Van Bibber Exotics

I have done one car repair for them to date. On this car they insisted on everything I did being right (Read, no shortcuts requested). I walked away with a very postivie feeling.

Dave

 

Was this the '98 Black/Tan 355? If so, I was told the headers were replaced and I'm not sure if the belts were done while the car was in your shop.

 

I haven't purchased anything from them, but I have stopped by and talked to both the owners (a father/son team), as I live close by. They seem like good guys and they are definitely enthusiasts. In fact, my impression is that the business is largely made up of cars they own personally. The cars are in nice shape and well detailed- no junk when I was there. I wouldn't hesitate to buy a car from them.

 

I have bought several cars from them as a dealer and have nothing but, great things to say about them.

 

I bought a 98 355 Spider from them and had a great experience. They were very easy to work with and delivered on every promise. I would definately buy from them again.

 

I just wanted to make sure every one knows what happened with this bad experience the other person is reffering too if it is the person i am thinking of. We had a 360 coupe that we just sold last week and had three seperate buyers on the car. Unfortunently, we could not sell the car to them all and had not received a deposit from anyone. There was one specific buyer who was out of state that wanted to buy the car but not directly from us but instead from the local Ferrari dealer. We agreed that we would work with them but did not want to lose our other offer so we gave them three days. On the last day we had the car for sale we tried getting a hold of this dealer three times. This dealer failed to get back to us for 7 hours. An hour before we finally talked with them we had already sold the car. We hate that things like this happen because we really want to make our buyers happy. In this situation it was made clear that the car was being marketed heavily and offers were already being made so time was extremely important.

Justin

 

Every one can read this for themselves and make their own judgements. Here is the dialogue i have been having with this person. Seems that their is some arrogance as well as name calling, something i will not do. Furthermore, this is coming from someone who could not return a phone call and somehow has time to write these e-mails. I want this all out in the open in order to protect our reputation. I do not need to hide behind private messages. For anyone who is reading this, i apologize for this little rant but it is important to us to maintain our reputation.



Originally Posted by vbjustin

We are deeply sorry that you were unable to buy that Ferrari 360 from us. As i told you when we first spoke on the phone the car was being marketed heavily. We had two other offers on the table when we talked with you. The problem could have been completely avoided if the car would have been bought directly. We understood your concern over doing this and gave you three days to get everything set up. We talked with the Ferrari dealership in the bay area on the day we had to make a decision on who to sell the car to. It took that dealership 7 hours to call back and unfortunently we were afraid of losing both deals we had on the table because we did not recieve a deposit. In fact i still have an e-mail stating that the buyer was not 100% sure he wanted the car. We had to take the offer that was their and when we finally talked with you it was too late. The fact is there was more than enough time for a deposit to be given to us and for Ferrari of San Francisco to get with us on the deal to finalize it. If there is any one to be upset with it should be the dealer that failed to get back to us on the deal. They were called three times on the last day the car was available. Again, we hate that it happened this way and we do everything we can to help people get the car they want. Unfortunently, in this situation we had to make a move or we may have lost a sale.



Originally Posted by Tifoso Ferrari
Both you and your father had an opportunity to initiate what could have been a very lucrative and fruitful relationship with Ferrari of San Francisco.

Not only that, but to be able to tell future customers that you have supplied Ferraris to Ferrari North America (FYI, Ferrari of San Francisco is the only dealership in North America owned by Ferrari North America) could have been one of most credibility-building marketing comments in your business' history.

As the old saying goes, "You cut your nose off to spite your face." Think about what you did by not honoring the deal. You did more damage than good and in the process pissed-off a lot of people.

You blew it ... big time.

PS: Don't bother responding via phone, fax, e-mail or PM-ing. It will be ignored.

