Collecting car from a dealer - what to expect?
Discussion
I should be picking up my XKR-S from the (approved Jaguar) dealer next month, and was curious as to what I should expect when I collect it, as I've only ever bought 2 cars from a dealer before - the last being over 13 years ago.
It's not a cheap car, so should I expect to get the full red carpet treatment, unveiling in the showroom and free goodies?
Or just handed the keys in the carpark, and pointed in the direction of the nearest petrol station to fill up? 
It's not a cheap car, so should I expect to get the full red carpet treatment, unveiling in the showroom and free goodies?
Or just handed the keys in the carpark, and pointed in the direction of the nearest petrol station to fill up? Horbury56 said:
In all honesty, it depends on the dealer. Which dealer are you buying from?
True - I was just curious to see what other people had experienced. I don't really want to name the dealer, as based on my experience so far I'm not expecting the full-on VIP treatment, but I will remain optimistic that I will enjoy the experience 
jeremyc said:
I'd expect them to provide your flat cap, pipe and string-backed driving gloves at a minimum. 
Oh I have those already 
Here in the USA we treat the purchaser of a certified used Jaguar the same as we would a new customer. That means the car is meticulously prepared, you receive exceptional service and are given a comprehensive hand over of the vehicle followed by a reprise handover at a time and place that suits you should you so wish. We don't usually stage in the showroom for CPO as we would a new car but I might make an exception for an XKR-S.
ehasler said:
True - I was just curious to see what other people had experienced.
Well, FWIW I'm happy to share my experience. This was Stratstone, Stoke, just after Christmas. I collected a new XFR.I got a phone call shortly before Christmas to say the car was there, and agreed a day to collect it. Then they sent me an email with a link to a video of the car concealed under a red dust sheet.
I was travelling from Hull (Christmas holidays and all that) and went down to Stoke by train. One of the sales execs collected my wife and me from the station and took us to the dealer where I signed the final paperwork and sorted the initial payment. This took 10-15 minutes, but I had called in a few weeks previously to sort out a lot of the other forms.
Then I had chance to savour the car and have the handover, but to be honest I'd been waiting with such anticipation that I pretty much knew the handbook back to front anyway!
So, a very good experience for me. From comments I've seen other customers make, this is pretty much middle of the road. Some dealers provide champagne and flowers, others toss you the keys in a rainy carpark.
I hope you get the better treatment!
Horbury56 said:
So, a very good experience for me. From comments I've seen other customers make, this is pretty much middle of the road. Some dealers provide champagne and flowers, others toss you the keys in a rainy carpark.
I'm pretty sure "tossing the keys" would not happen with a new Jaguar. Apart from anything else the salesman needs a perfect CSI survey!Collected my XF 5.0 V8 last June and I did not expect anything special...the car was not new, it was just 5 years old. I went into the showroom to deal with the paperwork and afterwards my car was rather splendidly revealed when a scarlet cover was whipped away! It was immaculately prepared, which is what I expected. I got a Jaguar umbrella and the wife, who was not there, was sent flowers.
The JMD dealer was Guy Salmon, Thames Ditton.
R.
The JMD dealer was Guy Salmon, Thames Ditton.
R.
Hope its not this dealer http://www.pistonheads.com/gassing/topic.asp?h=1&a...
I was really disappointed with my Jaguar collection experience. I'd come from Porsche where there was much fanfare, gifts and a private presentation area with velvet ropes carpet and my name on a sign; the car under a branded cover alongside images of famous Porsche's throughout history.
My jag experience... my brand new F-Type was parked in the car park. No cover. No ropes, no carpet, no gifts, no champers etc etc. The dealer took ages to sort the paperwork and then handed me the key and said 'enjoy'. That was it! Tbh these things don't mean a huge amount to me, but given the cost of the car I expected more given my experience with Porsche.
I bought a Cayman GTS a few weeks ago.
My jag experience... my brand new F-Type was parked in the car park. No cover. No ropes, no carpet, no gifts, no champers etc etc. The dealer took ages to sort the paperwork and then handed me the key and said 'enjoy'. That was it! Tbh these things don't mean a huge amount to me, but given the cost of the car I expected more given my experience with Porsche.
I bought a Cayman GTS a few weeks ago.
wellzee said:
I was really disappointed with my Jaguar collection experience. I'd come from Porsche where there was much fanfare, gifts and a private presentation area with velvet ropes carpet and my name on a sign; the car under a branded cover alongside images of famous Porsche's throughout history.
.
That's just to take your mind off the fact you've bought a 50 year old design! .
