Miles put on car during service???

check your rear tire wear but honestly 66 miles testing it out and a half a tank sounds like some race mode high speed runs to burn that much gas.. Good Luck though something does not seem right!!!!!!!!

 

Actually it was part of the annual. Built into the price of course, which we all know is not cheap.

 

I think the consensus of this thread is that you are owed an explanation, if not a call to get permission to do an extended road test.

 

On the other hand, if the tech sat in the car with it idling for extended periods of time in an effort to diagnose an electrical gremlin, that might account for the poor gas mileage.

Maybe.

 

+82.67!

And I really agree with the 75,000 mile comment too.

Rick

 

Before you go an talk to them, think about what sort of resolution you want here.

If they give a reasonable explanation, will you drop it?

If they say, "yeah, we screwed up", what are you looking for? New set of tires? Cash settlement? Free service in the future? Extra warranty time?

If the car drives fine, the tires aren't bald, and nothing else is wrong, I'm not sure I'd care. The tech can only push the pedal down as far as you can.

The tech I use for my Porsche often drives my car, and drives it hard to make sure everything is fine. Not 75 miles worth, but 20 or 25. What do I care...i drive it just as hard.

 

Geez...it's 66 miles and you want a cash settlement or new tires?

Do you sue a mosquito because he bit you last night?

 

As a tech, I have actually been paid to drive a car until the problem occurs (aka DON'T COME BACK UNTIL YOU FIGURE IT OUT). There are certain intermittent problems that are very hard to trace. Often times the only way you will know whats going on is if you are looking at the scan-tool while the problem happens. This can take a tremendous amount of time. Ultimately FIXING your car is way more important than not putting miles on it.

The dealer would rather put a few extra miles on it for testing purposes than tell you they can't figure it out.

And like several people have mentioned, Ferrari techs don't joyride customer cars. They drive anywhere from 2-10 Ferraris every DAY. The tech who worked on your car has probably driven nicer cars than yours (im not saying your car isn't nice) such as an Enzo, 599 GTO, ect. It takes a lot of hard work to get into a Ferrari dealer, and no tech would put his job at risk for a joyride.

That said, you do have every right to ask the service manager for more details as to the mileage.

 

I would find out who exactly drove the car, look them right in the eyes and ask why they put 75 miles on my car.

Chances are the response and nervousness or lack thereof will answer your question.

After that, there isn't much you can do.

However, they'll know you pay attention now and it won't happen again, I'll bet.

I do feel the same way, fear of some greasy footed mechanic driving one of my cars all over
red lining it, etc. girlfriend out to lunch, who knows?

I had a Porsche in for service at an indy with a full tank. Came back nearly empty with a lot of miles. He took it home and drove it all weekend, playing. I actually saw the car on the road. It didn't need a road test for the work being done. No more business there from me for sure. I voted with my feet and my wallet and told him why.

 

I suspect we all want to be respected. This is less about how many miles are driven and more about knowing that we can "trust" whomever we leave our cars, kids, dog, etc., with. I take the time to get to know the Service Manager and whomever works on my car(s). I have found it benefits me in many ways, including feeling free to get a detailed accounting of what the mechanics found and how they found it. It really gives me peace of mind, not because I mistrust them but because I would like to understand what happened. Best

 

I'd be surprised if your dealer doesn't bend over backwards to make you feel right about this.

 

Responses range from this is theft (and duly requires caning, potential loss of hand that started ignition, and 10 years hard labor) to the dealership did you a favor by loosening up the tightness in your engine, tires, and gear box by 66 miles.

Interesting range of opinions.

 

Interesting range ... and very typical.

 

I wouldn't go so far as to tell me I do not know what I am talking about, Bob. I agree on the point that we would only worry about this in a Ferrari or Lamborghini which are sensitive in value to miles. I still think 75 or 66 miles without communication with your customer is unacceptable. A reasonable explanation may well clear it AND pre-emptive communication with your customer certainly would have avoided this issue with the customer. Besides CPIguy in his original post did not mention anything about the dealer diagnosing an intermittent problem on the car which made the miles that much more suspicious.

