Rebuilt 458 spider opinion

Is this a Ferrari dealer selling the rebuilt? Call other Ferrari dealers and ask about a ball park figure how much would they buy "your" rebuild Spider for. That should give you an idea.
Others can pour more thoughts to it.

 

i would run as fast as you can.. better off buying one with more miles than rebuilt..

 

This question is asked all the time and the same responses as "i would run as fast as you can.." is a matter of opinion.

What a vehicle can never be fixed up to Ferrari standards? It absolutly can and a better paint job!

It depends on if your gonna keep it forever or drive the piss out of it. Then it won't matter.

As long as there are "no stories" and you have documentation.

I would guess for me I would be comfortable paying 55-65% of what a comparable non salvaged one would be. This is a lot I know but that is what I'd be comfortable at.

 

I'd only buy a rebuilt car if I thought I'd never sell it.

 

also make sure your insurance company will cover you..

 

Also look at Wayne Carini or Legendary Motorcars rebuilding old Ferrari's and end up selling for millions?

I understand 458's are not rare but they can be rebuilt.

 

Hi Tony

My view is this....

Everything is worth buying if priced correctly...

If the car drives nice and you intend to put miles on it and keep it for a few years, this could be a really good economical way to 458 ownership..

Price wise ....there is no hard and fast rule here, but if you can get it for somewhere around 30-50% reduction on market value, then you will have bagged yourself a bargain, especially of the plan is say to keep it 5years plus and put say 10k miles on per year.

When you go to sell it you will not only have had a significant amount of pleasure, a well looked after by you and maintained by you motor, you will have one of the cheapest ones for sale at that point in time and it will sell easily as it will be priced accordingly and will be attractive to those that can't or don't want to get in to the next level up of 458.

Hope that helps...

Regards

Michael

 

Way too many variables and unless you're really keen on buying salvaged cars the chance of you coming out a winner are extremely low.

Things to know:
Demand a complete estimate from the initial repair detailing all the damage The body shop will have that do will the insurance company), get a complete list of all parts replaced, carefully and thoroughly check out the reputation of the shop that did the repairs... DON'T just trust because a dealer sends their cars there that this means anything at all. Verify the salvage was due to an accident NOT flood damage (fresh or salt water doesn't matter).
Realize that this is a VERY small market to sell salvaged cars so they're not nearly as easy to sell as their counterpart regardless of pricing, on that also know that many banks will not offer loans to salvaged cars simply because of the extreme challenge of selling them. Without knowing everything your simply rolling the dice and hoping it'll work out.

If I could verify it was minor damage (purely cosmetic with zero damage to the frame, engine, trans) only a couple damaged body panels and paint work AND with colors and options I'm happy with for the long term I'd start with an offer no more than 60% of current market for a non-salvaged car, a 20-30% discount I'd never consider. You'll be stuck with this car for a long time, make damn sure its exactly whay you want... you could get a better car and in the end only lose a small amount of money over time with the ability to flip it in a relatively short time should you want to so factor that in

 

40% off of market value at least to make it worth it, esp on a depreciating asset.

 

Get a oem/real PPI at the nearest F dealer and ask them for advise

 

I agree with the above but would add the following cautions.

I can't see an insurance company totaling a car for minor cosmetic damage. Someone probably suggested to the agent that there could be frame damage. Insurance companies are liable to make the car right even after the initial repairs are done. In other words, if an insured can prove that any future anomalies are attributable to the original claim the insurance company is still required to fix it (at least in the US). Even if it's only a possibility, frame damage will scare most companies to simply total the car instead of having any future liability hanging over their heads.

Frame repair is a crapshoot. There are some shops with new laser tracker measurement systems that can map all the critical locations down to the thousands of an inch. However, even after repairs and restoration of the critical alignment points to spec, frames have a tendency to return to the position of least stress over time. Driving the car is a kind of "stress relieving" process. Therefore, the fact that the car is "straight" coming out of the shop doesn't necessarily mean it'll stay that way. Does that mean all repaired frames are time bombs? No, but if I were buying one I'd make sure the car's put on some miles first and have a competent shop with the right equipment check it.

There are other less obvious signs that something may not be right. Abnormal tire wear (again after some miles), corner weights way off, strange handling, crabbing, shocks with different preloads, non-factory undercoat/paint, suspension hardware with the torque stripe missing or disturbed, frame/suspension parts with chain/hook marks, etc.

Bottom line, you can score a good price (not necessary a good deal, there's a difference) if you know what to look for. But you better be on your game!

 

Nothing smells worse than a "storied" Fcar. Run Forest Run.

 

Here's the problem. Any Ferrari can be rebuilt to near perfect condition. It happens all the time with cars worth millions. A 458 is no different. On the other hand, it isn't worth millions and therefor you can't put as much money into rebuilding a 458 as you can an F40 since it will never be worth that much and most likely will even be worth far less even if you rebuild it as good as new. A clean title 458 will always be worth significantly more than a rebuilt one, even if Ferrari themselves rebuilt it ground up at the factory.

So if you limit the max value you could sell it for by a significant margin, then you limit the max amount of money you could put into fixing it. This means corners probably had to be cut.

Keep in mind insurance companies don't total a car and pay out $200-300K for some minor damage. That car would have to have experienced very, very significant damage to end up totaled and now rebuilt.

At the end of the day, there definitely exists a price at which it's a great value. Whether that's $60K or $160K is the real question and it's very, very difficult to know unless you're an expert in this. You definitely run the risk of having some stuff damaged and not fixed either, perhaps intentionally or unintentionally. Maybe the guy who rebuilt it thinks the engine is fine and it appear so, but maybe the force in impact really decreased the life of something internally or less obvious and it's going to break in 5K miles.

I'd only buy if the price was less than the sum of its parts.

 

I would not personally own or consider a rebuilt exotic, but 40-50% devaluation is standard.

 

Or buy a 430 spider no story car.

 

Have you driven both cars?

My 458 spider has no squeaks or rattles after 28k miles.

 

You'd need to keep the car very long term (think 6-10 years) for the reduction in value to be negated in this case.

You need to shoot 40% off sticker or 30% off current retail market used. Whichever is lower.

 

IMO big difference in buying a restored rebuilt collectible car vs. non collectible repaired car. I as some have said if you plan to keep it forever and DD drive it that's one thing but if you plan to sell in a few years not so much. I don't think you will get enough of a discount to be worth while. A few years ago I looked at 2007 612, 1,500 miles with a salvage title. I offered 50% of a similar no story car price and got no interest so I moved on. But I did find out they can usually be insured but in CA there are a bunch of hurdles to register an out of state car with salvage title, so unless the discount was significant way not worth the effort even if the car is in perfect condition.

 

There's a whole lot more to salvaged cars than meets the eye - will your bank lend on it? Will your insurance company insure it? Though the exterior might look nice it clearly took a solid hit so what is the actual condition of all the electronics over time (unknown), is there frame damage and/or will initial impact creep back into the frame not maintaining straightness? Were any/all damaged components replaced with factory bits or were they either straightened or replaced with aftermarket ones (receipts or only part of that story), how reputable was that shop that did the work - without clear/concise insurance company estimates and a thorough breakdown of the estimate then complete bill showing everything done you have no idea. Lastly that "salvage" notation on a title makes the car almost impossible to move so trying to offload it will be a nightmare. All of that needs to be figured into any consideration. If you're not VERY educated and experienced in buying salvaged cars you're likely to get a rude awakening. I'd MUCH rather find the car just after it was hit and contract all the work myself versus buying something that someone else may well have reassembled and "put lipstick on a pig" just to make it look good enough for the unknowing to buy with high hopes.