Totally Unethical and Unprofessional
A totally unprofessional and, in my experience, unethical way to conduct a car sale.
I enquired about a red Ferrari F430 Spider (PL09 FFV) As the dealership is around a two-hour drive from my home, the initial discussions and negotiations took place remotely.
We were close to agreeing a deal, with around £5,000 between their position and mine. I was then asked to bring my Porsche 911 to the dealership so they could inspect it as my proposed part exchange.
Before making a four-hour round trip, I specifically asked whether the deal was effectively agreed, as I did not want to waste my time travelling down unnecessarily. I was told, "It would be worthwhile." I also made clear that I was prepared to leave a deposit, subject to finance approval, and was told, "That is fine."
On that basis, I made the journey.
When I arrived, I inspected the F430 with "Glen" one of the owners, and we discussed and agreed the rectification work I believed the Ferrari required. "Glen" then inspected my Porsche and described it as "10/10".
Despite this, I was then told they would only do the deal if the additional £5,000 was added back onto the price. The position was effectively "take it or leave it".
Later that same evening, I received a message from the sales girl telling me that somebody else was coming to view the Ferrari the following day. Given that I had already invested considerable time in the purchase, I reluctantly agreed to their revised price and offered to leave the deposit to secure the car.
Only at that point was I told that they wanted a £10,000 NON-REFUNDABLE deposit.
This was completely different from my earlier discussion, where I had specifically stated that any deposit would be subject to finance approval and had been told that was fine. I challenged this with the sales girl Danni.
The following morning, I was simply told the car had now been sold.
A complete waste of my time. I had even cancelled a flight because I was trying to secure this car.
What makes the experience even more disappointing is that I subsequently discovered that this particular F430, had previously been purchased through Collecting Cars. That may explain why I struggled to get satisfactory answers to several of my questions about the vehicle's history.
I was also refused a test drive during my visit. I was told that they do not offer test drives until a sale has been agreed. In my view, that rather defeats the purpose of a test drive. With a 17-year-old Ferrari, I would expect a prospective buyer to be able to properly assess the car before becoming financially committed to buying it.
Prospective buyers may therefore want to carry out their own detailed due diligence into the provenance and history of vehicles being offered and not simply rely on the fact that they are being sold by a specialist dealership. In this case, I would also recommend obtaining an independent pre-purchase inspection.
The warranty discussion was equally concerning. The warranty offered to me was an RAC warranty with a £4,000 limit per claim. When I questioned whether this was sufficient protection for a Ferrari, "G" told me not to worry because they had ways to "get around this", accompanied by a wink. I can only report exactly what was said to me, but I found the comment extremely concerning and inappropriate.
Buying an F430 Spider should have been an enjoyable experience. Instead, I travelled four hours, had the commercial position changed after I arrived, was subsequently presented with a £10,000 non-refundable deposit requirement that differed from what I understood had previously been agreed, was refused a test drive, and was then told the following morning that the car had been sold.
Based purely on my personal experience, I would not deal with this dealership again.
