I only know what I was told from West Palm Beach Jaguar regarding the privacy issue.

When I had my Jaguar serviced at Garcia Jaguar in El Paso in June 2013, an for oil change, inspection, fluid level fillup, they were NOT able to see any history of my 2009 Jaguar XKR from any other Jaguar dealer. I was specifically told that service records and history are not linked between Jaguar dealerships.

Perhaps others here on this forum and confirm this. Or perhaps someone who works in a service department at a Jaguar dealership can confirm whether or not all Jaguar dealer service depts are linked to one main computer data base to see service records.

 

When I traded my 08 for the 12 xk vert at Hornburg in Santa Monica CA I offered them all the records. They said they didn't want them.

 

Ralph:

Was this because they already had access to the service records, or they just were not interested in showing them to a potential new owner at the time of trade?

 

Richard - I really don't know. Perhaps they assumed that they had done all of the work on the car. I had replaced the tires elsewhere, but I don't think that made any difference to them because the depth of the tread was what it was and it made no difference where I had acquired them.

What is interesting about this is that the sales office is about 3/4 of mile away from the service dept. and who knows whether their systems completely communicate with each other? It just so happens that I had all the servicing done there, including changing the oil and getting it lubed every 5k miles until my service adviser told me I was wasting money because the car didn't need that much servicing and to have it done at 10k miles intervals.

 

It doesn't matter how many places data is kept in the car, they could all be altered. Same for BMW or Jag. But the effort gets big so only worthwhile for a very expensive car or common ones. Probably puts the BMW at greater risk than a Jag but realistically neither is likely an attractive target. Well... maybe a classic would be but then you'd check mileage and other records carefully I expect.

Over here you can pay a small amount for checks that show mileages as well as outstanding finance. On any reasonably recent jag that's all you need to do and it's cheap.

 

Jag dealeers can only access warranty info for service not customer pay. warranty info is accessed Jaguar. and yes privacy issues are becoming a bigger and bigger issue every year.
Can you change mileage, YES. but not at the dealer level or with dealer laptops and PC's that we use. Yes its true we can only change mileage on a new pack and only no more than a 100 or so miles are on it in case of programming software. afterwards its there for good. Also mileage is stored in other modules not just the instrument pack. can a speedo shop do it, YES. And this is your bigger issue. While I dont know a dealer that would risk fines and reputations to make a few hundred extra bucks. A small car lot or people that recondiition cars sure would because they would buy a car with really high miles(dealers just dont often these kinds of cars on trade, we certainly dont) and then have mileage rolled back. So they buy the car cheaper with high miles and sell higher with lower. But with carfax etc this is a easy way to get caught since mileage at trade/sale and state inspections are recorded

 

2007 XJ8 L with 41,134 miles on it.


https://www.cars.com/vehicledetail/d...9595/overview/


The carfax is included in the listing and it shows no records for the first 4 years (the warranty years) and then shows only 15,000 miles.


Chronologically:


Averaging less than 4k miles per year for the first 46 months (in New Jersey no less).


Averaging 6,400 miles per year for the next 28 months.


Averaging less than 5,400 miles per year for the next 22 months.


And then virtually zero miles for the next 20 months.


It looks like a little old lady in Jersey who only drove it to church on Sundays then sold it to a little old lady in California who only drove it to church on Sundays.


At a minimum, the first four years in Jersey look very questionable to me.


Biff

 

I met someone recently that although not Jag specific has a small fleet of white vans in the U.K. that do a high annual mileage. He buys his vehicles new and gets someone to install a device probably software that doesn't record the correct mileage. He then sells his vehicles within the three year warranty after having the device removed.
Vehicles are serviced regularly so no one is aware. Whether the correct mileage is recorded deeper in the vehicle I don't know. So changing mileage is no longer necessary as it can be done beforehand and probably on most vehicles and the service records are correct as well.

A bit scared!!

 

My car was a one owner traded in to the dealer it was purchased from . The dealer did all of the servicing and when I bought the car I asked for the service records. They checked with the previous owner and she OK'ed that they give me them. The dealer sent me a pdf file with all of the service history. The dealer that I now service the car at has all of my CPO history and my normal service history. My dealer said they could not get the service history from the previous dealer .

 

I have gotten the records printed with the name blanked out.

If I were concerned about mileage, I would only buy new. Regardless, a service history is the important thing.

 

From the title data my car gained 63k miles in the last five years of ownership. Working on it is similar to dissecting an onion, you find something new with every layer removed and it makes you cry a little. It's been wrecked, neglected, interior torn up with food spills and I even found cat hair in the back.

Still, it's a lot of damn fun.

On my '68 Fairlane 500 fastback. I bought it with 28k miles in 1991 and it's up to 38k miles today (well, for the past ten years or so). I treat it more reverently. Especially since it was a a local Reverend's car who bought it new and drove it so seldom that his parish didn't know he owned it.

 

Hard to say.

Not all dealers and repair shops participate in Carfax so periods of no activity can mean something....or nothing.

