Has F. become too much about investing and not enough about the pleasure of driving??

When reading many posts on this great forum, I notice that many people talk about value, about future value, about making a good investment.

I understand the rationale but is it what Ferrari has become, a brand that is more important to investors and buyers who drive little (so it keeps a better value) instead of a brand that is more important to buyers who are real drivers??

Personally, I do not care much if the car value decreases, it's a car (I am happy of course if it retains more value than other vehicles). I am a driver, I buy gorgeous supercars to enjoy them, to drive them, to put miles on them (I drive up to 15,000 miles a year), to look at them in many different situations.

What is your opinion, has Ferrari become too much about investing and not enough about the pleasure of driving (and yes with decreasing value over time)??

 

Excepting for the special editions (288, F40, F50 Enzo) modern Ferraris go down in value, and are not investments.

 

We have a very wise and successful investor who posts here......

He constantly cautions they are 'poor investments" and urges using them when ever possible...

Only the "top 2%" of Ferraris (the vintage race models, and some street cars) are appreciating at this time.

The rest of them are used cars with a yellow horn button.......

 

Bubba is exactly right!

 

Just standing in for Napolis, who is busy right now pounding around the high banks of Daytona in his P3/4.........
View attachment Picture 220.jpg

 

I forgot to add: part of my original post is also about the fact that many people buy a Ferrari for a few years (I am around them), driving little (but being able to say they have a Ferrari) and resell them at about the same price or not much less compared to their purchase price.

This distorts the market (prices) for real buyers/real drivers who want to enjoy their cars, even if they depreciate the first years. I am a driver putting miles on my car. Currently looking at a Ferrari California (so sexy).

 

I don't think you can get a real feel for true ownership based on what you read on F-chat. There's a large number of owners who don't bat an eye at cost nor care about depreciation and who don't bother whining about it here. They may or may not actually drive their cars. F continue to sell new cars in a world recession so there's plenty of buyers who just want a Ferrari. Buyer's who focus on the "investment" aspect of ownership have had to make compromises to buy one and are afraid of the inevitable loss they're going to take.

 

Part of it is just that many Ferrari owners also own several other cars. Usually a Porsche and Mercedes at the least. Pretty much anytime you take the family out or guests, you have to take the Mercedes, and often times the Porsche is simply more practical and easier to park/deal with. There are plenty of 458 owners who still own a Scud. Consider 4 cars per household, and all of a sudden 1k miles/year on a Ferrari is the equivalent of 8k miles/year distributed throughout all the cars.

I don't think people are not driving them on purpose, but the other cars need love too

 

Great Point.

I've had numerous sports cars, etc. The thing is, when you get to the point of "Ferrari" ownership... you usually have a place to park the Ferrari, and 2-3 other cars to drive when the weather takes a turn or you have more then 1 passenger to take along.

Last year I think I drove over 23k miles.... only 2500 of those were in the Ferrari.
It wasn't because I didnt want to drive it.. but because other cars were better suited to the task at hand.

That being said... the 2500 Ferrari miles were the greatest you could ask for

 

Last weekend, I was looking at late model Porsches and Ferraris on ebay.

Almost without exception, the Porsches had odo readings indicating that they had been driven a lot, probably as daily drivers as well as recreationally.

The Ferraris stood in large contrast...plenty of post-2000 cars with comparatively very little mileage. A post-2000 Ferrari with 30,000 miles is a high mileage car; cars with 15K or less miles seem to be much more common.

Perhaps late-model Ferrari owners at least subconciously consider their cars to be potential investments and rarely take them out for more than recreational drives. I don't think problems getting insurance factor in, at least for owners with good driving records. Our State Farm agency would write me full use driver coverage today were I to buy a 550 or 575...I've asked them in the past and my driving record hasn't taken a turn for the worse since.

The 3X8/Mondial section of Fchat shows the drive the hell out of it and mileage be damned attitude much more conspicuously than the later-model sections as well as the Vintage and Boxer sections, but the keep the mileage low attitude is also visible among 3X8 owners. Asking prices for the 3x8 models have started to inch up again after bottoming out in '09 and '10, and like the preceding V12 2+2 models, there are many more trashed multiple-owner cars out there than really good ones. My own 308 is definitely on the nicer end, and I find myself keeping a close tab on the mileage in expectation of moving up to a late-model Ferrari in the not too distant future.

 

like tex said, only 2% of the ferrari stable is investment grade. the trick to ferrari ownership without losing too much money is to buy low on the curve, own more than one, and have good insurance.

in the meantime, drive them as much as possible coz who the hell are you saving it for?

 

I think a reason for this lies in the fact that the average f-car buyer is able to be an f-car buyer because he has the money to buy one. Monetary wealth has a lot to with income, but is due in large part to good money management and personal spending habits. Folks who don't care about throwing money down the toilet tend not to have money to spend on a Ferrari, be it a 308 or an Enzo. Thus, these folks are going to be at least a little worried about depreciation, as they are simply wise with their pecuniary habits.

Of course there are some wealthy folks who don't have to concern themselves with petty thoughts such as depreciation or the idea of expense. But those, like the "investment-grade" ferraris, are few and far between.

 

Not lately

 

Sunshine: I think you're reading too many posts started in 2006.

 

+1

 

I think a lot of the lack of use has to do with the toy factor. The vast majority of owners have an other daily driver. For me it is a toy but one I like to use often. In 2010 my new toy the Mondial took the place of my old toy in usage, a BMW motorcycle. In 2009 I put 16K miles on my motorcycle, in 2010 less than 700 miles, but I was able to put close to 6K on the Mondial, I only got to 6K because I was working on it a lot, and working a lot. It's also an aspirational toy. A number of folks here, as with myself, manage to pull off Ferrari ownership but with some financial pain or reaching and are hoping it doesn't kill them. For me instead of pain I found a great drug and it turns out money is no object, even if it should be. I'm planning on over 10K miles this year on the Mondi. I may not be able to afford or justify a Ferrari forever and if that is the case I want to know what living the dream is about, not just seeing it in the driveway. I'm going to squeeze as much out of this relationship as I can while I have it.

 

I would attribute that to the fact that late model Porsches were probably the cars that Ferrari owners drove while their late model Ferraris were in for service