Newbie in the South West

Just to say hello, finally decided to buy a California as I've been in Porsche's for years and I thought I would try one at last.
Hopefully I will get some miles on her before the salt starts hitting the roads, I'm based down in Cornwall.

 

Nice one! From Carrs?


Forza Ferrari..... the only racing team and car marque that matters. Italia forever It’s easier to apologise than it is to ask permission

 

No she is coming from BSC in Buckinghamshire.

 

Oooh, a royal county, haha, it’s a great car, was colour combination did you get?


Forza Ferrari..... the only racing team and car marque that matters. Italia forever It’s easier to apologise than it is to ask permission

 

Hello Nigel and welcome!

I, too, am in the West Country - in Exeter. Whereabouts in Cornwall are you?

Which year / model / colour of Cali have you bought? Photos?

As and when you need any service / repair work done, I can heartily recommend Carrs, whom I have been using for six years now and I am one of many satisfied customers. Mark Ware heads their service department and is the man to whom to speak.

The local FOC area organiser is Tim Wadman ([email protected]) and there is also an informal South West Ferrari Owners breakfast meeting on the second Sunday of the month at Haynes Museum in Sparkford for all Ferrari owners (FOC members and non-members alike) which is on a "turn up if you feel like it on the day" basis. I am afraid it is a fair distance from you (as is almost everything when you live in Cornwall - I lived there for 9 years myself before moving up to Exeter, so I know it only too well!), but the venue is designed for Ferrari owners from all over the South West. Attendance is variable, numbers usually depending on the weather and I imagine there will not be that many turning out now until the Spring arrives. I am probably going along this coming Sunday, but if so I shall be in the Maserati as my 550 is in for service and the Dino is up in GLOS.

I am sure you will enjoy the Cali - it is a lovely car.

 

Hi John,

Thank you, she is Nero Daytona black with black interior yellow stitching and yellow callipers. Should be delivered down to me the end of this week or beginning of next as she is having a service.
I’m down at St Mawes on the Roseland so yes miles from everywhere, one of the reasons for living down here.
I will try and get up for the Haynes meeting if at all possible. I’m looking foreword to the Cali as it will be a change for my with my Porsche history just sold my 911 Turbo S, but that was a bit to quick, but great fun.
It’s good to know that there are people down in the South West.

 

Welcome Nigel.

Sounds like a great car! Cornwall is a long way from anywhere, but that's one of its big charms in my book. I'm down Falmouth/Porkellis from time to time. Haven't taken the Ferrari down there yet but will undoubtedly at some stage when the opportunity arises, e.g. no dog etc. in tow! Have to try for a beer/rattler!

If you haven't done so, check out Scuderia Forum. Predominantly Uk based forum members and a good bunch. Fchat is great for lots of tech info etc etc. so different forums.

Enjoy the Cali, and I hope you get some drives in this winter!

 

Chaps,

A quick question, is it true that Ferrari offer a lifetime breakdown recovery service free of charge? I have a distant memory that they do.

 

Yes its called Con Te / With You - try emailing [email protected] - you have to reregister each year

https://www.evo.co.uk/ferrari/10370/ferrari-breakdown-cover

 

Great many thanks,

 

Welcome to the fold, I'm in the South-West, based near Bath but my Father has a place near Camelford so I expect to be down that way with the 360 fairly often in the future

 

This one, I assume:

https://bicestersportscars.co.uk/car-sales/2005-ferrari-360-spider-f1/

Very nice.

 

Many thanks, it would be good to arrange a Cornwall / Devon meet at some point when it stops raining

 

I'm also a new owner based in Cornwall.

https://www.ferrarichat.com/forum/threads/new-owner-mondial-qv-1984.587051/

Re free roadside assistance: "This service will give you free recovery to your closest Ferrari dealer. To activate it for 12 months your car will need to have a check over, this check sheet is then uploaded to the factory along with the signed forms and copy of V5 document for activation. The charge for the check over is £220.00 + VAT".

Will keep my eye out for a Cornwall meet!

 

I have just jumped through all the hoops and I believe after numerous emails I have been accepted. My car was just serviced so the dealer filled in all the forms as part of the service as I presume they have to do these checks. So nice and free for me as the service was part of the purchase deal.

 

Ah, nice one. On Bluebottle's advice, I've just dropped Mark @ Carrs Exeter a note. The 'Welcome Back' programme looks like it includes Free Roadside Assistance...

 

What’s the “welcome back” program?? Sounds interesting.

 

https://exeter.ferraridealers.com/en_gb/explore/service/welcome-back

 

That’s good to see, Porsche do something similar. I’ve got a full main dealer history on mine so I won’t need that. Still waiting for my Con Te docs to arrive.
Thanks anyway.

 

“Welcome back” is interesting; but as I couldn’t get a price for a service from the main dealers last time...I’ll carry on with my indie.

If main dealers want to get people back they have to realise they may well have to deal with people who don’t write blank cheques up front and want to know the price before they commit! In my experience they have a ways to go to understand this market segment.

 

I suspect that scheme is for more recent cars than yours, Geoff, but I would still recommend Carrs (I have replied to you on the other thread). I wouldn't take my Ferraris anywhere else, and there is a number of owners who send their Ferraris to Carrs from all over the country.

In the case of DL, Adrian, I am sure you are right (although I know one of their customers who thinks they are wonderful, but another whose views are unprintable!), albeit that a well-known dealer with a name not unconnected with your car's birthplace makes them look positively reasonable! Carrs always give me a price for the standard service (in the case of my 550, almost exactly two thirds of the price another, London-based, owner has to pay) and I have never found them anything but reasonable when it comes to work on top. Mark is as likely to talk me out of unnecessary work than vice versa.

 

Carr’s still has the feel of a family firm when you deal with them, whereas with many other main dealers, even those that aren’t corporately owned, they feel corporately owned. I swear by Carrs, they even service every other special marque I own/have owned. Their pricing is still, of course, expensive compared to some lesser marques, but on the whole, they do seem to make the correlation that we as owners expect them to make a living from their work, but not go nuts! I’ve always found them realistic and sensible when working with me (not that I’ve had an awful lots of things other than servicing done, as most cars have been reasonably newer) but even given the opportunity, I’ve been pleased with the cost of the work, and extremely happy with the work itself.

 

I couldn’t get a price for a service from DL. Problem there is the people you speak too are at least once removed from the technicians and they couldn’t figure out what an annual was on their system and needed to speak to the techs.

Carrs did give me a price but it was including a wheel alignment which I didn’t need, having just had mine done. I did ask if they would give me a price without but never heard back from them.

I’m afraid when it comes to customer service and there is sufficient completion I certainly will not chase people; that’s their job if they want my money. Guess there is too much work around for them, so they don’t need to bother chasing business. (Nice position to be in if you can.)

The above said, the car is in with DL today to have the wheel alignment done as I’ve rebuilt the front suspension. We will see what the price is when I collect. But as they are only 20 minutes down the road...!

I’m happy with my indie for the mechanical stuff, and have an excellent body shop around the corner for any work there. So I’m happy I have the bases covered without having to waste my time chasing people to get quotes out of them.

 

Well, the price was a bit more than I expected, but not too bad. It took longer than expected and reasonably so. Their hourly rate was also reasonable ( a lot less than I get charged at the BMW dealer!) So no complaints there at all.

"Discourtesy car" was a Maserati Levente; not my cup of tea, but a "courtesy car" and in no way a discourtesy car.

More than happy with the service there, so would have no hesitation in using again if appropriate.