Classiche Certification- new rules

Hi all,

So I recently found out that if you decide to spend a small fortune to get your car certified with Classiche and receive the red folder with all your vehicles photos and information (which I have), Ferrari now expects you to go once a year to a Classiche authorised Ferrari dealership and have the car checked over to be sure that all the original parts that qualified it for certification are still on the car.

They will then stamp a booklet to say they have checked it and charge you a considerable amount (depending on the model) for the privilege.

They also state that if your car is not checked and stamped every year the red folder that you payed a kings random for is no longer valid.

If anyone has any further information to add to this I would love to hear it but my goodness, as it stands, Ferrari knows no limit to extracting further dollars off its customers.

Thoughts…

 

That sounds typical. I could see the writing on the wall a few years ago when they held the FCA to ransom for the "new deal". My vote at the time was to give them a very short conversation - two words, involving sex and travel.

 

I have not heard of this....curious who shared this information?

I will look into it tomorrow and follow up ASAP.

Unless someone were trying to get one over on the system, why would it matter if the car was re-inspected each year? Isn't the whole idea behind Classiche that the Ferrari be as delivered vs modified with aftermarket exhaust, fuel systems, radio, and the such? What good is it if you just swapped parts for the initial inspection, only to put it back to
non-compliant condition shortly afterwards?

Isn't the car going in for an annual service anyways?

I don't know that I would charge a client for a re-inspection , so if this were a thing, I would make sure we completed the" annual check up " with the " annual check up " , making it an easy process.

Seems like a value adder not a negative thing to me. And that is coming from someone who wouldn't be making any money off it , doing the re-inspection for free for the client. To bad you are so far South, that Boardwalk Ferrari cannot help you out.... :-(

More to follow..

S

 

WOW

They figured another way to shake us down and keep the cash flowing in!!!

Ok, I have always been unapologetically the most vocal about the nonsense of a classiche for a 308 - if you want it because the book is cool, etc. Have at it. That is no one's business but the owner/payer. Free market and all that.


But if this is true, Ferrari just priced this out of reach for a 308 owner who wants to have it to increase the value of the car. All you guys that want top dollar for the certified 308 better dump it now before Ferrari drains every last cent out of the premium being asked for the Classiche Red Book by billing you annually now.

How many years before that yearly payment eats up all the Classiche profit on a car that in the best of days struggles to see north of $75,000?

I'm keeping my car so if it were certified, screw them and the bill-a-year program. All I want is the first time stamp and signatures for my coffee table book.

The flippers are in trouble...

 

With all due respect, no one has said what the annual fee could be, if there even is one....
so what if the fee is $5.00 ? Is that so bad? What if the " fee " is free... they just want to see the car to make sure an owner isn't gaming the system? How long does it take to confirm what is in the book right in front of you? Maybe an hour? If the car is being serviced anyways, how is that a big cost to anyone? Owner or Shop? I don't see it.

Isn't there more value to a program being checked and monitored vs get the book, gain the value, then dup the next unsuspecting buyer, who assumed the owner didn't scam the system, then paying the buyer more for a car that is NOT what it is supposed to be?

I mean really... I see Ferrari adding more events that are tailored to Classiche cars , special category at shows and track days, etc. Adding value , not taking it away.


I'm open to the idea, but I don't believe it yet.

I've already asked the question, I should have confirmation tomorrow.

S

 

See here: http://www.ferrarichat.com/forum/vintage-thru-365-gtc4/554783-classiche-annual-inspection.html

 

Thank you for the link!

S

 

This same topic was just recently bantered about on a different section. I actually appreciate the reasoning behind this. Classiche is to verify, authenticate and certify that a car is original and/or within factory guidelines. Having a car certified once does not grant that authentificatiion for perpetuity. Then again, it isn't a requirement to have a care certified at all.

 

I can understand why. I came across a Daytona that went through Classiche. Unfortunately afterwards the car was altered and was a complete mess.

If one were to simply trust the original certification and not due their due diligence they'd get burnt. In the Daytona case, that is precisely what happened. They got auction fever and trusted the certificate.

 

My concern is when they eventually arm-twist the enthusiast clubs like FCA and FOC into requiring the red book as a condition of concours participation and/or judging status. You want to show your car, pay up. Clubs have a problem with that, don't use the Ferrari name. You want to enjoy your car at an enthusiast event, pay up. Didn't buy it from a dealer, or aren't the original owner, pay up. Hell, how about a registration fee for Ferrari.com if you want to document your ownership and get access to events and offers? Requirements to re-sell your car through an authorized dealer or advertise on their site in order to maintain classiche status? Where does it end?

