Private Sellers Preferred....

That is a bad experience, but I have had the opposite results buying from 3 different Ferrari dealers. My punch list was fixed no questions asked, and at no cost to me. Maybe I was just lucky.

 

Not sure what your skill level is but sounds like no PPI was done. You bought the car and their attitude was tough on something you discovered later. This basic thing would have come up during a PPI.(you may still have to pay for this decision down the road) Unfortunately I don't think you really have anyone to blame here. If they wanted to be nice guys they'd have picked up more of the tab but since you're out of the area,(can't get you for service later etc.) tough again. Sorry but lesson learned.

 

You bought an $88,000 car and you are unhappy because a $110 part is bad.

Wow.


Doing a little due dilligence would have prevented it.

 

I was watching that car myself, it was a very nice example......well bought I'd say even with a few niggles....

As Rifledriver says, replace the support (many of them are now stocked as universal applications at Pep Boys)....and enjoy the car.

Pray one of the much more tragic design flaws of the powertrain doesn't present itself....

 

Always do a PPI, it doesn't matter who is selling.

I would be afraid of selling a car privately and not telling if there are any negative things or stories. You don't want to be looking over your shoulder.

 

C'mon, you bought an old used Ferrari...some things are going to need tending to, it's part of the charm.

They fixed every little thing you fussed over and even sent you the new struts. Now you want to sabotage their rep because they won't pay the labor to install the struts? Jeez, grab a wrench and a broomstick (to hold up the lid) and do it yourself - it'll take maybe 30 minutes of your time.

Bad struts are SO common on F-cars from 80s and 90s that it's the rule not the exception that they're in need of replacement. Perhaps the salesman just held up the lid from force of habit and never thought to mention it.

I hope you can get past this bad experience and begin enjoying the TR. I see you're in SoCal - so I hope you'll join us on our drive up to Monterrey for the Ferrari Challenge series in May (see SoCal forum on this board).

 

Money isn't the issue at all, it's the fact that he was tricked into thinking that everything was ok on the car. Now he doesn't know what else might be waiting to be discovered.

I'd be disappointed too.

 

The premise is that a private party would be a better 'bet' than a dealer. The reality is that private parties don't always know when something is wrong. So they're not trying to be deceptive, they just don't know better. Dealers see enough of them to know what to look for. Hopefully, they would know how to buy the car in the first place, catching the issues and adjusting their offer accordingly. They can then afford to make all the necessary corrections and the car will still be priced at the market.

I've had more issues buying private party cars than from dealers.

 

Do you know how many of these struts are broken? On cars older than 5 years I would say 95% no longer work (or have been replaced). Having worked at dealerships and in the auto business in one form or another for my entire adult life when you see something over and over again you tend to get used to it and not think about it any more. In this case I would tend to give the salesman and dealership benifit of the doubt because to be honest with you a set of struts not holding up a hood or trunk may have become so commonplace with him in his daily life due to the sheer number of them that do not work that he simply did not pay attention to it.

I agree with others that the OP is off base here, it sounds like the dealership has already gone the extra mile for him and if you are not capable of replacing some hood struts you may want to never ever own a car out of warranty.

 

Interesting. I always ASSUMED that dealers big and small are out to hose me. That's why I have a PPI done by someone who knows the car.

A strut that doesn't work? That's nothing. Just throw one in, takes 5-10 minutes. If you are factoring "labor" to install a hood shock a couple of hundred bucks is only the beginning of a very expensive relationship.

 

Really? You feel this is justified?

There needs to be a thread about buyers that get "disappointed" about every insignificant scuff or $100 item and then go tell about it on a forum.

Maybe something like: Realistic buyers preferred.

It would go like this:

...So you ever get those unrealistic buyers that thinks that every car should be as-new perfect no matter if its used? Some of these buyers think that we are trying to be unscrupulous when they in fact are free to look the car over in as much detail as they would like. But God forbid they find a rattle once they get the car home, or the right window rolls slower than the left, or a taillight bulb is burnt out, or the transmission weeps after a 1000 mile drive, or there was a rock chip that was repaired on the bottom of the bumper, or a hood shock worked less effectively in differing temperatures, or one of the owners manuals had a crease on a page, or the wipers blades streaked & the tires were loud...

Com'on man. Why turn a good purchase into some trumped up issue with words like "sketchy" "at the expense of their integrity" over this BS? $100? A regular lunch date is $100.

Enjoy your car, deal with it and quit spreading your feel bad over nothing.

