Hi all,
as you know, I just closed the deal on a F430 and with it comes the first few questions (to be followed by much more I can imagine)
1- Car needs maintenance: Although I have a connection with DK Engineering (who will take care of the UK registration and modification for my car), I really want to keep the Ferrari history clean and will do all annual service at a main dealer. DK will probably be the one doing the non-service work. As far as I can tell, I can only find 2 official Ferrari main dealer in London: HR Owen and Dick Lovett. Are there any other within 1h driving distance? I would consider going further afield for a better service, or for a better price that would then allow me to pay for the car to be picked up/dropped off.
Are those 2 shops treating the car with love and actually spending the time they effectively charge the customer? I have heard that some main dealer feel like factories in/out as quick as possible, and missed few major things... Urban legend? Anything to be aware of?
2- Car cover - I will be keeping the car in an underground private & secured parking, 2min walk from my house. I would like to attract as little attention as possible, and for this reason I am thinking of buying an after market grey car cover for my car. Does anybody use their car cover? I also read a few reports cautioning against abrasion... how real a problem is that? Although I intend to drive the car, there will be times when the car is not driven for a few weeks (I have 2 small kids and find it hard to jsutify leaving the wife every week end to go on a drive lol) - so I like the thought of protecting the car from dust
3- Using the car - having never driven a true F1 car (my GTS had an auto box), any tips on driving that beast? I heard auto is a no-no, especially in traffic... anything else I should be aware of? I will be planning a couple of road trips to get used to the beast and start the bonding process, but anything tips/quirks to be aware of would be awesome.
4- Detailing - there are a couple of stone chips on the car that will need to be sorted. I really want to avoid a respray due to all the suspicion is raises upon resale... any serious detailer that you can recommend that offer a good combination between value/thoroughness? I used a couple for the Maserati and was really taken for a ride on both occasion. I then fully intend to use the 2-bucket method myself to keep the car clean.
That's all I can think of for now... will keep on posting if can think of anything meaningful !
Gosh am I excited !!!