Good indy used to charge 900 for cambelts on a 348 engine out, or 600 ish engine in ..but to my mind you would not send a 275 to a main dealer..you would take it to a specialist like houghton ..
JCT cane up with the. 5k based on what ferrari say has to be done and how many hours it was to take.. at something like £150 an hour it soon racks up..northern supercars charge about 65, which is not far of what pogson charges at auto.italia
No I'm Spartacus
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JCT or Broaklands, what ever they want to call themselves.
Have to be the worst MD I have ever come across.
They have or had a bullet hole in their show room window. Guess it was a present from someone who experienced their customer service.
No I'm Spartacus
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Blimey I paid £1500 for 348 Belt service in 2006 and that was a competitive price.Originally Posted by Yorkshirelad
Houghton would never quote a fixed price when I looked at the time. It would cost as long as it took.
Northern supercars sorted my 348 out once, when I went to lake district and it rained for 3 solid days while car was parked up in hotel car park. Come to drive home and only one bank was firing. After some assistance from a few friends googling Ferrari specialists in the area (days before smart phones) I called them and limped there.
They were great, looked after us, fixed the car, water in the electrics of course and showed us around the workshop and some interesting restoration work. Had old F1 cars in there and a 308 rally car. I think at the time I gave them a thumbs up on here
No I'm Spartacus
Committee Member
Houghton's wont do a fixed price and will find some "Extras". I had them change the manifolds on my 430. I made sure I supplied EVERY nut/bolt/washer/gasket for the job. Low miler garage queen that isnt driven in the rain, so not expecting to see any seized up bolts etc.
When I picked up the car I was surprised to see an "extra" as they decided my car needed some additional fuel !!! This meant I had paid one of their mechanics to drive my car to a filling station to put a few gallons of fuel in it !! I was not a happy chap and wont go back even if I was offered free work.
Since then I have used Lovetts with no issues. Fixed price jobs, lower hourly rate as its an "Older Car", and its always been a quick and easy company to use. A friend had some issues with the clutch release bearing on his car (failure of factory supplied part) and Lovetts just took the car back, engine out and fixed it for free.
I mince along like a girl
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It seems that unless you have a V12 and it is your PA's PA with a blank cheque book dealing with Houghton's they are not overly interested. Your the third person with a "normal" F car that I have spoken too who has not had a good experience there and the others were mechanical related which you wouldn't really expect from your local village mechanic!
Whilst I know full well I can get a lower hourly rate at an Indie (PS I don't pay anywhere near £150 and hour!), I think Lovetts more than look after me. As I do a fair amount of maintenance work myself, I general know how many hours it takes to do things and they have been more than fair. They recently sorted the fuel leak on my 348 which involved dropping the tank and having it repaired. I was more than happy with the work they did and the final bill as I knew full well what was involved. I'm not a lazy person and prefer to do my own work where I can; but to be honest I wouldn't have done it for what they charged me (But don't tell them that!).
The two mechanics that work on my cars specialise on the older cars and get some exceptionally tasty stuff in there. I've seen 275, Daytonas, F40s, 512s, 246s, 308s etc. when I've been there. When I went in to pick up my 348 they were servicing an old Mercedes, I think 300SE convertible which was beyond immaculate, the owner now getting them to service all his cars not just his Ferraris.
The above said they cant/ don't really do everything and trim work they don't seem to do, and for paint you are best looking elsewhere as they have to use their sister company in the group that isn't really set up to deal with Ferrari owners, more daily driver insurance claims.
You will also hear really good things about Carrs with owners of the older models swearing by them and cars being shipped in from all over the place to be serviced there, and I know they do some very good hourly rates there.
I think overall in the UK we are really lucky to have such a choice in where to take our vehicles, and it all comes down to trust and building that relationship which takes time and effort by both parties.
Looks like a 308 to me? -The Ferrari 288 GTO
Club Member
Thats the key: Exercise choice and the poor ones get weeded out.
I just sorted the service for My 599 which is due first thing in the new year.
I haven't used it much since my illness and with the pandemic.
I did take it to the Silverstone Passione event and have made a few little trips here and there swerving around all the Covid nonsense.
We agreed that the air filters won't need doing as they are fine, spark plugs likewise as they were replaced a little while back, but we do need to do all the fluids and also investigate an A/c related issue. There has been quite a change to the 599 servicing regime since the known issues such as the oil filling / MAF issue etc. have been resolved and they have proven to be more reliable (if exercised regularly) than predicted.
As I enjoy an indie matching labour rate and the dealerships are benefiting from long term support by the factory for the older models there is literally no reason not to go OEM for me.
I believe this is the current high mileage benchmark outside the factory test mules (French car)
Last edited by Modificato; 18-12-2020 at 08:25 PM.
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