Awful first dealership service experience

Warranty coverage by law is very different in the US vs Europe. Our consumer protection laws dictate it be done very differently.

 

Including radar detectors? I've had my local Porsche dealer install a radar detector in every car I have brought from them. They had NEVER mentioned it during warranty discussions.

 

FWIW I had no issues with Ferrari of Houston and my FF

My FF was modded, I had the kline exhaust, and it was loud as ****

 

As long as you're happy to admit that you don't have anywhere near the sample size that I do with this very particular issue, with this very particular brand.

People come to this forum looking for advice, and they take the things written here very seriously.
You are constantly beating the drum of anti-modification, which is fine - you're entitled to dislike it at a fundamental level - what's not OK is you saying things as if they're fact, when they're not correct and my experience demonstrates unequivocally that the process you've outlined is not what actually takes place.

Yes, I'm aware of the warranty submittal process. What I'm saying I know to be incontrovertible fact is that there is a huge amount of flexibility and understanding extended by dealers in practice.

 

Believe me I'm aware - over half of the dealers within that group of 20 are US based.

 

Oh, well then what are the differences?

 

A very broad question?
Are you talking comparing Magnuson Moss (US) to Block Exemption Law (EU)? Or specifically the differences in how US dealers and EU dealers handle warranty claims and modifications?

The answer to the latter is that they don't really handle it differently, if you have a good relationship with them they will do exactly as I've described - If mods are an obstacle they will let you know they can't carry out the work with the mods still on the car.

And if the issue could in some way be related to the mods then they won't do this, but this is their right and it's completely understandable.
If you've installed sport cats and a lambda sensor is broken, chances are something happened when you installed the downpipes, fair enough if they don't want to cover this. I'm talking about the application of common sense here. Don't forget you are a paying customer who has paid, often, in excess of half a million dollars and you will spend more with them provided the relationship is maintained. Why on earth would they want to burn you over a $500 bit of warranty work?

There are limits to this, I'm talking about exhausts/lowering springs/carbon etc. - any reasonable modification which doesn't affect power and over-stress systems on the car.

Tuning the car is a different story, if they find out you've swapped Pure Turbos into your 488 and you're running 860hp to the rear wheels then yeah, absolutely they will not carry out warranty work. Similarly with the power units supplied by Novitec and the like. But quite frankly if you get in an F8 and it's not fast enough for you, you need to be arrested immediately for being a complete maniac.

If you have an 812 with the gearbox oil leak and a full Novitec exhaust - take off the exhaust, they'll fix the leak, then you reinstall the exhaust.
If you have an issue with the brakes and you have lowering springs installed - take off the springs, they'll fix the brakes, then you reinstall the springs.

Both of the scenarios above are both actual issues I encountered with Ferrari dealers. They called, let me know what needed to happen and then carried out the work.

 

I'm sorry that you had a bad experience at Ferrari Silicon Valley. I have been a happy customer there since 2018. My car is heavily modified by Ferraristi standards,and this has never been an issue. And the service and parts departments print out information from the manuals for me when I ask.

The service manager recently changed from Alto to Sarah. I wonder if you got caught in the transition.

 

Kareem, I suggest you write a polite, respectful, succinct and carefully worded letter to Mr. Maurizio Parlato, President & Chief Executive Officer of Ferrari Maserati North America Inc., describing the issue. Take some time composing it, forget that you're angry and remove any shriek feeling. And ask for his help in resolving the matter.

Good luck.

 

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This is absurd. Lol @ paying a half a million. Dealer doesn’t care how much the car is. It doesn’t matter AT ALL— only the profit they made on the deal which is maybe 5-15k— just a regular car deal and of course, there’s no repair for $500 on Ferrari either. It’s a car, it’s a dealership, you/we aren’t nearly as special as you think you should be. If Ferrari allows it to be warrantied, great, dealer is happy to get paid to repair. If they don’t, dealer is even happier to repair as customer pay (CP) because that is much more profitable to the service department than warranty repairs. —

And they don’t just say… “ooh, just remove the springs, exhaust and reprogram the ECU back to factory and we’ll act as if it was never there when we report to Ferrari; they’ll never know” lol, insanity.

And I’m not against mods- I’m against it costing owners TENS OF THOUSANDS in repairs when they now have to CP rather than Warranty claim. —- or even to have to spend thousands to remove and restore to original prior to a claim— So, I just help make people aware of that possibility. It’s an expensive gamble to modify while under warranty is all. Whichever way you look at it.

