Dear Spies,
Just made a trip to the local body shop to drop off a new Mini
Cooper S that somebody backed into the driver's side door. Some
lunkhead in his Volvo backed right into the car. They aren't that
small that they appear invisible in the rear view mirror.
Anyway, the owner of the collision repair center took us into the back of
his shop to show us the brand new Jaguar sedan with the all new
aluminum body and aluminum frame. It seems the beautiful big
Jag had only 150 miles on the odometer when the owner bumped
the front end of the car ( sad ). The impact was ever slight that
the airbags didn't even deploy but the front end assembly would
have to be replaced. The shop personnel couldn't believe their
eyes when they had removed the ugly parts to discover that the
aluminum frame itself had broken completely through in such
a minor impact!
This repair shop is known for doing very good work and
just about all the high end dealers bring their cars here for repair
work because of the quality of the repairs that they perform. The
guy driving his 500S or Porsche Carerra wants to bring their cars
here as well because their reputation is so good.
The owner of the shop is used to working on a lot of expensive
high end cars equipped with all the technology and improvements
and his staff is rarely caught by surprise but the new Jag definitely
had them bewildered as to how to fix this problem. No bolts or
rivets or anything...
Bottom line is that the Jaguar owner and his insurance company
are in for a shock when the true cost of the repairs is revealed and
that the car's ultra high tech aluminum frame buckled like a folding
lawn chair from the discount rack at K-mart.
I have to admit the appearance of the big new Jag is beautiful
in person but hopefully this experience is not indicative of what most
owners can expect to endure during the lifetime of the car.
Thanks, and keep up the reporting.