 

The struts do work a bit differently in very hot vs very cold temps. Forget which way. I knew a 348 that on some days the engine hatch would hold, on others not at all and it was temperature dependent. Not that they were ever great, they were failing but they worked sometimes.

 

I hear yea. Just shows you really need to trust but verify. It's easy to skip over this when your emotions get involved and they know that. If this turns out as the only thing they fudged on consider yourself lucky.

 

I was gonna go out there and get it, but let you play through.......
Someone stole my ID and there's not a bank that'll touch it now.

I think a lot of dealers are the same, once the deal is "done" it's done....

Overall this dealer gets pretty high marks compared to many others in the exotic market....they obviously focus on delivering brand new Lambos to owners (two in the drive in one day last week) so maybe this deal got a little less enthusiasm.

Not saying it's 'right' just saying it may be true.

 

Not trying to defend anyone (I am in no way associated with LoH), but curious why it appears you took delivery of the car in November and are just now posting about having issues with the dealer?

Your Facebook page (to which you provided a link in your original post) shows some great pictures of the car dated early/mid November, so I would have thought you would bring up all these issues at that point and not wait 2+ months.

 

I bought a 512tr a few months ago, my hood struts were bad also(how many aren't) crap that was the least of my concerns to be worried about when doing my PPI. The strut problem is common on most Ferraris in that time zone, if you didn't know that before you were looking at the car I wonder what else you missed, hopefully nothing. With that said you should have hired someone else to do your PPI. If I were buying a Porsche for example I would hire someone to do the PPI instead of doing it myself I'm just not as familiar with them as other cars.

 

Be very careful about bolting up any lift support to an application it's not specifically listed for. In my years at an auto parts store I've seen way too many people try and select these dimensionally, without any regard for the pressure of the unit. Too low a pressure and they won't hold the hood up (no big deal as a learning experience), but too high a pressure and they over stress the hinges and mounting points, leading to fatigue and failure. It's one thing if it's on a camper shell or something, but on a Ferrari, what an expensive PITA.

I now surrender the soapbox...

Rick

 

You bought a USED car......it is up to YOU to determine it's value.....should have paid for the inspection if this small stuff was going to bother you. Frankly, I am surprised they sent you the struts. If that 100 bucks is a big deal, just wait until something really goes wrong! Enjoy your car, life is too short.....

 

WOW, are you kidding me?

Let me get this straight - you found a car, inspected it yourself (a self-described "car guy") rather than having an always-recommended-no-matter-what-PPI done and the seller had the "defects" rectified. Once you received the car, you found another "defect", which WAS FIXED ACCORDING TO THE TERMS YOU PROPOSED and you still have the balls to call their integrity into question? Ridiculous.

+1. F-Chat 101

+1 again.

Depending on the outside temp, the struts on my F355 in my garage will work wonderfully, or fail completely. The temperature inside their showroom is likely high enough that I give it a 90% chance that the struts were working properly inside and LoH had no clue.

(higher temps = higher pressure in the struts, which can make all the difference between working properly and failing completely)

 

I missed nothing.

"Hide a defect"? In your OP, you admittedly called them minor. This is a 20yo car for c-sakes! These items are so minute in the overall scheme in a purchase of this magnitude that I cannot fathom how someone would claim they were "hidden". Undisclosed accident damage? Sure. Torn upholstery? I can see that. Required servicing that wasn't claimed? Ok. Those are "defects" that are often hidden and would rightly upset a buyer.

A loose door seal, broken sensor and missing CD cartridge? Please. These are minor (incrediblyy minor) items when looking at a 20yo exotic. Plus they were rectified, no questions asked (by your own account).

You claimed they fixed the initial issues without question. As for the struts, I maintain that it is possible, even likely, that the struts were functioning properly while in the LoH showroom and they simply weren't aware. Again, a very minor issue to have with a 20yo exotic.

Either you mis-spoke in your OP, or you are impossible to please. Either way, your exact words were: "They agreed to send the part, which cost them
all of $110. Now during my communications, I did put in an email,
if they sent me the part, I'd "pay for the labor". Looking back, this was
simply wrong of me, as they did accept the responsibility of this "oversight".
Somebody got caught with their hand in the candy jar, but was still
negotiating the penance."

YOU OFFERED TO PAY THE LABOUR!!!! They didn't "negotiate a penance". They didn't "stick you with the labour". YOU OFFERED. It sounds like you regret making that offer and didn't do you homework about what the labour would cost. I'd maybe regret that too, but to claim they "stuck" you with it, and question their integrity over it is just plain wrong.

No problem there. I couldn't bother to deal you