I took my 1981 Ferrari 308 GTBi in for a light tune up and oil & belt change, not sure if they performed the tune up. They drove it 507 miles and blew up the engine. When they returned my car, they didn’t know what happened….it just wouldn’t start and no they didn’t drive it 507 miles they don’t know where that came from and of course they’re denying any wrong doing. The engine rebuild…$35,000.00 that’s right seemed to be the going rate. The car is a unique one only 494 built and this one was less than 14,000 miles.
Did you take it to these guys?
Can you prove the mileage when you took the car in? Everything would seem to hinge on that - otherwise it’s all just your word against theirs.
Every mechanic I’ve ever gone to has written the mileage on the work order.
Of course, not noting the mileage might work against the mechanic.
What color is it?
It would seem to me that once the car’s in their custody, they’re responsible for it- if it wasn’t in the condition for them to tune it up and test it without it blowing up, they should have notified you of whatever other work needed to be done. Especially if you drove it to them in the first place- it was shown to be in good enough working order to run/start when you dropped it off, which shows that something they did or something they overlooked caused your problem.
For $35k, I’d be talking to a lawyer already about it.
Well, if you took it in for a “tune up” and it didn’t start when they gave it back to you, I’d say they owe you a tune up. At least.
What does “blew up” the engine mean? Rod through the side? Dropped valve? Broken crank?
Where’d you take thin thing? Jiffy lube?
Have you told Higgins about this yet?
I’m sorry about your experience. I can’t imagine how disappointed you must be. Do you have the car now or is it still with the shop?
I second the advice to talk to a lawyer and make sure to document what happened as well as you can. Keep all the paper from the repair shop (like the work order), any evidence you have that the car was in working order when you dropped it off, your evidence of the car’s mileage at drop-off and now. As soon as you can, write down notes about all the times you spoke with the mechanic, who you spoke to and what they said. If you can, preserve your phone’s call logs of communications with the mechanic (like by taking screenshots of the log, at the least). If you have voice mail messages from them, save them. If they call you back, let it go to voice mail until you tell them who your lawyer is. Then tell them to call your lawyer.
Oh My GOD!
"You mean you’re not a licensed Ferrari mechanic?
Do you know what it means when you void a warranty?"
Since we’ll likely never hear from the OP again, I’ll mention that I know someone that has a 1980 308. He bought it in the 90s from the original owner, and the original owner kept all the receipts from service. And boy did it need a lot of service! The original owner was constantly taking it in for carb adjustment, or “rough running”, or something. Usually nothing more that air filter, carb syncing, maybe some plugs, and yet he never got out of the dealer for under $500, and usually more like $800-900, every time. And that’s 1980s prices!
On the one hand, that’s how you get tempted to use a “non-licensed Ferrari mechanic”; on the other, that 308 never came back from service with a “blown engine”.
You have to pick your mechanics carefully. I knew of a guy in the 80s, took his Challenger T/A into a local garage. The entire six pack setup “got stolen” in the shop. (probably by the staff). “Not our fault!”
I have heard that certain older Ferraris can appear relatively affordable to purchase (especially ones that haven’t really become collectable yet)… until you take the cost of servicing them into account.
I’d buy one just to park it in the garage and stare at it. That’s what I do with most of my stuff now.
One would think that a person who can afford a Ferrari would have a lawyer on retainer that he could turn to for advice.
This looks like the place to ask: Will a Ferrari dealership work on a 40+ year old car? I assume very few parts are available but could they, for instance, adjust carbs?
I had a couple 1989 Dodge Daytona Shelbys in the late 90s and needed some work done (install an NOS transmission: Getrag A-555) on one. I was a member of the local chapter of the Shelby Dodge Automobile Club and made arrangements with a mechanic in the club who worked at a Dodge dealer on the other side of town to do the work. It wasn’t particularly a bargain at the straight dealership rates but at least he was himself an enthusiast and I figured he’d do good work with a big job on an uncommon car.
When I went to pick up the car, the hatch was ajar and all my stereo stuff had been stolen: the head, a sweet equalizer, amplifier and subwoofer. It wasn’t parked in their locked-at-night fenced lot and there was no sign of forced entry. I was maybe 20 at the time and the dealer rep actually tried to say that I’d drawn attention to the car with my aftermarket graphics. I had no idea what he was talking about so we went out to look. He was referring to the black and white, text-only license plate frame with the name of the used car lot I’d bought the thing from.
I filed a police report and my attorney dad wrote a stern, lawyer-talk letter. They actually didn’t put up much of a fight after that and coughed up some cash, I think it was close to a thousand bucks. The mechanic was crestfallen and I’m certain had no part in the theft.
About a week after I picked up the car, the clearly not tightened nut securing the clutch cable to the actuator lever fell off and I was stranded, expensive tow across town, etc. Easy mistake to make and the mechanic couldn’t even look me in the eyes. I didn’t go back to that place.