Genuine Ferrari Parts for the UK Trade

Why Ferrari parts become a sourcing job

Ferrari has never built in volume, and the cars it has built very rarely leave the road. They are repaired, restored and recommissioned rather than written off, so demand for parts carries on for decades after the production line and the UK allocation have both moved on. That combination — small build numbers, long survival — is what turns an ordinary part into a search. A motor factor will not hold them. A general dealer group will not hold them. The part usually exists somewhere; the ordinary route to it does not.

The second difficulty is the span of production still in active use. A specialist can have a current car in one bay and a front-engined V12 from the 1960s in the next, and those are not the same parts job in any respect. One is resolved from a VIN against a live catalogue. The other is resolved from a chassis number against factory records that predate electronic cataloguing entirely. Parts sourcing is the work that begins where the normal route for either has run out.

The third is particular to this marque, and it is the one workshops most often underestimate: on a Ferrari, originality is not a matter of opinion. The manufacturer operates a formal certification scheme that inspects a car component by component, which means the decision to fit a used genuine part, a remanufactured part or an aftermarket equivalent can have a documented consequence later. That is worth settling before an order rather than after.

Originality is certified on this marque

Ferrari runs its own classic department, Ferrari Classiche, which it describes as the department “created to preserve these models and keep the Legend alive”, and which issues a Certification of Authenticity that “proves that your model conforms to the original design, protecting the investment and historical heritage”. Very few marques formalise originality in this way, and it is the single most useful thing a UK workshop can understand about Ferrari parts before placing an order.

The scope is defined. Ferrari states that the Certificate of Authenticity is “available for road cars over 20 years old, Special Series, Sport and Ferrari F1 models”, and that it “traces the history of the vehicle, verifying its conformity to the original design and the origin of each component”. It also notes that as well as preserving the car's historical status, certification “allows owners to benefit from long-term spare parts and take part in the most prestigious official events”. So the age rule applies to ordinary road cars, while limited and special-series models sit outside it.

What matters to a repairer is what the inspection examines, and what happens when something does not match. Ferrari's description of the process says the technical analysis “begins by verifying that the chassis is original – an essential requirement for certification”, that the bodywork and interior are then “examined, comparing them against original specifications”, and that the analysis continues “with an in-depth check of all the vehicle's mechanical and electrical systems”. The resulting report goes to a Certification Committee, and where there are “any issues that cannot be waived, the process is suspended until the compromised parts are replaced”. A non-original component fitted during a repair is therefore not a neutral choice on a car that is certified, or that its owner intends to certify.

The flip side is that the factory holds the information needed to put a car back to original. Ferrari's own account of the certification process describes experts turning to “the Company's original archives where assembly diagrams are carefully preserved for every single car manufactured since 1947”, and sets out what happens when a correct part no longer exists: “If there are one or two parts that are not original, the customer can decide to replace them with other genuine parts. Should these no longer be available, the parts can be rebuilt according to the project developed at that time, which is also housed in the archive.” The same article notes that certification “can be requested directly from Ferrari or from one of the more than 70 official Officina Ferrari Classiche workshops located throughout the world” — see Ferrari's article on certifying a classic.

Tell us at the request stage whether the car is certified, is being prepared for certification, or neither. It changes which routes we search and which options we put in front of you — on an uncertified car a good used genuine part is often the sensible answer, and on a certified one it may not be.

We are not a certification body and we do not advise on whether a particular car will pass. What we do is describe every part we quote by its actual category — genuine, OEM or OES, genuine new-old stock, good used genuine, or remanufactured — so that you and your customer can weigh the originality question with accurate information. Our guide to genuine, OEM, OES and aftermarket parts sets out what each category means.

The parts picture changes with the era

• The front-engined V12 classics. Identification runs on chassis and engine numbers and on factory records rather than any electronic catalogue, and bodies built by outside coachbuilders mean two cars of the same model are not always the same car in panel terms. Supply is specialist stock, genuine new-old stock, good used genuine parts and, for body sections, fabrication.
• The Dino and the early mid-engined V8s. The cars that first made the marque a regular sight in independent specialists. Trim, brightwork, glazing, electrical items and body sections are far harder to find than service parts, and a number can be long gone while the car itself is still in weekly use.
• The later mid-engined V8 generations. The volume classics of the near future, and the bulk of ordinary UK workshop traffic for this marque. Model-year changes and factory options decide the part number for lighting, cooling, suspension, glazing and interior items far more often than the model name does.
• The limited-series and special-series cars. Built in small numbers with components specific to them, and treated separately by the manufacturer's own certification scheme, which covers Special Series models without the twenty-year rule. Parts for these are a search of their own and should never be assumed to be shared with the standard car they resemble. See prestige, performance and supercar parts.
• Current cars. Prestige supercars in parts terms: control modules, camera and radar units, adaptive lighting, composite body parts and painted panels in specific colour and trim codes, several of which need coding or calibration after fitting rather than simply bolting on. Current models also carry high-voltage hybrid systems — Ferrari describes the 296 GTB, for example, as pairing a new V6 engine “coupled with a plug-in (PHEV) electric motor” — which belongs in the job plan from the outset.

