Clarkes jaguar

[adsB]

Does anyone have any experience with them, I have been there they have one hell of a great collection and really seem to know a lot about XJS's. If anyone could tell me of their experiences I would appreciate it, it's always good to have referrals and knowledge of who should work on your car.

[franrca]

I bought my most recent XJS from Clarkes last year - given I know nothing of cars from a mechanical perspective I was very lucky with my previous 91 model as it was in excellent condition and I bought it without any knowledge.

This time I thought I wouldn't take the risk, so purchased from Clarkes, aware that the car would be prepared for me and would be fully serviced , waxoyled, MOT'd etc and valeted.

The downside of using Clarke's is that you pay well over the odds for what the car is worth, even with the extras they provide - being lazy this didin't bother me too much as it was all done in one go and logistically was nice and easy. They also gave me a choice of what type of wheels I wanted and new tyres and battery.

From a valet point of view, the car was a dirty inside, so have cleaned it up myself and there was no road tax, which again was a bit irritating.

Their website is what you might call misleading in so far as it's not an accurate stocklist, even though the site as a whole is tinkered with regularly from a look and feel perspective (they advised me they didn't bother with the website any more when I asked about a car listed there).

Having said that, they are clearly enthusiasts and will spend a lot of time with you and show you around their very large selection - it's really best to go along and have a chat with them...just expect to pay a lot...I think they price thinking that the XJS will in the future hit e-type prices...'if only' is what I say.

[franrca]

Oh, I see you've already visited them...ignore that part of my post!

[adsB]

Hi Richard,
thanks for letting me know of your experiences. I was waiting to get my car back before I replied. Having picked it up now, I must say, not only are they amazing enthusiasts, as you say. But there enthusiasm doesn't come close to their abilities, what they have done to my car is astounding it's fantastic!
I was shocked when I saw the photos of what they did, especially when you look at my car now they've finished. It looks like it's brand new and just rolled out of the factory.
They are really nice guys who know their stuff. Not only that they can put up with a customer who is worried about their precious...

[Milan]

Do Clarkes do servicing as well? If so, has anybody used them?

[adsB]

Yep, just serviced mine with an MOT and they use the real jaguar filters. They'll tell you the reasons why. Give them a call it really is worth it.

[franrca]

When I bought mine, they quoted £350 for what I believed to be a basic service, so a bit pricey, and a consideration especially if you're travelling a distance. Might be worth it though just to have another walk around...think of it as an entrance fee! Would be interesting to know what adsB was charged if that's not an impertinent question.

Reading my car's records, it appeared that my car stood around for a while and had only done a few miles over a number of years (although it's overall mileage is 92k, so not low), so felt I should give it a mini service after 5 months to make sure all was right. Running it down to Clarkes wasn't really an option as it's too far.

After a tune up, oil change and all the usuals, my local Jag specialist felt that whilst all the correct Jaguar parts had been used previously, he didn't think those who had last worked on it were trained as specialists. Seems an odd comment considering the fleet of cars they have and their apparent knowledge. I didn't bother asking him to expand as I'm too lacking in the mechanical where-with-all. Maybe it's a case of one garage not liking the way another works, trying to protect their trade and gain trust. I did tell him that they were a distance away and not really currently in the running for future custom.

I'm not bashing them either - I'm very pleased with my car - other than a service, the main work I have had done is to have had the seats professionally cleaned by the chap DH Dove used and a patch of rust and poor paintwork sorted.

I also didn't get a spare key so bought another and an alarm switch...my challenge now is still trying to get the *!*@* thing programmed.

[BigCatXJS]

My XJ-S came from Clarks - the previous owner sourced it from them. He paid quite a bit for the XJ-S - more than what I paid him. However, it's a cracking example, so am really pleased with it.

[richardh]

I have only just picked up the post on Clarkes. I bought a facelift 4.0 last december (train to Stafford, view in railway carpark in the rain - should have known better at my age!), and as I knew there was some bodywork to do I took it to Clarkes. They checked the car out and listed potential problems i.e. rusted seat belt mountings, small rust area top of windscreen (they showed me an example of what it would look like under the rubber!), tired suspension, leaking diff pinion seal and some worn bushes. They also pointed out that it had 15" wheels instead of 16". This together with the suspension weakness would account for the couple of "groundings" I experienced.
I agreed to have all this attended to including a complete waxoil treatment. When I picked up the car everything had been done and the handling was greatly improved. The only problem remaining is an obtrusive vibration or rumble mainly at 50 to 60mph. we thought this was the 15" wheels and "awful" tyres, so I obtained a set of 16" Starfish wheels with serviceable tyres. Despite having them balanced and laser aligned, the problem is still there. The problem may have existed before the work was done and has been amplified - in fact Dave Clarke said there was a slight vibration on the first pre-work test drive which we put down to the wheels.
Clarkes are doing everything they can to help diagnose the problem for me and think I may need a recon diff. I agree that they are knowlegeable and friendly, and I will end up with a very good car indeed.