Well, well, well.... Found a well-reviewed body shop in Sacramento who will install MY fog light assembly in my ‘97 xk8, and will repair the loose rubber seal at the top of the rear glass(convertible). Of course, I will be exceedingly
anxious until it is done(next Tuesday). Original owner of the car purchased a number of replacement parts for things and had all kinds of cool extras. But it seems the gentleman who bought the car from the estate did not do his homework.... hence wrong coolant, overfilling oil, pulling at that window rubber...He hadnt even looked at the stack of receipts the original(late)owner had with the car. Original owner was meticulous.
Anyway, am hoping to have some “go to” shops before long.
Is it just me, being distrustful of shops?

 

With Halloween coming up, this is a good question. Long story short - no, it's not just you.

 

When I bought my car in May '19 it came from Roseville. Yes, you should distrust shops until they prove themselves. Be polite, give them a chance but take notes.
Good luck with your well cared for find and welcome to a very helpful and knowledgable forum. TM

 

Agree on distrusting shops. When my former shop did work, I asked that they give me the used parts. They somehow kept losing them. They insisted on providing
all the parts and then did the 100% markup (or more). I've convinced my local mechanic to do some of the simple stuff, he'll use parts I provide and it's a lot cheaper.
Also DIY when possible (plugs, coils, filters, expansion tank, diagnostics, etc).

Also where are people finding these private sale second gen Jag's? Dealers are asking ridiculous prices. Not much in Craigs.

 

Agree agree...until about 3 years ago, I lived in Visalia (for 40yrs) , and we(ex) had a mechanic who did all the work on all our vehicles, honest and fair. After that it was a crap shoot, as a woman with only a little knowledge of cars and next to no ability to diy. At various levels, various service needs, I’ve quite a lot of skepticism. I try to educate myself, research the issues, costs of repair, etc. Have had my car to 3 shops, and while they did the work, I have reason to mistrust two and dislike 3rd. So far, the only person I trust , with my car, is BobRoy. He looks at things carefully and educates me at the same time.
The ‘97xk8 was on Craigslist for 1 day when I saw it. Lovely Carnival Red. Pleasant surprise that so many service records were with the car(incl the one about tensioners being replaced, which would have been my bargaining point, that and the tires).
I am very hopeful about the body shop work, but still need a local mechanic. Kinda OCD.

Cindy

 

Glad you could meet BobRoy. I think he could take apart and reassemble an XK8 w/ his eyes closed. I'd appreciate a PM on the 2 other shops.
Your car looks like showroom new!

 

Found an auto body shop in Sacramento which would install MY fog lamp assembly on the Jag xk8. Out of half a dozen shops, Trinos was the only shop which was okay with that. Alex, general manager and estimator, was the guy I worked with. It took a bit longer, overnight into next afternoon, but apparently he’s short handed and backed up. I tell you all that I absolutely abhorred leaving my car, and worried incessantly until I had it back. Estimate was for 1 1/4 hours labor, $126. But I was grateful to original owner for the parts he had bought for the car, I didn’t have to buy the fog lamp assembly.
appointment for flush & fill next. Still being shuffled around for the reattachment of (only about 12”)
rubber at top of rear window, keeps popping off groove, but seems in good condition. Body shop says no, auto upholstery says auto glass shop, auto glass shop suggests body shop..