PPI in Greensboro, NC

SportAuto is a good group to work with. If the car is on consignment, then I would let Tom Jones at SportAuto do the PPI. He's as honest as they come and I'm sure you'd get an objective report.

Failing that, Foreign Cars Italia is just down the street about 12 miles. They're the authorized Ferrari dealer for the area. (336) 294-0200.

 

I know most of the people at SportAuto and I think they're all stand-up, professional people. Steve Barney, the owner, is as good as they come and a long-time legend in the area. Tom Jones, their chief Ferrari mechanic, is a talented mechanic and a really great guy for tech help. I've never heard of a bad experience with this dealership and that's pretty rare in the exotic community.

That said, business is still business and I would normally recommend an independent review. I don't know which car you're looking at, but even an independent review isn't perfect - if FCI has a similar car, there's a possibility they might steer you towards theirs while reviewing the one you're looking at. That's business too.

My recommendation would be to talk to both parties. Call Tom and ask him what he knows about the car and how he feels about doing a review of an in-house car. Call FCI and talk to their service manager or mechanic and see who you get more warm fuzzies from.

A PPI is a great idea, but it's not a guarantee that you won't have problems the minute you drive off the lot in your new toy, nor will it normally be the kind of information that makes you buy or forget a particular car. Really all you can expect it to do is to allow you to go into a deal with your eyes open and know the situation you're getting into. If it calls for it, sometimes it will give you some negotiating leverage. Really the only impartial information you'll get from anyone will be compression/leakdown test results and any information that the car's ECU can provide (depends on the model). Everything else depends on how thorough the review is or how much budget you give them for the PPI (time=money).

It's just a smart way to make sure that the Ferrari that's tugging on your heart strings doesn't short-circuit your brain. Good luck!!

 

285ferrari,

Which car at Sport Auto are you going to see?

I may be driving up there this weekend as well to look at a couple of cars.

And I have heard some really good things about Sport Auto, too. One of their guys (their web guy) sent me what seemed like a fair evaluation of the cars I am interested in seeing. I asked about a small group of cars and he sent me his take--negative and positive. While I'd never buy a car based on just that (of course), it did give me some initial insight into their present inventory that was of interest to me.

 

Try Peter Krause of Krause & England at 919.781.1871. Peter is one of the best.