Don't do business w/ SPORT AUTO of N.C.

You may all remember my thread titled "What should I do". Well I should've listened to all you F-Chat members. You were all right !! I found a beautiful 348 Challenge car at SPORT AUTO of Summerfield N.C., phone number 1-336-643-9595. I spoke to the salesman at the dealer over 2 weeks ago. I was told the car was in perfect condition in all aspects, cosmetically as well as mechanically. After much to do, we agreed on a price, and a purchase order was sent to me, with the signature of the dealer. I signed the contract and sent it back, with a deposit of 3K, to show my good faith. Then the dealer tells me as they were prepping my car, it "Jumped Timing", and that it would cost them $6500 to repair it, which I would have to pay for. I know my rights and had a contract in hand, but I thought I would give the dealer the opportunity to do the right thing. I wanted to speak to the owner, Steve Barney, but was informed that he had to go on a vacation, and that he had asked that the deal be suspended until he get back(1week). Mind you I am his customer who gave him a down payment in good faith, but he fealt it was not necessary to call me in person, before he went on vacation, even though he was aware of the problem, and new I was an upset customer. Well a week rolled by and he never called me, so I called to find out that he had extended his vacation by two days, but he would call me FIRST thing this morning. Well by 2pm today, his time, I figured I wasn't exactly at the top of his list, and decided once again to initiate the call. Well according to Mr. Barney this was the first he had heard of him needing to return my call. Bottom line is that he was not going to make good on our contract, and had no interest in the business "AGREEMENT" that his representative had entered into with me. I did have this agreement looked at by my attorney, and was told it would be a slam dunk case, however I am not the legal type, and instead like to rely on a man's word, something Mr.Barney and his nickle and dime operation has no concept of. If a few thousand dollar repair is more important to him than his reputation, and his word, than so be it. I did warn him that I will forward this information onto you all, and that the F-Chat community is a very decerning group. Since thay are also a factory Lamborghini dealer, I will also forward this info onto the Lambo sights. He didn't seem to be the least bit concerned. Please pass on the word, on this dishonest outfit so that no other customers be taken for a ride, or forced to play the bait and switch game. I guess Lamborghinis are selling like hot cakes in North Carolina, and SPORT AUTO doesn't need my business, or any of yours!!!

 

If a 348 engine "jumped timing", then chances are that it has bent valves, and you ain't going to get THAT fixed for $6500.

 

Very unfortunate for everyone.

I don't live in NC, so I can't speak directly on this dealer nor the specific car.

However, no offense to the OP, but they have only been a member for like 1 month, its hard to take one side of a conversation/issue in general, especially from someone who is new and doesnt have a reputation. If PAP or Miltonian said it, I'd pay attention, but unfortunately, I dont know the OP nor the dealer.

Is the dealer on FChat? Do they care to respond? Is this all to the story? If they do respond, and indicate the story is the same as the OP said, shame on them. If not, well, lets just wait to see what is said.

James in Denver

PS If this is the same Sport Auto as I've heard about, they have a great reputation, but like I said, I'm not from NC.

 

That sucks!! I hope you find another one soon.
Must be nice to have a business that has so much money you don't care about customers.

 

are you saying you want them to fix it then sell it to you for the agreed price? why would you want the car after what happened to it? wouldn't you rather just get your deposit back and start your search over for a no-stories car?

 

Sport Auto has a great reputation. I'd bet a Dollar that there is a simple misunderstanding somewhere along the line.

If you've got a contract, whip out your camera phone, snap a pic, and post it here. Lots of good people would like to help you.

 

They could have simply shipped the car to you and fought it out later, which they did not.

They could have fixed the car, not told you, and when something broke a month later, boo hoo, too bad. They didn't do that either.

They gave you the option of walking away from the car, or apparently paying them to fix it, which I agree seems wrong, but is still better than the other two alternatives. Better to know what's going on with the car than have it crap out at day 61, when the short term warranty runs out on a car bought 3/4 of the way across the country from you.

If your story is the straight poop, I'd simply ask for the deposit back and walk away. According to your other posts it jumped timing one tooth? Enough to make it run rough, not enough to damage the engine? I don't know enough about it to judge, but if the car was drive for 1500 plus miles after the service was done wrong, I'm not sure I'd want the car anyway.

Let them fix it and sell it to someone else.

I'd also be very interested to hear their side of the story.

Dave M.

 

It is true that Sport Auto has a great reputation -- on FerrariChat. Many people on this board have had good experiences.

However, that certainly does not mean that they wouldn't, don't, and never did screw people.

Steve told us all in his previous thread what happened, and most people sympathized with him and gave him some good advice. I have no reason to disbelieve him, and I have every reason to consider what Sport Auto has done as reprehensible.

