Buy an XK convertible not used much in 3 years?
 

We're en-route next week to look/buy a minty pre-2010 XK with ~20K miles 4 hours drive away - it's hardly been driven at all over the last 3 years. Like maybe 100 miles. It's a Florida car and has been garaged in a coastal FL city and kept on a battery tender. The CarFax is clean but shows no "official" maintenances.

There are lots of resources online regarding cars that have been stored long term with plentiful advice on replacing all fluids and inspecting hoses, belts etc. - general car stuff.... so that's covered.

We're wondering if there's anything XK specific to look for that could be problematic after a period of disuse including engine seals or other things that could be very costly to repair? - Would we be able to drive it 250 miles home before doing any work without causing damage (assuming all fluids are up) - or is this something that should be done immediately before going anywhere?

I'll try to find out how often it's been started and moved - but in the mean time just looking for others thoughts. It sounds like a great car (for a very good price). We figure it will need new tires (flat spots), a battery, fuel filter, and a full fluids/coolant/oil/filter changeover.

Red light - yellow light - or green light on this one?

It would be helpful to know more details - year, coupe or convertible, exterior and interior colors, options, number of previous owners, asking price, and why it wasn't driven. Your due diligence should include a PPI - Pre-Purchase Inspection by a local Jaguar dealer, including a written report covering each area, and a separate inspection by a body shop qualified to do aluminum repairs for paint and body work. You can't rely on a clean CarFax - read their terms and conditions. Many accidents and repairs are never reported to CarFax.

If the Jaguar is close to Palm Beach, FL. then Palm Beach Jaguar is the largest and has one of the best reputations for a Jaguar dealership.

My personal Jaguar XKR came out of Palm Beach Jaguar dealership and they kept very accurate records. They were great to deal with.

My Jaguar XKR is located now in New Mexico.

Thanks Stuart
 

Thanks Stuart -

I'm being vague on details deliberately as to not disclose the location, or source or car - so there is no sniping. It's been 3 owners officially but according to owner #3 (who is very very very old, thus not driving it) Owner #1 was lease, then bought it after the lease expired - so he became Owner #2 as well. Then, being a dealer - he sold it to #3.

I have been looking for shops to do a PPI, and have found one with good ratings that has Jaguar expertise. I'm hoping to get the shop or XK owner to get the car over to them before we go - otherwise we would have to probably spend the night over there waiting for the shop, and also waiting to get the paperwork done if the deal moves forward.

Thanks Rich Z - good to know!

I don't think you will see any major failures for it siting for 3 years but ALL routine maintenance in addition to what you mentioned will probably need to be done and hopefully it will be priced with that in mind. I also know a very good tech at Jaguar Orlando if that is of any value although from your limited location description I suspect that will not be close enough for an inspection. Good luck and keep us posted.

Bought my 2007 XK when it was 5 years old with 9000km on it.. the breaks needed some work and the roof.. but that was about it..

You do know that you are on a forum of current owners...the chance of someone sniping you is very low.

Not necessarily. I came back on here about 6 months before I bought my current car; and I did it to learn about issues I might encounter etc. I had done the same thing a few years ago when I bought the XJR.


While I did not come to snipe; I did see a fair amount of conversation about cars currently for sale. Those evaluations could certainly have led to sniping. Personally I'm with the OP on being conservative in his situation, but to each his own.

There may be far more lurkers here than active participants know about. Besides which, being asked specifically for "year, coupe or convertible, exterior and interior colors, options, number of previous owners, asking price," has very little to do with a low use XK's mechanical condition - and more to do with trying to identify what car/dealer it is. I'm sure that wasn't the intent, but certainly knowing these things doesn't alter the question or answers?

We've identified where the pre-purchase inspection will take place now. As far as accidents not reported to insurance/CarFax, given the low miles and locations it was driven, it's not likely - but my father restored cars as a hobby, was in car clubs, and also worked for Ford Motor Co. I learned how to spot non-factory paint and/or body work so feel pretty confident on not being fooled. :-)

I second Richard's comments. I too bought my car from Jaguar Palm Beach and they had every service record along with a good relationship with the previous owner. If you're vehicle is near them, I would consider them for PPI.

No the seals will not go bad based upon what you've written. No the tires are not dangerous and any possible flat spots will go away very quickly if they are actual flat spots due to storage. No you do not need to replace the fuel filter, if it was stored for a long time you may encounter some issues with gas going bad but only if stored for a long time and not driven at all. No you will not have to replace any belts they do not deteriorate by sitting. Yes brake fluid should be replaced every two years so you're probably ready... as a personal rule I always replace all fluids in cars I purchase so I know what's in there and when... seen too many garages put wrong stuff in. YES you should be absolutely fine driving it home without any worries even more the case if you get a PPI done. If in fact it has been on a battery tender it may well be fine just check the date on the battery itself to see how old it is as storing it with a maintainer while stored does not have any negative effects on it. As far as "sniping", you should already have put down a deposit on this car (anything of $1 or more is legally binding) if it is as good as you say and sounds like you're excited about it, the chance of someone sniping is VERY low... the more details you can provide us with the more accurate our answers can be.

That's cool, I just got a kick out of the secrecy, figure that the chances of someone looking at this exact moment for that year, style, color, location, would all have to line up for someone to want to snipe the sale. It isn't like he is buying the hottest beanie-baby on ebay. But I get it, no need to let his research possibly go to the advantage of someone else that has those variables all in line.

I have no input on possible issues with a pre-2010, I am sure Koko has already seen the previous posts about failure items on the car. But I am like the rest, a PPI on a non-warranty car is always advantageous.

I can see the worry. I didn't come here to snipe, but had already had already called a dealer and then another member started posting on the car I had called on. Didn't end up bidding against him, and instead am getting color I want, so everyone won.

Actually, there are no "failure items" on pre-2010 XKs as far as I know. The vast majority of "problems" are the result of low battery voltage. Given that this one has been on a battery maintainer ( and assuming that the battery itself is sound) there should be no problems at all. The tires will recover their roundness ( does that word exist?) with a half hour's drive. It is possible that the climate control might need an AC recharge after sitting so long unused, but that would be entirely normal. And change of all fluids would be a good idea, and again, entirely normal. The PO will be amazed at the overall integrity of the XK. I would not think twice about buying another one...in fact if I could fit another one in my garage I would have bought a gorgeous radiance red 2007 convertible a couple of months ago...maybe I need a bigger garage.

Koko very wise of you. It makes perfect logical sense that if you use this forum to buy an XK, there is at least one other person in the country also looking to do the same.
There arent that many of these XKs- which makes the odds really likely that you are right to be Machiavellian.

Also what if the seller is looking here too?? Hopefully no one thinks that the odds of current XK owners being here are also slim.

One that comes to mind specifically with convertibles is the rear glass falling out. There is no proper way to fix this and the top must be replaced with a new one, as you saw on the 2 you looked at in Sarasota. Also the hydraulics for the top can fail and need refurbishing.

Ah...right...when I said that there were no failure points on the 4.2 litre cars I forgot about the possible convertible window issue. Thanks for the correction. But with regard to the hydraulics, that was primarily an issue with the previous generation car, the XK8, no?

two more things to be aware of: 1. Leather dash "bubbling" and 2. condensate tubing duckbill clogging causing interior runoff and potential blower motor drowning.

Koko the car you are looking at has had this fixed. Saw it on the service record.
The way to tell is run the ac and there should be some water on the ground after a while.

Interesting....how did you see the service records of the car?