To warranty or not to warranty

In alot of cases you could have negotiated a year into the purchase. Having said that I always take the warranty for the first year I have the car. After 12 months you should have a pretty good idea what you have and then you can decide if you need it anymore. If it stresses you out to think about the possibilities, just write the check for a year and forget about it.

 

Agreed. I recently bought a 2010 with 14k miles, negotiated the 4500 and some immediate repairs and checks and plan on spending another 4500 next year. Not sure after that. As a first timer, and with all I’ve read, I’d prefer to sleep through the night.


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It is my opinion that any 2012 and down should for at least first year for peace of mind. There are at least 3 people that purchased 2010 cars recently sure wish they had a power warranty after the DCT failed. Also since you purchased at a Ferrari dealer as bball16 said you could have negotiated the power warranty into the price of the purchase or a neglegable price increase.

I'll not rehash my opinion of the issues related to the DCT but it's obvious to me that there is a little larger issue then I had previously thought. And while I could afford the 8k repair I'd be hard pressed to make the payment for a full DCT replacement any time soon as 40k is nearly 1/3 of my annual income after taxes (not including my wife's income). So yeah I'm not poor but I ain't "rich" either. So while some can afford to self insure for guys like me the 4500 is a little peace of mind on a repair that can be nearly 40% or more of the value of the vehicle.

It's also important to note that Ferrari isn't the only cars that would have painful transmission repairs either.

I don't recall but doesn't the new power warranty cover the top issues as well? I think I remember reading it did, and that repair could become rather pricey too especially if the problem is intermittent.

 

I negotiated in the first year which expires next week. My roof needed to be repaired and it was nice to not have to pay out of pocket, but I don't think it would have been anywhere near $4,500. I am renewing for another year. It is just my preference. If something major goes wrong, I want to just bring it in and say fix it rather than wait on pins and needles to be told how much it will cost.

 

I think the power warranty is good for guys such as myself for just the reasons you mentioned cab2u. Mainly because for myself I'd be financing 50 to 60 percent of the balance and with that amount out of pocket any repairs on top of payments and insurance and standard maintainance could bust the bank. I know it's highly possible I'd never even use the power warranty but it's like regular insurance you want to buy the best but never use it. After the car is paid for it might be money ahead to save that money and self insure. But this is just my opinion.

 

So my Cali story is: I bought the warranty on my 1 owner 7k mile 2010 California. A year later at 10k miles the car went in for its yearly service and the dealer found cracked headers, bad motor mounts, and a leaky shock. I recall the estimate was about $15k. None of these items are covered under the warranty.

 

I purchased a 2010 with 12K Mi from a Non-Ferrari dealer (consignment). As such I didn't have the extended warranty option but aftermarket warranties are available for around 5K/yr.

I opted not to buy the extended warranty and I am in my 5th month of ownership with ZERO issues (Knock on wood). I do drive mine a bit around the neighborhood and have put around 5-600 miles on mine so far. I am getting a DCT flush and oil change this month and saving the dollars for any repair that may arise in the future.

From that perspective, I have 5K from not buying the warranty this year, and DCT repairs can be 7-8K so I feel I am well covered. Caveat here is that I own an auo repair shop and am very handy plus I like high-risk, high-reward - just my personality.

if you are scared of breakdowns, by all means get the extended/aftermarket warranty. I personally elected to be my own warranty.

 

Billy - thanks for covering that - Another reason why I didn't get extended warranty because it only covered powertrain basically.

 

Here's a copy of the Ferrari "New Power" warranty brochure.

You need to read it carefully to understand how it works and what it covers. Even a salesman may forget to mention details. What is not mentioned under coverage, won't be covered. In particular, fluid leaks, oil seals and the exhaust system are not covered.

The actual cost of warranty to a dealer or the factory will work out to be much less than the price of the warranty. Warranties have to be profitable to make sense to warranty providers. In fact, if nothing happens, it costs them nothing. If something does happen, their parts and labour costs are THEIR COSTS, not up-charged costs to customers. So warranties are easier for dealers to swallow, compared to a price discount, real money, on the used car when you buy it. If they serviced the car, they will know its history and how good the car is.

If you are unfamiliar with the car you are buying or if this is your first Ferrari, then some form of warranty would be highly prudent. You need to know what you are getting into before you can determine and accept the degree of risk. An unknown car with possibly unmentioned issues presents risk, an unknown Ferrari presents even more risk. You cannot really know a given car until you have owned and used one for a while.