Cheers
DD

 

Seems even with all the electronics, the privacy policies, both government and company based, are making it harder and harder for consumers to check histories and protect themselves. I kind of miss the old days when most people placed a 2-line classified ad and sold a used car themselves. Buying a used car from a dealer is a bit of a risk, not knowing how it was driven, how it was maintained, whether they smoked, carried pets, whether it was parked in a garage, minor accidents not reported to insurance, etc. A lot of very relevant information can be covered up temporarily by a good detail shop.

If miles are racked up quickly and the car still looks new, it could be tempting to roll back to a more average mileage. And with so many being leased, it can be tempting for the lessee to avoid paying penalties when the car is turned in (I discovered such a situation once). I think we're back to some of the old fashioned inspection techniques learned decades ago for identifying a high mileage vehicle. Look for excess wear on the edges of the brake pedal, carpet heel pad, door striker, etc. Look for parts replaced unusual to the cars mileage, like if its got an aftermarket brand serpentine belt, battery, hose or brake pads, but going by the age/mileage, it shouldn't have been changed yet. Open the drivers door all the way and lift the end to check for wear in the door hinges. You can google for ideas and lists of all sorts of things to check to tell if the mileage is in line with the car's condition.

 

Sorry really hilarious assumptions.

Why would putting 4k miles a year in NJ be so odd? Its almost hard to do. I have clients who commute 10 miles to work and own 7 or 8 cars and 3 are Ferrari. And Manhattan is only few miles away. OR this was the car used to make trip to FL in. Spring Lake where this car was is an upscale area.

No way would a dealer in Costa Mesa/ Laguna / Newport, (also Big money) bring in a 4 year old car from Jersey, there are many gullible places in between where this car could have been sold. In other words Newport area is not a hand-me-down from NJ kinda place. Kentucky yes- Dana Point no.

Then look at where its been serviced- creme da la creme places. This car has never seen middle class- I wish I had its pedigree. It had wipers purchased at JLR Newport, how many of us penny-pinchers here would do that??

Regardless of all that- Carfax has a accurate mileage guarantee. How can you overlook that.

 

Anything is possible.
Some of you may be old enough to remember when Chrysler was found to be disconnecting the odometer on new cars and then selling them later as "new", after having miles put on by executives.
Ferrari's apparently can have the odometer rolled back by techs as well.
Just a few simple google searches will bring up many stories.

 

It's shocking how easy it is to lower the mileage on a Japanese car. I've seen it done on Lexus' and Toyotas in literally 5 minutes by simply unscrewing the cluster away from the dash, plugging a laptop to it, modifying the stored mileage, and overriding it. I knew of a shady shop in NYC that did it for tons of customers - saw them take a 67K mile Lexus LS460L down to 42K miles for a customer to return a lease.

While I was picking up some gaskets from them (all of 5 minutes) the Lexus was in and out. It was the one and only time I went there, but when I was talking about it to car friends they had all known of the place and shared some other stories.

 

The two line ad in the local newspaper has simply been replaced by Ebay, Craigslist, and Auto Trader. And Carfax, which we didn't have back in the old days, and as imperfect as it is, gives consumers *something* to run with.

My dealer days ended 9 years ago so things may have changed but I don't call any legislation that actually prevented giving service histories. It was something we just made a decision not to do....unless given permission from the customer whose name was on the service file. We regarded the service file as something between us and the customer, not to be shared for the asking.

A number of years ago there was a bit of hoopla because some dealers were *unknowingly* providing service histories to Carfax as a result of not carefully reading service agreements with their systems provider---typically ADP or Reynolds and Reynolds, which have now merged, I think----who were in cahoots with Carfax. But that's another story.

In any case, my guess is that laws vary from state-to-state. Might make an interesting research project.

Cheers
DD

 

My first XK that was totaled had 7300 miles on it when I bought it as a 3 year old used car. It was CPO from the dealer and I had no misgivings about the low mileage.

It wasn't until we got the car home and I was going through the manual folio that I stumbled on paperwork with the previous owners name. As a freaky coincidence it was the lawyer who my Wife had worked for in College. She was still friends with the Wife of his oldest Son, after getting over being initially spooked she texted the daughter-in-law and got the story on the car. It was his car at the beach house, he bought the XK new at 91 years old, when he passed at 94 I am damn surprised that it had 7300 miles!

The demographic of the XK and XJ are the elderly. That is just the way it is, us late 40's or younger are not the norm. Like has been said, the older folks with financial security and multiple cars means you can see low mileage prospects.

 

That was more a reference to the changing times. Just seems that fewer people now are selling their own used car. Many reasons, too busy, perceived risk of being victimized (media influence), prevalence of leasing vs owning, lack of parking space due to adult kids living at home, or inability to make a cash down payment on the next car purchase or lease.

I bought my XJ8 from the son of the elderly woman who owned it, i.e. "Mom, we think its time you stop driving." But another situation I suspect in Jaguars is more often the first owner is not elderly/retired, but rather an executive who is provided something else as a company car and the Jaguar is driven exclusively for personal use, not commuting or business. Another thing I've seen in more wealthy people is keeping a car at the "vacation home". Fly down to Florida during winter or fly up to Maine during summer.

But that's the problem with buying from the dealership. These kinds of stories that explain the mileage and how the car was kept and used are lost at the moment of trade-in.

 

Anything is alterable, it just takes the right person to do it.