Ferrari of San Antonio sold me a damaged CPO car, lied to me, refuses to make it right.

I'm still on the side of the OP with this one. From my understanding he was not after the $1500 per say but would have preferred better communication from the dealer. I assume had the dealer clearly and respectfully told him that the shipping cost was outside of their responsibility from the beginning then all would be ok. It appears as though the bigger issue is that they ignored him and strung him along for a while hoping he would go away which is a bad way to do business and treat people. Sometimes customers just want to feel they are being listened to and it goes a long way to being happy even if it costs them some money along the way.

 

Marcel could not possibly be more correct. Reading this lurid, sad and angry thread took me back 42 years to my first Ferrari, the 365GTC speciale #10581, acquired from Luigi Chinetti Sr. It was not perfect either cosmetically or mechanically but the salesman, Jacques Vaucher, now principal of l'Art et l'Automobile, was kind enough to bring the car into New York City where I drove it several laps of the Central Park loop, and I therefore knew where I would need to spend money. Feature a salesman doing that today! Nereo Iori carried out a complete mechanical rebuild and Bill DeCarr a metal up respray. Enjoyed that car for 29 years. When David Gooding sold it in 2007 net of auction fee and capital gains tax I had enough capital to acquire all of the following: a five-speed 412 FCA national platinum award winner. Needed nothing. Next my 2004 575M that before wire-transfering the purchase price I had a thorough, complete pre-purchase inspection by a well-known Virginia-based NASCAR racing team's shop, including a compression/leak-down test, detailed paint inspection with that small paint thickness measuring device, and interior and an actual road test of five miles. Cost me another $650. and well worth it. Then an F355 berlinetta first owned by Peter Kalikow which, when I acquired title, was completing a full engine-out belt service at Ferrari New England. A second 412 that I acquired from the Vice-president of the Club Ferrari France, that when I bought it was undergoing a full service by the best independent Ferrari service facility in France. The only car I took a chance on, bought sight unseen and uninspected, was a 2004 Maserati Spyder and did so because I only had $14K en jeu.

The first Latin we learned in law school was: caveat emptor - let the buyer beware.

 

This is what I got.
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haha thanks Marcel. I didn’t invent the expression though, it has been used by UK politicos through the years. Most famously by a member of Margaret Thatcher’s government in the Spycatcher scandal in the 1980s when the government banned the sale of a former spook’s memoirs.

 

Tex, let me explain the problem with a background of 65 years practicing law and almost 30 as adjunct Professor of Law at N.Y.U. Law School. Facts do not get up off the street, walk into a courtroom and say - look at us, here we are, the facts in this case. They have to be proved by evidence. Libel is the unlawful publishing of a false written statement that damages a person's reputation. Being sued for libel means that you will have to hire a lawyer to prove the truth of each damaging statement you have made. Here you have most of that evidence but if there is in all of the correspondence a possibility of interpretation that this bad conduct was deliberate/intentional and your real purpose was more than getting your money back, i.e. you really wanted to injure/damage the dealer, a jury could find against you. And you've doubtless read of some crazy outrageous jury verdicts. Not even mentioning the extravagant cost of your lawyer's fees.

Do you see the problem?

 

Here is one from last month with a problem upon delivery. Here's some more paint bubbling. Or take up Scott's offer to give you another story about a 300K car above. I don't know what you want me to say? I and many others here have said CPO will and has missed many things that would be unacceptable to a buyer sight unseen. That bottom rash is quite common in many Ferrari - can't say anything about the dyed blue interior. Someone obviously choose to dye it that color for whatever reason.

Some care, some don't. As for the dent, yeah - it's no a big deal to me if the price is right. Ferrari doesn't need to care; they will still sell each and every one of their cars whether they lose you as a customer or not. In fact, it's one reason a lot of people have and are put off by Ferrari. It's not everyone's cup of tea.

Yup, pretty much, that's what we're all trying to tell you. That's why it's important you see a car in person.

 

A very well written and well-thought post.

@dgoldenz94: how much mileage did you put on it? You might be ahead. Renting an FF for any period is not cheap.

 

Wow, I didn't catch this (my fault - was working the thread back).

$1,500 to have rented a Ferrari. Great deal if you ask me. How long were you able to rent it?

 

Oh my, digging into this a bit more, my sympathy is quickly waning.

Perhaps the getting mad about only getting one key was the clue.

For a couple of days, he had it and was happy, put 300 miles on it in fact. I buy a car sight unseen and had the dealership refund in full and pay for return shipping after a month of ownership because I changed my mind.

