'Indefinite' use of courtesy car

[Camelia*]

Hello,

 

My mum's car is in for repair after a minor accident in December (rear bumper, lights). She has been told that the company that has the rights to make a part has gone into liquidation, and another company has bought the rights to make the part. That company is now in dispute with the car manufacturer (Jaguar) as they are wanting too much money for the parts, so no parts are being made at present.

 

My mum has been told that her car will be off-the-road indefinitely. She's also been told that a similar situation resulted in a Lexus being off the road for over a year recently.

 

My issue is that her car is a Jaguar X-Type estate, and the courtesy car they have given her is a Vauxhall Corsa. Whilst this is not a problem for a short period of time, I wonder if she should be given a like-for-like car, given that the situation is 'indefinite'. After all, she has been paying higher insurance to reflect the type of car. She also drives around 200 miles per week and constantly requires the added space of an estate.

 

What do you think? Thanks in advance!

 

Camelia

[middenmess]

I had a older Mercedes damaged whilst parked and was offered a very nice but small car as my 'courtesy' car.

 

Whilst a perfectly good car it was totally different from what I had been driving in terms of comfort and carrying capacity so a couple of polite 'explanatory' phone calls to the insurance company later I had a beautiful Jaguar,just a couple of months old,as my courtesy car.

 

I was really hacked off when my old car was repaired and I had to return the Jag!

 

So,if at first you are fobbed off,then polite perseverance usually pays dividends.

[Conniff]

What is the fault with the Jag and what part is required?

 

What is the year of the car ie; is this a warranty or paid for repair?

[Camelia*]

What is the fault with the Jag and what part is required?

 

What is the year of the car ie; is this a warranty or paid for repair?

 

The rear bumper is the part required. It was bougtht in 2005.

[heliosuk]

I'm not aware of any parts supply issues with the X type. I will check next week. It is a possiblility though as X type ceased production at the end of last year however the manufacturer is required to ensure parts supply for 10 years. It could be that the reduced volumes now, required a re-source. Easiest way out of this is to request to the insurance co that they check dealer stocks world wide. As regards the type of car on loan then this would be a matter for your Mum to negotiate with the insurance co if indeed it is an insurance claim.

[lookinforinfo]

Perhaps suggesting a reduction/refund of insurance premiums might make them more amenable to a better car.

[heliosuk]

Apparently the issue is with what I suggested, reduced volumes and as it happens quality issues. When the decision was made to cease X type production the supply for spare parts was switched to a lower volume producer. However, the call for parts from around the world for some reason has increased and this led to quality issues in the paint process. Apparently they are being delivered at the rate of 30 some a week and there is a back up of orders. So the part is available and not in dispute as suggested. Apparently Jaguar and the supplier are doing their best to reduce the lead time and it is getting better.

 

What I would suggest is that the repairer asks who they are getting the part off to find out where in the que yours lies so they can then give an indication of how long it will take.

 

I also learnt that Jaguar would fly a part back from anywhere in the world if it was suitable for the car and not available in the country it's being asked for.

[Camelia*]

Wow, thanks heliosuk for your extremely informative post. I'll do as you suggest and ask the garage to find out where we are in the queue, as the worst part is the 'indefinite' nature of this issue.

 

That's also interesting about Jaguar flying in parts from around the world.

[lookinforinfo]

Talking about flying parts in reminds me of Rools Royce.

Many years ago Tommy Trinder [comedian] was in South Afrrica when the propshaft broke on his roller.

A spare was flown in but there was no bill with the propshaft. So when TT returned to England he wrote to Rolls asking how much he owed.

RR wrote back and said that "propshafts do not break on our cars", so he never got a bill for it.

I don't imagine that will happen with Jaguar. I doubt it will with RR now either.