Ferrari Odometer Lawsuit (in Florida)

[MisterWaffles]

Yet another pre-owned supercar scandal, this time involving a Ferrari dealer in Florida.

http://autoweek.com/article/car-news/report-lawsuit-claims-ferrari-odometers-can-be-rolled-back-zero

It seems this Ferrari dealership has been allegedly rolling back the odometer of pre-owned automobiles to squeeze some extra value out of them. Essentially, someone filed a lawsuit claiming that this Florida dealership has been resetting the odometer on their used cars to sell them for more than they actually go for.

I will update the OP if this is found to be true outside of Florida or if the lawsuit is dismissed.

This action has potentially increased the cost of one Palm Beach-based LaFerrari to price hike more than $1,000,000.

 

[boiltheocean]

 

[Tornado]

 

[TVR27]

Dealership can give car manufactures a bad name.

 

[RocZX]

Essentially, someone filed a lawsuit claiming that this Florida dealership has been resetting the odometer on their used cars to sell them for more than they actually go for.
.

The lawsuit came from an ex-saleman of the dealer who was let go when he discovered the dealership was resetting the odometers in cars.

Dealership can give car manufactures a bad name.

They had to get authorization from Ferrari HQ in Italy to reset the odometer.

 

[lancia delta hf]

They had to get authorization from Ferrari HQ in Italy to reset the odometer.

Allegedly. Question i have is, who would actually do it, was it the dealership owner or a member of staff? If it was a member of staff then he knew about it so why was another guy let go for finding out about? Could he not be trusted? Did he not agree with the practice?

 

[MisterWaffles]

Allegedly. Question i have is, who would actually do it, was it the dealership owner or a member of staff? If it was a member of staff then he knew about it so why was another guy let go for finding out about? Could he not be trusted? Did he not agree with the practice?

I agree, everyone who reads this article should reserve judgement until the investigation is launched. Everything in the article is solely based on this man's claims so far.

 

[McLaren]

That someone is the salesman. This is beef between him and the dealer over personal grievances (reportedly due to his clientele being taken over by someone close to the GM and him being fired due to his old age).

A lot more to this story than then lawyer is releasing.

 

[RocZX]

Question i have is, who would actually do it, was it the dealership owner or a member of staff? If it was a member of staff then he knew about it so why was another guy let go for finding out about? Could he not be trusted? Did he not agree with the practice?

The odometer reset is done by a software on a Deis tester. It's done by a technicians/ mechanics who are trained by Ferrari. It's claimed that the customers pays the technician in cash to do the reset. It's likely only the higher ups in the dealership knew that it was happening and the salesman who filed tje lawsuit was going to tell customers that the used cars had higher miles then the odometer said.

 

[RandomCarGuy17]

I was just thinking of that scene.

 

[Stotty]

Pretty much accepted that 2nd hand Ferrari mileages are all fictitious in the UK.

eg...

Ferrari world is rife with this sort of thing, I mean you'd think they start going backward at 25k miles automatically. I know of a 360 that's up for sale with a reputable dealer and 3 years or so ago it had little if any service record - it had stood still for the last 7 years, serviced twice. Roll forward to very recently glowing report on dealers website with full documented history, stamped service history the lot!
How's that happen then?

 

[TenEightyOne]

The lawsuit came from an ex-saleman of the dealer who was let go when he discovered the dealership was resetting the odometers in cars.

Says the Daily Mail.

They had to get authorization from Ferrari HQ in Italy to reset the odometer.

Says the Daily Mail.

Anyone who trusts the mileage on a high-value used car without fact-checking the paperwork is, I'm sure we can all agree, a moron. We could probably extrapolate that description to the envious readers of the Daily Mail who love nothing more than knowing how much other peoples' cars/houses/girlfriends cost and occasionally finding out that somebody is being ripped off for living a better lifestyle than them.

It would be interesting to see the court papers, anyone got a linkee?

 

[Stotty]

Yes, the Daily Mail is a hateful rag, but this is being reported much more widely...

http://www.motorauthority.com/news/1109084_report-ferrari-has-device-to-roll-back-odometers-to-0

You might not trust an independent, but you should be able to trust an authorised Ferrari dealer... how do you check mileage is accurate if they can simply create new paperwork?

 

[Robin]

I thought this was a 20th century problem and mileage fraud wasn't really a thing anymore. I guess it's only happening on higher tier cars now, not worth doing to your average hatchback.

If they can set it to whatever they want with a computer then it defeats the purpose of the industry switching to digital in the first place. It was supposed to be untamperable.

 

[Liquid]

So Ferrari lie about their cars' performance and hassle journalists who say otherwise, Ferrari salesmen lie about their cars' mileage which is now leading to at least one lawsuit.

Who would have thought buying such a prestigious brand would lead to so much ego and turbovaluing?

 

[TVR27]

Allegedly. Question i have is, who would actually do it, was it the dealership owner or a member of staff? If it was a member of staff then he knew about it so why was another guy let go for finding out about? Could he not be trusted? Did he not agree with the practice?

Probably the dealership owner because maybe they only know how to and you wouldn't wan't everyone to know.

or maybe you do it like this

 

[Stotty]

Allegedly. Question i have is, who would actually do it, was it the dealership owner or a member of staff? If it was a member of staff then he knew about it so why was another guy let go for finding out about? Could he not be trusted? Did he not agree with the practice?

The allegation is a member of the dealership staff attended the owners home, and using an official piece of Ferrari tech (that requires specific approval from Ferrari to use), reduced the mileage on the owners LaF. And the owner paid the member of staff cash for the work.

The allegation was made by a member of staff unhappy at being sacked by the dealer owner, and replaced by the dealer owners girlfriend/partner.

 

[RocZX]

Says the Daily Mail.
Says the Daily Mail.

I know the source of the info is from the Daily Mail and its not the best source for info. What does that have to do with what I said?

Anyone who trusts the mileage on a high-value used car without fact-checking the paperwork is, I'm sure we can all agree, a moron.

It likely would not show on the paperwork. They buy new car with 20ish miles on it, drive it for few hundred miles get the odometer reset then drive it to put the original 20ish miles plus a few extra and then sale it. Then less you live in a state where you have to have emission/safety test done each year or dealership is reporting the mileage when you bring it for service, there is nothing that will show up on the paperwork.

 

[lancia delta hf]

You guys seam to be taking these events a facts already. I don't doubt it's possibly true but i will reserve judgement as this could just be a butt hurt guy. It may seam unlikely to some that someone would go to such lengths, but if you think it's unlikely then google Fabio Quagliarella and read why he left his home football team 7 years ago. The reasons only came out last week, and basically people are mental.

Probably the dealership owner because maybe they only know how to and you wouldn't wan't everyone to know.

or maybe you do it like this

I know how it's done, my brother use to do this in the 90s and made a handsome living doing it. Got caught in the end.

 

[Dennisch]

It was supposed to be untamperable.

Every single digital odometer can be tampered with, because when the original fails, and the replacement is way off, you can adjust it to show the original mileage again.