I would thank Ferrari of San Antonio for taking responsibility for my own lack of due diligence if I pulled this on them.

 

They do stand behind their products. You weren't satisfied and they took the car back at their expense.

To me the fact that they misrepresented the car, them paying $1500 to ship it back was equal to you paying $1500 to have it shipped to you due to your failure to do due diligence.

 

One key of a two key system is a big PITA, but at this level, not a deal breaker.

I would have gotten two keys immediately.
Tha's like driving with one headlight as "ok"....what if"???

 

I got an appointment, and did both Title Work and a plate renewal in four days, in the largest county on the State.
Someone is "making excuses"....

I did have to drive to a little used satellite of the Tax Office, but they were running right on the appointment time

 

The OP has requested twice that this thread be deleted. It is forum policy that we don't delete threads.

Among many reasons, here are a few. Once you go public with a thread of any type, but particularly complaints or accusations, it never really disappears from the internet and we don't believe in futile actions. Second, we frown on the use of this site to try to gain leverage in a private party transaction, attempting to garner the advice, contributions and favorable sentiment of the community, only to then have the community's time and thoughtful contributions disappear without their consent in an attempt to erase the record when the thread later becomes "inconvenient", "uncomfortable", or as part of a "settlement" with the other party ("we'll resolve your complaint, if you make the complaint thread disappear"). Third, we find there are two sides to every story and we believe the other side should have an opportunity to rebut in context if they choose. In circumstances where both parties have an open discussion about what happened, we find that the audience sentiment sways as often in favor of the second party as for the first party.

Consequently, this community is open as a forum for complaints and accusations, but we expect those doing so to have thought through it and be willing to live with the results either way. We will not delete threads, but we may entertain a request for the thread to be closed. However, the thread will be subject to being reopened as circumstances warrant, including specifically if the second party makes a request to have their say.

 

Interesting.

Wise.

 

I have stayed out of this thread but after 200+ posts it has to come to an end sometime.

When I bought my first Ferrari, I paid for the best Ferrari mechanic I could find to go see the car. He went over everything because I was his client. I believe it was around $650 for the PPI (8 years ago) which included a complete review of the service records and a compression/leak down test on the engine.

The PPI paid for itself with the dealer agreeing to certain items to complete the sale. Those items easily were over $2,000. The car was in Ohio and I live in Virginia. I flew out to see the car and meet with the mechanic and the folks at the Dealership to finalize the deal. The Dealership had a car meet me at the airport and return me back after we finished the paperwork.

I was shocked that the mechanic told me that half of his clients don't show up to view the car before they buy it. He said that it is really frustrating because what is a minor issue to one owner is a major issue to another. He had one case where he showed up and saw a Ferrari 360 that "looked like it followed a gravel truck for 500 miles". The Dealer wanted to sell it. The prospective owner wanted to buy it and the mechanic was in the middle saying: "you don't want this car".

The bottom line is that unless you have a lot of stupid money......there is a reason PPIs exist. You wouldn't buy a house without a home inspection.....or would you take the owner's word that "everything is okay" because they self-certified it? A Ferrari dealership is not a mythical place. They sell cars. I buy cars and a solid PPI is the only insurance that I have against known and unknown issues. I don't care who is selling the car or what representations they have made.

Consider yourself lucky and move on. Instead of paying $650-700 for a PPI you paid $1,500 and you drove it for 250 miles. Seems to me to be a fair trade/learning experience since they gave you the rest of your money back.

 

I am all too aware how our legal system works, sadly. One rule is to never sue someone who has more money than you. Fortunately, I have umbrella insurance as my first line of defense. Secondly, I have more than one lawyer friend who owes me big time!

Still, lacking clear intent, complaining about a car dealer hardly seems to be worthy of notice. Will Yelp even take a car dealer complaint?

Besides, my main point is if Ferrari wants to sell to Millennials, they need to step up their game.

 

THIS.

 

That's what I'm saying, though. What is 'okay to me' (All 3 of my Ferrari only came with one key. I got the second ones at the dealership to program = no biggie to me.) A reach for some - something to really rile them up.

Not saying it's wrong or right (BEFORE the transaction) but sort of indicative of the OP's mindset after the purchase.

 

As @INRange said a PPI is at least $500 (usually more).

It's like he got to rent an FF for $1,000 for 1 month.

I would consider myself far ahead!

 

Yes. Also the cheapest Ferrari is simply the most expensive Ferrari.

 

Thank god, finally a lawyer with enough common senses! Thank you.