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Last week I placed a deposit on an 07 XK coupe (clean Carfax, 60k miles) from a longstanding FL dealer who has specialized in selling XK’s for 10+ years. He was upfront that the vehicle’s driver’s seat required recalibration and for which it was at the local Jag dealership. He texted me Friday that he would have to return my deposit because the Jag service dept informed him that the seat tracks and seat backs for the driver’s and passenger’s seats are broken with bad upper and lower sensors (I assume modules), requiring seat and track replacement at an obviously prohibitive cost.😳 He stated he plans on wholesaling the car.
Subsequently I read a couple of articles on the module cases being poorly designed and under protected from the elements, suffering from a combo of moisture seeping in and circuit boards rubbing against the case, damaging the modules. However, even equipped with this knowledge, it doesn’t account for broken tracks and seat backs! In short, this sounds very odd, particularly given the seats are clearly in good shape visually (no excess scuffs, wear, etc.).
Negotiate with that seller for $100 over the amount equal to what he expects to net from wholesaling that car. Then search breakers (wrecking yards) for used seat assemblies from a totaled XK. The seats can be in bad condition so long as the hardware is in good shape since you can use that 07's seats.
It should be an easy job to swap them out.
One possible source is Pacific Motors. https://www.pacificmotors.com/shop/
Also check with Forum sponsors who sell used parts. Forum members can point you towards other sources.
Of course, that Seller might have received a higher offer and is trying to get out of the contract he agreed to with you. You'll know more when you speak with him about taking the car "As-Is", with the defective seats. Seems fishy to me that the passenger seat would be broken, as they typically don't get as much use.
My search found only one 2007 XK coupe for sale in Florida with a free CarFax report: https://www.ezchoiceautosales.com/mo...seffner-fl.htm
Except for the wheels, which are aftermarket and not my taste, it appears to be a very nice XK. Even though it's a "clean" CarFax, you can't rely on it to buy a car because not all accidents are reported to CarFax.
If that's the car you're interested in, you may want to call the nearest Jaguar dealer and ask the service manager if they recently inspected it and, if so, what's the story about the seats. Tell him that you have a deposit on it and may have them do the repairs after you buy it, depending on what's needed.
Seems fishy to me that the passenger seat would be broken, as they typically don't get as much use.
I agree. Given the distance to the selling dealer, I assume you have not seen the car in person. In addition to what Stuart suggested, you might also consider asking the dealer if you could have an independent mechanic inspect the car and assess the situation. If the dealer balks, that would be a very good sign that you are being manipulated.
Yes re potential manipulation which makes me sad to consider. I purchased several cars sight unseen from MI to OH, FL to CA and without incident. Hell, I purchased my E type from England (with help from Frazer!) So this bums me out...sigh....
"Broken seat tracks" lead me down the flood car rabbit hole, or maybe windows were left open and the floorpan got saturated to the point where they rusted and broke.
"Broken seat tracks" lead me down the flood car rabbit hole, or maybe windows were left open and the floorpan got saturated to the point where they rusted and broke.
Sadly, the negatives of what could have happened are rather endless. I too wondered the same thing re flood, but that would mean the title would’ve been “cleaned”, if truly a (reported) flood car, another lovely thought.... ugh... This, after I finally had made up my mind to jump in the XK pond, having considered the XJ8, S-Type and XK8. The color combo, low mileage, expertise of the seller and fair price shouted “buy me”....
All is not quite lost yet giving benefit of the doubt re manipulation or bad car joo joo. Dealership has excellent reviews and the owner is currently hunting for replacement seats + tracks. I will also phone the Jag dealership per recommendations above.
A Jaguar Dealer would replace rather than repair any suspect part and this could account for the seat tracks and seat backs for the driver’s seat. However, the equivalent "damage" to the passenger seat is very suspicious.
A Jaguar Dealer would replace rather than repair any suspect part and this could account for the seat tracks and seat backs for the driver’s seat. However, the equivalent "damage" to the passenger seat is very suspicious. Graham
Yes, re repair vs replacement; the dealer offering the vehicle for sale and I discussed this topic. The price for replacing both seats and tracks is laughable dealership-cost-wise. We did not discuss repair or whether that was a possibility. Looking from the dealer’s perspective, however, I would guess he isn’t interested in going to any extended lengths to explore repair and would just as soon wholesale the car to move on. He also revealed that in the 10+ years he’s been selling XK’s he’s never seen such a thing and has apologized profusely. I’ll make an effort to speak with the Jag dealership tomorrow regarding the exact findings driver’s vs passenger’s seat pathology to ensure the message I received is exact. As always, all the input has been valuable!
I just checked Ebay, and there are several XK seats for sale at various prices. It may be cost-effective to swap out the seats.
That’s what the dealership owner is doing, he already put out feelers to his contacts per our conversation on Friday. I’ll be patient for a day or two, if I talk with the Jaguar service manager and he tells me something different than what has been discussed I can bail.
I'd move on. There are plenty without a story out there.
But not many 2007 Emerald Fire with Caramel and Burl wood with <60K miles like this one. The solution is to repair the tracks or replace the seats, if not too expensive.
But not many 2007 Emerald Fire with Caramel and Burl wood with <60K miles like this one. The solution is to repair the tracks or replace the seats, if not too expensive.
And? There are plenty of other XK's with equally interesting color combo's out there.
Seat question...
