Major service cost for 328

Not in my experience. I've heard far more 'horror stories' coming out of independents. Again, that's my personal experience.

Don't worry, not kidding myself.LOL! Paying top dollar has absolutely nothing to do with it, I agree. And, yes, I just happen to get 'gold standard service' at my local dealer....guaranteed.

I can walk into the dealer, unannounced, at any time, walk up to my mechanic and talk to him. He has given me his cell & home numbers to call any time I have a question or an emergency, break down on the car, etc. Sorry, but it just doesn't get any better than that.
That's precisely why I stick with my authorized dealer. I have no reason to go elsewhere. Why should I?


(disclaimer: your experience may vary with the repair facility you use)

 

Sounds like you get the service everyone aspires to - and as long as you're happy with what you are paying for that then all is well. If, on the other hand, you too are paying $23 for an $8 spark plug (not forgetting $125 for an hour to fit eight of them!) well, all I can say is that you measure value for money in a slightly different way to me!

Bottom line is that any business anywhere (car dealer or otherwise) has customers who are delighted with what they do & others that arn't. In reality nobody keeps all the customers 100% happy all of the time - so just as you have a very positive experience with your dealer, you only need to read the boards to find others with the opposite experience - and plenty who have positive experiences in the independent market etc etc, yadda. yadda.

The OP on this thread seems to have had an "OK" experience with his dealer but I don't think there's any doubt he got raped in terms of what he paid for a number of items. For me that turns an OK experience into a very negative one because I just really struggle with being massively overcharged for anything - I view it as being pretty close to a legal mugging. "Here, help yourself to the contents of my wallet ya thieving git!"

In the wider business context I'm also not sure that this episode entirely fits the "win-win" paradigm either - it certainly wouldn't if I was the customer, I'd just feel I'd been overcharged and basically cheated - and I don't generally give anybody the chance to do that to me more than once if I can help it. So the dealer would lose a customer.

So I'd also be looking to find a new shop to maintain my car. With the amount of money that I think has been overcharged I wonder if he could pretty much ship the thing anywhere in the country & still come out ahead!?!

I.

 

This thread is a lesson in why people should learn to change their own damn sparkplugs!

Seriously though, it doesn't take any greater skill, time, or effort to do a lot of this work on Ferraris than it does on any other car, generally speaking. Of course there are exceptions and EVERY car has its quirks, but I think these prices are more a result of dealers charging "whatever the customer is willing to pay" rather than getting some super-elite service done by rocket scientists.

 

Same at my independent...

 

I appologise first hand, but anyone who would willingly pay those kinds of prices for that amount of work, has lost all reality to the value of a dollar.

The belts are less than $50 for the pair. The tensioner bearings are less than $200 for the pair. Paying $23 each for spark plugs? Okay, but the $2 ones work just as good. Labor shouldnt be more than 20-30 minutes to change plugs.

Rookie mechanic here, never F-car trianed, never worked on a Far-rarry before.....Most everything else over the years though, both owner maintainance/repair work, as well as professionally. The Ferrari really is NOT rocket science.

I had the rear deck off, cam covers off, both distributors off, both wheel wells out, belt covers off, AC out, and the engine in time ready to remove the belts in only a few hours. I seriously believe that if I did it a few times, I could perform the entire service in under 8 hours. Now, adjusting shims would add some time, but if you wrote down your numbers before removing the cams to change the seals, it wouldnt take long to re-shim those valves needing an adjustment. Oil can drain while service is being performed, remove filter to get it out of your way. And you need the caps off to adjust static timing during engine assembly, so putting a cap on involves no labor charge. Seeing a service should generally include a compression test or leakdown test, changing plugs shouldnt add any labor. Seeing as all this work is inter-related, there should simply be a straight flat rate cost of a 30K service that should cover all labor and basic parts. I cant see anything over 14 hours labor, TOTAL! Just because its a Ferrari shouldnt quadruple the cost. Seriously, it took as long to put a timing belt on my daughters Nissan Pathfinder. Can you imagine a Nissan dealer charging you $5500 to change a timing belt on a Pathfinder?

