California or Cali T / Warranty
Discussion
So following on from the other Cali thread and not wanting to hijack that one.
I have finally come to the conclusion that now is the time to buy a California.
Been watching the market for a while and have recently had / having a bit of a clear out of cars as they are not getting used now two very small boys have arrived.
Im off to look at a standard 2010 cali on monday from a specialist dealer I have dealt with in the past.
All was going well until I called the sepcialist I have used for my 355 and 550 for the last 20 years when he said they they looked after five and they were all a nightmare to the point even he wouldnt buy one. These guys have been fantastic over the years for my cars and I havent had a single complaint which is saying something!
So it brought me to a point of thinking if I should get one with a Ferrari warranty of just spend a bit more and buy a later T.
I plan on using it every day but we have other cars that could be pressed into service if needed (355 spider, RRS, Defender V8 or classic fiat 500 !)
Basically its just for pottering about in and two 120 mile joureys a week.
Advice very welcome !!
Phib
I have finally come to the conclusion that now is the time to buy a California.
Been watching the market for a while and have recently had / having a bit of a clear out of cars as they are not getting used now two very small boys have arrived.
Im off to look at a standard 2010 cali on monday from a specialist dealer I have dealt with in the past.
All was going well until I called the sepcialist I have used for my 355 and 550 for the last 20 years when he said they they looked after five and they were all a nightmare to the point even he wouldnt buy one. These guys have been fantastic over the years for my cars and I havent had a single complaint which is saying something!
So it brought me to a point of thinking if I should get one with a Ferrari warranty of just spend a bit more and buy a later T.
I plan on using it every day but we have other cars that could be pressed into service if needed (355 spider, RRS, Defender V8 or classic fiat 500 !)
Basically its just for pottering about in and two 120 mile joureys a week.
Advice very welcome !!
Phib
Hi Phib, responding here instead of my thread (don't mind it being hijacked though 
. )
I had a long look at a T in TDF Blue that Lyndhurst Modena? have for sale, but I just love the double stacked exhausts and of course that its a non-turbo for the sound. It does make a difference I think.
I wanted a warranty qualifying car, with a full validated service history. I'm probably going to put 10K miles on it a year, so it will have 30K after 2 years, so I wanted a low mileage car. Even though it had the power warranty until Sept 2022 - I sent it to JMH in Manchester (about 75 miles from the chap selling it) to get them to spend a few hours examining it - was about £250. Ferrari will do a full 4 hour inspection, so it can be validated for a power warranty - HR Owen in London wanted £995 to do that.
I had a moment of panic on day 2 of ownership when the roof only opened halfway, but a quick call to the service desk of Marenello Sales in Surrey was re-assuring as they said battery flat, drive it 30 miles and it will be fine and it was.
My mate had one for 3 years and he did a 5,000 mile road trip round Europe in his and he said the only issues are boot sometimes getting stuck closed or roof struts snapping - both happened on his and both covered by Ferrari warranty. His advice, start it up, leave it for 30 seconds, then open the roof or boot
. )I had a long look at a T in TDF Blue that Lyndhurst Modena? have for sale, but I just love the double stacked exhausts and of course that its a non-turbo for the sound. It does make a difference I think.
I wanted a warranty qualifying car, with a full validated service history. I'm probably going to put 10K miles on it a year, so it will have 30K after 2 years, so I wanted a low mileage car. Even though it had the power warranty until Sept 2022 - I sent it to JMH in Manchester (about 75 miles from the chap selling it) to get them to spend a few hours examining it - was about £250. Ferrari will do a full 4 hour inspection, so it can be validated for a power warranty - HR Owen in London wanted £995 to do that.
I had a moment of panic on day 2 of ownership when the roof only opened halfway, but a quick call to the service desk of Marenello Sales in Surrey was re-assuring as they said battery flat, drive it 30 miles and it will be fine and it was.
My mate had one for 3 years and he did a 5,000 mile road trip round Europe in his and he said the only issues are boot sometimes getting stuck closed or roof struts snapping - both happened on his and both covered by Ferrari warranty. His advice, start it up, leave it for 30 seconds, then open the roof or boot
Edited by Oitbc on Friday 9th April 11:27
https://lyndhurst.ferraridealers.com/en_gb/search-... this one was the alternate
Oitbc said:
I had a long look at a T in TDF Blue that Lyndhurst Modena? have for sale, but I just love the double stacked exhausts and of course that its a non-turbo for the sound. It does make a difference I think.