And yes, of course, SOMETIMES, you can get a warranty claim through while having some mods. I’m pretty sure the dealer will fix your steering rack leak under warranty if you have a Novitech exhaust installed… etc, that type of completely unrelated thing.


Sent from my iPhone using FerrariChat

 

So you really don't know.

 

Few brands are as difficult to deal with as Ferrari....Looking for after sales satisfaction? Buy another brand...

 

THIS is quite true- Porsche, Bentley and Aston will treat you MUCH more special than Ferrari will.... it's just an illusion anyway, dealer only cares about profit of course... that's not a bad thing; it's normal and perfectly ok but when they do things to make you feel special or as an exception, it's just to placate the ego and hopefully you spend money on next car or service or parts or other items... perhaps Ferrari kinda feels like, "well, if you're at this level, you're either gonna buy more cars and stuff or you're not; we don't need to fluff their ego". I don't know, who knows?

 

Sorry to hear about your troubles. One thing you need to accept is that in the Ferrari world, drop the car off we will give you an update in a week or later is normal. Other brands will try to diagnose within 1 day but Ferrari service usually doesn’t run like that. So if you want to have the car diagnosed, you have to get used to the longer timeframe. I think part of your frustration was waiting days to still get nowhere. This doesn't always happen but it sometimes does happen.

My 458 did not have brake squeel. My Roma has brake squeel that comes and goes depending on how I am driving the car. Sometimes it is embarrassingly loud. Sometimes it doesn't squeel at all. The dealer has looked at it and "cannot replicate". My other small issues were dealt with to my satisfaction.

Overall I would say that these cars are solidly built. My 458 felt as reliable as a Honda. The dealer atmosphere is different than Porsche. I would say be kind, polite, and not so much in a hurry. Most Ferrari dealerships value lifelong clients and will try to make you happy if you are an easy going person who is going to continue to buy cars.

 

That’s a fair suggestion. I often saw that many times, being polite and respectful in the first contacts does wonder.

 

Ferrari Lake Forest is awesome. Fantastic people on the inside. I once showed up to that place unannounced and in sweatpants like an absolutely filthy animal because I was in the area and wanted to buy something for my son, and they treated me like a long-lost family member. They knew I had zero intention of buying a car at that time. They even took me around to look at all of the cars on the floor. Not only are they incredible people, but the showroom is also absurd. They had a YELLOW Enzo and a black LaFerrari amongst a plethora of other unbelievable cars. They are also a Koenigsegg dealer (which in my opinion is rad because you don't see those often but they had two!). Sorry for the long post but I couldn't help myself, and it's no surprise they got back to you right away OP, and are helping you out as best they can.

 

Ferrari Silicon is part of Indigo Group. I have heard some good things about FSV but I personally dislike the Indigo Group as a whole.

 

I'm not going to try to "internet diagnose" your car, but I will offer my perspectives, based upon your posted concerns, in no particular order:

You have an appointment to drop your Ferrari off , that is not the same as having an appointment for your Ferrari to get worked on that moment. For example at any given time we may have 100+ Ferrari in for various service or repairs. When a client drops off their car, we dispatch the repair order to the technician best suited for your concerns. That technician may have 9 Ferrari he is already working with, yours becomes number 10. They will do their best to work your car into the rotation and get you an update as soon as possible. Depending on what you are asking, this can be same day, or it could be weeks, or more.

Your Ferrari may be under warranty extension, that does not mean that 100% of all concerns are automatically covered repairs. It's not uncommon that we would ask for authorization for estimated diagnosis time , if by chance one of your concerns is not covered by warranty, the technician still spent his time working on your concerns as presented. They only get paid when the perform a repair or complete diagnosis offering you a solution. Also, failure of components may be covered, as long as there is no outside influence, but there has to be an explainable cause.

I'm not diagnosing your concerns, however if during the installation of the wiring harness for the aftermarket radar system, the trim panel was not put back in place, and is now making contact, that would not be a warrantable repair. Sure, your selling dealership could cover the cost of them addressing it, but any other dealership would have zero obligation to do anything for free. ( We do however "take care of each other " the best we can on a case by case basis, most of the time dealer to dealer payment is made to take care of a client )
I cannot think of a case where " brake squeak " has ever been a warrantable repair. Not just Ferrari, but Porsche, Mercedes, Audi, BMW, Lamborghini, etc... noise is not a failure. Want quite brakes, drive a Lexus. ;-)
Yes, hardwiring anything into a Ferrari wiring harness can and has caused all sorts of weird problems from battery draws to complete system failures. So yes, a simple radar system can cause seemingly un-related issues.

