Fox Valley Motors???

You wont find a better Dealer to deal with both before and after the sale! I bought my car from Jim and I have talked to Mike who is a poster here and both are more than happy to help in any why thay can. I will buy my next car from them again. Hopefully very soon. ps I am also in the car bus. so I deal with many dealers each day so I can say they are top notch.

 

Hi Zinhead,
Sorry to hear that your experience with us has not been what you had hoped. If there is anything I can do to fix things, please don't hesitate to contact me.
Mike

 

I can't say anything about the service dept. But, I purchased an item off Ebay that they were selling. I delt with Phil and it went w/o a hitch. I gave them pos. feedback & they deserved it.

FYI - I did not know anyone from the dealership was on Fchat

 

I only have positive things to say. Bought my TR from them five years ago. Lee Brownstein and Joe Suba were the best during the deal-making process. I even took time to write the owner a letter saying their firm provided the only pleasurable car buying experience I ever had in my 25 years on the road. The only red mark would be that the car was delivered without repairing a minor crack in the front spoiler as spelled out in the sales contract, but they took care of that blemish to perfection (no charge, of course) when I took the car there the following year for regular maintenance. The maintenance guy at the time named Brian was great also.

My advice would be that if you have any negative issues, be sure to tell management about them...

 

Last year, my water pump went out on my 328, seeing that FVM is only about less than a mile from my house, i took it to them to get it fixed. They were very friendly and easy to deal with. so far, everything is fine with my water pump, but the rest of the car is a question. HAH!

When i brought my 328 to them to drop it off, there was a new Lamborgini sitting there, i asked him if that was my loaner car, we both kind of chuckled at that. HAH.....

 

Everyone at FVM is very friendly. I visit often to check out new cars and take pictures and I am always greated by one of the staff. This is rare in my case as i am young and often not even acknowledged at other dealerships. It's always a blast to be there. Make sure you guys check out the new showroom when its finished.

mike

 

I am not a good FVM sales vs customer example but here is my experience...

My Dad bought the Maranello from Mike I believe. I met the owner one day and he was one of the most friendly guys you can meet in the car business: realistically wanting to know about my profession in building mogul lines, candy/jelly/hard candy manufacturing, and designing packaging machines. When I ran into some good sales I planned to visit in hopes of purchasing a sportscar of my own, ( as I had a history of 4 door German sedans and SUVs.) One day I brought a friend from my industry, ( food broker ) who has a great collection in Vipers, Vettes and Lotus as he was looking to buy even more so than I but would be an expert source of answers if I ran into problems. I think it was a Saturday and the place was pretty empty, including the sales team. There was a drive or something going on and one salesman pretty much had to watch the floor but also be a little bit of a lookout for the public gawkers. I must have gone on a bad day because this one salesman was confronting everyone who walked in. I told him my friend wanted to look at the anniversary Lotus and the new Viper and I was just looking and he responded that the showroom wasn't for the public. About a second after he said that a young Dad and and his kid set the alarm off in a 360 and he looked at us like it was our fault. We were even told not to touch the cars even though we haven't even stepped in as we were still on the welcome mat. A little nervous about brining a coworker to a place where the sales guy was obviously aggitated, I asked if we could speak to another sales rep ( I asked for the guy who sold the Ferraris, ) or even a service tech for simple Q&A as I said we don't want to be a bother on the floor he was responsible for and this angered the salesman for some reason. I took my friend to the service area to look for anyone who could answer some questions and then the same salesman chased us down saying we were annoying him and once again his dealer wasn't for the general public. Im not a punk, I do not want to trade in on my name or what I buy, and to much delight my friend suggested we go without him stating who he is or what he does, ( he is modest even though he provides sales for some of the biggest food service industries in the nation. )

I write this bad experience off as everyone is entitled to a bad day. My Dad had a great time, FVM always sponsors great events, MikeFVM on Fchat seems very enthusiastic, even the odd showing of that Microfiber man makes them seem great, Frank talks a great deal about them, etc... But the only negative I had was this happened to a friend of mine who I did business with, is as friendly a chap you can meet, and he should not have to wave his car keys to show his worth.

I wound up buying the Ferrari from my Dad, ( much like I did with my frist Benz, ) and negotiations are much more simple as the only threat I get for missing a car or house loan payment is a temporary kidnapping of my girlfriend's puppy or a smaller percentage on a extruder machine deal. I take the 575 to LFSC where they were friendly right from the start. I can not say enough positives about Lee, James, Joe and Tyler. My friend wound up buying a new Viper ( his third ) but from a dealer and sold his two Lotus Esprits after servicing and trading them in somewhere in MO after a few years.

I would say FVM is great as long as you don't catch them on a Saturday where there is only one guy in the place and he has to deal with kids kicking Diablos or high school kids pressing every button in a Murci. 364 days out of the year they probably will treat you with more class and open character than a confident and sly sales pitch. I really like to point out they don't do a used car sales routine. All I remember when I went ( excluding that one Saturday with my coworker, ) and met the main guy was that the people were friendly, treating you as a person. There are two main supercar places ( not exclusively Ferrari ) in Chi-town: Bentley Gold Coast and FVM. The latest forums on BGC are bad. I can state that in combination of my experiences with FVM, what they have, how they act, in their building of a new showroom, and they events they sponsor, they are 98/100 in the green. That should get them in the hall of fame for places to see in the Chicagoland car hall of fame.

