Motors blows after Annual Service - dealer refuses to honor warranty

Last November, I took my 355 to a Ferrari of Fort Lauderdale after encountering a problem on the right bank. I had no compression and the FoFL cited cam gears as the culprit. I decided to have its annual service performed and the total came to a cost of $13K. Everything was thoroughly documented and copious amounts of photos were taken reassuring me that I had made the right decision to have my car serviced at an authorized dealer. After 5 weeks, the car was out of the shop and everything was running well.

Three months later, I drove the car up to Charleston, South Carolina where I planned to store the car in at my house. I come out one morning to start the car and I notice a horrible ticking noise. The nearest dealer is 300 miles away so I have taken it to a nearby shop (European Road and Racing) and its diagnosed as a valve hitting a piston. Great...

I call back to the dealer in South Florida and they suggested I have the car towed to Greensboro, NC at Foreign Cars Italia (FCI) since its covered under a two year parts and labor warranty at any authorized dealer. I agree. Truck comes the next day and picks the car up. Upon arrival, a three-way discussion among both dealerships and myself begins as to who is going to pay to have the diagnostic breakdown to determine the exact cause. I didn't think it unfair that FoFL pay for it since their work was at question. After two weeks of debate I finally got fed up and told FCI to do the diagnostic and I would pay for it.

FCI indeed confirms minimal compression on the right bank, cyl 1 has no compression and they believe all 8 exhaust valves are bent and a bore scope shows valve dents on the top of cyl 1. The shaft for the gear drive was "wollard out" by the key that holds the lower cam gear in place on the shaft. Upon inspection, FCi determines that all internal parts that were replaced during the service appear undamaged and they cite improper installation as the source of the problem and specifically indicate that since they do not see any failed part, there only conclusion is improper installation of the lower gear drive to keyed shaft. Cost to perform diagnostic -- $5500.

Naturally, I think, "well, at least its under warranty and not it will be fixed." FCI writes directly to FOFL and presents their findings. THIS PART BLEW ME OUT OF THE WATER....

FOFL refuses to honor the two year warranty for parts and labor because the gear they replaced during service were used despite written statements on the service agreement that no used parts would be installed on my car. I also have emails from the service adviser indicating that "all new parts had been installed." In addition they also reference having discussed with other dealers that this is a common failure. After looking through countless F-Chat threads, I couldn't find anything supporting that claim.

I attempted to negotiate with FoFL to get my car running again and suggested a simple refund for the "expert service" performed during my major - They declined.

I had no intention of sending my car to a shop that couldn't do the job right the first time and FCI chimed in offering to perform the service at a cost of around $25K for a rebuild. I thought, "Its not a brand new motor, but at least it get me back on the road." FoFL declined to pay the cost.

After that FoFL came back and indicated that if I shared half the cost, which comes out to another $12K out of my pocket I could have my car running again. I declined their offer.

After two months of further negotiations, debates, trading emails and phone calls, I parted with the car.

I truly believe Ferrari of Fort Lauderdale has engaged itself in dealership fraud with handling this matter and although may be an isolated incident, I HIGHLY ENCOURAGE anyone that considers using them to reconsider.

 

Major bummer. While I'm not optimistic, have you talked with FNA?

 

I talked to FNA once about a matter and it was similar to me looking at my bathroom wall and talking to the tile!

I would engage FoFL in litigation!

 

At this point I would retain council, but apparently you have already sold the car.


Kai

 

Yes, I spoke with FNA and they said they couldn't intervene because each dealer is an independent franchise. They said they have no direct authority over what dealers decide. I suggested that the pressure FoFL to resolve this matter diplomatically, but that never transpired.

 

The fact that I sold the car is irrelevant.

FoFL refused to stand behind their work and my only suitable option was to pay the fees racked up by the dealer. I could have very easily left the car in Greensboro but with the car sitting lift, it would have mounted in storage fees. I need a swift resolution. This was the only option available.

 

I would have sought the advice of an attorney before selling the car. I can't see any reason they would decline the warranty given your email trail.

There's always two sides to every story. But, this one makes me shake my head.

 

Wow that is horrible. Sorry to hear that you ended up parting with your car over this matter. Its horrible that there will be no reprimands against FoFL over this. All you can do is warn others not to get their cars serviced there.

