Can anyone tell me if this is a Jaguar Select-Edition car? It was certified by a dealer, but then sold to another dealer, so I am wondering if the certification is automatically transferred.

Also, this car seems to have been a corporate lease for the first owner. Then after that, it bounced around between a few different car dealers (sold at auction twice, I think, according to CARFAX) and is now titled at a independent car dealer. The only maintenance that shows up on the report is tire repairs, which is somewhat concerning, although I doubt much maintenance needs to be done for the first 60k-90k miles or so beside oil changes. Should I be concerned?

 

i think ur alittle to worried. as a car dealer i hate when customers buy a car based off of stupid little things on carfax. one thing everyone needs to know is not everything is reported to carfax. my xk8 was in a rear end collision when i bought it. i fixed everything on the car and if you check the carfax it says no accident and clean title. you can be buying something completely messed up and beat on and carfax could say that its 100% perfect so you never actually know what you are buying. secondly try to keep in mind that you are purchasing a used car and not a new one. as a used car you need to expect that there has been problems with the vehicle in the past and they were most likely fixed. depending on the dealer and the price, if there is any mechanical errors with the car when you test drive it, the dealer will most likely fix whatever problem it is. most dealers also supply their customers with warranties and if something were to happen with the car (depending on the warranty) all you have to do is leave an $100 deductible and the warranty pays for a brand new part. sorry to rant on it just annoys me.

now according to the carfax the basic warranty is still active. discuss with your dealer if its certified (which is basically a label saying there is no problems.) as far as the car passing from dealer to dealer and being sold at an auction twice can be cause of many things. the first dealer couldve had it in a trade in and marked it for sale, they could have then decided that they didnt want to wait for the vehicle to sell on their lot and went to an auction to sell it to another dealer fast. after that car was pruchased by the new dealer the old dealer couldve forgotten to give in the title and if a dealer is stuck without a title for 2 weeks (i believe) they obligated to then return the car to the auction and recieve their money back. the previous dealer then turned around and sold it to your dealer and this time didnt forget to hand in the title and so here we are with this car at this dealer lol. there is just alot of things that could happen in between all of that. like if it takes a dealer to long to sell a car (because maybe the neighborhood cant afford an expensive car like that) then instead of it rotting on his lot hell turn around and sell it to an auction again (and so on and so on)

as for the tire thing, like i said above you cant expect the car to be perfect. the previous owner couldve had a flat and went to a place that reports things to carfax to get a new tire. its just a minor thing and if thats whats going to stop you from buying this car then you shouldnt be looking for a used car in the first place

 

I'm not worried about the tires, I was just mentioning that this was the only thing mentioned in the CARFAX report as far as maintenance.

I am more worried about buying a Jaguar that doesn't have a warranty, even if it's only for a few months. And just a little bit confused about why a car would bounce off a few car auctions before finding a place at an independent dealership, who has priced the car very competitively and still cannot seem to sell it after 2 months in a major city, but it sounds like this is a pretty routine thing and is something I should not be worried about.

Seems like if it's a Jag Select car, I should not be worried about any problems because it was certified that there are none--and this was done in June!

 

Semantics are important when looking at these things. What does ''maintenance' mean ? In my book it means the normal procedures laid down by the manufacturers to keep the car running correctly - change oil and filter, replace brake pads, tires etc when worn out. I would have thought this kind of thing is not usually recorded on the site you mention. However, there are also 'repairs', being those things outside the normal maintenance cycle, and which occur outside the life of the component.

So looking at this, tires are a bit peculiar as a maintenance item, and in your CARFAX file case are classed as repairs, because it is impossible to predict when they might need replacing, so they are just checked at periodic intervals to make sure they are legal. So as they have been replace, it has been put down as a repair.

Looking at it, the file seems to show a car that is well worth looking at, with no reported issues, although one must always look and drive to make sure.

 

Good advice all around from everybody.

The car I currently drive, a '97 Lexus LS, had dealer maintenance occurrences show up on the CARFAX (this info was also corroborated by the Lexus owner website). I guess I assumed, incorrectly, that if maintenance was done at a dealership, that would be reported to CARFAX, but maybe it's only for certain dealerships and brands.

 

If you go to a dealer with the vin number I believe they may have access to documented repairs for that car which may give you the additional information you want.
good luck
brdave

 

That is a great idea. I may just do that!

 

Do you guys have any idea whether or not this is a Select Edition or not?

 

The dealership will probably be able to tell you that as well.

good luck
brdave

 

I called Jaguar corporate and they confirmed that it IS supposed to be a Select Edition car and that it has not be entered into the system due to a clerical error.

