Am I the only one with this problem?

No, it doesn't just happen to you.

The reality is , since someone else was in possession of your car for a period of time, you naturally think that any damage you find, or problems that occur after you receive your car, was caused by them!

This ain't necessarily true.

Consider the age of your vehicle!

It seems that we always want to blame someone else for coincidences.

 

That kind of stuff ALWAYS happens to me. I am not kidding.

 

Do your own work and it won't happen because you will take the best care of your own car. I used to always have these problems until I started servicing all of my own cars.

 

+1. Nobody appreciates your car as much as you and few people will take care of her as well as you.

But, no, you are not alone. I could drive my stupid minivan for a year and never have anyone scratch it, but it seems like every time I take the 308 out, I am dodging road debris, car doors, idiots in general, falling branches everywhere. And it's not just that I am more sensitive to it. I avoid that crap in my daily driver too.

Birdman

 

Funny you should bring this up. I thought I was the only one this happened too. I brought my 308 in for a gas leak repair. When I get it back, all of a sudden the dome light does not work.

 

Took my 81 308 for a minor adjustment. Front hood was bent when I got it back. They did not push the button to unlatch the front hood once opened. They did not want to admitt they did it. :-(

 

Happens to me too. I used to mentally catalogue all the "imperfections" in my 308. But whenever I see it on a lift, I find more. The closer you look, the more you find. I just found a brand new ding on the top of the quarter panel. I know 100% it wasn't there a month ago. Have no idea how it happened or where. But there it is.

The best thing to do is put on sunglasses and drive the car. I started having fun again when I decided not to keep a show car, but a driver's car. I still cringe when I see dings, chips, etc...but I figure I'll drive the heck out of the car and eventually, when the time is right, I will restore it.

It's true though, you take a car in for one problem and it comes out with another one. My car is almost 23 years old...things will pop up. I sure wish I could work on my 308 (lack of confidence and general knowledge get it the way). Luckily I have a good guy who does all the work. Very trustworthy.

 

The Hamfisted mechanic, otherwise known as hack, stooge, numbnuts... I have no idea why shops with half decent names hire these guys, but either by intent, carelessness or both, they are real good at f'ing up something anytime they get thier greasy mits on it. In a city encompassing almost 4 million people, I know of barely a handful of guys that I feel I could trust my car with. Thats pretty sad when you think about it.

 

This is exactly why I started fixing cars, I didn't trust anyone else to do it.

 

Screwups and carelessness notwithstanding, some of these cars seem to like being at the shop. On countless ocassions I have seen things break while the car was waiting for parts. The worst case was the BiTurbo that a guy dropped off for a timing belt replacement. One of the guys went out to bring it in the shop, it wouldn't start. The timing belt broke.

A leaking oil cooler or some electrical failure on a 20 year old car is not unbelievable. It is probably not the shop owners fault, don't expect him to pay.

As far as dents and scratches go, it is unacceptable but not surprising. In the abscence of before & after photos or some signed appraisal of condition prior to the work, there is not much you can do. It's possible that an employee did it (not going to "fess-up") or you could be mistaken (happened at McDonalds on the way home). Either way the shop owner gets the bad rep (he had it last). Repair shops are usually not in the business of damaging your car (not any I know).

That is not to say that unnecessary work is never sold. That $19.99 oil change always seems to get to $200 somehow. This is a despicable practice but unfortunately pretty common.

The best way to avoid surprises and unexpected "walletectomies" is to do it yourself. You will however still get the leaks and electrical adventures. You won't have anyone to complain to but us.

 

Here in the Denver Metro area, there are TWO great independent shops that I trust with my Ferrari: Scuderia Rampante, owned by Dave Helms, in Boulder, and Paragon Motors, owned by Matthew Krajac (sp?) in Centennial.

The owners of both of these places are highly competent and love Ferraris as much as I do. I know that nothing will happen to my car there.

I've found that Ferrari of Denver looks down their noses at "old" cars (pre-1995, I think), and they did damage my car when I brought it to them not knowing any better. To their credit, they DID make it right, but only after I brought it to their attention. Sorry, FOD, never again.

~Bradley

 

LOL :-0

 

I guess happens to us all, took the mondi in for its 70K service, no problems until a week later when the REALLY expensive synthetic oil started dripping from the gearbox...in eight years its never leaked before!!! Oh and then some prat nicked the Mondial badge off the back