MY RESPONSE:
If you want to be sore about this thats fine. We were waiting on specific paperwork that we didn't have for the state of California. We have had paperwork problems in the past with California. This is why your buyer in SF wanted to go through you guys instead of buying it directly, he was worried about the paperwork. We operate on integrity but you know as well as i do that calls need to be returned in order for a transaction to happen. The fact is 7 hours is plenty of time to return a phone call especially when everyone involved knows other offers were being made. If you decide you don't need to answer the phone when we call that's fine because you didn't last time. An example of how much we keep our word can be seen in this transaction itself. We sold the car for $5,000 less than you offered. This buyer gave us a monetary commitment and paper commitment. We could have done what most dealers do and back out of that commitment in order to make more money but we believe in things more valuable than money. We don't care how lucrative this deal was, we operate with good intentions and integrity. Again, we tried to keep you informed about the situation but a phone call was not returned and that is what killed the deal for you. I feel terrible that THIS PERSON did not get this car but the opportunity was there to get it done. Holding a grudge against us for something we tried to make you money on is rediculous. The only requirement of you was to run the paperwork and your dealership would have made $5,000.

Originally Posted by Tifoso Ferrari

You know, Justin, you just don't get it. Remember what your grandmother taught you, "Always do the right thing." And you know what, you violated that rule.

Unfortunately, you're too ignorant to recognize the damage you've done and the fact that nearly 300 people have read this post in less than a week.

You actions epitomize that of what you are - used car salesmen.

 

Sounds like you did all you could do Justin...move on, you'll make plenty of more sales in the future

 

Thanks Derek. Just had to respond to protect ourselves, i'm sure you know how these posts can turn into rumors. I'll be down there sometime this next week to see how you guys are doing. Hope all is well!

 

I've heard both sides of this now. Both sides indicate that there was no deal in place, no agreement or anything- they were just working toward a "possible" sale involving brokering the car through FoSF. Somebody else swooped in and made a deal- welcome to the real world. Until there is a deal, there isn't a deal, and the dealer can sell to whomever makes the commitment to purchase the car. We've probably all been burned taking too long to commit, but hopefully (at least after the initial disappointment is over) we can be fair enough to realize it is our own fault. I missed buying an LP400 Countach a few years ago because I hesitated- it STILL makes me physically ill to think about it, because I really wanted that particular car. Live and learn. At least from what I have heard, it would be unfair to say Van Bibber Exotics did anything inappropriate.

 

Wise words and good advise. Everyone involved knows how the game is played.

Dave

 

Just chatted with Justin. His place is close to mine as I live in Golden Colorado. I'm in the market (in the near future) for a 360. He sounds like a guy that I WOULD do business with.

Never mind the sour grapes on a deal that had no deposit... If you want a deal you've got to put down the green!

 

What am I missing? Why is FoSF so hung up on buying a 360? How many dozens are there for sale at any given time?

From where I'm sitting, it looks like vbjustin handled the situation professionally.

-F

 

Guys, I hate to do this but I need to retract my positive statement for Van Bibber. They were great to deal with early on when I was buying the car (98 F355 spider). I paid top dollar and gave them cash so there were no excuses. It's a great car but due the price I told them I expected all manuals, documentation and keys. When I picked it up, the manuals were there and only one of the black keys. The documentation showed up a few days later but after 10 months....still no keys. As you know, replacements, including the red master, are very expensive.

I've been very patient and understanding while they tried to locate them from the dealer they bought the car from but now that I'm starting to push the issue, the replies and emails from Van Bibber have stopped. It's been radio silent the last month.

I'm now forced to buy a new master replacement myself at the cost of nearly $1,000. I will say that the car was as promised and been a great car but I would not make the mistake again of trusting them to deliver everything with the car at a later date.

If it's not all there when you pick up the car, either wait until it is or walk. It was a $1,000 mistake on my part.

 

Interesting.

 

My bad for not checking my PM before I wrote my last note. Justin had sent me a note saying that they were going give me some cash to help pay for the new keys.

As I said in my previous post. The car was as advertised and been a great car. This has been my only issue.

 

Justin, great site by the way. I think you are doing fine. As for the initial complaint, how can one be upset if they havent stepped up with a deposit? Unless someone drops a deposit on a deal subject to WHATEVER then NOTHING can be said IMO.

V..

 

That's impressive.