Dealer Service - Are they required to change the oil?

the 'free' 7 yr maintenance plan is something called 'predictive maintenance'... they check the computer and can see all info-- obviously how many miles and how much time since last service, but it also sees how hard the car has been driven, avg speeds and RPM's as well as how hard it brakes and a bunch of other stuff.... based on that info, it tells the tech what should be replaced or completed during the annual service..... BUT yes, I'd imagine if it's been 1 year or 10k miles, they absolutely change the oil and filter.

 

Only on newer cars with the computer code for it. My F12 gets new oil every year at the annual regardless of mileage. Going tomorrow as a matter of fact.

 

Let’s start with what year and model Ferrari are we talking about?

Second, synthetic oil “ appears dirty “ pretty quickly after being changed, unlike conventional oil that may appear clean for longer.

Starting 2/2019 ( production date ) Ferrari went to the 7 year predictive program, where based on an algorithm of something like ….time elapsed, distance traveled, and fuel consumed it outlines to the Dealer what needs to be performed.

Oil is not necessarily changed annually anymore.

Where-as during the previous 7 year program it was…
( 2012 - Feb 2019 )

S

 

The first service on my 812 they only performed an inspection and rotated the tires. The dealer told me that the car didn’t need the fluids changed. I went ahead and came out of pocket for the normal service you would expect on an annual. My suspicion is that unless you are using your Ferrari as a daily, you will end up only getting oil changes every other year unless you pay for them yourself. That they are able to call that 7 years of free maintenance is beyond me.

 

I’ve never had an annual service (various brands) without the dealer changing the oil. May be it comes to how many miles were driven…

 

It's called an ANNUAL service for a reason-- it's every 10k miles OR every 12 months for oil to be changed-- even if the car was only driven 1k miles in that year...

 

Youse guys are funny. Every time I took my car into Ferrari of Houston there was a $1,000 charge. Didn't matter what the charge was for. It was the price you had to pay to be free.

 

Interesting. In the first five years I owned my 2014 458 Spider I paid a total of $0 for service at San Diego Ferrari. Now I pay about $2k for service, but also had to replace battery, tires, and such. I am curious how many miles the current algorithm requires for free oil change.

 

Just confirming that this is NOT the case. Amazingly enough. Just getting my F8 back from it's 1st annual service. I was told that the computer said my oil did not need to be changed. I felt otherwise, so I paid for it...sigh.

Anyway - so ridiculous in my opinion that the first year it's in service they don't do an oil change. I don't care how many miles and how it was driven etc.

Crazy and really annoying for Ferrari to cut corners like that.

 

Do you mind posting your mileage? I'll probably do the same thing with my wife's PFM in September, just trying to guess how the algorithm works for when they cover the oil or you have to pay. She drives it more than any of our other cars, but . . . .

 

Very sad to hear this…

My AMG always includes oil, even if I put 10 miles on it— but then again, I’m paying for it. Sigh


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…. You know what’s even more interesting to me, from “my side of the desk”….

Is that from 2012 to 2019 I’ve had to literally beg owners to bring their Ferrari in for their FREE annual service… only to be told they didn’t want to go through the trouble of getting it to the Dealership. The most common reason being it had not been driven “ that much “ …. The owner didn’t feel it was needed.

Then, there were the complaints that Ferrari was too strict , that a chassis needed to come in 12 months from the previous service for the annual service that included an oil change+, so Ferrari opened up the timeframe ( 12 months +\-30 days, then 60, and so on ) 30% or more of owners still refused or ignored my requests and offers to do whatever it took to get them in…. SMH ( By the way, I STILL have to beg and plead to get cars in )

So Ferrari tries yet another option… predictive services


I bet you didn’t know Ferrari SpA holds each Dealer accountable for all chassis registered in their car park each year… we each have a % target of the 1000+ cars and if we don’t get them completed, we are actually penalized.

IMO Ferrari wants their cars taken care of, as much as some members/owners posting here, the difficulty is convincing everyone to play together.

The only thing that makes it even more difficult, are members spreading dis-information or opinion , as fact
Its hard enough keeping up with what SpA retroactively changes, getting that information out to everyone.

:ramt off x2

S



p.s. Paying to have additional oil service or any services performed is cheap insurance to keep your Ferrari on the road. I personally have the oil changed in between free services on our Ferrari … because I can :smile

 

Steve, I love your posts here. You are so informative, and it really is inside info.

My FF is no longer under the free annual service, and I never considered that the dealer didn't change the oil, I assumed that was a given. Now I don't know whether they did change it or not. Since it has gone off free service, I of course have the oil changed each year.

But my issue is your last statement that it is cheap insurance. I agree, and if it is cheap insurance, why isn't Ferrari doing it? If Ferrari didn't change the oil because the predictive computer said it didn't need to be changed, and the owner had a catastrophic engine failure, would Ferrari cover it because of their neglect? Inquiring minds want to know.

 

Yes, I know these ‘goals’ are common from many manufacturers etc— I worked at Mercedes for a few years (not in service however)— I completely understand from your side as I’m also on the dealer side of the desk as well as an owner… I liked the idea of predictive maintenance and felt great about it when I purchased my car (my previous two Ferraris were 2005 and 07 so this didn’t exist back then)…. However, I was REALLY surprised that it may ‘predict’ that oil isn’t needed. When I heard about the program, my assumption was that sometimes it would ONLY be oil change— thought that would be the bottom/minimum service of the what’s needed list


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Thank you for your reply and kind comments.

Model Years 2012 to 2019 ( PD up to 1/2019) had their oil changed each year.

I feel confident that your FF had it’s oil chnaged annually , brake flush every other year, add in filters & engine drive-belt replaced as scheduled.


As for why doesn’t Ferrari do it ( now ) I cannot speak for them other than my personal experiences above… it WAS offered… many owners still didn't do it…. so they adapted. Give it a few years, I bet it changes again… lol

S

 

Fair points. I’m curious though…what examples of “members spreading dis-information” are you referring to? This thread seems in line with my personal experience, buy maybe I have the wrong read.

 

Sure! Just shy of 900 miles in the first year. I'm TRYING to drive it more...I swear.

 

Wonder if it has to do with “wealthy” owners not having the time or maybe owners just don’t like their dealer. I don’t care for my dealer but I love the service dept and the guys in it. They are fair and great to work with. imo…..my service dept experience is not common amongst other dealerships though. .

 

A dealer is going to do the absolute bare minimum and just gamble on you getting to your next service interval/Multi-Point inspection before anything arguable happens.

If they do an internal service it's because they made a ISHTLOAD on the buy/trade.

 

When I wrote the post, I wasn't meaning just in this tread, more over the past several years of reading threads and comments. I don't want to call anyone out ...... well maybe... I will use the quote below to make an example:

S

 

Completely untrue — dealers/techs get paid to do these services so they are happy to do as much as Ferrari will pay them for. As said above, THIS IS EXACTLY the wrong info that people say in forums —— sigh


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Hypothetical - what about a 2011 California?!? [emoji6]

Also, if the algorithm says "No oil change for you!" do you inform owners and give them the option to change the oil and such on their own dime?

Thank you.

T

 

Tom,
On your California, it's getting an oil change every year based on time alone.
100% we give owners the option of doing whatever they choose.
We advise, we outline, we provide answers and solutions, so that the owner may choose the best option for them.
Hope this helps,

Steve