Ferrari Technicians in the USA and OEM Technical Support

Exactly so.

 

The Dealership creates a Service Entry for every Ferrari that comes into the shop with a work order
The Service Entry creates an avenue to open a line of communication with FNA and or Ferrari SpA called a Red On Line ( ROL for short ) which is a form of internal communication between all parties. This communication is proprietary and for internal use only. ( So don't expect to ask for or to get it )
The ROL may be sent for several reasons:
1. Technical Information Request
2. Factory Information ( To let the factory know about something the Dealership found while working on the car )
3. Approval to perform a repair or service
4. " Other "

Staying on point to your questions, the Dealership can ask for help in diag from Technical Support at FNA , who will then work with their internal tools , reach out to the Dealer network, or contact the factory for additional support, all of which would be passed back down to the asking Dealership. FNA has a birds eye view of the NA network , as do other branches in the world , so having this birds eye view would allow FNA to reach out to another Dealer that has experienced the same type of malfunction , therefore offering solutions and guidance to the asking Dealership.

If the answer cannot be found within the FNA Technical network , then they escalate the request to the factory who do the same thing. but on a global scale.

On a much smaller platform, Service Directors talk between themselves, and there may even be an e-mail group that organically flows back and forth when a situation comes up.

So, yes there is a " tech team " at FNA , that consist of 2 maybe 3 persons for the entire FNA network. They do they very best and we appreciate everything they do for us. But it can be difficult to keep up with all the request coming in day in and day out. Some of these request come in before Level I Diag has even been performed with slows the process down. Client Reports Car does not start... Did you check to see if the car has fuel in it yet???? That kind of thing.

Recently ( last several years ) Work Shop manuals transferred from actual books to online accessibility. Where we log into an internal website, enter a chassis number, and 80% of the information needed may be found online. The technician has to know what he is looking for and be able to follow processes obviously. All the answers are NOT available, but suggestions as to how to diag are available.

Porsche has added VR goggles and their own internal work shop manuals , that is really cool and I am sure effective for them. They are mass produced vehicles where a lot of what they do is the same day in and day out. Ferrari is not like that at all ( at least from my seat ) where in a shop with say 20 cars on lifts, no 2 cars will be there for the same exact reason at any given time... everything seems to be a one of one problem... which is why our training program is 18 months if you are already a Master Tech somewhere else....

Our shop is unique in that during the interview process I ask " Do you naturally find a way to say Yes? " Do you find a solution or are you going to tell me 10 ways it cannot be done. Then I follow up , that while you ( Tech ) is in charge of their own production , they will be expected at all times to share their knowledge with the entire shop when needed. And the same will be afforded to them when the time comes. This allows for 10 Techs to work together to help find solutions before reaching out to FNA or SpA
Which, we still do on a weekly basis ...

With all of this said, information does not travel quickly, can be affected by a persons attitude , a shops reputation, and a mass of other outside influences.... some even client related.

Hope this helps and answers some of your questions, I am happy to share, LMK if there is anything else I can share my opinion on from my side of the desk... LOL


Steve

 

Interesting Antidote:

We had a Portofino come in to our shop that an owner purchased from another non-Ferrari Dealer. He had a RHT concern that had multiple layers of malfunctions.
We would address one concern ( Top didn't cycle ) then a window wouldn't roll up after the RHT closed. Then we addressed that , then the other rear 1/4 glass wouldn't cycle with the top... and so on.

When we started diagnosis , working through level I and level II diagnosis , we got to a point where we needed more details / information... guess what, there was no repair procedures available. As in nothing. No wiring diagrams, no resistance charts, wire colors, etc... FNA could not help, SpA is busy doing their thing and so on. We had to locate another Portofino and use it as a known good unit and test between the two until we located the anomaly , then had to create our own repair.

This back and forth discussion with FNA and SpA takes days and weeks... remember , by the time we have a question to ask in Texas , Maranello is asleep , so we have to wait overnight to get an answer back in Texas... sometimes 2 days... as Maranello is fielding questions from all around the world.

Its not hard to rack up 30+ days for a diagnosis ... Oh, you want a part that is coming from the factory, yeah, that's going to be a few weeks at best...

ALOT goes on behind the scenes that is never mentioned... most owners don't care, they just want their Ferrari back ( ASAP ! )


Steve

 

Terrific perspective - thanks

 

I find it funny how sometimes when reading an actual electrical diagram from the manual, it leaves out the fact that a wire may change colors 4 or 5 times from the front of the car to the back of the car... I'm not sure which is more complex when it comes to wiring harnesses .. a Pista or F40 ( Joking )

S

 

It wouldn't be so bad if they stuck to a single format for diagrams and schematics. It seems every new guy to the department has a new better idea and it gets implemented. I thought the electronic virtual view in the 360 was the best they ever did but it got replaced with something that only made sense to whoever came up with it. Color code errors have been a fact of life since the 50's. That will never change and some of it I am sure is the fault or vendors. That has been an issue since the Dodge Brothers were vendors for Henry Ford. Like you I am sure, I never had an expectation of perfection, just someone who cared. With the complexity of the systems it is more important than ever before and it has never been a top priority.

 

Once upon a time, I almost opened a BMW motorcycle store. (I got beat out by Lyle Lovett.) The BMW Rep told me a lot of things. But, two that stick out were: One, your customers will know more about the bikes than you. When your customers ask whether BMW has fixed the doohickey in the whatdoyoucallit, don’t fake it. Just admit you don’t know, but can find the answer. Two, they would overnight parts from Germany within 48 hours.


Sent from my iPhone using FerrariChat

 

So, to re-iterate, bureaucracy, time-zones, and "interference" in some senses, would absolutely get in the way of following Porsche in their "fix-it" AR trend. (btw they company they sourced for the glasses went bust last year I believe).

Incredible insight though Steve, thank you for sharing.

 

Honda is doing small-scale AR (phones, not glasses) as part of the airbag recall campaign.

We utterly despise using that tool.

 

Sorry, I didn't word the question correctly. Does Ferrari (and other exotic manufacturers) pay the dealer service departments in flat rate hours using a labor time guide? And then, I know it is up to the dealer whether or not to pay the tech straight time or flat rate. Judging from your answer I would guess yes. It would just seem to me that a manufacturer that specializes in selling cars that are very expensive and generally sold to very fussy customers, would work closely with the dealer to make sure the customer is happy with their product. There is a GM dealer near me that pays their techs straight time, and they have an outstanding reputation for customer loyalty. And you better believe GM puffs their chest bragging about their CSI, all the while paying this dealer flat rate from the LTG's!

 

Ferrari pays only for warranty work. And yes, warranty compensation is why the service time schedules exist.

Mechanics working at a flat rate dealer get paid that way and mechanics not working at a flat rate dealer do not but they are paid by the dealer, and not Ferrari. Ferrari's flat rate times are the worst I have ever personally seen. For non warranty work flat rate dealers make up their own. I have seen other manufacturers with very fair and even very lucrative service times.I know some guys at Mercedes dealers doing nearly 100% warranty work and making a lot of money. Just one of a few reasons the Ferrari business has trouble attracting good people.