Ferrari of Washington

I am glad to hear Franklyn wants to help you find a 599. I have come across a few of your posts and I think deep down you want the 599. A 612 is a great car but its not a 599. If you get the 612 you will probably sell it in 6-12 months and end up getting a 599 anyways.

Have you considered consignment with FOW? If Franklyn wants the biz he should be motivated to find a buyer for your F430 spider. Anyhow I am sure you will figure it out. Not a bad problem to have....figuring out which Ferrari to get next

You mentioned selling your car then saving for awhile, its hard to have that garage spot empty. I have sold exotics in the past and tried to wait, that garage spot always got filled within 30 days lol.

Good Luck, keep us posted

 

599GTB or 599GTO or 599XX ?

 

That would actually be the plan, strange as it may seem. 6-12 months is my running average. I'm going into a very uncertain business year, full of potential windfalls and pitfalls. The 612 would be a fresh and inexpensive intro to V12's, while limiting my exposure while I see how the year plays out. All goes well, 599 this time next year or sooner. Unless I don't like something. I noticed one thing about the 599. Front end visibility sucks.

Back a page I said I was extreme low end of the GTB market. I've touched a GTO. It was awesome.

Are XX's actually somehow attainable? Pulling my leg, right?

 

Yeah I wouldn't get an XX even if it's attainable... it's track only and you don't go there

 

Funny to even talk about. My decision process beyond entry level 599 is really, really simple

 

Eager doesn't seem to be the operative word there.

I recently had an experience with a friend and his wife who were interested in purchasing a new Maserati GranTurismo Convertible S. We walked into the showroom and milled around for 1/2 an hour before my friend had to walk over to the receptionist and ask for a sales person.. who reluctantly sauntered over another 15 minutes later.

Needles to say, they did purchase the car. Oh, but not from FoW- MoW.. No worries though, I'm sure they're selling two or three of them a month anyway.. right?

 

Who knows? These cars=Lambo's-Ferrari's-Maserati's sell themselves to a certain degree. If the FOW store was operated better they could be A LOT more successful. I think many potential customers including myself went elsewhere due to the lack of professionalism at the store. Service Dept. is not helping either, they lost all the good techs/advisors/managers etc.....Many customers have switched to Competizione in MD, I am doing the same as well.

 

It really is crazy... they have such a stunning presence building wise you'd expect the same type of matched quality inside in terms of sales/service. Sometimes I wonder if they are in business to support like 5 people because every time I'm in there they look at me if I had three heads and why did you just walk in through my doors...

 

Yeah, the Maser story's pretty shocking. They've all got their offices lined up in front of the Maserati's. Pretty hard to explain that one way.

 

All of these stories are odd. I was just there looking at a scud and had all 3 sales people greet me. Jonathan was willing to let me take it out but I didnt have time. I am still a few months out but that didn't seem to matter.

 

...THEY PROBABLY GOT THE MEMO.

 

Checkout Prestige Autos in Annapolis - Across from the Annapolis Mall and behind the Baltimore Tea Company on Bestgate Road.

I saw two interesting 430 six-speed spiders for sale there today.

He seems to move a lot of inventory.

More importantly, he will meet and greet when you walk in the door, unlike FoW who made me drive 160 mi roundtrip with my neighbor who wanted to test drive and buy a 360 on the showroom floor. We waited 45 minutes for a salesman (after we made the appt the night before), then excuse after excuse (dead battery, can't find keys, can't get in touch w/the owner). We left after 90 minutes of BS and my neighbor bought his 360 from another dealer and had it shipped.

Pathetic operation if you ask me.

I also refuse to take my two Ferrari's to them for service after a nightmare job on my TR.

 

It is truly amazing. I don't question your experience or anyone else's at FOW. What amazes me is how inconsistent they appear to be, sometimes offering service so far below what anyone would consider acceptable to very high quality service. My personal experiences on the showroom floor have been at the highest level and that is with salespeople and owners. Service is quite different.

At this point - after many, many personal and varied experiences, I suspect nothing further may be gained by continuing with our rants and sometimes, praises. We likely have all made our personal decisions as to where we will look for adding a new to us Ferrari, Maser or Lambo; and where to service our existing cars.

Personally, all I would like of FOW would be to reinstitute the track days and occassional drives in the area.