Some Jag dealers are crap though.
wellzee said:
My jag experience... my brand new F-Type was parked in the car park. No cover. No ropes, no carpet, no gifts, no champers etc etc. The dealer took ages to sort the paperwork and then handed me the key and said 'enjoy'. That was it! Tbh these things don't mean a huge amount to me, but given the cost of the car I expected more given my experience with Porsche.
The cost of the car is irrelevant.I'm shocked to be honest. Did you not get a "delivery experience" survey about a week later? JLR set great store by (and go to great lengths to ensure) a first class customer experience. Tossing you the key in the parking lot does not qualify.
In the US (and I cannot believe the system is different in the UK) we are expected to get perfect scores on the delivery experience surveys, get bonuses for achieving that and they also count towards our status with the manufacturer. Dealerships are also judged on these surveys and most sales managers receive $$$ when their team do exceptionally well. It's not unheard of for sales people who sell well but get poor customer returns to be let go. Each year the top 15 sales people in North America, based on a mix of sales volume and customer scores for LR and Jaguar are awarded master guild status. I won it last year and as well as the achievement I received a lot of goodies, a $6k trip and an extra discount on my F-Type R, mainly for delivering a great customer experience.
The point is, nobody here would ever toss the customer the keys of a new car (whatever make) and send them on their way. In fact JLR have run courses on brand advocacy and delivering a luxury car experience here in the past year and I was present last year when Andy Goss gave us a speech on the same subject in the UK. If your experience truly was as you outlined the salesman deserves to be thrown under the bus and you should complain to his GM.
I bought a used STR. Chucked the keys in a rainy car park is about right.
Just enough fuel in it to cover getting to the next petrol station - verbally promised half a tank on agreeing to buy, then on the day of pick up I was given the paperwork which said "full tank" which they guy grabbed off me and scribbled out.
But worst was warranty. I felt scammed. Everything was "approved used" in discussions and the only question was 3 or 12 months. Later found I'd signed for a "select" warranty.
I have had better experiences buying from car supermarkets.
The dealer has since closed and it was Jaguar, not the chain, that sent me a list of alternatives.
Just enough fuel in it to cover getting to the next petrol station - verbally promised half a tank on agreeing to buy, then on the day of pick up I was given the paperwork which said "full tank" which they guy grabbed off me and scribbled out.
But worst was warranty. I felt scammed. Everything was "approved used" in discussions and the only question was 3 or 12 months. Later found I'd signed for a "select" warranty.
I have had better experiences buying from car supermarkets.
The dealer has since closed and it was Jaguar, not the chain, that sent me a list of alternatives.
unrepentant said:
The cost of the car is irrelevant.
I'm shocked to be honest. Did you not get a "delivery experience" survey about a week later? JLR set great store by (and go to great lengths to ensure) a first class customer experience. Tossing you the key in the parking lot does not qualify.
In the US (and I cannot believe the system is different in the UK) we are expected to get perfect scores on the delivery experience surveys, get bonuses for achieving that and they also count towards our status with the manufacturer. Dealerships are also judged on these surveys and most sales managers receive $$$ when their team do exceptionally well. It's not unheard of for sales people who sell well but get poor customer returns to be let go. Each year the top 15 sales people in North America, based on a mix of sales volume and customer scores for LR and Jaguar are awarded master guild status. I won it last year and as well as the achievement I received a lot of goodies, a $6k trip and an extra discount on my F-Type R, mainly for delivering a great customer experience.
The point is, nobody here would ever toss the customer the keys of a new car (whatever make) and send them on their way. In fact JLR have run courses on brand advocacy and delivering a luxury car experience here in the past year and I was present last year when Andy Goss gave us a speech on the same subject in the UK. If your experience truly was as you outlined the salesman deserves to be thrown under the bus and you should complain to his GM.
Whilst I understand what you're saying, I don't agree that the cost is irrelevant - if you bought a jacket from Louis Vuitton, you'd expect a more personal service than if you bought a jacket from Target right? Perhaps a little bit far fetched but you understand what I'm getting at. My account was as happened, I loved the car, I have no issue with Jaguar, I just felt very underwhelmed by the service at collection time. This was a big day for me, a car I'd been waiting for for a long time and I felt quite disappointed. I received 2 surveys, one about experience and one about engineering quality. However, the questions in the experience survey were fairly vague and I've heard nothing since I completed it. I'm honestly not that bothered, I was just giving an honest account of my experience. It wouldn't put me off buying another Jag, but seeing other people's experience, it would put me off that dealership in the future.I'm shocked to be honest. Did you not get a "delivery experience" survey about a week later? JLR set great store by (and go to great lengths to ensure) a first class customer experience. Tossing you the key in the parking lot does not qualify.