I can think of any number of ways they can tie enjoyment of a used car to a certification requirement.

 

So, if you have an original car and intend to sell it, you can get if certified just before putting it up for sale, avoiding the annual fees. Then it becomes the next guys problem.

I've never considered having my car certified. I'm the original owner and if a buyer doesn't believe it's original, if I were to sell it, tough.

 

I suppose it depends on the fee.

100 bucks a year? Not much of a problem. 1000? Now it's getting interesting. Enzo era models can weather it for a very long time, not so much for a 308 And especially the Mondials.

 

This means Ferrari will be restarting production on all NLA parts, yes? So that we'll be able to replace anything that breaks with a true original... tres cool!

 

see below

 

WOW! This is brilliant! They have figured out a new revenue stream! Worthless books with worthless stamps, BRILLIANT!

 

Now on top of 3 year belt changes (I know, another can of worms topic for another thread) we are now on the hook for not just protection money to the black hand of northern Italy but a dealer's fee to inspect it once a year (who here believes Ferrari of Wherever is going to comp all these new annual inspections filling up the shop space?)

I am in the silent majority. I love my 308. I am not a slave to a conourse car that I have to now pay tribute to Ferrari to not drive and enjoy because doing so may dare decrease its value. If I want better parts, she gets better parts. If I want upgrades, she gets upgrades.




In other words I am free to enjoy my car

 

Amen, Tommy.

 

I've never considered it before, and I still wouldn't. My car stands or falls on the condition it's in on the day I sell it, and if I were a buyer, that would be all that matters to me.

I've always felt Classiche is meaningless rubbish.

 

It really isn't entirely.

For someone who winds up with, say, a 250 SWB and really really wants to find out the true history and restore it to exactly the way it left the factory, not how it looks today, Classiche is the only answer in many cases. THAT is what it really should be used for.

Now it just prostitutes an everyday 3 owner 1981 308 driver.

 

I have a Classiche Certified 1988.5 328 (certified a couple of years ago). So, what am I supposed to do to maintain the Classiche Certification? Would hate to miss some arbitrary deadline for inspection and be hosed... New rules apply only to Classiche certification going forward or retroactively as well?

 

In my opinion I wouldn't worry about it.

If you are going to keep the car, it is absolutely not a requirement. Why would you pay a fee to Ferrari and a fee to a dealer every year to give you confirmation that you did not change your car? Beyond absurd.

If you are going to sell it down the road and you DO HAVE a valid Red Book and your car is obviously tip top to the buyers private inspection, just how much is not having the annual updates going to hurt the value? Very very little and that is based NOT on the lack of updates, it is 110% based on how bad the buyer wants it.

And not everybody out there cares if you even have it. Most just want a good example


Leave worrying about this to the big fat ass high 6 figure vintage Ferraris. I'm telling you, this is just not a concern for the 3X8 owners based on the current and foreseeable future market for our cars. Even the best like yours.

 

With a Platinum award at the recent Pasadena Ferrari Concorso I guess I can sleep ok for now. I don't mind bringing it in annually and paying a minor fee for a brief inspection and stamp.
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I have a hard time believing you'll be held to the new rules. You made a contract with Ferrari that stipulated you would pay them money and they, in turn, would inspect your car and - if worthy - issue you a red book. I can't imagine the legal morass they're setting themselves up for if they suddenly declare their paid-for service revocable if you don't make future payments. That's basically a tying agreement, where you're forced to buy an auxiliary service in order to be allowed to buy the first one. Classiche never was promoted as an ongoing obligation before today. I've never heard of an instance in any other field where a letter of authenticity is revocable if you don't pay to reinstate it annually.

 

All makes perfect sense and is logical. Only issue is that Ferrari at times isn't overwhelmingly logical Regardless, hope you are correct. Instead, they will probably offer an update program to bring older Classiche Certified cars into the new annual program at a fee...

 

I think you can sleep well forever. If paying annually is what makes you happy and you don't mind doing it, you should do that as well.

The bottom line is it YOUR (very very nice) 328 and I don't see either decision on your part a mistake as long as you are satisfied.