Rob

 

I have had mixed experiences at FofW. Have dealt with Jonathan a couple of times, the last one a few weeks ago and found him to be accommodating to negotiation and followed-up well.

 

Hey guys,

I'm not by any means an exotic owner just a car enthusiast...
I visited FOW today.. the secretary was very nice and greeted me when I walked in to look at the cars inside. Was there for a few mins when I saw Jonathan he came up to me and greeted me and we talked for alil.. Really cool guy, I have known him since they brought the Aventadors to Katie's...so I decided to go to the Lamborghini showroom to see the aventador and record a quick video of it..as I'm doing it a tall salesman walks into the showroom and I greet him and decide to ask him whether it was true the Aventador was used in the Batman movie...he gets very angry at me and looks straight into me, threatens me that if I make that public to anyone in Youtube that the Aventador they have was used in the movie, he said, "I will come looking for you, I'm warning you." I don't understand why he would get mad at me for asking a simple question. Just a scary visit that I wanted to share about FOW. I have been there a few times, and this is by far the most unfriendly visit I have had.

 

Really, and do what?

That's funny, odd even..

 

So, who else wants to just drop by and ask the same question?

 

You know, these threads crack me up. Hard to tell who is "testing" the limits of a buyer and who is testing the limits of the dealership.

Back in the day, I was a FoW shopper and also used them for service when I first bought my 575. They were very accommodating. Of course those were the "old" days. Since then, I have been with Compitizione, but the stories I am hearing kinda shock me. Even a bad dealership would not do such things.

Are you sure you are not being a little obnoxious, or just making yourself un approachable? I am not defending, nor supporting anyone, but even in the swankiest most unobtainable stores in the world, I have never experienced such as those reflected in the post.

Not to knock anyone, but is it you?

In all honesty, I have not stepped foot in the place since Allie sold it, and I also believe the stories of the old guys as to how it went down, but a 30 minute wait to talk to a car salesman? Come on, you are exaggerating a little, right?

 

Is this even their Aventador, looks like it's in the UK?

http://www.autoblog.com/2011/06/28/bruce-wayne-to-drive-lamborghini-aventador-in-batman-the-dar/

 

The movie was filmed on both sides of the pond.

The car in the movie stills is identical to the Aventador that F/LOW had at the DC Auto Show in January.

 

Bought our first Ferrari from Amir at FOW and then have used them for our service for two years. We plan to trade ours in eventually and get another one and it will be from them. We have found the entire team at FOW genuinely interested in giving us top quality service and being part of our great experiences enjoying Ferrari. I'd suggest if you do encounter poor service you talk to one of their leadership, they are clearly working hard to be the very best in every way.

 

I purchased my first Ferrari from FoW several months ago. Every time I showed up, the showroom was empty and I was permitted to look around on my own which is, for me, preferable to being hounded by a salesman. When I was ready to talk, I asked to see a salesman and was intro'd to Jonathan. I found him to be responsive to my requests and excellent at follow up.

Now, I wanted a PPI and had Competizione do it - best move ever. Competizione found multiple significant things that FoW's shop indicated were fine. When they were pointed out (for instance, the clutch was shot), they acknowledged there were, indeed, problems. The dealer wanted to fix in-house and I said "no thanks." In fairness to Jonathan, he has to rely on his shop to be straight with him and that doesn't appear to be happening.

When I presented Jonathan with the results of the PPI, he acknowledged that they did not want to sell a car in that condition and we negotiated a lower price to reimburse me for the costs I would have to invest.

I recommend working with Jonathan but, just like with all dealers, be sure to do your homework and, more than anything else, be sure to get a PPI (and get the repairs performed) at Competizione. Richard and Fernando are the best!

Good luck!

 

This is so great to hear!

I wonder if the new owners will keep this incredible staff of Sales and Service enthusiasts?

<laughs hysterically>

 

Understand where you're coming from, but it's not entirely fair to lump the whole sales/service staff into this hysterical laughter. There are still some good ones there. It's just too bad that the new owners have turned this once-enthusiast shop into a car dealership. IMHO.

gp

 

True and as one of the casualties, I guess I should have been a bit more targeted. A rushed post and not meant to malign any of "the good ones" who still struggle there.

We'll see what happens during this next round of change.