In the US (and I cannot believe the system is different in the UK) we are expected to get perfect scores on the delivery experience surveys, get bonuses for achieving that and they also count towards our status with the manufacturer. Dealerships are also judged on these surveys and most sales managers receive $$$ when their team do exceptionally well. It's not unheard of for sales people who sell well but get poor customer returns to be let go. Each year the top 15 sales people in North America, based on a mix of sales volume and customer scores for LR and Jaguar are awarded master guild status. I won it last year and as well as the achievement I received a lot of goodies, a $6k trip and an extra discount on my F-Type R, mainly for delivering a great customer experience.
The point is, nobody here would ever toss the customer the keys of a new car (whatever make) and send them on their way. In fact JLR have run courses on brand advocacy and delivering a luxury car experience here in the past year and I was present last year when Andy Goss gave us a speech on the same subject in the UK. If your experience truly was as you outlined the salesman deserves to be thrown under the bus and you should complain to his GM.
unrepentant said:
The cost of the car is irrelevant.
I'm shocked to be honest. Did you not get a "delivery experience" survey about a week later? JLR set great store by (and go to great lengths to ensure) a first class customer experience. Tossing you the key in the parking lot does not qualify.
In the US (and I cannot believe the system is different in the UK) we are expected to get perfect scores on the delivery experience surveys, get bonuses for achieving that and they also count towards our status with the manufacturer. Dealerships are also judged on these surveys and most sales managers receive $$$ when their team do exceptionally well. It's not unheard of for sales people who sell well but get poor customer returns to be let go. Each year the top 15 sales people in North America, based on a mix of sales volume and customer scores for LR and Jaguar are awarded master guild status. I won it last year and as well as the achievement I received a lot of goodies, a $6k trip and an extra discount on my F-Type R, mainly for delivering a great customer experience.
The point is, nobody here would ever toss the customer the keys of a new car (whatever make) and send them on their way. In fact JLR have run courses on brand advocacy and delivering a luxury car experience here in the past year and I was present last year when Andy Goss gave us a speech on the same subject in the UK. If your experience truly was as you outlined the salesman deserves to be thrown under the bus and you should complain to his GM.
When I picked up my new F Type V8S (I am in the US), other than the car being on a red carpet in the showroom I really didn't think the experience was very special - the salesman sat in the car for a few minutes with me to explain the controls, seemed like he wasn't all that familiar with the features and sent me on my way within a few minutes. Certainly didn't feel like I was picking up a prestige car. I felt I got more of a VIP experience from the service department in my local BMW dealership when taking an old 3 series in for servicing !I'm shocked to be honest. Did you not get a "delivery experience" survey about a week later? JLR set great store by (and go to great lengths to ensure) a first class customer experience. Tossing you the key in the parking lot does not qualify.
In the US (and I cannot believe the system is different in the UK) we are expected to get perfect scores on the delivery experience surveys, get bonuses for achieving that and they also count towards our status with the manufacturer. Dealerships are also judged on these surveys and most sales managers receive $$$ when their team do exceptionally well. It's not unheard of for sales people who sell well but get poor customer returns to be let go. Each year the top 15 sales people in North America, based on a mix of sales volume and customer scores for LR and Jaguar are awarded master guild status. I won it last year and as well as the achievement I received a lot of goodies, a $6k trip and an extra discount on my F-Type R, mainly for delivering a great customer experience.
The point is, nobody here would ever toss the customer the keys of a new car (whatever make) and send them on their way. In fact JLR have run courses on brand advocacy and delivering a luxury car experience here in the past year and I was present last year when Andy Goss gave us a speech on the same subject in the UK. If your experience truly was as you outlined the salesman deserves to be thrown under the bus and you should complain to his GM.
EK993 said:
When I picked up my new F Type V8S (I am in the US), other than the car being on a red carpet in the showroom I really didn't think the experience was very special - the salesman sat in the car for a few minutes with me to explain the controls, seemed like he wasn't all that familiar with the features and sent me on my way within a few minutes. Certainly didn't feel like I was picking up a prestige car. I felt I got more of a VIP experience from the service department in my local BMW dealership when taking an old 3 series in for servicing !
Sorry to hear that Erik, not what's required. I assume you reflected that in the survey you got a week later? Whether it's a base XF or Evoque or a Range Rover Autobiography we always try and make the experience as special as possible. Gassing Station | Jaguar | Top of Page | What's New | My Stuff