Last weekend I went into the Jaguar dealership to trade my 2007 XK in for a 2010 XKR. When they pulled the CarFax it showed an accident. A few years back someone rear-ended me damaging the bumper cover, exhaust and tail-light. While the accident was relatively minor, aprox $2500, they wanted to knock off a few grand from the Kelly Blue Book value. The dealer claimed that it would be much more difficult for them to sell the car to a new buyer since it had been damaged.

If that was not bad enough, I now have a new problem! Last week after I talked to the dealer about trading in my XK someone backed into the front of my car! There are no dents but the hood and bumper cover require painting. The driver that caused the damage did not leave a note and now I am left with the decision of using my insurance company to file the claim or paying out of pocket.

Since I do not want another CarFax hit I lam leaning towards paying out of pocket. Does this make sense?

 

The dealer is correct. An accident report on your CarFax is poison. He will have one hell of a time selling the car. It ain't fair but it's reality. To avoid the hit you could sell the call on the private mkt and tell prospects after they have seen the car----provided they don't ask before hand. But tell you must! Non disclosure is actionable.

Re the repair of your latest "scrape" see if you can find a non CarFax participating body shop. There must be more than a few in your area. The trick is to get one that works on aluminium car bodies.

Talk to your insurance agent. Not all insurance claims show up on CarFax.

I repeat. Tell you must. Not to tell is against the Jaguar gentlemens code and against the law in some jurisdictions.

BTW - that is one hot looking Xk you got there.

 

Off topic....you're really getting the 5.0 SC. Congrats Moe! I know you were thinking about it over the summer. Post some pics once you get it!

 

I am looking at a 2010 XKR w/ 22K on the clock at current time. However I think I will try and find one with lower miles.

 

Do body shops do the actual reporting to Carfax? I'm asking, not arguing. I thought the info came purely from insurance claims (?)









Which is one reason....along with the willingness of people to circumvent the reporting process.....that Carfax can't always be relied upon for accurate info. Each state having different regulations and reporting standards doesn't help, either...but I don't wanna get into politics :-) :-).









Agreed on all counts!


Cheers
DD

 

Before I bought my 2008 XK, I owned a 2008 Pontiac Solstice. About a year after I acquired the car, I was involved in a multi-car accident on the interstate. Traffic had stopped dead in front of me (60mph to zero in the blink of an eye). Fortunately, I was able to stop as was the Ford sedan immediately behind me. The Dodge Ram behind the sedan also stopped successfully, as did the F150 behind the Ram.

Unfortunately the unlicensed 15 year old speeding in his mother's Surburban couldn't stop. He slammed into the F150, pushing it into the Ram, that then struck the Ford sedan that ultimately struck my car.

The Surburban and Ram were totaled. The F150 was badly damaged. The sedan received "moderate" damage. Luckily, by the time the sedan struck my Solstice, so much momentum had been dissipated, my Solstice was not damaged at all, not even a scratch.

Well, unknown to me, the Trooper that wrote up the accident, screwed up and mis-identified my car as the "moderately damaged" car behind me. Of course, I did not know this and when I go to sell the Solstice about a year later the Carfax comes up that my Solstice had been "moderately damaged" in the accident. I sent for a copy of the report, discovered what happened, and immediately contacted DMV in my state to correct the report.

Of course at DMV they claim they can't change anything on the document and that the original Trooper will have to change the accident report (over a year and hundreds of accidents later!!).

In short, I am screwed. This little event ended up reducing the value of my car by at least $2500.00 and the guy who ultimately bought my car got the deal of his life.

On top of all this, at least two of my friends who purchased with clean CarFax reports ultimately discovered their cars had in fact been involved in accidents. Hell, in one case, I could clearly see the bondo in the driver's door.

There has to be a better way...

 

How much was the dealer willing to give you for the trade in?

 

I'll give you one right opposite. I looked at an 06 XKR that the Chevy dealer had here. It was really easy to tell it had been wrecked, fender didn't line up, window would roll up over the top. The Carfax didn't show it. The salesman finally admitted it had been wrecked and the Carfax didn't show it. Said it was a couple of years ago. LOL How could someone drive it with the window rolling outside the convertible top? Moron dealer.