Ferrari Long Distance Purchase?

Karen,

Oh god, you didn't! That is crazy...... I would never do that. I've heard so many bad stories. I could give you example after example. Dealer or no dealer your in for trouble. Oh well, it's done, nothing you can do now. Did it come with a money back guarantee? Did you save enough off the deal to put in repairs?

I sure hope so.......................

 

Venusone,

If you had a proper PPI (prepurchase inspection) and it passed you should be fine. The 308 here was from an Fchatter and all was fine. Since you purchased the car from a Ferrari Dealer i would HOPE they give some basic guarantee.

 

You can always slag the dealer's rep here! We'll listen.....

I flew 2400 miles to see mine, of course I only bought a one way ticket so stakes were pretty high there!

You'll be OK, I think.........you have bought a nice car!

Here's my phone number if you wake up at night and can't get back to sleep......

Speedy308

 

I bought my car sight unseen. I did have my brother-in-law look at the car first, and a PPI. No problems.

It was a little scary, but I'm glad I did it.

Dom

 

In all honesty I would have considered it if;

A. A reputable, third party Ferrari mechanic did a complete pre-purchase inspection of the car.

B. An experienced Ferrari owner (Fchatter) in the area with a good eye took a look at the car to determine exactly what the dealer means by 'stunning', 'fabulous', 'perfect' or what ever description was used for the car.

My own feelings are I would want to see the car with my own eyes, ESPECIALLY WHEN IT IS UP ON THE RACK.

The bottom tells a big story.

With complete records and reasonable mileage you'll probably do okay.

I sincerely wish you all the luck.

DJ

 

Actually I DID buy my first one that way, remembering it..

They had ALL my money with the verbal assurances that if I did not want it when I got there, they'd refund it all.....and that was a fairly small dealership.

All I had was pics off the Internet...but it's The World's Fastest Art Car, now.

I had a panic attack or two driving home, but kept telling myself,
"It's just a machine, if it breaks we can fix it......"

 

I've bought three cars sight unseen over the past four years, from a distant dealer. But the mitigating factor is that the dealer (Motor Classic in White Plains, NY) is one that I had previously bought several cars from, when I lived back there. In each case I was totally satisfied.

 

Absolutely,

I have bought a number of cars from photos alone. Some even just by word of mouth.

One time I bought a 1978 930 from a gent in Ohio. I asked for photos... He said that he did not have any... So I asked him to get a disposable camera & to please take a roll and send them to me. He said "nah." He then told me to send HIM a camera, in a SASE, and he would take photos & then send it back for ME to develop!

Hahahaha.

I did it!

The photos were awful. You cant imagine how bad these shots were. You could not see any detail. JUNK photos. So... I went to see the car, got it at the right price, and then brow beat the guy for making it so difficult.

I sold the car for $11,000 more than I paid shortly after.

But I digress...

The thing you need to remember is: No matter what you have bought here, you will still have SOMETHING of value once you get it home. I mean your not going to find that the car you bought is a Chevy Vega under a fake Ferrari skin 'ya know.

I have pals who call me with situations like yours & then once the car comes in they complain that the car has a extra rock chip, or that they found that the exhaust tips had been changed, or they note that the car had some minor paint work in the past. To that I say "so what?" In the grand scheme of things they still got the car they wanted. If they needed the car to be 100% exactly what they "need" then they should have gone over it in person before the purchase.

So... Don't worry about it. It must be what your looking for. Just be happy that its on the way! Deal with the small stuff (if there is any) some other day. Enjoy your new purchase today!

PS. Also bear in mind that it could go fabulous. When I sell a car I do it right. I am the kind of seller that showers the buyer with information, videos, documents, etc. Most buyers of mine say "this looks too good to be true!" But once they get the car they find - there is indeed a Santa Claus.

Lets hope that you found a Santa too.

 

OOOOOPPPPPSSS!

MY BAD............. I wanted to post that I was 'just kidding' quicker so you didn't freak out. I just posted one post in another thread and came back to this one and already 7 other posters! LOL

I just couldn't resist havin' lil fun with this. Congrats on your purchase I'm sure everything will go just fine. And if not, we will all just blast the dealership until they make it right.



BTW- What is it?

 

i bought mine (a 308 GTB) from pics, on ebay and i must say when i flew down to pick it up i was actually surprised by how much better the car looked in person than the pics. i gave the guy the check and drove it home, abt. 450 mi. no probs. and the more i get to know the car the better a deal i feel i got. that said i did keep asking myself if i'm crazy.

 

I have bought two cars that way, one was my F-40. No regrets, both cars were well represented.

 

to be completely honest, buying a ferrari without seeing it in person only leads to trouble imo. there are rare exceptions, but it is almost always a bad thing to do. i would not do that no matter how many records or documents i see.

 

I bought my 1989 328 GTS Black/Black sight unseen from FoSF. The dealer does have a rep to maintain (this is the factory store), and provided assurance that anything bad would be taken care of. In fact, after payment, they put on 4 new tires, replaced the leather trunk cover in the back, replaced the ignition switch, and replaced the leather on the center console.

However, you did buy a used car "as is", so things can go wrong. The history and PPI are big insurance that you are not getting a lemon, but any used car may have problems. Seeing it and driving it in person may offer a little more, but it is the unseen things that can pop up.

Your risk is less with the 328 reliabilty record, so enjoy it. Especially a 1989 black/black GTS.

 

Good one!

