Nice 355

Registry indicates damage...leather looks kinda dried out (but it is black interior on an 11 year old convertible). as always, caveat emptor...

http://www.ferrari355registry.com/Ferrari_List.asp?pSel=VIN&pVal=108056

 

They listed the car with no known damage or accidents, but the dealers FAQ shows they do a carfax on the car....ummm...what else are they not telling you...

 

+10 to the registry!!

 

well, since the car was wrecked and they failed to disclose the information, I offered them a very reasonable offer (well, reasonable if you want it for free). They send me a message and said...as i quote "F OFF ******* - THE CAR IS SOLD!" I further asked if they disclosed the information to the new buyer and they said as I quote, "LOL." They must not be serious abou selling cars...I know I ha no intention of purchasing the car, but for me when the add said he car was clean and carfax said it was, well whatelse are they lying about and how can you honestly sell a car no matter what the price is without saying the car was damaged in a wreck.

 

If this is how they answered you, here's what I would do: As per that item's page, the person who won this item with a Best Offer of US $53,000.00 goes by the Ebay name of "siliconvalleyx". I would open an ebay account and get in touch with this person and inform him about the accident and advise him to run a Carfax check. Then I would email the dealer again and inform him that his scam has been revealed to the buyer, then I would tell him that now its his turn to "F OFF"!!!

 

Ahhh...the triple black 355. I wrote these guys a month ago to tell them to alter their EBAY ad. No reply at all.

 

Wrote to the buyer, siliconvalleyx via Ebay:
"You should be aware that the triple black F355 you just bid on was in an accident. You should run a carfax on the car, the accident is noted in the carfax."

I came close to driving to Shavertown to check out this car. It looked too good to be true, and it was. Luckily carfax saved time. It would probably be useful for anyone referencing a car to include a vin number as then other discussions on FChat could be easily cross-referenced/searched ZFFXR48A4V0108056. We discussed this car here a month ago.

The F355Registry does well.

Brings up an interesting question. Should siliconvalleyx get to renegotiate now that he has committed to the deal. Maybe he was aware of the accident before he bid.

M

 

Pepsi,
I have two takes on this....it is up to the buyer to fully check the car out before buying it, but on the other hand the dealer said the car was clean with no carfax report....I would have to side with the buyer and have the deal renegotiated...

 

I as well have sent an email to the buyer writing, "Hey....the Ferrari you just purchased, please look here to read about it...just want to make sure you understand the real condition of it...
http://ferrarichat.com/forum/showthread.php?p=138307957&posted=1#post138307957"

So, I hope the buyer atleast takes time to see that we are trying to help...

 

If he (the buyer) does not cancel the deal or at least re-negotiate the price because of the accident... then he deserves it!

 

Justin,

I am with you. It's up to the buyer to be careful. But I know, from taking a bit of a look at this car before, that there were some tricks about it. For instance, I know that the "Free Carfax Report" for this car, on the ebay listing, didn't work when I tried it. But I stupidly assumed that the Carfax probably would not show anything, otherwise the dealer wouldn't offer the free report. So I ALMOST didn't get a carfax for it. In the end I did and saw the accident.

Also, for sure I feel the car dealers have the odds stacked way in their favor in these transactions. So any help we can give to fellow Ferrari owners, or potential Ferrari owners, I like to try. I have had some baloney pulled on me with a couple transactions, and I haven't bought many cars in my life-I imagine what some people have been through. It's not a level playing field in my opinion.

While there is a lot of advice in the forums on what to look for/avoid for each model. I wonder if there is any place that spells out how best to handle the transaction of purchasing a car. Because one thing that I have found useful is to ask to see the title. That way there are no shenanigans as far as model year, vin number-a person not actually having the title for a variety of important or trivial reasons-that sort of thing.
M

 

I received a message back from the buyer....below is an exact copy...btw my ebay name is 99redcougar

User details:
From User: siliconvalleyx (0)
0.0% Positive Feedback
Member since Dec-28-08 in United States
Location: CA, United States
Activity with siliconvalleyx (last 90 days): I have bid on 0 items from siliconvalleyx
Activity with siliconvalleyx (last 90 days): siliconvalleyx has bid on 0 of my items




Dear 99redcougar,

GOOD AFTERNOON "99REDCOUGAR:

I "HIGHLY-APPRECIATE" YOUR "FERRARI ALERT E-MAIL" SENT TO
ME REGARDING BERNARD "BUZ" BOBACK, JR'S (VICE PRESIDENT
OF AUTOWORKS INT'L) AND JEFF DICKSON"S (FOUNDER OF
AUTOWORKS INT'L) 1997 FERRAI 355 SPYDER (TRIPLE BLACK). AT
ANY RATE, "99REDCOUGAR", THE "PROBLEMS" WITH THEIR
"FERRARI 355" IS "GEARTER-THAN-THE-ACCIDENT". I JUST HAD
THE "PPI" (PRE-PURCHASE INSPECTION) PERFORMED ON
JANUARY 13, 2009, TUESDAY AT FERRARI PENSKE GROUP
(FERRARI CENTRAL-NJ 732.248.9100) BY "FERRARI ADVISOR"
MARK RESENDE(GREAT PERSON) AND "RESULTS REQUIRES" OVER
$25,OOO USD IN ORDER FOR THAT FERRARI TO BE
"CONSIDERED" A "HIGH-QUALITY"/"HIGH-STANDARD" FERRARI.

TO CONTINUE, "99REDCOUGAR", HERE"S "ALL-THE-SERVICE-
NEEDED" AS FOLLOWS:

I. 30KSERVICE NEED TO BE DONE NOW(!!) (LAST SERVICE WAS
PERFORMED AT "15K" IN JANUARY 29, 2004-BERNARD "BUZ"
BOBACK, JR. AND JEFF STATED ON THEIR "EBAY AND
AUTOWORKS ADVERTISING" THAT THE "15K WAS COMPLETE
WITHIN THE "LAST YEAR" (1ST LIE/FALSE STATEMENT!) AND "ALL
SERVICE WAS PERFORMED AT AN "AUTHORIZED FERRARI DEALER"
(2ND LIE/FALSE STATEMENT!!). ALSO, THEY STATED THAT THE
"FERRARI-WAS-FULLY SERVICED AND READY-TO-GO (3RD
LIE/FALSE STATEMENT!!!)-AS WELL, 99REDCOUGAR, THERE ARE
"ZERO SERVICE RECORDS", "ZERO DOCUMENTS" AND "ZERO
PROOF OF ANY SERVICES PERFORMED BY AUTOWORKS INT'L).

II. COMPLETE "VALVE JOB" NEEDS TO BE DONE NOW!

III. RIGHT AND LEFT MANIFOLDS NEED REPLACED

IV. RIGHT AND LEFT REAR "AXLE BOOTS" NEED REPLACED

V. HYDROLIC FLUID IS LEAKING FROM "CLUTCH"

VI. CONVERTIBLE TOP IS WORK PROPERLY IN "CONJUCTION WITH
ELECTRIC SEAT ON THE PASSENGER SIDE.

VII .OVER SPRAY WAS FOUND ON THE "FRONT RIGHT
PASSENGER" QUARTER PANEL-SAME SIDE DOCUMENTED ON
"AUTOCHECK" AS A "COLLISION/ACCIDENT REPORTED BY "NJ
STATE AGENCY"-PREVIOUS DAMAGE TO REAR BUMPER

VIII. 1 VENT IS BROKEN

99REDCOUGAR, ALL "DECEPTION"! PERIOD!

SVX

 

Someone please correct me if I'm wrong here, but I believe a 355 15k service would be considered engine-in and more of a minor service. And a 30k would be considered a major engine-out service. At any rate, I think these are different services. Not trying to excuse the seller... a full 30k was apparently overdue, in which the valve guide service would have been done, per the buyer's PPI.

 

15k was usually performed at the 2.5 year mark, and included changing all fluids, oil filter, air filters, all accessory drive belts, and then a standard list of "checks" like brake pads, suspension components, etc. The "15k" had been largely eliminated from the FNA vernacular now that the 30k is recommended to be performed at the 3 year point.

 

So a couple things proven.

If a person lies to you about one significant thing, you probably can't trust them on anything. These guys definitely said "no accidents" on the listing. But it's easy to prove there was an accident via carfax. That was the first clue these guys were liars.

Definitely anything else coming out of the dealership, well it should be carefully evaluated. Desperate times...as I think in the past these guys were rated here as good.

 

..........the leather on my 11 year old convertible is is near new ....................

 

if its too good to be true it probably is

 

I love it that this story came full circle.. that was awesome that the buyer followed up- I was initially suspicious that the buyer was a fake -new ebayer with zero feedback- but am happy with the turn out.. good story