Need a gold chain to see cars

Just tell the young lady at the front desk you'd like to look around. I was there Monday and had no issues, nor have I EVER had any. The guy that runs the dealership even took me back into the shop the first time I was there.

Up to a point I can't blame them, there's a ton of hardware in there, and the dealership isn't wide open like FoD.

 

Couldn't have been said any better. Although, I'd really like to check out the storage area of FoD. Someone told me its actually 2 stories, does anyone know if it is?? In one of these forums, I saw a pic of the new FoD dealer and noticed a dark storage area w/low ceilings, so I figured it was 2 stories. In the BG, there was a red Ferrari 330? (or something to that nature).

 

FoD has a storage level above the shop and a car lift/elevator to put the cars up there.

 

I searched and couldn't find pics. Does anybody have any on hand?? Thanx!

 

Search the archives on the old board. Use 'Poker run' as your search criteria. FoD let us upstairs last year when we started the poker run there, there should be quite a few pics.

 

Heres one I found in my files, it's more of a storage area than a showroom, but there are a bunch of cars in it.
Image Unavailable, Please Login

 

Maseraticoupe,

I apologize you were inconvenienced by our policy. We have had to go to an escort policy due to several instances of people coming in and helping themselves to get in and out of cars. A few have even reached over rolled up windows on convertibles to unlock the doors and get in. Since we do not have the luxury of being able to see everything around us, we had to do something.

If we know you, you are welcome to come back and look around at your leisure.

Next time you are in, let her know you are here to see me and I will be glad to let you back and you can look around all you like.

Once again, sorry for the inconvenience.

Jonathan Peck
Lamborghini Dallas

 

Jim,

It is not the fact of letting people just get in the car. It is hard to control what people do when and how they get in the car. Not everyone would be as considerate as you or I would with the car. I cannot tell you how many people I have seen over the years plop down into a seat sliding down the bolster, push and poke every button, and generally don't care what they are doing to the car or how.

We don't mind people sitting in a car at all, we just want them to respect the car. Unfortunately many don't, they just want to say they sat in a Lamborghini and don't care if they break something getting in and out of it.

Jonathan Peck

 

I don't know, I can sort of understand that. If the person is not even interested in buying the car it is just unnecessary wear on the seats. You also run the risk of people dragging their feet across the sills and scratching the paint, etc.

 

After years on the floor i can tell you that it is not the seats that are the problem it is the people who go hunting for a little piece to take with them. We had a kid who we caught taking the shift knob off a Mustang GT just spinning the sucker right off the stick

At autoshows Ford used to have to keep spares for knobs levers and we even had the complete owners packets stolen out of the Jags
We even had one person try and take the lug wrench out of the back of a Land Rover....

The no touchie unless escorted is just the way life is right now, I am lucky I am there so much I think I am just considered furniture around there...

Really it is not the true car guy it is the weenies who ruin it for all of us

 

Jonathan,

I will vouch for Maseraticoupe, (Jeffrey Crisp). I sold his Porsche for him and was trying to help him get into a blue 355 for a long time and then he decided to order the Maserati Coupe from me. He comes to town quite often and is often driving his VW diesel that is his companys car. He will treat the cars well and you don't have to worry about him hurting something.

Jeff, how's it going man? Ever get those big sound system contracts for the church you were telling me about? How do you like the Maser?????????????

James

 

I've got to admit Jim, I thought that was a strange question coming from you. Weren't you with us last year at the auto show when people were laying on the hoods of the cars? I can't imagine it's any different at a dealership.

I guess I don't understand why people don't realize not everybody is like you and has respect for property.

 

That is exactly the point. I love for people to be able to come in and see the cars. I just don't want one person that muffs a car to ruin it for the car enthusiast.

Jonathan Peck
Lamborghini Dallas

 

Jim,

A friend of mine sold a new Cadillac to Dan Seals of Seals and Croft a number of years ago. My friend was the rookie on the floor and the "old pros" avoided Dan Seals because he was wearing jeans with holes in the knees, sandals, white dinghy t-shirt and long hear pulled in a ponytail and a scroungy looking beard. He ended up buying one for himself and one for his mother. He had promised her that whenever he made it in the music business that he would buy her a Cadillac. I got to witness this promise kept. The "old pros" really had to eat crow on that one. I always accept everyone.

Shoot, I even sold your wife some of your Christmas present a couple of years back. She stopped by FoD and said her husband was a real Ferrari enthusiast who wanted but did not own one. I helped her look around the boutique area and she picked up a couple of items. She asked me that if you came in not to let you know she had been in. I had not met you then.

 

Just to put things in perspective, here are a couple of instances of what's happened in our showroom.

1998 355 Spider, darn near perfect, only 3100 miles, locked, windows up, in the showroom, SHIFT KNOB STOLEN

1995 F50, perfect car, recently sold and removed from the showroom, multiple occasions of finding the interior door locks pulled up (won't unlock without key in outside latch, thankfully) and VALVE STEM CAPS STOLEN

There are others, but these are the two that still stick in my mind. So, all the Ferraris are locked. The Maseratis are not locked. Usually, not much happens, but the sills do get scuffed, and I have had 355 seats get damaged from improper entry.

Enough said, I think this point has been well made.

Chet

 

Chet,

I guess it depends on who's perspective you are coming from when you say “enough said”. While I agree completely with you that someone stealing or vandalizing is inappropriate, all of us who are in business have the reality of (in today’s PC world) shrinkage or some form of loss. I am sure Lexus, BMW, LoD etc. have similar problems, yet I don’t hear about the same “sales” problems there.

I must tell you that I have suffered from the same poor experience that others have expressed here at FoD. I do consulting for a lot of organizations many who have “stuck there head in the ground” and believe that everyone else must change until its “default on bonds” time.

So for what it is worth, here is some free consulting. Take what you are listening (I hope) to here and learn from it. Ask yourself , your staff and customers(i.e. FChat would be a good one!), “How could we have been more customer friendly?” “How can we assure our cars are safe and secure yet allow potential customers the ability to inspect the vehicles?”

This is only a beginning list of questions, but I would suggest to you that there is most definitely a problem at FoD.

Feel free to contact me if you have questions.

Sincerely,

Nick

 

Nick,

You mention in the body of your text that this does not happen at LoD. This thread started about having to be escorted at LoD now and not allowed to move about at will. It was not directed at FoD. Chet was only responding to the original link.

I have seen many of the cars we had on display scratched on the bolsters and have to be repaired due to poor judgment by the people getting in and out of them. A $150 - $200 repair because someone cannot resist the temptation to jump into the car is inexcusable. Besides that, most of these cars are on consignment. If it were your car on display for sale, would you want me to leave it open so anyone wanting to could have their way with the interior or it. I don't believe so. The dealers have to protect the cars that are entrusted to them for sale. I think anyone on this list will respect having their car protected during sale.

 

Did a local buy the F50?? Or is it going to CA??

 

FWIW, I agree w/ both LoD and FoD. If you want to look inside a car, ask. If you're looking to buy but would like to be left alone, tell them so. If you're an enthusiast and just want to drool, tell them that too. They can't tell by looking who's honest and who's a dirtbag so at what point should they do a 'lockdown'? I've never sat in an F50, maybe I should've asked Chet. On the other hand, I can appreciated from the outside just as much.