after repair. Paint was intact however. There was an associated scuff from the other leg of the table that landed on the hood. I live with that as a reminder of my stupidity.

https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/-a...0305-00033.jpg

https://lh5.googleusercontent.com/-j...0305-00035.jpg

Took to two independent PDR guys and both said that since scratches were through to the paint, it needed to be taken to a body shop. :-(

I decided just to go with the BMW garage that is nearest to me for convenience. Their price was the best of all 3 quotes I got, and they're 2 minutes from my house, whereas the Jaguar dealer is an hour and a half. Plus, at 1/3 the price, it was a no-brainer considering they were doing the exact same work, and the BMW garage said they'd buff out where the keying was done for no charge. $825, hopefully, out the door.

Side note: I found it funny that the BMW dealer said "We don't normally do cars this nice..." as there were 2 7-series an an X6 sitting there for service as well. This comment took me back to that long-lost thread on how people associate Jags with being much more $$$ than they are...more in the line of Maseratis and even Bentleys.

I take it in Monday morning (of next week) and will pick it up Wednesday afternoon. Wish me luck!!