Local F dealer shows great business sense

Interesting report. Here in the US, it's not by all means common, but some dealers are devoting space in their showrooms to all sorts of "free" customer services. There is a Lexus dealer that, because they had to downsize their free loaner fleet, added day spa services so customers would be encouraged to wait for their cars to be serviced rather than drive away in a free loaner. You bring your car in for service, and you get free manicures, massages, other spa treatments. Another has a hair salon. Other lesser brands, aggregated into "superstores" (e.g. Subaru, Chevy, etc. all in one large store) have done similar things, and/or added playrooms for kids and adults (one has a pool table; another with free hot dogs).

It will be interesting to see if this truly builds customer loyalty. In this age of information, consumers are increasingly fickle and go from brand to brand if the latest and greatest gets good reviews, or has desired product attributes. Would a would-be buyer of a BMW, for example, get a Lexus instead because he/she could get free spa services during service visits? Seems unlikely. More likely that the BMW dealership that has these services gets the service business away from other BMW dealers. But I suppose to those on the fence or relatively indifferent to driving characteristics, the added bells and whistles can be a deciding factor.

As for Ferrari dealerships, they all vary, I'm sure, since not all of them are owned by the factory any more. The ones here locally are great (Ferrari of Silicon Valley and Ferrari of San Francisco - I should add that a number of independents are also great in their support) and support owners' group events, etc. Also the dealership where I bought my car, Ferrari of Newport Beach. They threw in a nice leather key fob with a flash drive (which I thought would be empty, but it had very cool Ferrari content on it), Ferrari clothing items, and absorbed the labor to install a Tubi (the exhaust itself I had to pay for of course - but they found one for me) and shipped the removed OEM exhaust to my home free of charge.

The local Ferrari store (the kind that sells Ferrari-branded items but not the actual cars) just supported an owners group event where everyone got gift certificates to use in the store. Great story there. Our group's fearless leader went into the store looking just to buy Ferrari bags - the kind that they put the merchandise in when you buy something - to put together gift bags for dinner attendees. Instead, he not only got the bags but the gift certificates and more.

 

They do vary.
Here in Philly, we have Algar.Their attitude toward customer service can't be beat.Nothing but great things to say about Patrick.
Eric

 

It is about having a captive market, do you really have much of a choice on where you're going to get your car serviced?

 

Under previous management Ferrari of Washington would on occasion give me "gifts". It really wasn't "free" merchandise as I know the giver was always doing it as truly a "gift", nothing expected in return. Miss those days.

I would venture to guess that would never happen today.

As a side, a stopped in the other day and they still had Ferrari F1 merchandise from over 4.5 years ago!!

 

why do you expect free gifts? if it was unexpected, that's nice. but i would not expect it.

 

I'm extremely happy with Ferrari of Washington. They did indeed give me a baseball cap with my purchase.

Seriously, I feel like I get good value every time I work with them, think very highly of FOW.

 

When i purchased my 997, i asked if he could throw in snow tires. He said no. I took the car and all its maintenance to another dealer, never returned there.

 

I had my 360 brought over to FoTB for a 2nd PPI since FoPB buggered the job up so badly it made me want to run from what turned out to be a perfectly fine example.

So, long story short, I paid for a PPI at FoTB who had no other skin in the sale beyond their billing of the PPI. When I went in to see the PPI in progress (something that Bruce recommended and I wanted to do because of the total BS job FoPB did), Bruce was extremely accomodating and friendly. Showed me the entire operation, introduced me to the mechanics checking out the car, gave me a tour of the car and pointed out all the good things about it, the 1 or 2 small (read: insignificant) issues, and just overall made me feel really good about an experience that up to that point was very sour.

So I head back to Sarasota, complete the sale with the seller.

Back up to FoTB a few days later to pick up the car. Bruce greets me again warmly. I'm with my ex-fiancee who didn't accompany me the first time. Bruce spends the time to give her the tour. He delivers the car to me, explains the basics to me and lets me go for a spin around the block to see if anything else crops up that I need schooling with.

I come back from my drive (a rather longer drive than I or my ex or Bruce anticipated ) and find my ex with Bruce talking cars. My ex has a bunch of swag in hand, all given free of charge. Shirts for her, her son and a ball cap for me. She didn't ask, it was just given openly.