These items obviously concern you. Approve diag time for them to find the problem. IF they find it's a warrantable repair, they will get it handled, and you shouldn't owe any money for the repair. If you don't trust them, then why is your Ferrari there in the first place?

Posting on the internet naming names and airing out dirty laundry does take some of the incentive to " take care of you "
though you have every right to post and say whatever you want to anyone who will listen. Once you are taken care of, will you come back on and make sure everyone knows? I have no dog in t his hunt, just offering perspective from the other side of the desk.

It sounds like your selling dealership is in touch with the repairing dealership, I would put $20 on it that this gets worked out in your favor in a timely manner.

Best of luck and welcome to the family

You also left out that if/when said failure is proven related to the aftermarket item installed or modification, that the owner is liable for all cost associated with proving it. Owners don't get off scott free. Which is why I make it known to all our clients, if you did something, please let us know, if we find out after the fact ( after wasting a lot of time ) I will charge double.... lol

Magnuson-Moss... I had a client many years ago, not in a Ferrari, that had this fight all the way through the courts. The manufacturer denied a claim based on the assumption that the updates software caused a failure. They didn't want to hear anything else, they made their mind up, even going as far as to tell me to keep my mouth shut. When I was put under oath and asked my professional opinion of what caused the failure, I told them that the owner missed a shift, and it over revved. ( Fact ) Nothing to do with the software, but it was too late for them to listen, the judge ruled in the favor of the owner, who got all their repairs covered for free. Other times, more often than not, an owner asked for proof, they approve diag time, proof is provided, vehicle gets repaired, all is well. Magnuson-Moss protects both sides, not just the owner.

S

 

While this suggestion seems like a good idea on the surface, going to the top and stating all the facts, probably wont go well for the selling dealership or the owner. The repairing dealership might be told to address this concern in a different manner, they aren't wrong. Just sayin'

However spending the same time approaching the service manager at the repairing dealership in the manner you suggested above, would more than likely result in the best possible outcome.

Once you let the rabbit out of the hat, it's out....

I am not saying hide anything, it's always best to be transparent, but telling the top boss..... that could be the fastest way to get a chassis flagged for the rest of its warrantable life.

IMO - YMMV

S

 

During my tenure in Ferrari dealers easily 3/4 of our electrical diagnostic work on new cars was ultimately caused by installation of aftermarket electrical equipment. In this period of so many factory installed electronics I would expect that number to be lower. For that problem alone I would expect to ask for a dollar amount approval to cover that possibility. That however does not address the other items of concern which if related accurately is a legitimate complaint. .

 

As SAFE4NOW has suggested,try a conversation with Sarah Brittis.

 

So I'm happy to report that the problems have been diagnosed, addressed, and clearly communicated to me. The top failure messages were due to a failing convertible top switch (the control inside the cabin) sending false signals; a new part has been ordered and will be installed.

The creaking of the top is now resolved. According to the work order, this was due (as a poster above correctly diagnosed) to some trim pieces rubbing against each other. (Impossible to say whether the original install of the radar detector caused this, but I find it highly unlikely that the previous owner could have driven the car for 10K miles with that creaking. So who knows? Maybe something just shifted in transit. The good news is, I can now hear the engine rather than the top creaking

The brakes are also vastly better now. As Paul Chua suggested (hi Paul!) I suspect a simple cleaning did the trick.

All work was completed under warranty and at no charge.

I had a good conversation with the head of the service department at FSV, in which everything was clearly explained. I think that was the core of the problem, just a lack of communication.

Thanks to everyone for your very helpful feedback. In retrospect, I agree with one poster who opined that posting this online (especially naming the dealer) was not the best course of action. In the future I'll refrain from posting such details. But I'd like to at least publicly thank Ferrari Lake Forest and also the folks at Ferrari SV for making it right.

 

I'd just like to thank Safe4Now for his post just above. It was absolutely spot-on and provided great food for thought.

 

Thanks for proving that you're not reading my messages Todd, you're simply trying to sustain the echo chamber within which you live.
I very clearly said the following:

Since you're not actually interested in engaging in genuine discourse I'm no longer interested in carrying on the conversation. I've made my point.

 

Similarly here - I'm not longer replying to try to change your mind, you're welcome to your philistinian views, I'm replying to make sure that other owners know they don't have to subscribe to being terrified of doing things to make their car their own.

I've given fleshed out answers, with real world examples of what I'm talking about.
You've replied with a 5 word reply.

I'll let others decide who is simply bowing to groupthink, and who actually has real world experience with the issue at hand.

Happy Friday all.