This is a great forum with lots of helpful information. I have learned the basics of what to look for in used F430 such as yearly maintenance, low #of previous owners, clutch wear %, cracked or replaced headers, lack of previous accidents, etc. A couple of other questions come to mind as I look at cars. 1- How does one arrive at a purchase price? I tried KBB and the answer was "too little data" or something like that. Is there a rough 10% off Dealer asking or another ballpark measure? 2- How do people feel about the brake options? The ceramics are expensive to replace but will last a long time. Im not going to track the car(have dedicated car for that) and at 7-8/10th's driving on the street I'm sure the steel clampers work superbly. If I do find a car with ceramics, at how many mm of wear do the pads need replacing?
1. Depends how motivated the seller is. Everything being equal, at this time of the year, sellers will he quite motivated, 10% maybe reasonable. Late April not so much. 2. Driving these cars at 7 or 8 10ths on the street is not advisable.
The cars are very sensitive to options, colors and mileage. Makes pricing them very difficult as they are all unique. Decide what colors you want, what options are must have. I built a spreadsheet and searched cars and autotrader to build a database but at the end of the day you pay what your comfortable with.
Thanks you gentlemen for the feedback, much appreciated. Im looking at this car as I love the color combo. The good is: one owner car, the headers and spark plugs were recently replaced with the maintenance, front pads at 11mm, rears at 9mm. The clutch has 50% wear. The bad is it appears he waited almost 2 years and 9-10k between maintenance service. Is this a deal breaker? Pre-Owned 2008 Ferrari F430 in Anaheim Hills CA | Serving
Not a deal breaker for me, rare to find a car with "perfect" service history and intervals. Nice color, nice options (Daytonas, shields, carbon, CCB), higher mileage than many prefer but the price reflects that. Confirm all campaigns up to date and get a PPI. Make an offer although there's probably not a lot of room in that price.
and don't be afraid of calling the local Ferrari dealer with the VIN, I've always found them to be very helpful (within the rules of what they can share).
So long as the servicing has been carried out by a "proper" service agent, 2 years/ 9,000 miles wouldn't worry me at all. Looks a nice car (same colour combo as mine!)
Definitely looks lovely. PPI and CARFAX both mandatory. The lower asking price for what is a well-equipped and later model car reflects the "high" mileage, but at least the car was driven. I wouldn't obsess about the service interval, since 9000 miles between services would be unheard of in a 911 or just about any other car. If you're a thousand mile/year guy, you might want to think of a lower mile car. If you're planning on actually driving the car, who cares. They'll last forever if driven. Good luck!
In SoCal I'd be surprised if if went for much less than $130k, it was 70 degrees in San Fran today, nicer down there
Same as mine, can't see if it's Rosso Corsa or Scuderia from the pics, min is scuderia, my inserts a re slightly different colour too, looks nice, here is Australia they are 70% more expensive .. Maybe don't get too hung up on the clutch wear its seldom as indicated.
Thanks again for all he input, Carfax is clean-there is a link on the dealer's website which also shows service history. He is going to email me all service history- car had all service done at Newport Beach Ferrari. He suggested it could go back to NB for PPI, or he suggested a local guy. I am inclined to find my own "local guy" for PPI or get it back to the dealer. Will keep you posted.
Test drove my first F430 yesterday and I still have a smile on my face! The car is so raw compared to most P cars, and with the V8 screaming behind you, I could car less about the crappy sound system. (the sales guy apologized for the poor sound quality-I just laughed and told him the music was already playing) Im looking at a few Red/Biege cars as I like that combination. However I really prefer the black carpet in these cars. Has anyone changed out the interior carpet, are kits available, cost?
I think that is a fair starting offer for a red/tan 430 with those options. It's a 2008 as well! Anything you can get off the asking price would be a bonus!
You never know .. I would always start our low plus the car isn't in a great shape .. 25k miles .. soon it will be 30k .. that's a big number when it comes to re-sale .. Fair price - $115-120k .. Start out at $110k
With respect admitting a fair price is $115-120k is different than "I wouldn't pay more than $110k for it" Cali is a non-seasonal market, I doubt it will go for less than $120k, particularly if the dealer is willing to wait a bit.
25k or 30k is low miles for cars approaching 10 years old. It's only 2-3k miles per year and the cars in better shape when they have some honest miles on them. It's the rediculous thinking of what's high miles that is so convoluted in the Ferrari enthusiast community shared majority mindset. That's got to change it's unhealthy for the cars, the buyers, and those folks that meticulously care for their cars but enjoy driving them, because that's a big part of the pleasure of ownership.
Many 430 choices out there with different Color combo ; I would never think about changing the carpet ..... just be patience and searching for the color 100% fit your personal taste - good luck in searching.
Thanks again guys for all the input and advise! Regarding the 25k car, I called the service department that took car of the car and had a very honest discussion about the car. He said it was well cared for but offered a warning about the F430 F1 with this many miles. He said the clutch will go @ 80% wear(this one has 52% wear) and you could expect to have tranny problems between 25-50K and to budget for that. From his experience, actuators will go and there is always the chance it may need a whole tranny(I thought he said $30k). I have looked on this forum and researched actuator rebuild and replacement. Can you comment on the cost of such repairs and has anyone had to replace the whole tranny?