Needless to say, FoTB and Bruce in particular, get all around A+++ from me, a guy who only had a PPI done there! That said, I will be sure to give them the first shot at my next Ferrari purchase, so it certainly was worth Bruce's effort as he did ensure that I'll add them to the prospect list next time out.

 

It takes years to win a customer and only seconds to lose one.....

 

Ron Tonkin Ferrari is great. I asked for some touchup paint. They had it custom mixed (no factory touchup!) and fedex'ed it to me free of charge.

 

I've been thinking about this post since I read it this morning.

I wouldn't expect free anything just because I'm doing business at a particular Ferrari dealer. I don't like the word "free". If that dealer treats you well and shoots you straight then I think you should be happy. I wouldn't get bent out of shape over a free t-shirt.

Ferrari of Atlanta has been great to me for years and I've never bought a car from them. I've always had my cars serviced with them though. They shoot me straight and if I just want to go talk cars in the showroom one day, they'll sit around and B.S. with me too.

 

I agree to an extent. But it can and should be a two-way street. I never negotiated over anything with them either. When I was there, another client of theirs actually came in and gave the sales guys a book as a token of friendship.

 

I'd be interested to know how the reception is to a Ferrari in Australia. What's the dealership like down there?

I have a lot of pilot buddies down there and I don't think they're too warmly received by the general population because they "aren't broke" if you know what I mean.

 

You made the mistake of asking after the fact. They already had you. That's kind the way they are, it's all about the negotiation especially with the tight @ss dealers. I'm sure you'll get a few who'll claim they were given blah, blah but it's like some rich people who don't necessarily give away $.05 unless they're working an angle up front. Plus they'll claim that's how they got there

 

thats why i never ask for freebies... i negotiate ahead of time and thats that.

 

I agree with others that once a deal is cut, it is too late. If it was really something you wanted, you should have worked it in with the deal. Asking for free stuff just because you are a customer is bad form. Every customer at a Ferrari dealer spends lots of money. You can't expect them to give everyone free gifts on demand.

If they offer, great. If they don't offer, just be pleased with the awesome service you get. If you aren't getting awesome service, the free t-shirt wouldn't make a difference anyway.

 

It amazes me.. Over a tshirt one which you canbuy anywhere. Maybe that is the reason why you are upset cause it's just a shirt. If they are not making a profit selling the car I can understand why one would be hesitant.

For these cars I wouldnt expect anything other than great customer service and help 24/7. Not trinket crap, that's what I would expect buying a chevy aveo. To make you feel like you are getting more of a car. If you need a tshirt or a hat ect to make your ferrari purchase worth it, and can't be happy with just the Ferrari you are truly spoiled. They may not give out a free shirt but might have given you a free oil change or something.

Don't burn bridges til you really have something legit to complain about.

Obiously my own two cents and hope I don't offend any here who think other wise.

 

Are you kidding me?

When I bought my car they threw in all kinds of stuff (2007 F430 Spider). Hats for my entire family (only 3 of us), shirts for everyone, etc. etc. I made a mistake in my negotiations and forgot to get a major service included in the deal (doooh!). It really surprised me at the day of signing the General Manager said " We have a suprise for you. The car is due it's major service (had 5,000 kms on it) next year... so we did if for you for free".

I also found a few other little surprises where they went above and beyond!

They have a client for life!

 

+1 !!

 

Mmm I see well that works for a lot of people I am sure but for me I can't wear that stuff, maybe I am to humble. Not saying it's not cool to have memrobilia ect just not a deal breaker for me. To their own

 

Same here. Our dealer is the only Ferrari dealer in our Province. The closest dealer after that is about a 10 hour drive. Despite that, they still have outstanding customer service and fair prices.

 

Never thought of that too much. Here in northern NJ we have four dealers in range. I.e., I am close enough that for a major, four dealers would pay to flat bed the car in and out. I call all four for major service quotes. I do know that one of them would have cost a thousand dollard more than the one I selected. Also on occassion had a little misleading info provided, the Internet is your friend as the collective knowledge of mankind is available if you dig.