On January 29, 2011 I drove to Genuine Motorcars to complete the purchase of an 11, 000 mile Jaguar XK convertible on which I had placed a credit card deposit based upon my discussions with Jim DiGuiseppe, the sales manager. During our discussions, I had asked what would make the car less than perfect. His response was a little paint bubbling about the size of a pencil eraser on the top of the quarter panel. He mentioned nothing else. When asked specifically about the seats, I was told there was "no wear".
To put my complaint in context, one has to consider that I was paying $40, 000 for Jaguar's high line luxury sports car. I was not buying a used family minivan. This was stated in the car's ad, " THIS BEAUTIFUL FROST BLUE JAGUAR XK CONVERTIBLE IS A SINGLE OWNER, GARAGED, SMOKE FREE, ULTRA CLEAN VEHICLE". These quotes are from their website:
" We are actively engaged in purveying the finest in pre-owned luxury motor vehicles for a discriminating clientele who insist upon owning nothing but the very best. We strive to provide a no-nonsense approach to the task of providing our growing list of clients with the finest luxury and exotic automobiles money can buy"
" our objective is to give our customer more car, with low miles, in pristine condition for a lower price than our competitors"

After driving 4 hours and bringing a friend to help me drive the car back, this is what I found:
-A scrape under the front bumper. No problem. It's quite common and doesn't show.
-The pencil sized paint bubble was greater than the width of a quarter across and about the height of a dime. I would guess that eight or ten pencil erasers would be required to cover bubbled area. The bubbling looked like rust bubbles which you should not have on an aluminum car but none of us could figure out the cause. What Jim and Joe Case, the owner, did agree on is that it would be too problematic to try to fix since it would involve painting a large area and having to blend into other areas. (I would agree because the silver/blue metallic paint can be difficult to match and the blend area would have to go onto the trunk lid and maybe door). So whoever buys this 40, 000 dollar, 11, 000 mile Jaguar is going to have to live with an ugly blemish. I was expecting and could have lived with an eraser size area, but nothing like this.
-Wear on the bolster of the driver's seat which one should not see on an 11, 000 mile car. Not just around the stitching but another worn patch further out in the bolster. When I mention to Jim that he had told me "no wear", he responded that he didn't say that. (A friend with a 55, 000 mile XK says his is just starting to show wear).
-Curb scars on all four wheels. One scar spanned a distance of about a foot! When the foot long scar was pointed out to Jim, he responded "you call that a curb scar". Well, my jaw practically hit the floor. Maybe I don't know what a curb scar is, so in the interest of full disclosure, I believe that only the paint was scraped off for this particular scar but the rim was not turned into hamburger meat.
-A scratch on the rear quarter 1 to 1 1/2 long, much too deep to be rubbed out.
-A hairline crack in the paint on the rear bumper about 3" long, of the type I have seen created from a small bump.
At this point I stopped checking the car. I did no road test or check of the accessories so I don't know if these were the only problems.
To further put things in perspective, this car was in a showroom with about 15 cars, a sales person, the sales manager and the owner and had been there for over a month. They undoubtedly knew why it hadn't sold and later told me it was on its way to auction when I put down my deposit.