Anyone know of the "best" place to take my XF for routine service in the Tampa area?

I would rather find out today from a previous owner's experience than run into "Murphy" myself. I believe in planning to prevent a disaster than finding out about a disaster after it has already happened... such as the 5 quarts of oil at an oil change issue. Amazing how lazy some people really are yet they proclaim to be THE expert when talking to them.

 

I bought my CF at St Pete Jeep/Chrysler. They only have one tech that is "certified" to work on them and it takes a while to get parts if you need them. But they were friendly and didn't give me any hassles. That's the only dealer I've used for service so far. I'd imagine if you had an appointment for routine service they should be ok. I haven't hit 3000 miles yet so I haven't had the routine service to determine how good they are.

 

Thanks for the input. I will try the dealer located on Park, but only after I verify that they have a certified XF technician on site. I will keep you all updated.

 

I purchased a Jeep Grand Cherokee from the dealer on Park a while back. They seemed ok. Never had any real proboems with them. Good luck. I'll be interested in your experience. If it's a good one, I might use the same dealer.

 

Well, when I initially pulled into the parking lot looking for help, I ran into a gentleman that appeared to be charge of the whole shop although I didn't see a name tag. He directed me to the Warranty Deeds department where I transferred the warranty information for recalls etc to my name. We discussed some issues that I thought the car had at that time and he didn't really know anything about the car. I went to the parts department and ordered the $170 second ignition keyfob and after being told it would be nearly 5 weeks to receive, I postponed any repairs. I will make sure they have a XF certified mechanic on board and I will have them go through the car top to bottom (preferrably with me watching). I thought I knew a lot about this car before purchasing it, but I obviously did not. I am very happy with the XF and wouldn't change my decision if I had the chance. This car (purchased used for under $25k by anyone) is the best deal on wheels hands down. Anyone else that says anything else is better is paying $10k more for the same style of ride. I hope I can find an awesome mechanic that can appreciate the car as much as all of us (well, almost all of us here in the forum.

 

Oy! It's nice to see that all of the dealers have certified technicians for the cars they sell. </sarcasm>

St. Pete Jeep does have a certified tech, I just don't know how often he's there and available. After reading the other thread re: Oil Changes, I'm not looking forward to my first.

 

Well, I will have my first oil change this weekend. I'll let you know the damage.

 

Ok, the Sun Coast Chrysler Dealership on Park Blvd in Pinellas Park is awesome!! They have their entire staff of mechanics certified to work on the XF. I was able to watch the mechanic until I was bored. This car is very well built IMO after looking underneath the car while on the lift. I was able to get the oil changed in about an hour (not as easy as someone else indicated earlier. You have to remove a splash guard before being able to access anything for the oil change. The total cost with tax was $91.25. I requested synthetic and they laughed indicating that Chrysler wouldn't let them put anything else in the motor.

D11 recall checked out great. There is 2 inches of clearance.

Window switches were installed correctly.

Radio has been ordered to replace the dim display.

Spoiler retracting on it's own, no override to keep it down other than pulling fuse... Well, I have a solution.

Look at the 2005 SRT6 Coupe. You will notice that the body is essentially the same as the 2004 Coupe. It is and the fixed wing on the 2005 is AWESOME -IMO.

I checked into the cost of replacing my motorized wing with the fixed wing. The cost? $1030 (plate, wing and bolts) plus $160 to paint and $140 to mount. Wing was ordered yesterday and will be in by this Friday. I will take some pictures once it is mounted. Or you can go look at the SRT6 as indicated.

 

That's great news!! Thanks for the report. I'll probably end up taking my car there instead of St Pete Jeep. Did you have to make an appointment?

 

Yip. I was very happy. I simply pulled into the service bay, handed them my recall issues and asked for an oil change. They told me the price (as if I didn't expect something over $100) and I signed the work order authorizing work. As mentioned before, I hovered the mechanic for about 45 minutes and finally went to sleep in the lounge. All in all, it took about 2 hours for everything to be looked at. Radio is on order and spoiler will be in this Friday.