There's been quite a bit happening behind the scenes some of which almost certainly aren't correct, more will follow once all the work has been done, I can't naturally publish on here yet but will when it is all done and dusted.
The long and short of the situation is that the dealer refused to pay for the variators to be fixed correctly, they gave me a letter confirming that they had been done, however it transpires a little differently.
Forgive me but you will have to read in between the missing bits.
I went down to The Supercar Rooms in Hartlebury, Worcs. last Tuesday and what a simply fantastic operation they have down there, eat your heart out any other main dealer, this company is truly switched on, they had about 80 cars in their showroom, some on commission sales, others as stock item, a beautiful blend of Ferrari, Lambo's, Porsche, Bentley, McLaren and Maserati, it was like being a kid in a toy shop.
From the off they made me feel comfortable and soon their mechanic had the QP on the ramps and declared that in his considered opinion the variators had not been touched as there was no sign that the front timing cover seal had been broken and the allen bolts still had crud in them which wouldn't have happened if the covers had been taken off and that it would be good practice to fit new fan belts etc which hadn't happened.
I then asked him to take it out on a test drive as there was a knocking coming from the front suspension which was supposed to have be sorted at the selling dealership.
The long and the short of it is that there was a lower bush that was worn causing the knocking at £35 + a couple of hours labour at £75/Hour, hardly robbery and which will be covered by the finance company.
So Mark their Service Manager arranged a quote that included collecting the car in an enclosed transporter, ordering new Variators and then sending them away to the same company that Maserati uses in the UK (They don't send them to Italy as I was previously advised by the Main Dealer) to have non return valves machined, well below is a copy of their quotation which the finance company have approved: -
Labour
Carry out strip down of engine to allow replacement of both camshaft variators including the removal of front timing cover, both cam covers, 20.00 75.00 1500.00
Sub Contract - Carry out machining work to fit non return valves to cam caps 1.00 400.00 400.00
Replace OSF lower shock absorber bush 2.00 75.00 150.00
Collect vehicle by transporter 74.00 1.25 92.50
Deliver vehicle by transporter 74.00 1.25 92.50
Parts
253625 Variator 2.00 163.20 326.40
296016 Solenoid Valve 2.00 79.93 159.86
238690 Front cover gasket 1.00 37.30 37.30
211219 RH Cam Cover Gasket 1.00 27.20 27.20
211220 LH Cam cover gasket 1.00 28.84 28.84
223982 Spark Plug Seal 8.00 2.04 16.32
183010 Oil Ring 2.00 2.12 4.24
188717 Front crankshaft seal 1.00 11.54 11.54
228962 Oil Pressure Valve Gasket 2.00 4.12 8.24
200458 Non return valve 2.00 5.28 10.56
ENG OIL 5W40 Shell Helix Ultra 5w40 9.50 10.00 95.00
AFB Antifreeze Blue 7.00 7.50 52.50
PAS PAS Fluid 1.00 10.00 10.00
DOT4 Brake Fluid 1.00 9.00 9.00
SEALANT Gasket sealant 1.00 20.00 20.00
CONSUM Consumables 1.00 9.95 9.95
157630 Shock absorber bush 1.00 35.00 35.00
Totals
Description
Amount
Vatable Items 3,096.95
VAT @ 20.00% 619.39
Zero Rated Items 0.00
Total Estimate Value 3,716.34
There is a lot more that has happened behind the scenes, but the finance company have approved this repair with the bill being sent to them.
It will go in W/C 4th April as I need the car until then and have an expensive repair being carried out on the 911 so can't afford to be without a car whilst they are fixing everything, so the variators being fixed correctly amounts to just over £3300 half the price of a Main Dealer with a similar job being carried out.
The original dealer kept insisting that I return the car, but I reasoned that finding another car of this specification and colour combination with certified proof that the variators had been fixed would be difficult with this low mileage, I have had to be very patient, but even then the finance company have said that once everything is fixed that they will then look into how they can compensate me for the amount of time I have been without a car and made repayments and all of my mileage and wasted time going all over the place, can't say fairer than that
The Finance Company are Close Finance and I have found them to be truly brilliant and even though the amount of finance I have on the car is small they have acted professionally as if the whole car had been financed.