Miles put on car during service???

Did you not read my post?? I said the techs could care less about road testing a Ferrari for no reason. Btw I run a Ferrari repair shop. We basically said the same thing. Maybe thicker lenses for your glasses would help ?

 

Wow I missed one critical word in what you wrote and it completely flips your meaning. I am sorry about that.

You and I are in complete agreement here. I thought it was one more mechanic bashing post.

I apologize.

Maybe I should get those glasses!

Again, please accept my apology.

 

I NEVER authorize test-drives outside dealer premises, period. If service department feels there's a need for that, they need to call me first to discuss. And I'd only approve service manager to drive the car, but most of the times, I personally do the test driving. I know this might not be the right approach for somebody not mechanically inclined, but fortunately, that's not an issue for me. And I've had enough problems with dealers (2 Ferrari ones), that I wouldn't do it any other way.

The golden rule of service is if you can't duplicate an issue at will, NEVER let a dealer drive the crap out of your car to try to duplicate it. I don't care what others say, there's absolutely no justification to drive a car 17 miles, let alone 75, especially without your consent. Only way to avoid that in the future is prohibit your car leaving the dealership without your consent. Problem solved in the future. For now, I'd demand an investigation. It's extremely rare to get a dash light after service not caused by them. Plus why the hell they drove the car for almost 100 miles total? Unbelievable, and unacceptable. Good luck.

 

By the time you get up to 75K miles, all of this will seem insignificant.

If you don't get up to 75K miles, then all sorts of other things are wrong with your priorities...

 

I'd be more curious to know where all the gasoline went.

 

Have you seen the price of gas lately? I would be taking customer cars anywhere I could just to save on gas.


LOL

 

Good advice. When leaving my car anywhere for work anywhere I don't know or trust the shop, I leave a post-it note on the dash saying "No Road Test". This prevents the tech saying "no one told me".

 

It probably wasn't a tech who drove the car, because as you say they drive them all the time, it was one of the other employees.i am too old,had too many cars, had too much shop work done, to even remotely give them the benefit of the doubt. In all my years I have never seen even 10 miles for service work. This was joy riding ( or theft as noted by one poster) plain and simple. Oh,and do you suppose they red lined it a few times.The OP was apparently out of town and maybe this was a contributing factor.

I would investigate and document this very carefully with FNA and be ready to blame them for every maintenance issue that ever arises on this vehicle.

 

To some of the comments here:

It's just a freakin car. It's not like the mechanic took your daughter out on a date or something.

If you don't think your car can be trusted with your mechanic, get another mechanic. When you buy a Ferrari, you marry your mechanic.

 

1/2 tank of gas to travel 75 miles. Enough said.

Contact FNA.

1. The dealer should have obtained your prior permission. They did not.
2. The dealer should have informed you after. They did not.

Lack of transparency usually indicates lack of good intentions.

 

What exactly is FNA going to do about it?

 

Give the service manager a spanking.


LOL

 

Take away Spider build slots and give them to my dealer.

 

Fat chance!

 

Makes sense to me. They probably should investigate (as already mentioned) and supply a specific explanation but this idea of buying a car and fearing putting any miles on it seems silly. In the end even a Ferrari is a car built to drive not sit on a platform.

 

On the Cali it is shown on the left display screen in the trip computer. One of the things it shows in max speed, along with distance until empty, how many miles you have gone so far, etc.

 

I had a recurring CEL on my Scud that was repaired twice and then promptly came back on. The third time I said please get it fixed correctly this time, they drove it 100 miles and figured it out. Didnt really bother me, but they did explain it to me.

 

Heavy passengers or heavy right foot to get ~6 mpg.

 

Or excessive idling to see if alternator is charging the battery.

 

That had to be an expensive service persuming they charge by the hour and obey local speed limits.

Regarding the 17 and 75 miles, I would "inform" "instruct" "tell" service that if a test run is necessary to request it first. I would also make sure that the "service manager" knows and approves. Best

 

I love this forum. I never thought this would draw this much reaction. Thanks guys!

Let me start by say my memory was incorrect and it was in fact 66 miles not 75. That being said, this is my 54th new car and 3rd new Ferrari, and I've always made a habit of checking my mileage when dropping my cars off for service. For example with my BMW's the mileage is automatically recorded on the work order, so it’s rather automatic. I think it’s just a good habit when driving expensive high performance cars.

Like many of you I’ve had hundreds of issues over the years, several of which took extensive test drives to diagnose. To date, 18 miles is the most a dealer has put on one of my cars, and that was to diagnose an intermittent transmission problem that only appeared when the car got extremely hot. Is it possible that some unusual problem would require several test drive to resolve and repair? Sure. But if you read my post, this was a electrical error message that the dealer claims they found no issues with, charge the battery up, and returned the car. Does that add up?

Don’t get me wrong. I drive my car every single week and couldn’t give a **** about 66 miles. I just hate being taken advantage of. And besides, who know where the car went, who drove it, and whether it was abused. We pay $300 grand for these toys, and deserve to be treated with a little respect by our dealers in return.

When I get back in town I plan on meeting with their management team, and talking this through.

 

Sounds reasonable.

 

Arnie,

Without knowing what they did and who drove it, it is hard to tell what happened.

That is not to say you aren't owed an explanation, but in the big picture life is short and if they did need to take it out more than once, to find, diagnose and test the car, what would the mileage need to be so that you would not feel taken advantage of?

Once you know that figure and look at what they actually did mileage-wise the difference is much smaller and probably not worth raising cane over. Not worth your time and certainly not worth the possible negative reprocussions for the dealer and in the end your relationship with them.

Sometimes you have to step back and try to look at the big picture, being you are on vacation it may be a perfect time to reflect on all that. You can approach it either as a damaged customer or you can approach it as learning experience, but either way, it is IMO not worth ruining your vacation over it........at least not in the big picture.

 

For real