 

Terrible, i hope it works out for you

 

i concur that you should not have sold the car without first consulting a lawyer. i realize that by that time you were already out nearly 20k, and didnt want to add to the pain, but FoFL appears to be the culprit and now you can no longer prove that.

the only thing that remains is to make a public warning as you have done so that other ferrari owners are aware of this incident.

are there any other florida owners on here that can opine with more info on that dealer?

 

Your absolutely right - and since FoFL is on FChat, I HIGHLY encourage and welcome an answer for their actions.

 

I don't think that the fact that I've sold the car is a limiting factor. I still have the emails, pictures, video (yes video) and statements from Foreign Cars Italia directly contradicting FoFL claims.

 

All auto repair facilities are regulated by their states. If they get hassled from the State, they can lose their license to operate. I can tell you in California, the one thing you don't want to hear from is the Bureau of Auto Repair.

An attorney who has worked with auto repair issues in the past in Fl could have helped perhaps kick it up a notch or show you where you have signed "something" that would lead them to have the upper hand.

Honestly, you seem to be wanting some vengence or retaliation at this point. And, I can understand that. But the fact is that it won't bring you back your car or your money at this point.

What's important is that we learn how to avoid this and that whatever the dealer has done properly or improperly comes out for the benefit of others facing similar situations.

Its right to bring this forward. But, instead of pointing fingers, it might be better to figure out what can be done now, what could have been done better, and how to avoid it in the future.

What's done is done... or so it appears.

 

Never going to happen for a million reasons, most of them legal.

 

Why didn't you immediately go to a lawyer after this? Seems easy enough with this evidence in hand.

Man, I am really sorry about all this. Wish you well.

 

Many here know my disdain for dealerships, hence always referring to them as "stealerships". So I'm biased of course.

There are going to be posters here who are going to write "I've been treated like a rockstar by FOFl".. I've known mesoscale personally and he's a 100% legit, honest guy that loved his 355. From what I know of the situation, it's something that ANYONE here would have made and there were no "red flags" that might have indicated this outcome. I'm sure that.. I know.. that parting the car was a very heavy decision that didn't come without considerable thought. Again, this is something that could happen to anyone who reads this.

Yet one more reason not to give a S%#t about what a stealership service department tells you or does for you. I wish European Road and Racing could have worked on the car.. he wouldn't have had these problems.

 

They are all different. I don't think you can take one incident and tarnish them all. The two I've worked with are great.

I don't know FoFl. But, the evidence here seems very weird that some solution could not be found.

I also don't understand why the two dealerships argued about who would pay for it or why the OP had to pay anything to have it checked out.

Something here is really weird.

Personally, I would have sent the car back to FoFL on their ticket and let them deal with their warranty agreement with you-- and not paid for any inspection. But, that's all water under the bridge now.

 

At this point can you still litigate to recoup some of your loss??

 

sounds like a lawyer missed out on some easy pickings
....

 

Because I've spent close to $20K in the past 6 months with no measurable benefit... ($13K for the service and $5500 for the diagnostic).

You can understand my hesitancy in dropping another $5K in attorney's fees that would take a year to resolve. Meanwhile storage fees at FCI would be mounting. Things just weren't in my favor. I had to act.

My preference was to "negotiate before I litigate."

 

I think so - but I'm no expert.

 

Once FoFL stepped back, he could have trucked it back there I suppose???

Other 355 owners can chime in about the "known failure" part, but common sense would indicate IF that was true special scrutiny on these parts would have occured???

Shafts and keyways don't just 'walk out' if properly put together, IMO.
These motors take a beating if assembled properly. (again IMO)

 

the documented "only new parts" vs a used part should have been a slam dunk.

 

Yea, I picked up on that, BUT in a Service you would not normally replace the 355 camshafts?? or these drive gears???
You would give them a CAREFUL inspection (maybe even some magnafluxing or whatever) and put them back in??

The Woodruff key, and more importantly the torque of the fasteners would be of critcal importance, as always.

It ran for awhile.

 

I'm sorry and I'm not being accusatory but... this makes little sense to me.

If I had in my hand a warranty from a dealer and the engine blew up, I'm sending it back to the dealer without paying one dime.

And, if they won't take it back, I'm finding a lawyer and suing. And, if they won't fix it, I'm suing.

You negotiate to a point and then hit them with all salvos. That's what warranties are for--- to protect consumers.