F8 Exhaust Update

if you lie regarding something with the car that would cause the dealer to fix something under false pretense, or a number of other instances, then in fact you are committing a crime..................whats that silly word again? oh yeah, its called fraud. People get locked up for it all the time lol

 

you don’t think the service departments know what their cars are supposed to look like? Not sure what lying would achieve here. They know the second they look.

 

I am just generally speaking.........there are absolutely scenarios where lying to a dealer is actually ALSO breaking the law. And i can guarantee there are past instances where things like this have occurred and some wealthy guys who thought their innocent lies were no big deal while they made some warranty claims ended up coming back around to haunt them in a really annoying, and litigiously expensive/legal way. i dont know much, i'm probably the dumbest guy in the room here but been around long enough to know this. i'm not saying its guaranteed to happen or even likely, but you get the wrong dealership and service advisor and if he feels you burned him really bad or got him in trouble with corporate, i can definitely see this happeneing.

 

So is speeding.

 

Here's my take and personal experience on dealing with Ferrari dealers and their Service Centers, at least here in NorCal, reg the exhaust topic:

First, over the years I've tried building a relationship with both of them (we have 2 here in the Bay Area), and with both the Sales and the Technician teams. I think it's important to develop that trust, which will be used for both for the good or bad news, as well as the... grey areas, like this exhaust topic. I feel like over the years I've had a chance to have pretty meaningful conversations with the teams and better understand what's going on.

As I'm sure you all know, I've come to understand that there are essentially 4 parties to deal with: 1) Sales team, 2) Service Team, 3) FNA, and 4) HQ in Maranello. Knowing who is who and what they care about is key in these situations, and helps me operate one way or another. So then in regards to the exhaust topic, in my personal experience (not that extensive, but 5 years owning 5 Ferraris and driving some of them an average of 8k miles / yr, including several track days), I can confirm the following:

1) Sales doesn't care at all and just wants you to sell you cars and for you enjoy them and come to them again for more over the years
2) Service doesn't care at all and just wants you to enjoy it too, BUT... AS LONG AS you don't 'take it too far', which is when you install the exhaust in a 'harsh' way, cutting parts for instance, that will create issues, leaks, etc, or especially when you tune the engine.
3) FNA and 4) HQ of course will not want to approve warranty or spend a ton of money fixing a Ferrari that's been heavily / harshly modified, so they're tough to deal with... should you have to deal with them.

So the question then is the 'harsh' mod. For this, I'd like to share 2 stories that I think are very relevant:

1) Back in Sep '22, I bought an '21 F8T from an independent, locally reputable lux car dealer. When I first started the car as part of my test drive, I immediately knew it had an after market exhaust. I asked the dealer and they said the owner did something indeed, but didn't disclose much else and said they had all the original pieces available. I checked with Ferrari's local dealer as I was concerned with the warranty, and they said they'd have to look at it. So I took it to them, the car had <2k miles, and they confirmed that, in fact, the modifications were done in a 'very extreme manner', even cutting parts in order to fit the exhaust. They even noticed a leak. Then they kindly offered to fix it and bring it back to stock, confirming that if I did that, they'd still honor the warranty. The dealer that sold me the car agreed to handle the cost of the repair, and we were all happy with the result. Main point: I thought Ferrari Service would have potentially not collaborated with me, but they did and I appreciated that.

2) Fast forward to Oct 2023, I added a full Novitec system in both my F8T as well as my '22 812 GTS, fully aware of the fact that the Novitec system is 100% bolt-on, includes 100 CEL sport cats ( and I did NOT perform a tune, so not considered 'harsh'. In the last year I've taken both cars for service to Ferrari a few times (for yearly service and for other minor issues). While they once recommended me NOT to go for the Novitec option, pretty much everyone loves it when I bring the cars in, especially the GTS. The technicians (particularly a couple of Italian dudes) even mention it to me when they give the car back... almost as if saying "that's how Ferraris should sound..." . And then, with the GTS I had an additional issue one day, kind of a funny story, but relevant nonetheless:

I've also installed a drone mobile device that can track the car. So I have both OBD slots occupied with the Novitec's techtronic piece and the Drone's. While doing a 2-yr service earlier this year, the technician kept running into issues trying to connect to the ECU to diagnose everything is running properly. He asked me multiple times if I had tuned the car, which I said absolutely not. He kept having issues and spent a good 2 weeks trying to figure it out. It was driving him crazy... He told me that he of course had unplugged the Techtronic device, and still he had issues. After a few days, I told him that maybe the Drone Mobile was what caused the issue (totally my fault for not bringing it up earlier, but I didn't think of it...). As soon as I told him, within minutes he was able to connect to the ECU and diagnose everything.

Main point: He and the Service center could have asked me to take the exhaust out and go back to stock because they were not able to perform the diagnostics. Full stop. Something was blocking it... But instead, they went out of their way to try and figure things out for me, even knowing that I had a full exhaust system in place. The technician even said that he'd need to check with FNA and that he'd do it in a 'careful way', meaning without mentioning the exhaust topic at all. The fact is that this issue he was experiencing with the ECU had nothing to do with the exhaust.

So in sum...

1) I've had the systems in both the F8T and GTS for well over a year and >8k miles on both, couple of track days included, a few regular maintenance service visits
2) zero issues, CELs, or anything with the car, nor any issues with the local Ferrari dealer, who've been nothing but kind to me.
3) at the end of the day, my life is better! Proof.... https://photos.app.goo.gl/yVxnDiwXi3Pd97dY6

 

Very well said and this echoes my experience with the service departments in SOCAL as well. Service guys couldn't be more accommodating and willing to work with these minor modifications that they see daily. I think if you treat them poorly(which Im told a lot of people do) they're clearly not going to go the extra mile for you.

I think your points on FNA and Maranello are to be expected as well. Most publicly traded automotive companies want to maximize every dollar possible so buyer beware.....

 

812 sounds amazing!

 

Agree 100% on the importance of treating them with respect and the decision from HQ. Public or not, I wouldn’t want to pay for the repairs of those who choose to heavily mod their cars and still expect the coverage to stay the same. Just doesn’t make any sense at all.

 

Thx. Here’s one from the inside of the cabin. I’m super happy!

https://photos.app.goo.gl/cEQeBT1eJGnvyv4M9