PPI San Francisco area for a 430?

There are two Ferrari dealers in the area. One is closer to San Francisco and the other a little bit further down the peninsula:

1) http://www.ferrarisanfrancisco.com/?gclid=CJq7u7aa_J4CFQk75QodqncHIQ

2) http://www.ferrarisiliconvalley.com/index.aspx

Might be a good place to start.

Frank

 

I had Brian Krall, Rifledriver on fchat, do a PPI for me that saved my bacon from a well polished money pit. I believe Brian to thorough and honest.

Jeff

 

Thanks for the endorsement but we no longer do PPI's. Ferrari of SF did not do them either but have changed hands so you never know. A large place in the South Bay charges $500 to walk around the car and see if all the big parts are still attached. I read one of their PPI reports the other day and it was a joke.


Sorry to say it this way but good luck.

 

if not too intrusive, may I know the reason why you no longer do PPI? based on the raved reviews on your work I had planned to use your service.
also, should this South bay company be held responsible if the PPI was poorly done and something came up after the purchase?

 

There is a long thread you should read in General Ferrari topics. Short version is that due to the nature of sales deals PPI's almost always are last minute deals. For the disruption to shop scheduling and ongoing jobs it is just not worth it. Even at $600 we lost money every time and did it only for a service. Then we realized that the majority were being done for cars leaving the area so there goes the service aspect. Modern consumers have more and more expected some nature of guarantee for every dollar spent and are just not willing to accept any risk for themselves. Used to be they were grateful that we found some things in advance that would save them some money, now we are expected to have a crystal ball. We raised the prices to make it a little more acceptable to us but after discussing it with my lawyer and the positives and negatives I just decided to stop. It is a valuable service and one I used to tell everyone to avail themselves of but I am afraid it is going the way of the buggy whip. I currently know of no one in Northern California doing them well that is qualified and equipped to do any of the late model cars. It is really too bad, I am in this business because I love Ferraris and I want buyers to love theirs too. I don't want them getting screwed and perpetuating all the bad stories of how bad Ferrari's are.

One of the last ones we did was for a very nice guy who bought a local car to take back to Washington DC. He happened to be a lawyer. All went great. As planned he drove the car about half way home and had it trucked the other half. When he got the car home he went to Ferrari Washington for a state required smog and safety. He was waitng for the car when they came to the waiting room and told him the motor was making a terrible noise. It was so bad they couldn't run it anymore for fear it would blow up. He needed to leave it and to expect the repair to be in the $20,000 range. He called me from the waiting room to ask what to do. I had him take it to Competizione and Sports cars in Maryland. They gave the car a clean bill of health. It could have gone very differently and for what? $600? That defines stupid.

Oh well, times change.

 

It's really a pity there's no place to have these inspections done (around here). I bought my first Ferrari, a 360, used and the first one I had checked failed miserably for stuff that I would have NEVER known about.

The 2nd one had a clean bill-of-health... but to my eyes/ears looked and ran just like the first one.

I was able to buy my F430 new, so no PPI, but in the future I'm not sure if I'll buy new or used and if used, I'll sure want some assurance from someone that the car, at that point in time, is in good shape.

Brian, I understand your reasons... but hope someone will start doing PPI's again.

 

I see. Hmmm... Interesting point. Thank you.
In a way, in my previous post, my second sentence answered my first.

 

Now that Brian has officially bowed out, I'll mention that there is an indy Ferrari sales/service place in Walnut Creek that, least time I was there looking at a 360, said they did PPIs. I'll poke around for the name. Brian, you probably know the lady behind the counter. She told me how the factory essentially forced them (she and her husband, I think) out when the dealerships got absorbed.

Jeff

 

My recomendation would be to buy from your local dealer... They'll stand behind what they sell you and you can get your car hauled in for service and you don't have to take time out of your busy schedule to bring it in yourself... No PPI needed if you trust your dealer. The services should be up to date and the car ready to go! Happy New Year to ya!

 

I personally have never put much stock in a PPI. Like Brian says, no body has a crystal ball. I mean, sure, maybe you can check clutch wear or something like that - or even a compression check, etc. However, on a new car such as the F430 (a car that is only a few years old and probably has - what? - 5K or 10K miles, maybe), a PPI just seems like a waste of money. To my mind, you'd be far better off putting that money towards an extended drive train warranty with Ferrari or something.

In my experience with cars - especially a car that is barely broken in from a miles standpoint - if it starts up and runs and fluids aren't leaking on the ground and you have plenty of power, etc. then in a high percentage of a cases the car is just fine. I mean, Ferrari built it, it was shipped, then someone drove it. My truck has 35K miles on it and all I have done is change the oil and a few minor things. The 430 isn't going to blow up in 10K miles - most likely. Moreover, if it is going to blow up, a PPI isn't going to tell you when or how. Unless you give the car a CAT scan (like they do with the R8) and magnaflux every individual part on the car, chances are pretty slim that you are going to uncover a major failure lurking.

A PPI is no guarantee that tomorrow morning the car won't suddenly develop some strange noise from a pump or belt.

On an older car, I think something like a leak down test and/or compression test can tell you a lot. However, on a car that only has 5K or 10K miles - and was built and tested at Ferrari - then handed over to a guy who basically just drove it around the roads and redlined it a few times - I think a PPI is just a "make me feel better" waste of money most of the time.

That's just my 2 cents on it. I personally don't do them when I buy a car.

Ray