Congratulations on your new purchase - looks great! The car that’s been for sale at Lyndhurst for a while is California Blue and not TDF blue. Out of interest, did you find out why it hasn’t sold? Where they keen to do a deal?
Father-in-law had an original in 2010, did around 25,000 miles in 2 years and traded in for a Cali 30 which also did a lot of miles (before getting an FF and now a Portofino). They both never missed a beat - got used in all weather, did multiple runs through Europe - great cars, really have never understood the bad press they receive.
Lowlands said:
Congratulations on your new purchase - looks great!
The car that’s been for sale at Lyndhurst for a while is California Blue and not TDF blue. Out of interest, did you find out why it hasn’t sold? Where they keen to do a deal?
Not really, they said they buy their cars, so no rush to get rid of them....3-4k off list price deal looking possible, which makes it sort of expensive but then does include 2 year warranty and piece of mind. I didn't like the drivers door pocket leather on their video - looked saggy, but they suggested their trimmer could rectifyThe car that’s been for sale at Lyndhurst for a while is California Blue and not TDF blue. Out of interest, did you find out why it hasn’t sold? Where they keen to do a deal?
I'm surprised that your indy has horror stories about Calis if he looks after F355s 
I used to have a F355 and the maintenance/weakness list on that is far longer than for the Cali.
The main issues with the Cali are the roof mech and the DCT box.
The early (pre 2013) DCT boxes all have the same brittle tie wrap problem that the enitre getrag equipped Ferrari fleet had from 2010-2013 (Cali, 458, FF and F12). It costs about £7k to put right if yours happens to fail. The gearbox cooling on the Cali is not as well engineered as it could be so you can minimise the risk of failure by ensuring that the gearbox has airflow over it to cool after shutdown - in other words, leave it outside to cool before parking it in a garage.
The roof mech is obviously Cali specific and there's no rhyme or reason for failure. Sometimes poor alignment is the culprit, sometimes it's a sensor gone bad. Either way, it's not megabucks to fix.
We've had our Cali for 18 months now and apart from a broken exhaust mount it's been fine.
My view on the Ferrari warranty is that you're better off self insuring if you can afford to. There are too many exclusions and get out clauses for it to be properly comprehensive and I can guarantee that you'll be furious at having paid for the waranty and then being asked to pay again for something which isn't covered (like a leaking gasket or a failed pump).
I used to have a F355 and the maintenance/weakness list on that is far longer than for the Cali.
The main issues with the Cali are the roof mech and the DCT box.
The early (pre 2013) DCT boxes all have the same brittle tie wrap problem that the enitre getrag equipped Ferrari fleet had from 2010-2013 (Cali, 458, FF and F12). It costs about £7k to put right if yours happens to fail. The gearbox cooling on the Cali is not as well engineered as it could be so you can minimise the risk of failure by ensuring that the gearbox has airflow over it to cool after shutdown - in other words, leave it outside to cool before parking it in a garage.
The roof mech is obviously Cali specific and there's no rhyme or reason for failure. Sometimes poor alignment is the culprit, sometimes it's a sensor gone bad. Either way, it's not megabucks to fix.
We've had our Cali for 18 months now and apart from a broken exhaust mount it's been fine.
My view on the Ferrari warranty is that you're better off self insuring if you can afford to. There are too many exclusions and get out clauses for it to be properly comprehensive and I can guarantee that you'll be furious at having paid for the waranty and then being asked to pay again for something which isn't covered (like a leaking gasket or a failed pump).
Edited by ANOpax on Friday 9th April 11:22
jasonwdh said:
Father-in-law had an original in 2010, did around 25,000 miles in 2 years and traded in for a Cali 30 which also did a lot of miles (before getting an FF and now a Portofino). They both never missed a beat - got used in all weather, did multiple runs through Europe - great cars, really have never understood the bad press they receive.
Totally agree...mine has covered some 86000 km now (36,000 of them by me in the last 4 years) and I've never experienced any major issues with it. Definitely not a garage queen or poser car as has been used on track as well as the road, including doing regular passenger rides with the Sporting Bears. Always been maintained and serviced within the Ferrari Dealer Network and so far the only thing on the list to change is the rear shockers as they're starting to show their age !Thanks guys, im still planning on pressing ahead with it.
It may be that my indy deals more with 430's and older cars so maybe californias arent quite up their street.
Origianlly was planning on spending £70kish but probably could add another £10k if I had to
Will report back after I have seen the one on monday
Phib
It may be that my indy deals more with 430's and older cars so maybe californias arent quite up their street.