And $300 to change tires on a tire machine? Do they supply the vaseline with that work or do they charge extra for that too?

I have this theory that some people like huge repair bills and like being wined and dined in the process. The huge repair bill is so they can pump out thier chest and look cool to some unknown crowd I havnt yet met. "Hey, I just paid $15K to get my shoes shined, dont they look great?". Maybe the average Ferrari dealer has caught on to this. My first 30K service cost me less than $300. But I guess my work would be meaningless since it was not performed at a dealer? Fine, but I saved over $5000. Thats nice vacation money, or more Ferrari parts.

 

Seems expensive to me also, but I think of it this way. If you are okay with it, it certainly doesn't bother me. You are the type of owner Ferrari wants driving their cars, and without at least some drivers like you out there, the service proces at the dealerships would be even more expensive. There is a price to pay for the limited production run from companies like Ferrari, and I thank you for being one of those willing to help pay it. I will probably continue to use an independant, but to each his own. Thanks for sharing.

BT

 

That's great, Mike, but I was responding to post #15 in which Iain stated:

And, if you read my response, I've found that NOT to be the case; you couldn't get better access than I already have with the mechanic at my authorized dealer.

Yes, I feel that I get the very best service possible and a multitude of posters here get the very same quality and level of service that I experience from this authorized dealer.
And as far as paying $23 for an $8 spark plug, if you're paying $8 from your independent, you're paying too much. I just looked at my last invoice for service at my dealer on which I was charged $4.55 for each spark plug. As far as their hourly rate, my authorized Ferrari dealer charges within $5/hour of my Mercedes mechanic, and the exact same rate as the local Cadillac dealer. A 'savings' of $5-$10/hour is not worth it to me to trust my car to an independent shop.
If the original poster had an unpleasant experience at his authroized Ferrari dealer, that certainly doesn't make ALL authorized dealers 'bad' or a 'rip-off' as I have clearly shown based on my personal experience and many others on this board who use the same dealer as I. Just as I would never believe that ALL independents are better than authorized dealers; hardly the case.

I, too, would suggest CT 328 GTS either question his dealer as to the charges and receive a satisfactory explanation or simply look elsewhere for servicing on his Ferrari.

 

....and on that we are in violent agreement !

I.

 

Agreed!

 

That's more than the ~$6k that I paid for a full engine out major on my BB512i at a dealer which even included a waterpump, radiator rebuild and having th engine repainted....

 

Steve, you seem to have come to a conclusion that works for you; good.
I would be really interested in a follow-up from you as to what the dealer says, if anything, after reading over all these comments. I'm curious as to whether he'll try to placate you, or simply shrug his shoulders.
This was a good thread and I learned a lot from the reading of everyone's comments on the subject.
If I was talented enough to do all of my own maintenance work on the Ferrari, as I did on the TVR I had before it, I certainly would. Since I can't, I gotta go with the percentages of 4 yrs. w/o a problem by using my dealer.
Good luck to you in your discussion with your dealer. I hope it works out and/or you find someone you're happy with.

 

What he said.....

There's nothing mystical about the basic maintenance required on a 328. You can change all your own oils, filters & fluids for less than half what a dealer will charge & its no more difficult than on practically any other car.

Changing brake pads is as easy as it gets on a 328 (as would be the front discs at least - I think the rears would be a little tougher). With the right tool for the drop gears I don't think doing a clutch would be too hard either. Other than that thing like spark plugs really arn't that difficult either.

FWIW I changed the relationship I have with my (independant) Mechanic a couple of years ago. He still gets the major work (belts, valve clearances etc) and he gets the stuff I don't feel comfortable to tackle. He knows I do the rest of it & I am free to call him for advice.