It is not so much the freaking miles as not following dealer protocol of at least explaining the miles when the customer picked up his car.

 

I was wrong in this post. I apologized a few posts down for it.

Sorry to anyone who misunderstood my post.

I was wrong here. Totally my mistake. Please ignore what I wrote.

 

Absolutely no problem, Bob. I love this forum in the dynamism that exists among the contributors. Your Spider arrival is getting closer by the day...

 

We all know 75 miles is not a big deal, it's what happened during those 75 miles that's troubling. Would a normal person want to drive this car at high speed not knowing the condition of the tires and any internal damage they may have sustained from L.A.'s pot- holed streets by joy riders driving the car abusively ( what other reason would you take the car for? Not to pick up your laundry).

Ask yourself one simple question; would you get in your wifes car and drive it at high speeds? If no,then You would want the shop,or someone trustworthy, to pull the tires off and check them. Me, I would demand they be replaced.

 

My first language is English and you lost me. Are you saying the dealership would only drive the car for a good reason or for a joy ride? Best

 

I agree with your comments, BUT, explain the half a tank of gas in 66 miles???? I would have no issue if a tech had to run my car 66 miles to sort a problem, but the half a tank of gas is what sounds fishy to me, this would say to me it was a "joy ride". Perhaps the tech needed to do high speed, heavy load runs but the fuel consumption certainly is excessive.

 

Half a tank of gas might be explained by lengthy idling and then the 66 miles of heavy footed driving without reaching really high speeds. I bet 458 mileage is around 10 mpg (meaning in manual shift mode and not automatic-my
Cali which has smaller displacement is 11.2 mpg)

In that case, I don't think a set of new tires supplied by the service center is warranted in contrast to the opinion of some other posts.

But I think some friendly discussion and explanation should occur.

And let us know the results.

 

could have been worse, dealer put a hole in my alcantara front dash after service

tells me it could not have been them who do it

anyone know how to repair? its a 5mm slit, like a screwdriver went thru it

 

Who knows how much gas was in the tank (really)? How often has our tank been at full and all of a sudden drop or at any level for that matter. Unless I am driving my car and sometimes even when I am, I have know idea as to when the gauge will drop.

Regards "screwdriver hole". Did you speak with Service "Manger"? Did you buy the car from them and have any relationships established? It would seem to me they are in the position of calling you a liar or taking responsibility. I would press the issue until you got to a point of an impasse and realize it may be more aggravation than it is worth. If this becomes the case, find a clothes and/or shoe tailor and "learn" about who repairs this particular type of material. I am sure it can be done, but requires a specialist. Best

 

they refuse to accept responsibility and its a 350 mile R/T to service, i dodnt need the aggravation any more

just will look for rpr guy and move on

thx

 

I have worked at automobile dealerships for 16 years. There are always going to be people who are unhappy. However one of the keys to preventing an unhappy customer is good communication. From the statements made by the OP this seems to be the root of the problem. If the dealership would properly explain why his car got driven 66 miles then I'm sure he would be ok with it. With an electrical issue like the one cpiguy explained the 66 miles doesn't seem unreasonable. If the car doesn't exhibit any computer codes then the only other way to promt the error code is to let the car run (idleing) or to drive it. It sounds like both of these methods were used. If you talk to the tech this is probably the expliantion that you would get. I have never worked at a Ferrari dealership but in all of my experiance most techs do not want to take prolonged road tests. They don't get paid hourly by punching a time clock. The way techs bill hours (under warranty and on customer pays) are strictly regulated by consumer protection acts. They can't just throw an hours worth of labor on an invoice for "road test". Anyway the point is your dealership hasn't communicated vey well with you. I suspect it is because the truth can be hard to communicate and I would think the truth in this case is that they spent a lot of time trying to fix your problem but in the end couldn't. Instead of telling you "hey sorry but after an extensive test drive and idleing period we couldn't replicate the issue." Unfortunatly with electrical problems they know that there is a good chance that it will come back and they will see you again for this issue. It sounds like cpiguy just wants an expliantion and that is totally justified. Unreasonable expectations are not. As some have suggested, new tires, free service or Spider allocation are totally silly. An explanation and a tank of gas are more realistic.