To me it also sounds like a slam dunk case. They can't deliver a car for a certain price that is not mechanically sound. He has a contract for the car, at a price. Funny that they should have wanted Steve to pay for their error -- they are the ones who have a bum car in their possession. In the auto business, you win some and lose some. They apparently weren't even willing to lose a little. They could have worked with him a little. They didn't.

 

I did terminate the deal and walk away. I do also know that Sport Auto has an excellent reputation, as I did a lot of research on them, before entering into a deal with them. That is ever more the reason to do the right thing, and take care of the customer. It is not the money, nor who said what, not even the car, it is the fact that I was a nice, understanding, patient customer, that was treated like sh*t by a dealer with an "excellent" reputation. I run a large business every day, and will do whatever it takes to make my customer happy, especially if the error is on my part and the customer is an innocent party.

 

Hey Steve,

I'll sell you mine for 65k
Probably the closest to perfect as I have seen...

And it's local





























JK, not for sale
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I'm glad you were, in fact, able to "walk away from it."

To me, admittedly having heard only one side of the story, it does sound like they tried to take advantage of you.

From a purely LEGAL perspective, though, it's all a question of what it said in the contract.

I don't live in NC, but I do have family there, so I'll tell them to beware. Thanks for the heads-up!

 

I've got mixed opinions based upon this thread. I just bought a Ferrari from Sport Auto and my mechanic had nothing to say but good things about Steve Barney, which too gave me a high level of confidence. However, he (Steve Barney) wouldn't receive an A from me on the transaction but does get a B. I won't go in to details. The one I bought was a consigned vehicle so I think the lesson here might be with independent dealers. Its important to find out if they hold title or is the previous owner involved. I was fortunate enough to have the owner involved which is a FChat member and that made the transaction flawless.

 

I bought my 355 Spyder from them in early January 2008 and have only good things to say about Steve Barney and Sport Auto. I traded my 328 to him and while he hit me pretty hard on the price he was easy to deal with and the exchange at my house in Houston, Texas went flawlessly. I saw that 348 while I was at Sport Auto and it looked like a nice car -- sorry to hear that it had an issue.

 

It is interesting that the previous owner, current buyer and dealer are all fchat members. So I think all the parties involved have an opportunity to tell their side of the story. I did find it strange that the previous seller sold the car a few months after he bought. But heck this can happen in Ferrariland so I didnt think too much about it.

I find it really strange that a car can jump timing when dealer prep takes place. What exactly is involved in a dealer prep. I thought that it was cleaning up the car and minor stuff. It wasn't a PPI by any chance was it.

You bought a car that was represented to be perfect by the dealer. Therefore I think they can either fix it for you at their nickel or you can walk away with your deposit. SportAuto has a fantastic reputation on fchat. I'm sure they will do the right thing.

 

I bought my 328 there. I would also guess there was a misunderstanding, based on the varying levels of technical expertise I encountered at SA.

Tom Jones (Ferrarioldman on FChat) did the major on my car when I bought it -- he probably could build a Ferrari from parts in the dark and the quality would exceed factory. Darrell Kimrey is a good man, but he has told me he's more of a salesman than a tech, and put Tom Jones on the phone with me a couple of times to answer questions. Steve Barney and I exchanged a few emails about the car's history -- as everyone here knows, I ask a lot of questions, and he was able to clear up what had/had not been done to the car. I asked him to clear up a couple of points regarding the service history, which he was able to do.

I think Dave is correct - if you have the option to get your deposit back and walk, I think you're getting treated fairly. A shady dealer would just send you the broken car or have do some kind of band-aid fix to move the inventory and let you deal with it later. If they're billing you for damaged goods before delivery, then SA does have some explaining to do.

My gut tells me SA wouldn't toss their reputation over a 348 -- and at least two guys from SA frequent this board, so they know word gets around.

Ever thought about an NSX?

 

They aren't tossing their reputation over a 348. They think their reputation is strong enough to withstand the possible effects of tossing Steve out the door. After all, in their eyes Steve is an unknown pee-on from California who doesn't even own any Ferraris; he is not a hotshot Ferrari collector known to have tens of millions in the bank.

I tell ya, the whole thing sounds pretty simple to me. They want to make full retail on the cost of a major service on top of an agreed price for a car that should have been deliverable without the service.

We all know that it doesn't take 40 hours to do a major service. That number is a standard in the industry; and when we sign up to be a part of the Ferrari legend, we also sign up to get bent over and reamed for 40 hours of labor each time we need a major service. But this is a special situation. This situation calls for a wholesale job, or something close to it.

We all know it takes a few hours to pop the engine out, a few to service the engine, and a few more to put the engine back in. Not even close to forty. Let's not debate that because many technicians and consultants on this forum have told us how long it really takes. There is definitely some wiggle room for Sport Auto -- they could have accommodated Steve in even the smallest way. But no -- they want that full major service retail profit also. They couldn't do it for, say, 15 hours at $100/hour plus the wholesale cost of parts. They don't want to sacrifice one penny. That is rapacious.

