Today I was tinkering in the trunk (or boot) of my recently bought 2004 XJ8. I had not paid attention gefore, but today I noticed that my car has a Jaguar branded battery in it. I seriously doubt that it is the original battery since the car is now more than 11 years old (mfg. date 9/03).

Seeing that Jaguar battery got me to wondering if there is a way to get access to any service records for work that a dealer might have done on the car. Has anyone ever tried to get records of services performed for previous owners?

 

Most dealers update on car fax....and they do have records for work done at any dealership. My 2005 still has the original battery. They live a sheltered life, and are really huge capacity, so they last much longer than engine bay mounted batteries!

 

You may be right. I suppose it could be the original battery. I looked as good as I could without removing it, but never found a date on it (unless it is somehow coded).

 

My 2003 XJ is still on the original battery. Mileage is 88k if it makes any difference.

 

Mine has 89000 on it. I don't know about the cranking amps, etc., but that is the largest battery I've ever had in a car, I believe.

 

Yes, they can and will provide you service records, even if they didn't provide to carfax. I've never had any problems getting them for any of my cars. ust called the dealer, gave them the VIN and my email address and had all service records 5 minutes later.

 

That's good to know. I'll call the local dealer and see what kind of luck I have. Thanks.

 

At minimum the local Jag dealer can pull up the history of any work processed through the Jaguar warranty system. Corporate Jaguar keeps that info for xxx-period of time and all dealers can access it.

Records other work...not processed thru the warranty system....are not necessarily entered into a common database that any/all dealers can access. Carfax would be an obvious exception but, as menioned, not all dealers or service shops participate on Carfax.

For example, if you paid $500 to have new brakes installed at the local Jaguar dealer, that repair would not be reported to corporate Jaguar nor to other Jag dealers. If the dealer is on Carfax (or similar) then the repair would be in that database, not Jaguar's database.

Cheers
DD

 

The local dealer in my area was the opposite and I thought it was comical.

The Jaguar I bought was locally owned and serviced at the Jaguar dealer's service center. I bought it from a Ford dealer in town, and almost everyone at the Ford dealer has known me since the mid 90's.

The XJR had very low mileage and wanted to check whether or not a specific service was done. Plus, I wanted to find out if the published factory updates had been taken care of. So, I thought the Jaguar dealer would gladly provide the information.

I showed up in my business attire after work. The gentleman that I spoke with said the following with a straight face.
"Sorry but we can provide any of that information because it would be a violation of privacy."

Huh? I explained I didn't want any of the former owner's information. I asked if they could let me know whether or not specific work was done, or not. Again, he repeated that he could not tell me because it would be a violation of privacy plus "it would open up the Jaguar dealer to liability." He explained with a straight, serious face that the "liability issue" was this: if I'm told that certain work was done and drive away and get in a wreck, or that there is a some kind of failure on the car, then I could sue Jaguar because their mention of the service records is an implied warranty.

LOL.

I left with a smile and wondered if he understood the stupidity of his comments.

BTW, if anyone from Jaguar scans this board and is interested in contacting me, I will gladly speak with you. Business is business but this kind of stupidity drives away business.

 

Somewhere along the line there was probably a case (singular) where some dealer suffered some sort of lawsuit/loss/damages as a result of giving out the info. More than likely it had something to do with what the records revealed about the car rather than a privacy issue.

Anyhow....

As a result of the problem and ensuing fallout the state dealer's association (or similar organization) sent out a memo advising against the practice....under the theory that it is safest to avoid something altogether rather than use our brains and make case-by-case decisions.

Fearing than employees wouldn't take heed, dealership management concocts a melodramatic scenario to impress staffers (and customers) with the huge, fearsome, and cataclysmic legal consequences of releasing the records !

The staffer parrots this to customers.....and comes off sounding really dumb.

If the policy is "No' then it would be much better to simply say "It's against our policy" and leave it at that. If needed, refer the cusatomer to a memeber of management who (hopefully) will handle the situation without saying dumb things.

Cheers
DD

 

The battery in my XJ8 was 7 years old when I bought the car last year nothing wrong with it I bought a new one this year just to be on the safe side
The battery in my scooter was the original from 2007 till a month ago when I left the lights on while refuelling
The new battery is not as good as the old one after a month of sitting I wanted to use it it took 15 minutes to start it I did do a lot of riding round after the hard starting episode
I have been away and it hadn't been started for 3 weeks and started first kick yesterday it is also late spring and hot now and was still winter if you can call it that up here (LOL) when it took a long time to start

I am about to get a gel battery for my big bike even though its been on the trickle charger for a couple years now
I figure get a GEL battery this time and Ill get one of these new multi stage type chargers with it