Major service cost for 328

Down here would could get a 328 Major done for less than $3500

 

well if you're happy with the service then it was worth it.

 

Steve

I have my cars serviced at Miller too. Currently my 01 456 is in for its major. Your price is in line with what I paid for the major on my 355 same winter discount. I dont mind paying a little bit higher for an authorized dealer service because its worth it. I did check with some independents in the tri-state area and they are a bit cheaper but not by a huge amount especially after the discount is factored in. I would not want to nickel and dime on a major period. All in all I would prefer a local recognized dealer do the major, apart from having ferrari trained mechanics who you will have some recourse if anything goes wrong and you are also building a relationship with a dealer, not a bad thing.

 

Well, that's one way to look at it......

On the other hand the longer Ferrari owners allow themselves to be bent over & shafted like this the more these prices will become the norm. If I had to pay that to have my 328 serviced I'd feel signficantly "abused" to say the least.

We all know you pay too much for maintenance in the US but this is ridiculous.

The ones that kill me are the $309 for the spark plugs - the plugs cost maybe $65 & they charge you for 2 hours labour to change them???? Even I can change the plugs on a my 328 in well under an hour!

Aside from that they ought to be done as part of the 15K service anyway - as should the fuel filter!

As a matter of interest, just what was done/checked for $3108 for the 15K service if it doesn't even include such rudimentary things as plugs & a fuel filter??? Do they even tell you?

Likewise $300 to mount 4 tyres is outrageous - $140 max.

Cambelts are changed over here (in the UK) for $650 (including replacing all the ancilliary belts) & the bearings are $240 & there basically wouldn't be a labour charge to fit them if the belts were being done anyway. So to pay nearly $1300 for the belts and a further $780 for the bearings is just mind boggling.

If it was me I'd be going back to sit down with the owner of this shop looking for a full explanation as to what's been done & what was charged for it - with the objective of seeing around $2000 - $2500 taken off the price - at least! Even after the "discount", over $6000 is just not a fair price to pay for what is basic servicing work. I also really struggle to see how you'd spend 40 hours working on the car to do that little work. That's one man for an entire week. I'd be surprised if it took half that time.

I'd also seriously think about whether I ever went back there again - I don't care how good they are.

I.

 

Were the vlaves adjusted??? $300 to mount and balance tires????

 

Why didn't they just do the 30k service? I was quoted a starting price of $4,900 for a 30k service on my 328 by a dealership. For an 1987 it seems like a waste to have done the 15k at this time. You may think that your car has gone up in value over the past 5 years, but see what the market is like when you want to sell and when you include the service cost you will come out on the short end.

 

My 87 328 had a 30K major (with belts/tensioner bearings - $250 each bearing) plus a water pump rebuild and all rubber fuel hoses replaced (just because they were old) for $4K.

I'd question how much extra to pay for having a dealer name on the invoice. I know a couple of independents here in southern CA who could probably build my car from scratch given a bin of parts, and they have a waiting list for service appointments. A Ferrari serviced by reputable independents is worth as much to me as one that went to the dealer.

In fact, I'd venture to say that a Ferrari owner who has taken it to one of the known gurus among the independents is pretty savvy, and their car is one I'd want to buy just as much as one that has dealer receipts.

For a new Ferrari, absolutely, go to the dealer (warranty, specialized diagnostic tools, etc). For my 328, I don't. And I love my car.

Not saying you didn't get a top-notch job done on your car. But I think it's a stretch to say the value of the car has increased commensurately.

 

I feel the same way. Personally, I would not consider an independent.

 

Authorised dealer stamps matter on cars less than 3 or 4 years old - not on a 17/18 yr old 328!

In fact its fairly well understood here that the quality of service you get on some cars is actually better in the independent specialists - especially around the 308/328 generation. Why? because the guys that now run/work in the independents are the same guys that were working in the main dealers when those cars were new. A lot of the mechanics in the dealer network wern't even born when they were building 308s!

Intelligent buyers here are looking at the quality of the car and then at the history. As long as the car has been regularly maintained by a known specialist it will have little or no impact on the value of the car against one that has been main dealer maintained. In some cases the effect may even be positive.

As for the tune up prices, as I said before, you got raped for the cam belts & tensioner bearings & I'm not sure what part "ignition distributor" means - if it means a distributor cap (115518) well those are $475 each from Ricambi or alternatively just under $300 each from Ferrari Classic parts in the UK (which is still an outrageuos price for a distributor cap!). If that's what you got for $560 well, then you got raped for that too (unless you got them both replaced in which case you did OK).

....and I still don't understand $310 for spark plugs !!

I.

 

Depends on the car - see my comment above ! Plenty of bad things happen to perfectly good cars in authorised dealerships (be they Ferraris or otherwise).

Don't kid yourself that paying top dollar to an authorised dealership guarantees you gold standard service - it simply doesn't. That's not to say you may not get it but it isn't guaranteed.

If you do your research you can/will find a good independent & you are likely to be able to get a lot closer to the guy that actually works on your car than you ever will at a main dealer.

I.

 

To give you an idea - I had the valves adjusted, the camshaft oilseals changed (so all the cams had to come off the car) and the cambelts changed on my 328 last year. Included in that were replacements for all the necessary gaskets for the cam covers etc

I also had five hours worth of other work & adjustments done - including a full compression test for the records - sounds easy but takes a fair amount of time to actually do. No other general servicing was done because I do most of the rest myself. Tensioner bearings were not changed because they were only 2 yrs & 2000 miles old

The bill? $2100 including sales tax (which is 17.5% here).

