$1924 Ferrari F355 engine out belt service

The bitterness of poor quality remains long after the sweetness of the low price has been forgotten. (author unknown)

 

"....thanks to liability avoidance we have safety glass, laminated windshields, crumple zones, etc...."

Oh, come now!

 

Playing the quote games.....

""It is easier to do a job right than to explain why you didn't.""


"""However, does anyone have any real empiracle data to support these claims????"""

and yes as a matter of fact I do..... "You may be right but how long can you afford to fight me on this, I get paid to do this?" Is a quote that rearranged my families life for quite a few years now....and NO, I did not back down from what is right. Anyone that doesn't think that our legal system has a bearing on the costs here either chooses to remain numb or has something to hide. I will give you one ROCK HARD example of this after a 1:00 meeting with an insurance rep regarding the fuel system parts I am having made for these cars. A quote from the California Insurance Board member regarding the parts I am making.... "I don't care if it is indestructible and failure proof, folks sue others just for the heck of it". Want numbers? I will share them this evening and you decide if its real. I have the solution to a Safety related very real problem and I cant let it out of the shop doors....yet.

Let's not go down this road, nothing good can come of it. We both have bad apples in each of our professions. You may have had to deal with one in ours and I assure you I have in yours. We both are fortunate that there are also very kind folks in each of our professions that rise above this foolishness and help others, honestly. Let's all look in the mirror.....

There are shops out there that will do the job you want....use them. Who knows, you may just get lucky and things will work out just fine. To slap down others doing a job properly is just plain wrong.

 

This is the crux of the biscuit as they say. Our "legal" system has driven the cost of everything here to crazy levels. Especially when you think of a typical Ferrari owner, people expect perfection and will sue for anything less.
Sad but true.

BT

 

You suggested your own fix, send it over there then... Can't wait to see what happens when you have small leak 800 miles down the road and your shop is 5440 miles away. What are you going to do then? Sue 'em?

No, the squeaky wheel indicates the need for grease, not necessarily deserving of it.

It's folks like you that make me glad I'm OUT of that business. Kudos to gentlemen like Brian, Karl, Bill Pollard, Tim Stanford and Dave who are still there for us.

Most owners would consider money spent with the likes of them WELL spent!

 

+1!

 

Z, I think this is the key quote. Do you think mechanics are getting rich off the work they are performing on your cars? I doubt it.

You know, I need some legal work performed but that corporate lawyer working in that tall office building charges more than those 1-800 guys. I think we should all use those cheap chain law offices and ditch those fancy schmancy lawyers that charge too much. See where this is going?

So ship you cars over to England and see how that works out for you. We're all waiting with eager anticipation so we can do the same and get out from under the boot of those GREEDY mechanics.

-F

 

I think maybe you need to buy that honda.

Also, what do you think is the resale of a honda after you take it off the showroom floor? Is it really the same car, Can you really compare?

And I suppose after you cut-rate yourself through your service and you go to sell your Ferrari, I am sure you will help out the new buyer and tell him how you saved so much on the service and are willing to sell the car to him for less.

I am going to tell you what you are going to do when you put your car up for sale, You will say how it "JUST HAD A FRESH BELT SERVICE" and ask for top dollar.

I am Tired of this very, very old argument, Yes you can do it yourself, yes, you can have some guy down the street who you can pay 10 dollars an hour do your belt service. But please do not compare that to someone who has extensive experience with these cars like dave and brian and some others on this site.

We have worked hard to aquire the experience that we have, as hard as most anyone in any other career. and we all have sacrificed as well because We like the cars and we love working on them.

Bottom line you get what you pay for.

Good luck,

Regards, Jim

 

Sell your car and move on. Instead of living in Beverly Hills, you should live in Beverly Hills adjacent (just a joke)

 

+1 again!

 

Oh so what this is about is how much the cars have depreciated?

The very first Ferrari I ever worked on was a 250 that needed a valve job. My boss wouldn't even pick up the phone to call the owner to sell the job. It was more than the car was worth.

It is the cycle of Ferrari life....get over it.


Every one of your threads goes like this. Why don't you just go away. You are a Fu**ing troll with a lot of money and a bad attitude.
I only wish you were in this market area so I could have had the chance to show you the door in the same way I have so many others.

 

Even in this economy we shops CAN fire the PIA customer.

Strange, do not find this type of thread even on the cheap a$$ BMW forums.......

Can't buy class nor learn it in college.....

Rereading this, it is aimed at the o.p.

 

You guys are not making sense. We should be happy paying more for the same service? It's the same thing...

 

Then why don't you start a campaign telling the world how expensive servicing Ferrari's is?

They'll be "shocked".

 

+1000!

I know that the idea of shops firing a PITA customer can be perceived as arrogant, but the good shops I know of spend nearly as much time on proper education of the customer as performing the actual work itself. You can only keep knocking your head against the wall so much.

I've only fired a few, but they were all worth it for my continued sanity. Amazing how they came around after it was too late. Sounds like Brian C's latest assessment is right on.

 

This thread sounds like the same old crap, day in and day out...
Poser (or more correctly, the Bank) own a Ferrari and the "owner" can't afford to maintain it.

And he's problably that same guy that brings his own food to a restaurant, ask them to "cook it for him", just to save a few bucks...

We all know the type, now don't we?

 

Do you need a wheelbarrow to carry your ego?

 

No. Just tired of the same old ***** all the other professionals here are. Come here to try and help and all you get is Bull from people like you.

I suggest the other pros here do the same as I have recently started. Make you own list of people like our friends here and make sure they do not benefit from our direct help.


Screw em.

 

100% AGREED.....

The Ferrari world is a small one..... we eventually know who the troublemakers are.

Regards, Jim

 

That is what you do not understand....

It is NOT the same thing.

 

+1, wonder if he owns an airplane as I would never want to fly with him....

 

If you thought I might tink that was directed at me......Fuggedabout it.


Hey Brian, you're form over there. How much does a good auto mechanic make in the UK? What type of benefits do they recieve from their employer, vacation, holidays, sick leave etc, etc. Do you have any idea what other costs might be incurred like disability insurance etc?


I know from Italian mechanics I have worked with they were on starvation wages. One guy told me he only washed motor scooter (couldn't afford a car) in the rain because he couldn't afford the water to wash it. He was very serious.

 

One thing I know for sure. American mechanics do not leave to go to work in Europe or the UK. I guess we just have no right to a decent standard of living. We really need to go back to Victorian times so the Landed Gentry can go back to whipping us into submission.