 

Purchased my Mondial sight unseen. It was advertised on Ebay by a dealer who was new to Ebay as well. I convinced the dealer to deal with me offline sort of speak. They were reluctant at first until i pointed out to him that the high bidder was also the high bidder on three other Mondials, and probably was only buying one if any!
Inspected all reciepts and called the dealer who performed service. Had a PPI done by a former F-chatter closeby. Had them overnite all the tools, jacks and manuals before i sent money. Ten days later Intercity showed up with my car. It was better than they described and im very happy.
Good luck Karen i was sweating too some....

 

I have bought two used cars quite a distance from home. In the case of the Ferrari, I had actually seen it and driven it, but only coincidentally, as I'd happened to be vacationing not too far away during the course of negotiations. In the case of my wife's car, we made all purchase arrangements sight unseen.

In both cases, we had done a lot of due diligence before ever progressing to the purchase stage. For example:

1) Detailed e-mail photos
2) Faxed service records
3) Telephone discussions with the mechanics servicing the vehicle
4) Better Business Bureau checks on the mechanics
5) CarFax checks
6) Pre-purchase inspections by factory dealers.

Having done all that, we also had escape clauses in our purchase agreement that would have allowed us to back out within a reasonable time should something be other than as represented.

In the case of my wife's car, I flew in to see the car and then drove it home. That was easy. In the case of the Ferrari, I had to arrange for a neutral third party to hold my funds while the car was in shipment, and the seller also had to be comfortable that this was a legitimate arrangement. It was kind of funny, as he and I both seemed to be on the same team in wanting to be sure everything was on the up and up before committing my funds and his car to this process. Also, we had to arrange transport, insurance during transport, and title transfer details. Not a big deal if you do this frequently, but a bit of complication if you don't. Be very careful picking on-line escrow services, as there's a lot of fraud out there; this isn't a plug, but after a lot of research, I used www.escrow.com (during 1Q03), and everything worked fine.

Good luck with your decisions.

 

I bought my F355 sight-unseen from NY - Wide World Of Cars - even though I live in Colorado. It turned out great and the car is at least as good as advertised.

I did not take the deal lightly and would not have done it if it was not anAuthorized Ferrari dealer and a salesman with a good reputation. Along with a detailed and written formal disclosure about the car and its condition. Since it was extremely low mileage with a full and documented dealer history, it was easy to formalize an understanding that the car was in as-new condition.

I don't get the reliance people have on PPI results, especially from third party shops, when there is no contractional recourse if the results are proven wrong/incomplete. What are you ever going to do to claim against the PPI mechanic/shop? Against a private owner? Against an independent dealer? Sure a PPI can provide additional information but is not sufficient.

In my case, I was happy to finally locate (after approx 2 years) a perfect example of the precise car/configuration/condition that I was searching for. I knew enough about the market by then, and had seen enough poor examples, that I may have even accepted some variation from the claimed condition.

 

I bought my 330 2+2 sight unseen except for photos from an owner in the SF Bay area. I live in Dallas. At the time (Oct.--Nov. 2002) I was deeply involved work and a major family illness, and my wife was understandably reluctant to have me travel by air in light of then very recent tragic events and her father's illness.

I had been corresponding with a SF Bay area 250 GTE owner from Tom Yang's board, who had looked at the my car previously but wanted a GTE more than a 330. I had been shopping for a 330 for nearly a year at the time, and had found either cars I didn't want or cars that were very nice and sold before I could move on them.

Anyway, to make it short, my contact in Cal. put me in touch with the owner and the names of a couple of shops to call for PPI's. A deal followed soon after and I had the shop owner who did the PPI to do some immediately needed work. The car was trucked here and arrived in early March '03.

It was a solid and complete semi-original car (repainted) and I paid a fair price for it. I've done lots of reconditioning because it had basically sat in a garage for 20 years with very little use, but I presided over or personally did every bit of the work and know exactly what I have.

To conclude, I'm very happy with my car and plan to keep it for the long term. However, if that unrefuseable offer does come along and I decide to sell and upgrade Vintage Ferraris, I will definitely travel to see new prospects. I lucked out on the 330 but don't trust my luck again.

 

you should call up the guy and ask him to turn it on and let u hear it.

 

I have bought countless high end and exotic cars sight unseen over the years......totaling millions of dollars.........if know what to ask for, and what to do for due diligence, you never have worry at all. Been burned/lied to twice in the last 5 years......and have bought probably 200 cars sight unseen over that time.

 

I just bought a 360 spider sight unseen but had the car inspected at a Lamborghini dealership which was very familiar with 360's. My transporter just picked up the car yesterday and is driving back to NC from CA. He said its the best looking 360 he has delivered and this guy has delivered many. His opinion mattered to me because he transports exotic cars for fun and a living since retiring. He is also a Viper Club of America member with his own stable of exotics. Sure made me feel better about my purchase. I also bought a 97 Viper GTS a few months ago sight unseen and it was better than I expected. In both cases though, I researched the service history in detail, calling the previous service advisors and also speaking with the techs who did the work on the cars. If you do your homework and have an inspection performed along with someone you may trust to at least look at the car, you will be fine. BTW I bought both these cars off Ebay. Good luck!

 

I bought my Mondial in May, sight unseen from 8000 miles away. Actually, I still haven't seen it seen it.

Didn't have a PPI done, but a lengthy email from Grand Touring in MD was enough. My mechanic was impressed when he flew up to get it and drive it to TN.

Karen will see it in about 2 weeks and maybe even drive it assuming Ferrari UK ships the timing belt for it this week...

 

Bought my 512TR from Ferrari of Los Gatos sight unseen but ppi'd by a local found in Hemmings. Totally satified. Car was as represented and have had 20000 trouble free miles since.