As for your spark plugs at $23 each - I hope each one comes with an owners certificate or some such thing - because you got murdered on those. Ricambi sell the NGK Iridium plugs for a 328 for $10 each - there is just no excuse for $23 a plug.

I am amazed you are so calm about this - I would be absolutely seething!!

I.

 

My honda dealer charges $50 to change the plugs on a 91 civic.

$900 to replace the radiater, one hose and the thermestat.

$500 to rebuild one cv joint.

$500 for a top end service - replace timing belt and accessory belt.

My independent honda mechanic replaced both axles (new inner and outer cv joints, new boots, new everything), complete for $400.

Assuming 8 plugs on the 328 (16?) that would work out to $100 at the civic rate - and the ferrari obviously should be more.

Once when the civic wouldn't start at 70,000 miles an independant mechanic wanted $600 to repair it. Honda towed it at there expense and repaired it for no charge.

Most of the cars 15 year life it has been serviced at honda - and the car was not drivable 2 times in 15 years (cracked radiator and bad distributor). It is still driven daily today.

A good dealer was worth more to me, good service and attitude, no screw ups and fixed right the first time.

You get what you pay for - in time and hassle or lack of hassle.

my 2 cents.

PS this is all in silicon valley AKA "The South Bay" in N California.

 

Here in "Expensive" California I am using Valtellina Automobili, locally in Sausalito (Marin County in Northern California) who work on a lot of high end Ferraris and other exotics in the Marin area for the major service on my new 1989 328 GTB.....They are actually cheaper than Ferrari of San Francisco and do a much better job from what I hear from local Ferrari people.....

The Major service includes:

* Replace timing belt, tensioner assembly & both idler bearings.
* Adjust the valves; replace valve cover gaskets & cam oil seals.
* Replace all V-belts.
* Replace all filters.
* Replace engine & gearbox oil.
* Replace spark plugs, inspect & test cap / rotor / wires, replace if required.
* Flush the cooling & brake systems.
* Re-build the water pump.
* Inspect brakes, shocks, tires, suspension bushings & all cooling / * Replace fuel lines.
* Full detail.

It takes around 32 hours to do a proper job as listed. That is 32 x $120/Hr = $3840. The

parts are around $1700, Plus another $300 for oil &

coolant / other material. so I pay about $5,840 + tax for parts.

Yes it is very expensive....but well worth it to keep a Ferrari 328 in really good working order. In California we pay more for everything....

......Mark

 

Yeah, but on the 355 it's an ENGINE OUT service... and on the 328 the engine stayed in place.

 

Those were the two that struck me right off the bat also.

 

That's QUITE a mark up. I just bought a set of NGK Iridium plugs from T. Rutlands for my 60K service and they were $8.75 per plug. I could have ordered them over the internet from www.clubplug.net for even less, but I got them from Rutlands along with all my other parts.

 

$3K and they don't change the plugs, filters, tensioners, and cam belts? This is nuts.

I'm mechanically inclined and of course I believe this is nuts. However, I don't think you need to be mechanically inclined to be able to ask the right questions to determine if you're getting screwed!

You know enough to ask why a mutual fund charges a 5% load or 3% management fees, yet you're not a financial analyst.

You know enough to ask why they need to remove your appendix, yet you're not a doctor.

You know enough to ask what the cap rate is on a commercial building, yet you're not a broker.

Why accept as a given that because it's a Ferrari, or it's an authorized service center, or it's the first service, without investigation? You work hard for your money. And if you don't, how about the principle of it? Don't you hate it when people take advantage of you?

There are enough people on this board who will happily help you to avoid getting screwed again. We're on your side, not against you. Don't take this as bagging on you, just helping you for next time.

 

How about do it yourself? I can understand sending your F360/F430 for a $10,000 tune up but it just does not make too much sense on car that costs a bit more than Toyota Camry. My other hobby is 4wheeling which requires the driver to know how to fix his vehicle on the spot because the AAA or mechanic doesn't travel to a middle of nowhere to fix my truck. Learning automobile technology is easy, all it takes is a book and some trainning on your daily beater car, don't forget to buy the best tools you can afford. Most if not all procedures to do a major on a 328 can be found here on this forum.

 

Depends on your mechanical skills, IMO, and has little to do with the cost of the car. I could probably figure out how to disassemble and reassemble everything eventually, while taking time off from my real job, and I could handle the recycling of the coolant and oil somehow. But my time spent under the car would be something of a waste because I wouldn't have much clue as to what else to check while I'm at it. In short: there is real value in having an experienced Ferrari mechanic do the job. I suppose if I made an error in the belt tension and something went bad as a result I could also read up on rebuilds.

(NONE of this justifies $23.06 per spark plug... however for those of us who aren't mechanics that labor charge is money well spent.)

 

There is no way there are $1700 worth of parts in there unless you get new distributor caps, rotor arms and plug leads all round & your list says they'll only be replaced "if required". If they don't get replaced then I'd suggest you need to have a close look at what you will get for your money.

Most specialists here wouldn't touch the water pump unless it was either noisy or leaking.

I.