Hello Group, I am looking at a 2003 360 at Ferrari of Quebec. The previous car I had a deposit on had damage at the front end that showed up on the Car Proof. We couldn't agree on a price after this was found out and felt that future resale (if/when it occurs) would be complicated. At any rate, I would like to get a pre-purchase inspection done on the current car at Ferrari of Quebec. Is it safe to assume that I can have it done by the dealership who is selling it or is it imperative that it be done by another independent party? Is a compression test a must? Let me know your thoughts, Bruno PS. If anyone knows of independents who can do the PPI in Montreal, let me know.
Ferraris must be maintained correctly to maintain value and, more importantly, to maximize safety and performance. Before buying any older model, you should have a maintenance strategy developed. This includes who will maintain it, at what level, what intervals, etc. In other words, find your mechanic before you buy the car. Have that mechanic do the PPI since you will be tasking him or her with maintaining it.
seems like a conflict of interest to me. Why bother paying them for a PPI then, they can just tell you whats wrong with it from their initial evaluation of the car (they didn't just roll it onto the salesfloor when it first came in).
If this is the same dealer that "didn't know" the gated 360 they are selling had a 30,000 dollar accident, run, don't walk away from anything else they are selling. Period.
I had mine car PPI'd at the dealer and they also performed the compression test. They did not want to do it and in my case I can now kind of understand that since my car was a one owner garage queen. In my case I had no choice but to use them since they are the only place here that works on Ferrari's. I am not sure we ever hashed through "all" the details of doing the test though, some of which have popped into my mind over the years since. In a modern car repair shop (your dealer may fall into this category) how much diagnostics do they do "outside" of plugging in the computer on a regular basis? They aren't rebuilding engines right? This is done at a place that specializes in this kind of thing I would imagine. There just aren’t enough of these engines around that all the dealers could become the experts we want them to be when duty calls. The test involves using a piece of equipment that they would hardly ever need right? In my case the dealer said that their digital unit didn’t have the correct adapter for the head shape/location so they used the old school one that graphs the pressure with a pencil. This is fine as there is an easy receipt that shows the pencil scratches and I am not sure how the results of a digital gauge would have been communicated to me. I assume they would “tell me” the values? Hmmmm? In my case you could see where the paper was inserted slightly off so the zero pressure or start point is askew from the printed card. Um…ok, but I can see that the high end marks all match up! That is what is important to me. That no one or bank of cylinders is way off. So we have our high strung Ferrari engine that is a maxed out piece of engineering so much so that if any “one” part of it is off it will be obvious to the initiated and obvious to the sensor package when they plug it in to the computer right? So is the compression test in a fine running car really a check against if the codes have been cleared recently? I am not trying to talk you into more tests or talk you out of a Ferrari but I wonder what other tests could also be used here that are easier on the mechanic that might give more information? Exhaust gas and engine oil analysis maybe? Since it's a gated car, it seems like they could give you a 30 day warranty against any codes that pop up but I do not hear of this often but then their are so few gated cars out there. All this is rhetorical so feel free to tell me I am full of it or take with a grain of salt.
I do have my mechanic. Rocco at Rock's Auto. Problem is he's in Toronto and car is in Montreal (5 hours away).
All good points, but the one I like the most is the 30 day warranty against any codes that pop-up or any major issues that arise.
Rocco has visited the Ferrari dealer for other customers to ensure the car is as advertised and I am sure he would do this for you as well. Let Rocco know Carm says "Hi".
Rocco went to Montreal for me last week to look at the Paul and Motor Car. He also saw this car on the hoist as the transmission was out of it. I suppose I can ask him to go again.
Bruno. I had my 430 PPI'd at FoQ although the car was not sold by them. Personally I would feel confident purchasing a car from the dealer since they are held responsible for all disclosed and non disclosed items. A good example is FoO who is a very reputable dealership. They also have some great example and are about 4.75hrs closer! If you absolutely need to have a tech visit the car, ask Massimo at Daytono auto. A factory trained tech and Schumacher's F1 tech of the golden days. Good luck on your search. Feel free to pm me Serf
Here is the car: 2003 Ferrari 360 MANUAL for $127,900 in Montréal | autoTRADER.ca It will be sold with a full major service and the Clutch and second gear synchro was just replaced. A full inspection will be done prior to finalizing the deal . Any input appreciated. One thing that really bothers me and that they will hopefully change is that the muffler says "Spider".
not sure where youre at in the purchase process.. but for future reference.. Ralf at Monaco Prestige in Montreal.. is one of the best, if not the best, indie shop in Montreal.. or even across Canada for that matter. I would not have bought my F355 if I wasn't introduced to him.! you can reach him at 514-796-7737 not sure how game FoQ would be to ship the car to him for a PPI though..