A workshop is normally dealing with one of these at a time, but the request needs to say which, because the search that follows is genuinely different in each case.

Identifying a Ferrari part correctly

Most failed orders on this marque are identification failures rather than availability failures. A registration starts the search — the DVLA's public vehicle information service confirms the basic record a registration holds — but on a low-volume car with heavy option content the identifiers underneath it do the real work.

• Chassis number on the older cars, VIN on the later ones. The classics predate the 17-character VIN, and the factory records for them are indexed by the stamped numbers rather than by anything a modern system will recognise.
• Build date, not registration date. Running changes landed mid-year throughout these ranges, and a car registered after a change can have been built before it.
• Option and package content. The most common cause of a wrong part on a modern Ferrari. A track-focused option package does not only add parts, it replaces them: Ferrari's own description of the 296 GTB's Assetto Fiorano set-up notes that “the structure of some components, including the door panel, has been totally redesigned to save more than 12 kg”. Two cars of the same model and year can therefore need different panels.
• Supersessions. A number taken from an old parts book, an old box or an old invoice may be several revisions behind the one currently supplied.
• Handedness. Manufacturers define left and right from the driver's seat, and diagrams and estimating systems are not always consistent. A photograph of the part in position settles it.
• What is actually on the car. Cars of this age and value are rebuilt, re-trimmed and sometimes re-engined. The correct part is the one that fits what is there now — a different question from what the factory built, and on this marque a question with a certification dimension attached to it.

Where the car has a Ferrari Classiche certificate, or an inspection in progress, send that too. It is a component-level record of what the factory has already accepted as original, and it is far more use to a parts search than a model name and a year.

Bodywork, composites and repair methods

Body requests on this marque split in two. On the classics the question is usually whether a section is repaired, fabricated or replaced, and availability differs sharply between those three — so we quote fabrication alongside supply where both are realistic. See genuine body panels and parts for restoration projects.

On the modern cars the question is material and method. Ferrari's own model descriptions refer to “high-load carbon-fibre aids” and to “the extensive use of lightweight materials on interiors and exteriors”, and lightweight construction changes what a bodyshop may and may not do to a damaged area. The permitted repair options, the materials and consumables specified, the components that must be replaced rather than reused, and the checks required afterwards all come from the manufacturer rather than from experience with steel cars.

We do not publish repair procedures and we do not infer them. Where a repair needs the manufacturer's documented method, we source the method for the vehicle and the repair area you describe — see manufacturer repair methods — and where a manufacturer does not publish information for a particular repair, we tell you that rather than substituting generic guidance. On most of these jobs the sensible order is to request the method and the parts in the same enquiry, so the estimate reflects the replace-only items and the calibration work before the car is stripped. Bodyshop support covers how that runs in practice.

Imports, left-hand drive and market specification

A large share of the Ferraris in UK workshops have spent part of their lives abroad, and a good many were built left-hand drive and imported later. The genuine part number is issued once by the manufacturer and used worldwide; what changes from market to market is stock and specification. Before we search we confirm which specification the car in front of you actually is.

Lighting is the one that decides whether a part is usable at all. DVSA's MOT inspection manual records that it is “acceptable for masks or converter kits to be fitted to right hand dip headlamps” to temporarily alter the lamp for use in the UK — see section 4: lamps, reflectors and electrical equipment. For a repair going back to a customer the correct left-dipping lamp is almost always the right answer, and that is what we source unless you tell us otherwise. The wider picture is on our international parts sourcing page, and the market-by-market stock position for continental marques on European and German car parts.

Historic cars, engine changes and substantial changes

On the oldest cars, sourcing runs into registration rules, and it is worth settling before an order rather than after. GOV.UK's guidance on historic vehicles states that a vehicle “built or first registered more than 40 years ago” does not need an MOT — but only where “no ‘substantial changes’ have been made to the vehicle”, and the example it gives of a substantial change is “replacing the chassis, body, axles or engine to change the way the vehicle works”. Vehicle tax is handled separately and by build date: a vehicle “built before 1 January 1986” can be taken out of vehicle tax, and the keeper has to apply for the exemption rather than it happening automatically.

That matters on this marque because engine and gearbox changes are part of the history of a good many surviving cars, and because the same change is relevant to the manufacturer's own originality assessment. We are not advising on a vehicle's registration status — that sits between the keeper and DVLA — but it changes what a workshop should be sourcing, and whether the search is for the unit that is in the car now or the one originally fitted. Tell us which, and we will search for that rather than quoting both and leaving the question open.

When the UK network has nothing

Three situations send a Ferrari parts request to us, and each points at a different search.