Currently I am chasing an intermittant misfire that sometimes appears around 6000 revs - no doubt I will end up replacing some bits on the ignition but it'll be my time to track the problem down & not his. He may also be able to help me out with used parts. He helped me work out a plan to trace the problem & that's been a big help - and he does that because he knows he'll be doing my cambelts again next year and that I don't take advantage of the situation.

Since I started doing some of the work on my car I find I am much more "dialled into it" than ever before - I know much more about it than I used to & that has added a new dimension to ownership. I kind of like that.


I.

 

I should have qualified my statement...I can do all the fluid changes, tracing & repairing minor electrical problems, spark plugs, changing out switches, lamps, ft. brake pads, etc... However, when it comes to engine work (aside from fluids/plugs) I'm a bit 'feared' of the thing. Tis' a bit more complicated (for me anyway) than a British Leyland straight 6. I've yet to feel comfortable enough to work on it in that regard....you could correctly call it a phobia, I guess.

 

I've seen 30K service bills ranging from $3K to $8K. Sounds like if your bill comes out to under $5K it is reasonable and basically averages $1K per year for maintenance. I've been spending $2-3K per year consistently over at least the past five years on my 1991 Toyota MR2 in maintenance, repairs, and upgrades as a daily driver. So Ferrari 328 maintenance seems no more expensive.

The best deal would be to pay for parts and do it yourself. We need more threads or links to websites of step-by-step 30K service on 328 complete with digital pictures of every step using jacks. Call it 30K Service for Dummies or something.

 

Well being that my 328 has sat for the last 15 years before I bought it (it was an investment for the former owner) with only oil changes every few years, I am very happy the water pump is being rebuilt as part of the major service.

 

Since it has been sitting for sooooo long I'd agree it would seem sensible just to deal with it while they are in there doing the belts etc. Personally, for the extra money I probably wouldn't mess around with a rebuild, I'd slap a new one in there & keep the old one as a spare.

I.

 

Wow! How much does your MR2 worth nowaday? I saw one for less than 5 grands. Personally I would not spend 2-3 grands yearly to maintain a 5,000 dollar car.

 

Yeah maybe that is a good idea to place a new water pump on.....what is the difference between a rebuilt water pump versus new one? Meaning will a new one outlast a rebuilt one mile for mile and time? Curious on that one. If you get a lot more mileage out of a new one than a rebuilt one, then maybe I should place a new one on.

What does a new one cost in rough figures?

.....M

 

No doubt I have spent far more than the value of the car to keep it running the way I like. But I have been the only owner for all its 16 years and it has served me well and paid for itself long ago. Original sticker price was $16K. Now worth $6K. I wouldn't spend this money if I bought it used. Besides, there was really nothing out there on the market to buy new that really impressed me. This is why I started to consider purchasing a 328 model Ferrari, because for the money no new car on the market came close.

But now the Toyota FJ Cruiser came out and I kinda dig it. I've been a fan of the old FJ 40 Land Cruisers. For $25K with 6 speed manual and four wheel drive, it's a real value if you can get it at sticker price. So now I have to choose: get the new truck and retire the MR2 to recreational use status, or fulfill the 328 dream, but continue to flog my poor MR2 with daily driver duty. Or do the only sensible thing... buy both!

 

The bottom line is that Americans get overcharged for service...........Frankly because they don't know any better. As long as we will pay the extortion...that's what you will get. The same services in the UK are substantially cheaper.

As far as dealer service goes..............I have had a TR and a 348 ruined by an authorized Ferrari dealer (there is only one in AZ).

 

I think not too much if you are paying someone else to do the rebuild. Have a look at Icami/Rutlands/McCann's websites - you should find the cost there.

I.

 

Sorry for going OT a bit..The new FJ Cruiser is sweet, 6spd is hard to find now. Btw, didn't know that you like the FJ40 too, there's couple pictures of mine in this thread:

http://www.ferrarichat.com/forum/showthread.php?t=100488&page=2

 

What do you think of Alex Traveiso (sp?)? I recommended my dad take his 348 spider to Alex as I had heard some bad press about Ferrari of Scottsdale.
BT