My mother-in-law in Tennessee wants to give my step-daughter in Orlando her 2002 Jaguar S-Type V6, which sounds awesome at first.
However, it has a few things wrong with it. It has cosmetic hail damage, which really isn’t a big deal for a free car. But, it also has been in an accident where the front bumper is damaged and loose. The grill seems fine, but she says that the ball joints need replaced (all of them or just some, I don’t know yet). I also don’t know how long it has been sitting in the driveway.
I’ll be getting more details from her soon, but knowing next to nothing about cars, I’m not even sure what to ask.
My concerns already are that the KBB price for this model in excellent condition is about $7000, and just replacing all four ball joints could run about $4000 (remember I have no car skills and am at the mercy of the shop). Also, I hear that Jaguars are expensive to maintain, and it could turn into a total money pit.
I’m posting here to ask for general advice on the matter. She’s not terribly excited about the fact that it is a Jaguar or about the color. What do I need to know in order to make the most informed decision I can? Should I bother having it towed to a mechanic in Tennessee to get it inspected, or should I just tell her no thanks?
Did a quick search, owners of this car seem to develop a love/hate relationship with it after a while. They love to hate it. it was built when Ford owned Jaguar, and it’s based on the Lincoln LS platform.
The car obviously has some value. If the giver won’t be offended if you sell it, I’d take it, sell it, and use the money to buy something that will give you less of a hassle, as others have said.
Well, the key to me is the hail damage, and the front end damage. that’s makes it a tougher sell if you decide to go that route.
If it “been sittijng” for a while, there must be a reason. If the Kelley BB value is $7,000 in excellent condition (Which this one IS NOT.) and you need to invest in repairs (Which, being a Jaguar, probably will not be cheap.) You’d probably have a tough time recouping any investment you do make in repairs. Doesn’t sound like it’s even driveable for whatever reason.
Add all this together with the fact your daughter is “not terribly excited about the fact that it is a Jaguar or about the color” and it equals “Thanks but no thanks.”
My BIL just bought one from someone he knew for about $4000 which is what they were going to give her in trade. It looked like it was in good condition from the pictures. I guess I might question the actual value. Its a Ford though and he has driven Fords all his life.
For a DIYer this might be feasible. With the sitting for who knows how long and the problems that brings along with the ball joints and hail damage issue you would be better off to pass on this car.
It is not the cost, but the upkeep. Me I would take it and call the repairs needed the purchase price, then put 2 or 3 hundred a month, car payment price into future repairs, or sell it. Remember that typical repairs are times 3 or Jaguars.
Yeah, I suppose that’d be an option for a lot of us here, but remember the OP admitted “but knowing next to nothing about cars, I’m not even sure what to ask.”
In her specific case, I think she needs to pass this one up.
$4000 to replace ball joints seems way to much, I think you are overestimating the cost. A front bumper can be loose and a few fasteners can make it functional. I think the car is worth about $4K to $5K, the $7K figure is for an excellent car which this isn’t.
If you can make it road worthy for about $2;000 then it might be a good car for the step daughter. I think you need to get a mechanic to look at it and give you an estimate of needed repairs.
Your MIL may have her heart in the right place…or she may be trying to dump the Jag on someone unsuspecting and look good doing so (which is what I’d suspect)…but I’m impressed that your step daughter has enough common sense to be uncomfortable with the idea
It’s a bad idea. It’d probably cost more to get that thing roadworthy and keep it on the road than your stepdauughter would spend buying a brand new econobox…or a late model Corolla.
No way $5k. Major hail repair = $2k, say $2k for the front suspension (who knows what else is wrong), undriven. possible collision damage (bumpers don’t normally just fall off). Good ones get bid to $4k on Ebay. So $4k - $5k = - $1k. A money loser.
Did a quick search, owners of this car seem to develop a love/hate relationship with it after a while. They love to hate it. it was built when Ford owned Jaguar, and it's based on the Lincoln LS platform.
For the record…Jag’s quality IMPROVED when Ford owned them. They were much worse for about 10 years before Ford bought them.
Wow, I am blown away by how many responses you’ve given and how helpful they are. After more research, it turns out that I can get a V8 version of the same car from a local dealer for $5k, so my $7k number was way too high and the $4k ebay number texases mentioned makes sense for one in excellent condition.
I learned that the last time it was started was by jumper cable 6 months ago, and it had been sitting for some time before that (I’ll guess another 6 months). The mechanic who looked at it a year ago said he could do the ball joints for $2500.
We’ll talk it over some more using this thread as info and figure out what we want to do.
Each front wheel has 1 lower ball joint that can be purchased for as little as $20.97 each at Rockauto. I don’t know why your quotes are so high. Even if they replace the whole control arm, that doesn’t have to be so expensive.