Motors blows after Annual Service - dealer refuses to honor warranty

Also, the car had over 70K miles on it (see invoice), so even with a freshly rebuilt engine it might be worth 40k on a good day.

 

I missed that. The "U" probably indicates used parts. Pricing for used parts on these cars is not always much, if any less than new. It sounds like he doesn't have a case here. Did I read correctly that he drove the car for over 3000 miles after the service? If he's put that many miles on since the service I wouldn't call this "blowing up right after Annual service".

 

Judging how skittish buyers are about the silliest things I'm not surprised at all how it would scare buyers away.. "Oh my god the windshield wiper blade manufacturers don't match.. I'm going to pass on this one.."

You know it's going to start at $30k.. and it ownership is the "Experience" of owning the car. If you never have any problems and the dealer is great and you dont' get overcharged its a great ownership experience. If you love the car but bring it in for repair and everyone is trying to screw you left and right.. it's going to sour your experience with the brand and the car. I completely understand why this would turn off ownership..

 

"Probably" isn't "Does". It isn't written out that those who aren't experts in the field will understand the difference. Part #996.002.123 can be inventoried as new while #996.002.123.0 is used. You can't be expected to know that. It's also not documented on the receipt that "unwarrantied used parts were used and customer agrees with said use".

Good question about the miles. How much is too many miles. Normal car is 10,000 miles a year.. if he uses it as a DD. So two to three months use before the engine implodes is too much. Lemme guess where this is going.... if you can drive it off the lot, then it's your fault? It started and it ran... he must have done something to wreck it again in those 50 feet off the lot. No. 1 year warranty with no miles specified is just that. Stand behind your work, or don't give a warranty and do the job for $500.

 

dealer was lucky that it took 3000 miles for the improperly installed woodruff key to manifest itself. it allowed them wash their hands off their original shoddy work and to try to fleece the op for more money to try to fix their original incompetent work. i know for a fact that they are aware of this thread and they have two options here.

1. respond with their side of the story which may either shed light or bring out more questions.
2. keep silent and eventually, the thread will slowly sink and get buried deep where hopefully, no one will see it.

Guess which approach they're taking?

 

If they're smart they'll leave this thread alone. The OP could lawyer up and anything in this thread could wind up in court.

 

I've been reading this entire thread...it grew by 2 pages as I read !!! ( A good way to spend a rainy Fla. morning.)
RR gave the best advice. I had a realestate dispute wih a developer. Lawyer told me to write him a check and wait 3 months. I went to the local TV consumer reporter....had my problem resolved in a week. My money in hand in another 3 days.
I am concerned now about purchasing a 355 that I thought was in great shape.

Whatever transpires I found alot of useful info through out this thread.

 

From the attached invoice:
" 163950U " The " U " usually represents " Used "

Just because there is one on e-bay now, doesn't mean there was one for that price then, or that it was a reliable source. ( assumptions ) The Dealership had to source it from where they could when they could.

And to make it more complicated, it stats in the story on the Invoice that the " gears " were replaced, though I only see one " gear " listed in parts and it's #2 on the attached diagram.


S
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We don't know that. It could mean "upper", "uber", or for that matter "unfrantabulous".

I'm a layperson, not a parts specialist. I don't know that anymore than I know parts nuances for my home AC unit.

 

While it does appear that there should have been clear documentation on the final invoice, you shouldn't forget that there are the e-mails, as provided by the OP , that clearly stated that a used gear would be used... so it's not like it was never mentioned...

S

 

can anyone shed light on why you would use a USED part that basically cost within the range of a new one ? are new ones unavailable ?

 

.. or " U " for Used , as in the Used part the OP was told via the e-mail he supplied here, stating such...

But I do see ( and agree ) with your point, it should have clearly been listed and stated that a USED part was being used for the repair.

S

p.s. I get alot out of these treads, as its good insight, and helps me to provide better documentation for repairs.

 

Via Ferrari FNA/SpA , they are not listed as available at this time. I couldn't even get a retail price when I did a seach for that part number an hour ago.

So Used, New NOS, or aftermarket would be the only options that I could see....

S

 

From the attached invoice:
" 163950U " The " U " usually represents " Used "

A reasonable man cannot be expected to fully understand the "codes" on a service invoice.
This can sometimes be an attempt by the dealer to support their claim that the OP new that used parts were being installed. Yet this same invoice would not be revealed until the work had been completed.
Still all this seems a moot point. FOFL had a responsiblity to do work in a professional manner. Looking at the pics of the worn shaft, they indicate that the key was "unstable". The only logical reason for that would be the beltdrive was not properly installed and/or tightened. This would NOT be work done in a professional manor.

 

Very good idea from a QA standpoint! I do hope that things like this help a stealership provide the level of service and positive experience that owners will rave about.

 

Why are the 355s the worst of all Ferraris with regards to maintenance?

Thanks.

 

That valve train is a nightmare. Sorry 355 guys, it's true and always has been.

Also needing engine out service for too many things causes people to either avoid doing it, sell it before it needs it, or wait longer than they should.

 

I will say this: Extremely poor documentation by the Dealer. With better documentation, this disagreement would never happen.

Terrible.

The part is used with the "U". However, it's not clear enough and could be misunderstood easily by the client.

In addition, the dealer should have had the OP sign a letter acknowledging the used parts and waiving any warranty claims on the used part. Perhaps he did and we don't see it but IMO, the documentation here is substandard and will lead to obvious disagreements for no reason other than laziness.

 

When so much hangs on such a small detail you'd hope that the dealer would go out of his way to make it clear. Failing that, suspicions are to be expected.

 

Still, the part that I do not understand: The dealer claims the OP inspected the used part and approve it for installation.

No matter what the documentation says, that still needs to be sorted out.

 

OP was on site?

I wish I could turn ahead to the last page of this mystery.
As I do with whodunits.

 

Again, some really poor communication from the dealer. Op says he never inspected them but was shown pictures. I'm not sure that classifies as "inspected".

Here is the dealer's email again:



Hello (...),

Thank you for taking the time to prepare the email with detail and videos. The question here is why this happened again ? the car originally came in with the exact same situation when we got it. We were told that this is not unusual at all from many channels as well as our internal engine builder who is very familiar with this motor. As I'm sure you may know these gears are not available from the factory anymore and we had to use used gears which the customer approved and inspected prior to install. With used parts there is no warranty at all which is also unfortunate but the risk that is taken outside of having someone custom make them and even at that if not built to proper specification can result in material failure. There was no other option unfortunately that could have been given to the customer and he approve the work. The vehicle traveled 3110 miles since the repair and as you may know if we left something lose the failure would/should have resulted sooner.

 

I think the beef boils down to this

The dealer says the OP knew the parts were used and there's no warranty on used parts.

The OP says he didn't know the parts were used or that it would effect the warranty.


The question of what caused the actual failure is also somewhat of a mystery. Was it the used gear letting go or improper installation? It may not matter much but it's still an unknown.


What's not in question is that the dealer tried to salvage the best from a bad situation by offering a 1/2 price complete rebuild and the OP became frustrated with the time and money involved and dumped the car to get out.

 

when considering valuation and potential damages, we should all keep in mind that this is a 95 with 76k miles.

The 95 is seemingly desirable, but that mileage would have made a sale at $45 to $55k, even in good condition, a long endeavor and ultimately likely an unsuccessful one.