 

Oh dear, the corporate lady called the actual dealership that did the certification, and it turns out it's not certified, because the people who wanted it certified backed out from the sale. Then the car was auctioned off.

Also, an Autocheck report reveals that the car had two "accident" reports, although these may be minor or non-collision reports like vandalism or theft, so I'm not too worried about that. Still, it only has 38k miles on it. I am picking it up Saturday! Hope nothing gets screwed up!

 

http://www.autotrader.com/fyc/vdp.js...e&rdpage=thumb

Well this is the car. I am going to pick it up Saturday morning. Does anything about it stick out to you?

It does not have bluetooth, and it also (I imagine) doesn't have the audio connectivity module.

 

"Also, an Autocheck report reveals that the car had two "accident" reports, although these may be minor or non-collision reports like vandalism or theft, so I'm not too worried about that. "

I would be VERY worried if a car I was looking to be had been hit/ damage not once but twice; from my experience if this shows on a car report then it is not minor.
I would take a good mech/body shop/ car appraiser with me, if you still love the car you can always haggle it down with a diminished market value number, good luck, and do not let your heart rule your head.

 

I dunno, these incidents were before the vehicle was certified as a Select Edition, so whatever it was couldn't have been that bad. The lady at the credit union told me that if it is a collision, it usually has additional details ("hit in rear/side", etc.). CARFAX report is clean.

I will obviously inspect the car with my eyes open, but if this is really what's keeping the price so low, it's other people's loss! (I am picking it up for just a hair over $25k.)

Autocheck provides the following explanation:

"Reported accidents or damage events are the result of vehicle collisions or other non-collision incidents such as vandalism or theft. Not all accidents or damage events are reported to AutoCheck. Certain accident or damage evens are reported by the source to have resulted in minor, moderate or severe damage to the vehicle, or the events are calculated by AutoCheck to have resulted in minor, moderate or severe damage based on the information reported. It is recommended to have pre-owned vehicles inspected by a third party prior to purchase."

It also says in the report "No frame/unibody damage record". I would think that if this vehicle had an accident reported to AutoCheck it would've included information about whether or not there was any frame damage.

I think you give sound advice, though!

 

Alan,
But who knows if it was demolition derby or just someone giving it a dirty look.
My point is Alan that it so easy to buy a car without a brain cuz you fall in love with it; just have the car checked by a good body man; then you will know either way.
Again Good Luck
and you know what, there are lots of cars out there, if not this one you will find another.
PS,
the older you get the less you trust!

 

Yeah, just go in with both eyes open. Go by the *actual* condition of the car.

These reporting services are good in that they alert you to potential problems but with so many reporting variances and interpretations it's hard (and probably not smart) to draw concrete conclusions from vague information.

Taking it to an extreme I'll even say that car with a salvage or branded title can be an excellent buy under the right circumstances....but that's a different story requiring an entirely different level of consideration and discussion.

Cheers
DD

 

http://www.samarins.com/check/bodycond.html

Found this, may be helpful!

 

My $0.02 - it looks a bit expensive for an '06 with 2 accident reports and no warranty. Heck I am selling an '04 with more options (Nav, voice, xenon, premium stereo, Bluetooth) and 20K more miles and no accidents for <50% of the cost of this one and mine has a warranty. It is a buyers market for these cars, as I am finding out. I'd look to see if you can find an XJR with rear entertainment for this kind of coin.

- Tim

 

I see tons of '04s for cheap, but they are also the first model year of a somewhat problematic car (think air suspension).

I have been searching for a while, and this one seems to be a decent price, although admittedly, I was searching more for the LWB model and it had to be black on black! Also, this one is probably the lowest mileage 2006 LWB XJ I've seen in this price range, especially given that this is a Vanden Plas.

Also, this car does have NAV, xenon and premium stereo. Dunno about voice.

The dealer seems to be a trustworthy guy. We have talked more than 10-15 times, and he is always friendly. He says the car is "real straight". He went for a test drive of the car a couple days ago because it's been sitting in his garage under a car cover for a few days, and he said it drives great. But he noticed a small star that had been repaired on the windshield, and offered to reduce the price of the car by the cost of the windshield, or have the windshield be Jaguar factory replaced, which he did at his cost. He says he wants to make sure there are absolutely no surprises when I come see the car, and from the descriptions of things he has been telling me, he seems as particular as any buyer/seller could be. He is also driving 90 minutes round trip to pick us up from the airport to come see the car... when we get there at 8AM!