Advice needed: Purchasing a 458 with 4y/4k miles service unknown…

Smells a little fishy but could be nothing. I have an older model and records are very important in the Ferrari world. Makes for higher resale if you can prove how well the car was taken care of. Conveniently lost records might be a sign of other things.

1. You can ask but since you aren't paying, they don't have to honor your request at all.

2. You absolutely have to get your own PPI. Already red flags with records. Do not trust an inspection from anyone other than someone you are paying directly that will gain nothing from the sale.

3. Aggressive pricing could also be a red flag, thus the reason for #2. I don't see any extra due diligence. Just the right amount, IMO.

 

It doesn't matter if it is a reputable dealer or not. They are trying to sell you a car and they are car dealers. I bought my F car from a Ferrari dealership and wanted to get a PPI and they talked me out of it because they were a Ferrari dealer, blah, blah blah. Bottom line, I should have gotten the PPI because I would have known about a few issues that would have helped me get the car at a better price and be more knowledgeable about things I was going to have to address. 5 years after the purchase, I still kick myself for not getting the PPI. I ended up with a great car but there were some issues that I should have known about prior to purchase.

If you aren't paying for the PPI, then you cannot know, without a shadow of a doubt, that you are being given full disclosure about everything.

Doesn't matter why the records aren't there. What matters is that they aren't there. Could just be a mistake or it could be a coverup. Are you willing to give the benefit of a doubt to someone that stands to make more money off of you by possibly being deceitful?

You have to go to someone else and get an independent inspection. Someone that has nothing to gain from the sale. You don't know the relationship dynamic between the dealerships and if you aren't paying, you have no contract that you can trust.

 

Welcome to the family in advance and thank you for doing your due diligence.

I would suggest that you have the Ferrari dealer perform a power warranty inspection
( That you pay for ) Pay for it you get the results

When and if it passes The warranty inspection then you have the gateway to add an additional year of warranty through Ferrari.

Note, Services per the Ferrari maintenance schedule will have to be completed in order to pass the warranty inspection above.

In my opinion, if you like the car, comfortable with the sales price, invest the additional money to bring the services correct, have the inspection completed, and add Main Power 15 warranty.

Then enjoy the car!

Be sure to keep records moving forward while you own it

Steve

 

If the concern is that it is missing service for 3 plus years and the mileage traveled is 4k ..it shouldn't be

Get it checked out by either method mentioned above including power warranty route etc

Just because it missed a few visits at a dealer is no reason to not buy a car unless there is more to it ..you touched upon not feeling comfortable so not sure if more than that

Sent from my moto g power using Tapatalk

 

You can get all the inspections you want. The car only represents as it is at that moment. You could end up with a great car, or a crap box. At the end of the day, what ever happens, happens. If it's a bad car, your problems are self inflicted. You chose to buy a car that is well known to be stupid expensive to own.

 

All I am saying is that I wouldn't put a ton of negative on the car for missing service records for 4 years .. if all checks out.. get a full service a great indy .. and you will have a new baseline

 

The 4 year old engine and gearbox oils, with 4 thousand miles on them is not a big deal. Have the PPI done and if nothing bad shows up, like moisture in the oils, buy the car.

Like flash said, take it to your favorite Indy and have a complete service done so you have a baseline.


Sent from my iPad using FerrariChat.com mobile app

 

I dunno. I look at a PPI as having more information, which is good, but am of the opinion there is no such thing as full disclosure without a shadow of doubt when buying any used car, never mind one with potentially expensive needs. Do as much due diligence as you can or are comfortable with, and if you pull the trigger, that's when you get to know the car. Kinda like dating before moving in together or getting married - that PPI doesn't often tell the whole story, lol.

Also depends on the quality of the PPI. I had an authorized dealer do a PPI on my car, passed with flying colors, then right off the lot the heater wasn't working.

 

If you're getting a legit PPI what are you worried about, the lack of records doesn't change the PPI. Either the PPI comes back clean and youre good or it doesn't and you renegotiate or walk away.

Guys buy cars all the time sight unseen and guys buy cars all the time without a PPI but you're not even doing that. I'm having a hard time understanding what the issue is here, sounds like you're all set one way or the other.

Are you worried the PPI isn't enough? If that's the case then you probably won't be buying any car ever...

 

I never buy a high end sports car without first having a PPI from a highly rated independent. Not all PPI's are done the same (don't be afraid to pay a little more for a thorough PPI). Also I always have a compression and leak down test done including pictures of each cylinder reading. While all this may seem like overkill to some on this board my belief is that if I'm going to spend a quarter mill on a car I'm not afraid to spend another $2500. or so for a thorough pre-purchase inspection of the car and the engine. Further having this documentation as well as thorough service records from the date you purchase will help you get a better price when you go to sell it.

 

What he said

 

Yup, "sorry, my hymen torn when I was doing gymnastics. Lol. "

It's up to you how diligent you are with PPI. But remember car dealerships are smarter than us. They are not leaving any money on the table. You are getting what you paid for. There is a reason why the price is aggressive right?

Cheapest Ferrari sometimes are actually the most expensive.

 

You MAY be forgetting what our world was like in 2020 and 2021. Remember masking up, getting pushed to get jabbed, social distancing, a lot of businesses closing? While I religiously serviced MY 2013 458 every year, I hardly DROVE the car for two years, and didn't want to screw around with going to the dealer for a service, and dealing with masks and other BS. No car events hardly, a lot of people just checked out.

Maybe they lost track of a service invoice for one year. Not everyone is totally together, and remembers to stick the invoice in a file folder for the car. THIRTEEN thousand miles?? I wouldn't worry TOO much about it. My car has 15,900 miles now, and hasn't had anything additional needed other than the yearly services- which frankly a thousand miles a year, is NOT very much driving. Maybe I'm gambling, but I've gone eight years without a warranty, and if I had one, I'd have received NOTHING from it.

Certainly GET a PPI however.

 

The 458 is not difficult to work on. Some choose to do their own oil and fluid changes. Good for you for being meticulous. Maybe I should keep better records of service, but I just don't see the need to keep a stack of paper around. If something major was done, I'd definitely keep those records, but fluid changes? I don't know about that. One thing I don't want to do, is have the dealer change my oil. I'm much more meticulous than any tech is when doing a low level service job like that.

 

I think you're doing it right, not me. I just don't have that level of organization or want that level of organization in my life. If I wanted to protect every cent I spent on the car, I should save every single receipt. I know that's the smart thing to do, I just choose to only save receipts and invoices for major items, otherwise, it would cause me too much anxiety.