 

Just the fact that they asked the OP to pay for the reparation makes me want to puke. What kind of BS is that ?

 

Don't start with that Honda crap again....anyway, when has a 348 engine EVER "jumped time". what a joke. The cambelt is either "on" working or "off" because of failed tensioner bearings, waterpump or belt failure. it probably had a miss they couldn't figure out right away. What is the vin on that car so WE don't buy it??

 

Alot of dealers do have that attitude...

I bought my first Ferrari from Sport Auto in 2005. Exchanged emails with Steve Jones for about 2-3 weeks until I decided to drive down the 6 hours and look at it. Steve was kind enough to meet at the dealer before they opened and show me around the car. We went for a test drive and came back. By that time Steve Barney had arrived. Jones introduced me to Barney, who my impression was didn't care whether I was there or not.

I closed the deal with Jones and then Barney came into the room. He said about 10 words, thanks and got up and walked out. Dealing with Steve Jones was wonderful, he was great and treated me like I was the only customer in the world. I felt like Barney could cared less if I had ever stepped foot in the door. I just took it as his character, no big deal, I was happy as can be and left.

1 1/2 years go by.. I have made alot of upgrades to the car to better it. Professional detail, new plugs, new exhaust, repainted the lower rocker moulding all around, etc. Now it is time to get a 355 and sell the 328. My first call was to Sport Auto about a possible trade. Jones said he would start looking for a 355 for me. In the meantime he would tell Steve Barney I wanted to trade my car in. Barney got on the phone and I expalined all the upgrades, recent oil change, flushed entire braking system, changed trans fluid, etc..He offers me $14K less than what I paid for it---I almost died----Now I am thinking to myself--I am attempting to be a repeat customer, nothing but good things to say about the place, publicly thanked them many times, etc.

A week goes buy and I counter offer Barney, now mind you the 328's were starting to rise a tad in market value. No budge at all. I even was willing to take $10K less for it to get into a 355 they were selling. I told Barney---You sold me this car, you know it is in great shape, you know you can sell it quickly...No budge.....I was PISSED!!

I look back and realize he is a business man and is out to make money, I realize it is his business and he can set pricing for new cars, used cars and trades. No I wasn't in there buying a new LP640, but I felt my hard earned money should be treated the same as someone elses money, I didn't feel that way...I realize if I don't like it I can go elsewhere--I did and will not go back to Sport Auto ever again....

Ended up going to Lake Forest Sports Cars in Chicago to buy the 355--Where everyone in the building made me feel like I was a KING!!!!

PS - Steve Jones was awesome and would deal with him personally again, as long as he doesn't work for Sport Auto...

Just my 2 cent story....

 

Wait, a policeman is complaining about a classic "good cop, bad cop" encounter?!

 

LOL!!!! That was played tonight during the interview of the suspect---I helped catch a rape suspect tonight--I feel really good!!!!!!

 

You're a good man, Robbie!

 

nice collar congrats

 

When? I'll tell you exactly when. Mine jumped time on Oct 11, 2007 -- around 2:30pm EST. It bent all 32 valves. It happened when the fences on the lower driven gear broke apart and got sucked through the belt path. 32 valves, pistons nicked, waterpump shot, etc. etc. When the caps were pulled, the belt was still nice and tight, and all teeth were fully engaged. Mind you, this was exactly 1.3 miles down the road on a test drive, after installing a brand new 0-mile transmission. 1990 348ts. My 2007 cash into this car exceeded my total initial purchase. For everyone that keeps believing the timing system is infallible, you're wrong.

Oh yes, let me also point out that a good friend who lives just a few miles away here in North Carolina, also with a 1990 348ts, has his engine out/heads off right now beacuse of the same gear failure and resultant catastrophic belt failure.


Now, back to the original reason for this post...

I would bet a princely sum, there is a misunderstanding somewhere along the line. I don't doubt the prospective-buyer is upset and angry -- it happens. Did the lack of return telephone call suck? Yes, I'm sure it did. But I also know the Sport Auto people likely involved in this deal: Steve Barney, Tom Jones, Darryl Kimmery, and Steve Jones (no relationship to Tom). They are not interested in misleading a customer simply to close a deal. I've known them long enough to see how they operate under good circumstances and bad circumstances. When things are good, I've seen them go "over the top" with generosity and professionalism. When things are bad, I've seem them go even further to rectify the situation. Frankly, if the O.P. still has all his money in the bank, he's the winner in this transaction. Sport Auto now faces (even at internal costs) the financial loss of repairing a 348 -- and a cost they'll never re-coup from the sale.

I'm indeed sorry for the O.P.'s problems, but based on a limited (outsiders) view of this transaction, I think there's no need to throw Sport Auto under the bus as the title of this thread suggests.

 

I'm hoisting a cold German one to ya!!! Great job!

Prost!