RocketBoy

 

Hi RocketBoy,
Tell your dad we said "Hi". I wish I could have been here when you stopped by. I must have been on our Fall Color Tour in Wisconsin when you came in with your friend. Sorry to hear about the salesperson who gave you a hard time. You and everyone else are always welcome to just look around. In fact, you'll have to stop by in a few weeks because our new Lambo showroom will be completed.

 

I brought my car to FVM for an inspection. The staff was friendly and the tech spent quite a while with the car. Best of all, I didn't get raped on the bill. Does anyone know if FVM has Ferrari diagnostic equipment?

 

Anytime I've ever been to FVM it's just been to look around and take picures. The salesmen were always very friendly and answered any questions I've even had. If I ever buy an exotic car, I'll be going to FVM first to see what they have.

 

Here's my experience with Fox Valley. 3 years ago, I went in to look at a Countach they had. I went there with my (at the time) future wife. We were wearing jeans and a baseball cap. I forget the guys name I talked to, but he was an older gentleman with grey hair. He was asking questions, obviously probing to see if we had any money, not being very friendly.

I didn't know how to drive stick back then (save the comedic comments), so reluctantly, they let my wife drive the car with the salesman. So there is a bit of a hill to get out of the dealership on to North Ave., and my wife tried to adjust the seat forward so she could reach the pedals, and it turned out that the seat was broken and she could not keep it forward enough to drive it. So they put the parking brake on, and were going to switch drivers so they could pull it back in to the shop. It turns out the parking brake didn't work either, and we watched the Countach start rolling backwards downhill. I thought, "Sh*t, I just bought this car without even driving it..." The porters ran out and were able to catch it.

Then I told the salesman I didn't drive stick, but I wanted to go for a ride, and he said "We don't give rides" in a snotty voice. Reluctantly he took me, but he didn't know how to drive it, and stalled it. We went for a very low speed, pedestrian drive around the block.

When we got back, he asked me what I did for a living, and I told him TV and movie film restoration, and he asked me if I knew so and so, who was an existing client of mine. I said yes, and since that client bought numerous Ferraris and Lambos from them, all of a sudden they rolled out the red carpet and offerred us to drive or ride in anything. We declined, since all I was interested in was the Countach, and I told them to get it fixed and we'll come back.

So then a few weeks later I got married and went on my 1 month honeymoon in Maui. During the honeymoon, I called Fox Valley and they said they got it all fixed. So I asked them if they could hold the car for me, pending an inspection, and I sent a check for $10K to hold it.

When we got back, we flew out a guy named Ted, from Al Burtoni's Milano imports in California, a Lambo mechanic guru, to do an inspection of the car. It was quite amusing, as the Fox Valley mechanic seemed to worship him and were full of questions. To make a long story short, he told me the car would need about $30K of work on it to make it solid, so I passed on the car.

Fortunately, that day was the unveiling of the Murci, and they had a jazz band there and champagne, etc., and it was a nice little party. I received my $10K back from them a few weeks later, but I was still out around $1500 for flying Ted out, putting him up at a hotel and his inspection fee.

Since then, I learned how to drive stick on a rented 348 on another trip to Maui 6 months later. Then I bought the 308 and a Boxster S and a 911 (996) Carrera Cab Tiptronic (the 996 was last month from Bentley Gold Coast, story to follow in another thread...) and I met Mike W. from FVM at last years Italian Car show at Oak Brook, while shooting footage for the DVD. I ran in to him at the Auto Show downtown as well, and he seems to be a real nice guy, no attitude at all.

I'm still looking for an anniversary Countach, but I am a little afraid to buy one, as the mechanics at FVM were never trained on those, as we discovered when Ted from Milano Imports talked to them, and so I don't want to ship it to California every time it needs some work, and I don't want to take it to some 'import' shop.

So that's my story, neither negative nor positive, just the facts, although I'll sum it up by saying Mike seems cool, my client buys a lot of cars from him, and I would give him alone my business, if the car can pass inspection and they make me feel that they can maintain it.

 

I've always had a positive experience there. On 2 different occassions,I went there to Check out a couple Ferrari's that they had. I was able to take them out by myself,"Around the Block". (Which is pretty big). to check them out. And,I stop in there periodically to see what's new and exciting over there.(There is always something.... )

And,each of the Salesmen that I was dealing with were very nice to me,(One time I arrived in an almost New Corvette,and another time,in a Porsche. So maybe that helped...?...I don't know) And,they spent alot of time talking with me about the car,and all sorts of things.

And,since have met Michael. He is a really nice guy. Frank over there is also a really nice guy. I'd buy a Car from either one of those guys.

 

I've been treated very well by all of the guys over at FVMC over the past couple (few?) years since I ordered my Elise, which finally arrived a couple months ago. Everyone I've met there has been very pleasant, and they all seem to be very enthusiastic about the cars they sell. This is a lot more than I can say about some of the people who work at other "high end" dealerships in the area.