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My experience of buying from a Jaguar main agent. STRATSTONES
Jaguar XK8
I had been watching the Jaguar websites for a suitable XK8 and emailed an enquiry regarding a specific car I had seen on one of the sites. Sutton Coldfield Jaguar, where the car was situated, telephoned me to offer to bring the car to Hanley for viewing at no charge and I said I would let them know what I decided. I therefore decided to go to Stratstone Jaguar Hanley first to get an appraisal on my car and get an idea of the costs involved ie. approximate part exchange price etc.
Saturday 24th February
Upon approaching Stratstones The Sales Manager checked on their system and informed me that the Car I enquired about had been sold so I therefore went to leave and was asked by the Manager if I would be interested in any other cars on the website and he explained the following procedure. A suitable car based on my requirements would be located within the dealerships upon which I would be asked to pay a deposit of £500 to secure the vehicle. My reaction to that was that under no circumstances was I handing £500 over to view a car that could potentially be a poorly maintained “load of rubbish”. The Sales Manager and Salesmans reply was that they only had the very best cars and anything sub-standard was sent to auction, that only cars with full Jaguar service history are allowed to be sold and the standard and quality of the cars sold from the main agents has to pass regular audits by Jaguar . So I could expect no less than a top quality used car in pristine condition and was told on more than one occasion that they are ‘main agents and not cowboys’. After listening to this from the Manager and other salesmen I apologised for my untrusting attitude and agreed to look at a few prospective cars which the Sales Manager proceeded to show me. After a short while a car was shown to me that seemed suitable - a 98 S plate XK8 in Antigua Blue with CATS suspension, quick clear front screen and premium sound system, mileage 61768. I therefore proceeded to pay a deposit prior to the car being delivered to Stratstone Hanley for viewing.
Wednesday 28th February
I received a call to say "your car had arrived" and I would be able to arrange to see it some time later that week. Approximately two hours or so later I received a second call asking if I would pay the full balance for the purchase of the car that day or the next morning as they needed the car to be invoiced before month end, note I hadn't even seen the car by this time.
I agreed to see them and the car that night to see if we could come to some arrangement. The car was shown to me in the dark under a street light in pouring rain but I was made numerous promises that the car would be prepared to the highest standard and anything and everything that needed attention would be fixed or replaced or otherwise and I was not to worry as there would be no question about the standard that this car would be turned out to so based upon this conversation I agreed to help them out and pay the outstanding balance purely on trust of course that I was dealing with a main agent and not as they put it ‘cowboys’.
Saturday 3rd March
It was a bright and sunny day so I decided to go and view the car properly. On the viewing I can honestly say that my heart was in my mouth as an absolutely filthy car both inside and out stood before me with a waterlogged headlamp unit, badly kerbed and corroded wheels, illegal tyres on the back wheels, scratched/marked paintwork and upon inspection of the service record the last service was overdue by nearly ten months and all their assurances immediately appeared worthless and I was really afraid of what all this was now going to ultimately cost me.
I mentioned to the Salesman that the waterlogged headlamp unit needed to be replaced to which his reply was ‘It was a common problem with Jaguars and that they all suffered from this problem’. This comment did not even warrant a reply as if they all suffered from the problem why was the other headlamp unit not waterlogged also. I then asked about the scratched and stone chipped paintwork the Salesman replied that they used a local professional repair company by the name of Colorfast which I knew from past experience were one of the best in the area and had no doubt that the result would be excellent. Furthermore I pointed out that the rear tyres were illegal and would need replacing for MOT and that the general condition of the alloy wheels was not good trying to hint that something needed to be done with regard to them also.
It was also pointed out to me at the time that the valeter would completely transform the car to an exceptionally high standard. Whatever my thoughts and opinions were that day I was presented with the choice of carrying on in the hope and faith that they would keep to their word or fight to get back the cash balance that I had foolishly paid them.
Saturday 17th March
Two weeks elapsed, due to a number plate change with the DVLA, before the car was ready for collection and completion of the deal. When we arrived to pick up the car I was greatly relieved to see that the valeter had produced a minor miracle in cleaning and polishing the car. No attempt had been made to rectify the headlamp unit or to repair or tidy the badly kerbed and corroded wheels. Some of the scratches had been removed from the paintwork but just a blob of touch-up paint had been applied to the large stone chip, not even a matching colour (so not done by a professional paintwork specialist as quoted by the Salesman). I was told that they had had to spend over £1000 on repairing the faults on the car of which the tyres had cost them over £500 and this was explained to me like they were doing me a big favour. The car had had to have the repairs to pass the MOT and to be presented in full working order which is surely the minimum standard required by any garage, the only consolation was that the car was presented in as clean a condition as possible. However I cannot accept that I should have had to take delivery of the car with a faulty headlamp unit (which has again become waterlogged as soon as the car was driven in the rain) and with kerb damaged and corroded wheels which were in very poor condition. Also I cannot believe that Jaguar would have allowed them to present this car on their forecourt in the condition which I had to accept it.
I am more than sure that I would not find a car on any other Jaguar main agent’s forecourt with these faults. Any prospective customer would just walk away which was something I could not do given the situation I had been led into.
Furthermore on handover they presented me with only one set of keys saying the others would follow, they had already had three weeks in which to get the second set of keys and yet again it seemed that experience was saying I could not trust them so I requested that it be noted on the final receipt that one set of keys were outstanding. This turned out to be a wise decision as a couple of weeks later the salesman called me to say he had now got the spare set of keys and I could go and collect them. I turned up to find he was on holiday and no keys were there, nothing had been ordered, and nothing was on stock. therefore I did not hesitate to inform the dealer principal by letter that I would be taking them to the County Court for the cost of the key and fob. As a result of this he and the sales manger sorted the issue out immediately and my key and fob was there the following week.
On further inspection the rest of the car is in good condition generally, however, I did find an anomaly with the car mileage. When first viewed the mileage matched the mileage quoted plus the 130 miles approx from Luton to Hanley (61916 miles) but when I picked the car up it was reading 62364 miles (see copy new MOT certificate) a difference of