If you need repair parts, you may want to consider used, perfectly good parts salvaged from wrecked cars. I posted the following websites in another thread discussing repairs Eurospares from the UK and Exotic Auto Recycling in the US.

Good luck.

 

Exotic Auto Recycling in the us appears to be a good source of parts as well as A couple of various places for new parts other then the dealer.

Also I would feel a lot more comfortable purchasing a used car from a Ferrari dealer then I would from any independant dealer simply because it would seem Ferrari would at least disclose any known issues with a car and would have at least done an inspection and a lot of times the car could be CPO elegible.

If a person has the income to self insure (no warranty) it is probably more wise for them to do so. For some folks that are less then blessed to have a significant extra windfall after bills should consider the new power warranty.

Thanks for posting the link to the New Power brochure 4th, it's important to understand what it does.

 

My 2016 T has over 25,000 miles. I had a 2010 and sold it (as I remember) with 32,000 miles. I then got a 2012 and sold it with 25,000 miles + (AIR) . None of them had any issues other than the 2010 with an airbag wiring issue that most of them had and a shifting issue when I drove it with outside air temp below 20 degrees F. Yes I drove them all (and the T now) every day in NW Ohio. I think the more they are driven the better they run. I also have an FF with similar miles. With either car, the only issues have been FF batteries but I've fixed that myself. So, even though I've had no issues I bought warranty for the 2014 FF recently. It just feels better.

 

I thought that all pre-owned Ferrari's came with warranty from an official dealer. Certainly the case in the UK.

Anyway, I would go warranty for peace of mind.

Definitely, try and negotiate it as part of the price.

 

I've been watching California's for almost a year now in the US. Not all of them offered used From Ferrari are CPO or come with a warranty unless there is remaining factory warranty, though a good portion are. It also seems like it depends on the dealer too because I have looked at some dealers and they generally have no CPO cars at all though I'd wager for the small fee of inspections they would "Sell" you the new power warranty. I also suspect that on some cars there may be some issues that need corrected to get CPO status and the dealer doesn't want to cover the repairs and are CPO elligible if you make the repairs.

 

A recent model Ferrari should be reliable enough for a dealer to provide warranty. They are dealers and have experience and information on the cars way beyond what we could have. If they cannot back their used cars with warranty then what does that tell you? Would you be better able to handle a breakdown or defect than the dealer? No. The buyer needs the dealer to back up the car with a warranty for more reasons than just the cost of the warranty - he needs the dealer to demonstrate confidence in the car.

As I pointed out before, if nothing happens during the warranty period, it's all profit for the warranty issuer. If something does go wrong, the cost of repairs are discounted to the warranty issuer's costs.

Labour and garage usage may in fact be sunk costs if the dealer's service department is not always busy. This can explain why some warranty repairs take a very long time to actually execute. It's like the homebuilding contractor who jumps from one project to another to use up all his hours. He only spends time on your project that he would otherwise be doing nothing with. So your custom house takes forever to finish. Meanwhile the guy paying top dollar gets his house finished in record time.

Warranty on desirable items is peace of mind that is best paid for by the seller, not the buyer. You should not have to warrant the work of the people providing the work.

 

This is awesome. Posts like this are much needed IMO to at least provide some spiritual balance for those F-chatters suffering with balky Italian mistresses. I like the 140 mile round trip to get inspected. Very nice! Post some pics of your Cali when you get a chance...T

 

That's wonderful. I hope you will at least continue to enjoy your car just as much for the entirety of your ownership experience.

 

Gorgeous Cali.

Wow, you've equaled the number of F-cars I've seen in the wild in 2 years!
Apart from FCA and Boardwalk Ferrari events.

And, thanks for supporting a Dallas company (Neiman Marcus)!
T

 

I also recommend to get the warranty especially if you plan to keep the car for at least a year.

Even on very low mileage used cars (had a 2013 California 30), unfortunately, you may encounter issues you never thought possible especially if you are used to Japanese or German cars.

I've had several of such within a few months and luckily, it didn't cost too much to repair as dealer was very helpful although it was a stressful experience. Had I kept the car longer, I would have surely opted for the Ferrari warranty.

Good luck!

 

Carter, I’m in your area, will have my Nero Daytona Cali in Tysons today while at a quick trip into the office. I’m sure I’ll see you out and about on warmer days. One tip I have : check out Locoexotics vs FOW when you need some service. I had them do my battery and motor mounts as preventative steps, perfect experience and substantial cost savings. Enjoy!


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