What you should do in the future is get the contact info for the actual guy who drives the truck and delivers your car. Most of these guys are independent contractors, and will be more than happy to give you their numbers. Then, the next time you need to ship your car, call that guy directly. Eliminate the broker. You'll save a lot of money for yourself, and he'll make more money for himself.

 

I have his number now and would use him again if I buy a car in that area of the US again. I was pretty close to telling the broker to keep their deposit and having my girlfriend drive the car back from NC to Boston. Would've been $200 more than the shipping.

 

The warranty thing goes back and forth quite a bit. I bought mine without an extended warranty -- but I also had 2 years of factory warranty left. Typically I am not a fan of extended warranties on much of anything. They're a great money maker because the majority of people don't get out of it what they put into it. That's true regardless of whether it's a car, an oven, or even a TV. I've rarely used an extended warranty when I bought it, and now a days, I simply choose to take care of it and if it happens -- get it fixed. Others opinions and experience will, obviously, differ.

 

Well, in this case, the dealers (non-Jaguar) don't even realize that they have a Select Edition car on their hands. Or at least it doesn't appear so, based on the pricing and my communications with them. The only way I know is by looking at the Carfax report and verifying it with Jaguar NA!

 

If you want an XK or XKR whether its coupe or convertible wait until the winter time to buy especially if your buying a convertible. You save a lot of money. In the summer time cars sell at premium prices.

 

Thanks. Do you think there will be more selection in the winter? I can't find very many that interest me right now, but it's summertime.

 

We did what you want to do. We bought our '07 XKR vert. in the winter. The dealer had 3 of the same colour to choose from!
Love the car! You will love yours too!

 

Hmmmm... new strategy. I am trying to refinance the auto loan on the Mustang with my local credit union. That way the title will be held, I think, at the local branch. This will enable me to sell the car privately, with much less trouble, and avoid taking such a hit on trade-in.

This will free me up to look at XKRs nationally (the only options I have right now is to drive the Mustang to wherever I buy the XKR to trade it in, which sort of limits me to about a 400 mile radius or so, or to trade it to Carmax and get lowballed big time), and have one shipped if I'm not able to do a cross country road trip, should one be required.

 

The selection will be the same and in some markets like FL, I bet the market will be competitive in the winter.

Do Jaguar lease returns go to auction in Manheim?

 

Whether you have a clear note or not does not effect the trade-in, but you're best off not dealing with a trade-in if you look nationally. They will hold you hostage on your trade-in and play you like a fiddle. First they'll say you car is worth "X" after you show them a million photos and when the car gets there, they'll say it's worth "Y" after you are too invested into their car.

Buy the XK and sell the Mustang as two seperate deals. It is hard to sell a car privately when the note is being held. Confirm with the bank before re-fi how quick their turnaround is on paying off the note. You may have to let the buyer of the Mustang use your plates until the Title comes back. Not the end of the world with a well written sales agreement. This is what I had to do with my VDP, but I sold it to a friend with a handshake deal.

 

Thanks for the advice. I agree with everything you've said. There is just no way I could trade-in my Mustang unless it were local. Once I've driven 1200 miles, they know they have all the leverage in the world.

Not to mention that I get the feeling that used XKR convertibles have sold terribly this season, and a lot of dealers have probably genuinely lost money on these cars. So if I trade-in, they are definitely trying to make up the lost profits by lowballing me on the trade.

 

The only way it could work on a long distance trade-in is if they agree to the price and the shipper is picking up your car when they are dropping off the XK to you. At point it is a done deal on both sides. The dealer is only going to offer you what they know they can wholesale your car at and you'll eat the shipping back to them.

As nice as the dealership was I bought my car from, in the end it was too much hassle and risk for an extra 500 to 1K more I could've got. I did not want the experience to leave a bad taste. Nothing worse and starting off on a new on bad note. It's like I already lost interest in the new car and haven't owned yet.

One thing to anticipate on getting a car sight unseen is having an appointment with Paintless Dent Repair technician. Regardless of how mint the car is, inevitably there is work for the PDR and it's money well spent.

 

Nah, I'll probably just fill in the dings with bondo and spray paint.

Just kidding--yeah I can imagine that a car might have a few dings after sitting on the lots for 6 months!!

 

A dealer is not going to pay for PDR until the car is sold and the buyer noticed it before the sale or right after. Dealerships get great prices on PDR. My friend has a used car lot and his service charged me $25-30 a ding. I found 2-3 things after my car was delivered (all were quite small) and the PDR guy found like 5 things. After he was done it was he was never there. The aluminum body is quite fragile and I think more so than the XJ.

Does anyone know if the panels between XJ and XK are the same thickness?

 

Jaguar : XKR XKR CONVERTI in Jaguar | eBay Motors

Hmmmmm... I've been keeping an eye on this one. It looks really mint, but the fact that this one could only get up to $36100 on Ebay (this one didn't sell) is very telling about the demand for these XKRs right now.

I think I'm just going to keep waiting a month or so. The max price I'm willing to pay for an XKR with 40k miles is about $35-37k for an '07, and $38-40k for an '08--maybe $40k-41k if it is a Select Edition (there are already a couple of these in Houston at this price point). Maybe leave myself a $1000 budget for shipping as well.

I'm just not in a position to buy yet! Gosh... lusting after a car is even more consuming than lusting after a woman!

 

That statement makes me wonder about your age? Those male, Tarzan hormones must be on their alarming, but natural downslope...

Albert

PS - that is a rather nice car for the money. I think it would worth well into the $40K range.

 

Same here. Does not sound overpriced at all.

 

Well, I'm about to turn 26. According to those late night commercials, once you turn 25 your testosterone levels take a dramatic downturn and make you half the man you used to be....

 

It doesn't sound like an unreasonable price to ask for to me, either. But the fact of the matter used cars (especially) are market priced commodities. It's hard to justify paying more for a car than the price the market commands--and this car is an example.

However, this one below looks appropriately priced and is very tempting (Select Edition Certified and a Portfolio model)!

Used 2008 Jaguar XKR AUTO For Sale in Houston, TX near Sugar Land - T89B21384

 

If you are into that color combo, that's a well priced car and rare one at that. Granted it will be a little more expensive to own with the Alcon's. Split the shipping cost 50-50 and they should bite.