Origianlly was planning on spending £70kish but probably could add another £10k if I had to
Will report back after I have seen the one on monday
Phib
I have a 16 plate T .
I still have 3 free services to go which is nice, but obviously you will pay more for a newer car.
Mine is now out of 4 year manufactures warranty and I have decided to go for the power train warranty at approx £2.8k.
i understand a few earlier Cali's had issues with gearbox but the design was changed for the T.
Either way engine and gearbox are not cheap which is why I went for the power train warranty.
The full warranty is around £4.2 pa.
T is more powerful but doesn't enjoy the NA sound track.
IHTH
I still have 3 free services to go which is nice, but obviously you will pay more for a newer car.
Mine is now out of 4 year manufactures warranty and I have decided to go for the power train warranty at approx £2.8k.
i understand a few earlier Cali's had issues with gearbox but the design was changed for the T.
Either way engine and gearbox are not cheap which is why I went for the power train warranty.
The full warranty is around £4.2 pa.
T is more powerful but doesn't enjoy the NA sound track.
IHTH
I have had a 2011 TDF Blu California for 5 years. Has done 43k miles - half by me - and apart from a few sensor issues and the heated seats cooking the wife's bottom unexpectedly it has been rock solid.
I used to have the Power warranty but have used Warranty Wise in the last couple of years at just over £2k. Limited to £15k per claim but covers more than Ferrari.
I used to have the Power warranty but have used Warranty Wise in the last couple of years at just over £2k. Limited to £15k per claim but covers more than Ferrari.
I've also been dithering about whether to buy one, and I've been put off by a number of threads on the Ferrari Chat forum like this one - https://www.ferrarichat.com/forum/threads/2010-cal...
I realise that people who have such serious problems are far more likely to post on such forums than people who have had no problems, but it still makes my blood run cold to think that if you were one of the unlucky ones you could be looking at a £40k repair bill!
It's worth reading some of the threads in the California section of the FC forum though - https://www.ferrarichat.com/forum/forums/californi... - there are a lot of very helpful posts.
I realise that people who have such serious problems are far more likely to post on such forums than people who have had no problems, but it still makes my blood run cold to think that if you were one of the unlucky ones you could be looking at a £40k repair bill!
It's worth reading some of the threads in the California section of the FC forum though - https://www.ferrarichat.com/forum/forums/californi... - there are a lot of very helpful posts.
I’ve had both cars - still have a Cali T and spent the extra to get Ferrari power warranty on both - this paid for itself with a gearbox issue in the old Cali that would have cost me about 6 grand I think. Cali T is a nicer car if you can stretch to it but doesn’t have the sound of the non turbo - they are lovely cars especially if you think of them as a fast convertible rather than a ‘supercar ‘. Always let the car warm up and keep the battery optimiser plugged in so that the roof mechanism doesn’t fail. Great cars either as Cali or Cali T .
Super comfy and don’t need lift kits etc to go over speed bumps - practical and fun - go for it ! Any advice feel free to DM me
Super comfy and don’t need lift kits etc to go over speed bumps - practical and fun - go for it ! Any advice feel free to DM me
swanseaboydan said:
I’ve had both cars - still have a Cali T and spent the extra to get Ferrari power warranty on both - this paid for itself with a gearbox issue in the old Cali that would have cost me about 6 grand I think. Cali T is a nicer car if you can stretch to it but doesn’t have the sound of the non turbo - they are lovely cars especially if you think of them as a fast convertible rather than a ‘supercar ‘. Always let the car warm up and keep the battery optimiser plugged in so that the roof mechanism doesn’t fail. Great cars either as Cali or Cali T .
Super comfy and don’t need lift kits etc to go over speed bumps - practical and fun - go for it ! Any advice feel free to DM me
So, out of interest, how much have you spent on the warranties (I'm in Europe so I'm not familiar with UK pricing). I'm guessing that it's more than the £6k that the gearbox repair would otherwise have cost you if you had self insured?Super comfy and don’t need lift kits etc to go over speed bumps - practical and fun - go for it ! Any advice feel free to DM me
swanseaboydan said:
I think about £1400 for the warranty amd £300 for the health check in order to qualify for a warranty.
Wow! that's cheap - you clearly managed to score a good discount in which case, you're quids in over the three years you've had your Calis.I managed to find a post by Ferrari NE from last year in which they provided the offical UK warranty costs.
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