Service Shop Issue: Seeking Opinions

taz355 · Feb 4, 2014

driveitdaily said: ↑

First to start, our shop is in a small town , the main consideration of customers around here is price.Wages and labor rates here are low. Even at say $90.00 per hour for labor, paying employees $20.00 per hour , leaves plenty of room for the costs of overhead.

Second, we only service a few Ferrari's for a simple reason, there are only a handful of them around here. I wish there were enough around that i could base my business around them and be the local Ferrari expert. If i offer any advice on this forum its basically from my knowledge of auto repair in general. Now that I've been under the skin of some 348/355 cars i realize there is no magic and see nothing that requires the expertise of a Ferrari specialist. I get the vibe on this forum that owners , maybe those with no mechanical ability are fooled into believing that the 348/355 is so exotic that only a $250 an hour expert is qualified to work on it. If an owner has such deep pockets and wants to buy that peace of mind , good for him , but owners without such deep pockets should feel comfortable that any experienced mechanic is capable of repairing a 348/355 for more modest costs.

Third , it shouldn't be taken as bashing colleagues, i just want to give a view from the inside of a repair facility for those who don't see it from this point of view.And it shouldn't be construed as trying to drum up business . i never mention the name of our shop. and i'm 100% sure no other shop owners from my area read this. we only work on a few select Ferrari's for good customers and i want to keep it that way without adding any more Ferrari customer base.

as far as the example you use of the bearing. i'll bet money that when you pull that bearing out of the Ferrari box and look close it says something like skf . i'd rather just buy it in the skf box. ( or whatever brand it actually is ) Ferrari is such a low volume manufacturer , i'll bet they produce the body , chassis , and engine and outsource the production to outside companies and buy many major components from outside manufacturers . hell gm doesn't even manufacture the carpets for their cars , they are made here in penna.

In my opinion a good shop will give the customers all the options , from used parts, to aftermarket to oem , explain the difference , the consequences and let the owner make the decision what they want , it is their car. rather than just say "well a rack is $5000"
Whether its a ford or a Ferrari there is always more than one way to go about the repairs. Jeez , when a shop says a rack is 5k ask if there's options.

BTW i don't what the beef is with you , i like your posts , you're one of he few posters who offer a wealth of knowledge , that can be helpful on many levels
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John just be carefull of some of the bearings although you are correct in stating many parts are the same ( it was for this reason many of us started the DIY thread and parts cross ref thread) we have also found some are similar but are lacking a letter in the part code. If I could remember the bearing I would say it but I know from reading and following up with either timken or skf the ferrari bearing was a one off built especially for heat and we all know how hot these engine bays get. I have learned the hard way.

taz355 · Feb 4, 2014

roadracer311 said: ↑

I was trying to figure that out too. The website says "new" but then they seem to have a core charge. Which is strange for a "new" part. If it's a rebuild, then it costs more than twice as much as just shipping the original rack off to Atlantic.
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Do the rebuilds have a rep for lasting good?

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Service Shop Issue: Seeking Opinions

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