Buying Advice – Official vs. Independent Dealers
Discussion
Hi all,
I’ve been investigating 355’s for the last couple of months and hopefully will be in a position to buy in February/March time (which according to you guys is a good time to buy).
Now what in your opinion are the pros and cons of the official vs. independent purchase route?
I’ve been to Maranellos and was impressed, but their prices seem a touch inflated compared to the other official dealers. Has anyone else found this to be the case?
Anyone care to recommended or steer me clear of any of the other official dealers?
When talking to Maranellos they said that their warranty would only be for 6 months due to the age of the car, and wouldn’t cover a sports exhaust if one was fitted. Does anyone know if the warranty can be extended and how have people found them when making a claim?
I have also been to a few of the independents (Talacrest and Verdis), but am worried about their warranties. Are they worth the paper they are written on? As standard Verdi’s is for a year and only covers a limit of £2000 per claim, but at an extra cost can be extended to 2 years and £6000 a claim. Do you think that this is likely to be enough for a majority of the things that are likely to go wrong?
Has anyone here actually bought a car from an Independent and would you recommend them? (Anyone have anything good to say about Foskers or Kent High Performance?)
If you don’t want to put anything bad about a dealer on this thread (because its against t&c's) could you please email it to me instead as I would really appreciate it.
Sorry for the million and one questions.
Laurence
I’ve been investigating 355’s for the last couple of months and hopefully will be in a position to buy in February/March time (which according to you guys is a good time to buy).
Now what in your opinion are the pros and cons of the official vs. independent purchase route?
I’ve been to Maranellos and was impressed, but their prices seem a touch inflated compared to the other official dealers. Has anyone else found this to be the case?
Anyone care to recommended or steer me clear of any of the other official dealers?
When talking to Maranellos they said that their warranty would only be for 6 months due to the age of the car, and wouldn’t cover a sports exhaust if one was fitted. Does anyone know if the warranty can be extended and how have people found them when making a claim?
I have also been to a few of the independents (Talacrest and Verdis), but am worried about their warranties. Are they worth the paper they are written on? As standard Verdi’s is for a year and only covers a limit of £2000 per claim, but at an extra cost can be extended to 2 years and £6000 a claim. Do you think that this is likely to be enough for a majority of the things that are likely to go wrong?
Has anyone here actually bought a car from an Independent and would you recommend them? (Anyone have anything good to say about Foskers or Kent High Performance?)
If you don’t want to put anything bad about a dealer on this thread (because its against t&c's) could you please email it to me instead as I would really appreciate it.
Sorry for the million and one questions.
Laurence
Laurence,
The dealer warranties are quite good imo. You also get a 3 months goodwill charter, which covers some items that the warranty does not. Such as exhaust system, roof leaks, etc.
Maranellos will only give you a six month warranty on a car older than 5 years. I think all official dealers are the same, but not sure. You can definitely try to push them for a one year, and I am sure others have been sucessful doing so.
I think all official dealer sticker prices are a little high at the moment. I am sure they would let a car go for much less than sticker price.
Maranellos are the most expensive though, by a good margin. Look at Graypaul, Stratstone, Evans Halshaw. Carrs Maserati are relatively new and are very competitive. Especially in the state of the market, they may want to just turn cars over. I found Andrew of Graypaul to be very honest and accomodating. Another PHer bought a 355 Spider from them and seems very happy too! Give him a call even for just some advice and if you do tell him Ali says Hi too! If he hasn't got the right car, he will try his best to find it for you.
I think it's a good idea to drop Ajay of Scuderia systems a line, he knows A LOT about buying Ferraris. He'll know exactly what the right price is.
That wasn't a post, it was an essay!
The dealer warranties are quite good imo. You also get a 3 months goodwill charter, which covers some items that the warranty does not. Such as exhaust system, roof leaks, etc.
Maranellos will only give you a six month warranty on a car older than 5 years. I think all official dealers are the same, but not sure. You can definitely try to push them for a one year, and I am sure others have been sucessful doing so.
I think all official dealer sticker prices are a little high at the moment. I am sure they would let a car go for much less than sticker price.
Maranellos are the most expensive though, by a good margin. Look at Graypaul, Stratstone, Evans Halshaw. Carrs Maserati are relatively new and are very competitive. Especially in the state of the market, they may want to just turn cars over. I found Andrew of Graypaul to be very honest and accomodating. Another PHer bought a 355 Spider from them and seems very happy too! Give him a call even for just some advice and if you do tell him Ali says Hi too! If he hasn't got the right car, he will try his best to find it for you.
I think it's a good idea to drop Ajay of Scuderia systems a line, he knows A LOT about buying Ferraris. He'll know exactly what the right price is.
That wasn't a post, it was an essay!
sorry about the 2 day lagged response fletch....
As Ninja made clear - the way I see it the only thing that Authorised dealers have over the independents are good warranties - and not always actually eg this 6 month and s/exhaust crap- if you are ever stretching to a Ferrari and you don't have a warranty then be prepared to weep - simple little by-pass valves etc cost hundreds of pounds...
Reject a 6 month warranty - that's pathetic - spend £60K on a car and they can only guarantee it's reliability for 6 months??? purleeez!
Give or take a few service quibbles etc 'Limited claim warranties' are the only thing preventing independents from ripping the heart out of authorised dealers sales.....
As Ninja made clear - the way I see it the only thing that Authorised dealers have over the independents are good warranties - and not always actually eg this 6 month and s/exhaust crap- if you are ever stretching to a Ferrari and you don't have a warranty then be prepared to weep - simple little by-pass valves etc cost hundreds of pounds...
Reject a 6 month warranty - that's pathetic - spend £60K on a car and they can only guarantee it's reliability for 6 months??? purleeez!
Give or take a few service quibbles etc 'Limited claim warranties' are the only thing preventing independents from ripping the heart out of authorised dealers sales.....
Agree with the others here- the warranty is the only differentiator. I would certainly not buy any 'mechanical savvy' difference, since I suspect, if anything, the balance is in favour of the independents. The latter definitely have lower overheads. Such as paint on the walls. Even if you go independent, you may find that the car is ellegible for an aftermarket "power warranty" from a main dealer, which requires that your car is inspected first. Quote for the 456 is £2K for a 2 year, unlimited and transferrable warranty. I don't know what the age limit is, but my 456 is a '99 car.
Make the most of the fact that there are lots of 355s for sale (unlike other models) and drive a hard deal. In fact I think it would help all of us as consumers if we share the true market value of our cars when we come to sell them to dealers. This would tell us where the *real* floor is. In the spirit of this, know that Ajay did a lot of ringing round on my behalf when I was selling the 360 Modena; range was, IIRC, £69-72K for a 99V with 6.5K miles in fairly standard trim. A look at advertised prices means that they are making on average at least £10K on each sale. Worth bearing in mind..........
Kev
Make the most of the fact that there are lots of 355s for sale (unlike other models) and drive a hard deal. In fact I think it would help all of us as consumers if we share the true market value of our cars when we come to sell them to dealers. This would tell us where the *real* floor is. In the spirit of this, know that Ajay did a lot of ringing round on my behalf when I was selling the 360 Modena; range was, IIRC, £69-72K for a 99V with 6.5K miles in fairly standard trim. A look at advertised prices means that they are making on average at least £10K on each sale. Worth bearing in mind..........
Kev
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