F430 Major Service
Discussion
All,
New to the Ferrari fold and looking to take my 430 in for its major service.
Seems like Ferrari completed an annual service at 18750 a year ago with the previous owner rather than the major so I need to get it done now.
The car is fully stamped up with main dealers but after speaking to Lancaster's in Colchester their service cost (Approx £1600)+ £150 per hour charge has put me off slightly!
As I live not that far from Grimaldi in Halstead & was considering using them or alternatively the Ferrari centre or DK engineering. All 3 seem reasonably priced over the main dealer and not a lot to choose between them apart from the obvious that Grimaldi is the closest.
Any Pros or cons, should I stay with a main dealer?
New to the Ferrari fold and looking to take my 430 in for its major service.
Seems like Ferrari completed an annual service at 18750 a year ago with the previous owner rather than the major so I need to get it done now.
The car is fully stamped up with main dealers but after speaking to Lancaster's in Colchester their service cost (Approx £1600)+ £150 per hour charge has put me off slightly!
As I live not that far from Grimaldi in Halstead & was considering using them or alternatively the Ferrari centre or DK engineering. All 3 seem reasonably priced over the main dealer and not a lot to choose between them apart from the obvious that Grimaldi is the closest.
Any Pros or cons, should I stay with a main dealer?
Your car is at the stage where main dealer history is not expected - having said that either via servicethecar.com or just by saying x wants to charge me y main dealers often improve their opening offers - Grimaldi and the Ferrari Centre have many fans here should you choose non-franchise
Main delaers will price match indy's. I paid £574 (for an annual for my 430) from a main dealer a month ago just by asking them to price match as per their policy.
http://www.sytner.co.uk/maserati/maranello-egham/a...
http://www.sytner.co.uk/maserati/maranello-egham/a...
Franchised dealers are aggressively chasing service work on older cars (by matching and even beating independents). This is because they are earning very little from the newer models since Ferrari introduced 7 years free servicing.
In some ways this is good news for owners but I'd be very wary of the phone call once the car is in the workshop. It is not uncommon for owners to be told they have thousands of pounds worth of maintenance work that absolutely needs doing on top of the service.
In some ways this is good news for owners but I'd be very wary of the phone call once the car is in the workshop. It is not uncommon for owners to be told they have thousands of pounds worth of maintenance work that absolutely needs doing on top of the service.
I've found Carrs to be fairly competitive on price, especially as I just drop it off one Sat after emptying it of garden waste at the tip on the same industrial estate, and pick it up the next weekend all cleaned out 
They found a 'bit' of stuff the first time, mainly to do with being stored in a bubble for 6 years before I got it, but the standard service was cheaper than driving it 85 miles each way to Emblem and then getting back again (no train along the South coast so it meant taking 2 cars).
Also last year there was an electrical gremlin which took them 11 hours to find and sort (the car got wet inside when the car park at my wife's work flooded) and they reduced the labour rate substantially - actually to less than toyota charge.
Now we have an Indy (Dan Belli) nearby in Honiton (and it turns out he lives 5 streets away from us) then it will be interesting to see what Carrs come up with this time, although Dan doesn't have the SD3 kit yet.
They found a 'bit' of stuff the first time, mainly to do with being stored in a bubble for 6 years before I got it, but the standard service was cheaper than driving it 85 miles each way to Emblem and then getting back again (no train along the South coast so it meant taking 2 cars).
Also last year there was an electrical gremlin which took them 11 hours to find and sort (the car got wet inside when the car park at my wife's work flooded) and they reduced the labour rate substantially - actually to less than toyota charge.
Now we have an Indy (Dan Belli) nearby in Honiton (and it turns out he lives 5 streets away from us) then it will be interesting to see what Carrs come up with this time, although Dan doesn't have the SD3 kit yet.
I have recently booked my 355 with Lancaster and they price matched the best indy quotes. Same last year when they did my cam belts - I told them the price they needed to match and they matched it.
I have been impressed over the last 3 years they have looked after my car - no attempt to sell me work that doesn't need doing. They also told me that as part of the service they now create a vidcam to record the work done during the service which you can either view live and/or get a copy for your records to add to the vehicles history - technology!
main dealers seem very keen to both get the work on older cars and to keep you on as a client - a refreshing move forward!
I have been impressed over the last 3 years they have looked after my car - no attempt to sell me work that doesn't need doing. They also told me that as part of the service they now create a vidcam to record the work done during the service which you can either view live and/or get a copy for your records to add to the vehicles history - technology!
main dealers seem very keen to both get the work on older cars and to keep you on as a client - a refreshing move forward!
As voicey has said, there is a very real reason that dealers are suddenly so interested in getting the work back they weren't bothered about a couple of years back. Unfortunately, many main dealers no longer have the technical expertise required for dealing with the older models, there is no form of factory retrospective training available for the "newer" breed of technicians, most experienced senior techs are working for specialist garages nowadays...
actonktm said:
Main delaers will price match indy's. I paid £574 (for an annual for my 430) from a main dealer a month ago just by asking them to price match as per their policy.
http://www.sytner.co.uk/maserati/maranello-egham/a...
not all of them will unfortunately, GrayPaul Nottingham (sytner) wouldn't even match JCT600 another main dealer!http://www.sytner.co.uk/maserati/maranello-egham/a...
needless to say they've lost my business
http://www.simonfurlonger.co.uk/docs2/about/worksh...
Even though their workshops are in Ashford you can drop the car off at the Colchester showroom.
Even though their workshops are in Ashford you can drop the car off at the Colchester showroom.
Edited by 1 PST on Tuesday 21st April 12:54
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