• National back order. The number is current, UK stock is gone and the date keeps moving. On a low-volume marque the UK allocation is small to begin with, and the same number is frequently sitting as stock in another market. See back-ordered parts.
• Withdrawn here, still catalogued elsewhere. Lines are retired market by market, and on a marque whose manufacturer keeps assembly diagrams back to 1947 a part can also be rebuilt to the original drawings rather than simply being gone — so a part written off some time ago is worth re-checking rather than assumed. See obsolete and discontinued parts.
• Never sold here in that form. Market-specific lighting, emissions and equipment parts for a privately imported car were never in the UK catalogue at all, and limited-run and special-series variants carry their own numbers. See hard-to-find parts.

Where a part comes from outside the UK it is an import, so duty and import VAT belong in the quotation rather than arriving afterwards. Rates depend on the commodity code and origin of the specific item and HMRC's Trade Tariff is the authority; we quote the landed figure for the actual source rather than an overseas shelf price.

How a Ferrari parts request works

1. Send the registration, VIN or chassis number, a description of the part and, where you have them, a part number, an estimate line or a photograph. Tell us whether the car is Classiche-certified or being prepared for certification.
2. We confirm which era and specification the car actually is, and the correct part number for it, including supersessions and option-dependent variants.
3. We check the UK network first, then overseas markets, then marque specialists, new-old stock and — if you have told us it is acceptable — good used genuine parts. Where a section is realistically a fabrication job, we say so.
4. You receive availability, the category of part, where it is coming from, the price and the lead time for that specific source.
5. On approval we order, handle the import where the part comes from outside the UK, and arrange delivery to your workshop.

Independent, and trade only

REMCAM Automotive Ltd is an independent parts-sourcing specialist and is not affiliated with, approved by or an authorised agent of any vehicle manufacturer. Manufacturer and model names are used to identify the vehicles we source parts for, and references to the manufacturer's own classic and certification programmes describe publicly published schemes — they are not a claim to be part of them. Being independent is the point of the service here: we are not limited to one franchise's parts system, so a search can run across the manufacturer's network, overseas markets, marque specialists and the new-old-stock trade in the same job.

We supply the trade only — garages, bodyshops, accident repair centres, restoration specialists, sports car specialists and fleet workshops. Private owners should ask the business carrying out the work to send the request, which also means the part is identified against the car in front of the technician. Send the details through Request a Part.

Common Ferrari parts requests

The requests that reach us for this marque repeat often enough to be worth listing. Recognising which pattern a job falls into usually decides where the search starts.

• Cooling, fuel and ancillary components on the mid-engined V8s. The bread and butter of independent specialist work on this marque, and frequently superseded — a number from an older parts book can be two or three revisions behind what is actually supplied now.
• Lamps, glazing and painted panels for accident repair. Ordinary bodyshop sourcing, except that the equipment level behind the bumper and the exact colour and finish on the panel both have to come from the VIN rather than the model name.
• Interior trim in a specific colour and material. Seat parts, door cards and mouldings in combinations the model name does not resolve, and on this marque frequently a personalisation option rather than a catalogue finish. Send the codes and a photograph of the material.
• Brightwork, badges, instruments and small fittings for a classic. Rarely a catalogue search. Normally marque specialists, genuine new-old stock or good used genuine parts, and often the longest-lead item on a restoration.
• Components specific to a limited or special series. Parts that look shared with the standard car and are not. These need the chassis number and, where one exists, the certification paperwork, before anything is ordered.
• Control modules, camera and radar units on the current cars. Where the correct unit depends on the car's build and equipment level, and where several items need coding or calibration after fitting. That belongs in the job plan rather than arriving as a surprise at the end.

What slows a Ferrari parts search down

When one of these orders goes wrong, the cause is usually on a short list — and every item on it is avoidable at the request stage.

• A model name instead of a chassis number or VIN. On a marque with this much option content, the model name narrows a search to a family of numbers rather than to one.
• Not saying whether the car is certified. Whether a car holds a Ferrari Classiche certificate, or is being prepared for one, changes which categories of part are worth quoting at all. It is the first thing we ask and the thing most often left out.
• Assuming an option package only adds equipment. Track and lightweight packages replace structural and trim components rather than supplementing them, so two cars of the same model year can need different parts.
• Assuming the car is as the factory built it. Cars of this age and value get rebuilt, re-trimmed and occasionally re-engined. The correct part is the one that fits what is on the car now, which a photograph answers and a number does not.
• Not saying whether the car is an import. Lighting, emissions and equipment parts diverge by market, and a home-market number ordered for a UK repair can arrive correct and still be unusable.
• Taking an old “no longer available” answer as final. On a marque whose manufacturer holds assembly diagrams for every car it has built since 1947, a line written off a year ago is worth asking about properly rather than assumed gone.

None of this needs solving before you contact us. Send what you have, and if something is missing we will tell you which detail we need and why it changes the answer.