McLaren Depreciation 12-C: a nightmare- werewolf?

Wait what? The dealer let you take the mclaren home over night? An unsold car?

 

I get great service at the Ferrari dealer but I have bought 4 Ferraris from them and they know me. The best service is from the Porsche dealer I do business with. When I buy a car they bring it and the paper work to my office. I write them a check and they leave my new car.

 

It was a Demo that they had. Funny enough my wife liked the 12C more than any car I had ever bought.

 

Jim same for me at Porsche. I have bought 3 Ferraris from the same dealer, unfortunately the only person I have ever dealt with was the Manager (Great Guy), but the regular Sales Guys, forget it. They treat the customer as if somehow they are better than us.

 

"I get great service at the Ferrari dealer but I have bought 4 Ferraris from them and they know me. The best service is from the Porsche dealer I do business with. When I buy a car they bring it and the paper work to my office. I write them a check and they leave my new car."

sounds like others are doing this as well. Our daughter and son-in-law bought a slightly used Range Rover Sport from an Infiniti dealer. The lad brought the car to their home for the test drive and drove out again to deliver and do paperwork and payment. They were quite pleased.

 

I get great service and treatment from my Ferrari dealer, Algar. Others have told me the same. They're top notch. I've also received decent treatment from Central NJ and Wide World. Even when just looking, no one ever brushed me off or treated me with disrespect. I'm not doubting what's been said here, I'm sure experiences differ. Unfortunately, I could certainly believe that dealers in big money areas may not give the same level of consideration unless they're dealing with a celebrity or an ultra-wealthy, repeat customer.

IME, the salesmen that are not car guys can often be dicks. The deal/money is all that matters. They don't care if they're selling cars or crackers, as long as they're making the sale. They size you up first. If you're probably not buying or they don't need your sale, you're wasting their time. Enthusiast car salesmen are almost always gentleman and willing to talk about the cars they sell to anyone who walks through the door.

Regarding McLaren dealers' customer service...quite frankly, McLaren is building it's business, they're going to do whatever they can to sell the customer and build the company. That includes the super-courteous treatment when you visit the showroom. IMO, if the roles were reversed and McLaren was the company with sales a year or two out and selling every car they made, I doubt the salesmen would be so accommodating...human nature, I'm afraid. That said, there's no excuse for any dealer's sales or service people treating anyone poorly.

 

Excellent Post Rob, you are spot on. Unfortunately, I guess for me is that two out of three of my local dealers have had the Who Are You, Holier than thou attitude. Once again, the Manager who knows me and I have bought several cars from is a Gentleman and I have never heard or seen him treat anyone with disrespect.

 

Thanks.

Sorry to hear about your dealer situation. That must be very irritating.

 

Car and Driver Comparo

12C wins. 458 is "most fun to drive" which is what matters most to me.

http://media.caranddriver.com/files/2011-ferrari-458-italia-vs-2011-mclaren-mp4-12c-2011-porsche-911-gt2-rs-comparison-test-car-and-driver2011-ferrari-458-italia-vs-2012-mclaren-mp4-12c-2011-porsche-911-gt2-rs.pdf

Interesting to note that $30k lower price for the 12C translated into 3 more points...otherwise the 458 would have won.

 

Pre-Tax 458's in Europe are between 130-190k USD. Sorry new Ferrari's holding resale is a pipe dream. Only guys who get in early won't lose, as they flip 6-12months later and buy another one to quick flip too etc. Some guys have had 4-5 458's without losing anything, others are just made to be bagholders like any other flip.

 

130k USD? Must be a really heavily used 458. Also that is a pretty wide range you have given, but the top end of the range is not quite right really is it, even if the bottom end is, although not seen that bottom end in the UK. Which I actually appreciate seeing rather than those selling at MSRP or just below and used 500 miles. Cars are always a depreciating asset, but the author I think is trying to compare it to the 12Cs depreciation curve.

Those guys that have had 4-5 458s, surely could not have used them, simply because they have not lost money, how is that possible on a car that they have actually used?

Sunny

 

Yeah, this is definitely true. The more expensive, the higher the depreciation in dollars. It's pretty easy to lose $80K on a $400K car. Less so on a $200K car.

High-end car prices are just reaching crazy levels now, and it's not just exotics. Even 911s are getting really expensive. I really can't find that good of a reason to buy new these days.

 

The reason to buy new is so that you know that you are the one owner and know how it has been driven and maintained. Far better than shelling out for unknown expenses with maintenance in my opinion. Anyway, I plan on keeping these cars for a long amount of time, so depreciation has less of an overall effect, do not think it is a sensible option to buy new if buying for less than 3-4 years. I intend on keeping my 458 for life.

Sunny

 

Seriously. A normal 911 will easily set you back $130k with the must have options (If you want to resell it..). And considering how many are built, that same car will be worth $40k in 6 years.

 

Black 2010 with 12-17k miles pre tax are at the low end. Germany alone, which is suppose to be the "healthy" market has over 250 cars available. The US has held up due to massive credit inflation by the government propping up asset values of 1% of the population. Ultra high end like Hampton homes, super cars etc have held up well in America.

 

Dream on....

So, Ferrari's are held up by some kind of market/credit manipulation but McLaren's aren't.

Makes perfect sense (not).

Here is why McLaren's haven't held up in value. It's called Supply vs Demand. Mac pushed a lot of cars on dealers who had no choice but to discount them to move them. Why buy used when you get get a shiney new one for well under MSRP? Woking thought that when more of them got out there, they will catch on. And, they needed to keep workers working in their shiney factory with there perfect white floors (and keep things happy in their board room).

That was a pretty much disastrous strategy as anyone in the auto world can tell you. It damaged the brand and made a lot of early adopters angry and disappointed. Now, they are coming out with a 911 fighter at a lower cost but will probably undercut the 12c's relevance even more.

It's not Ferrari that's causing McLaren's problems. It's not the economy either. It's McLaren that's McLaren's problem. Hopefully they will take a better long term view in the future if they want to stick around.

 

fair enough. not seen that kind of low price here in the UK. the lowest price here that I have seen is a 35,000 miles ex rental 458 3 years old and pretty basic spec at £134k, not selling, but would sell at £115-120 I should imagine. Surprised to hear such a low price in Germany. I imagine it is a poorly specced out car.

Thanks for info. Just glad that depreciation is not something that I worry about when buying a car...the point I worry about it, thats the time I do not buy it.

Sunny

 

+1

Yes and this is sad for all those who hope to see more competition.

All Ferrari has to do is sit on their hands and let McLaren commit suicide with every new model.

 

Mayor,

You seem so much more negative these days but I still enjoy reading your digitized thoughts. There is very little chance that the Ferrari brand will experience an epiphany and decide to discount its cost matrix by 25% to capture new customers, steal those from McLaren or, for that matter, make sure that they keep the ones they have had for years. They certainly seemed to have discovered that market manipulation teamed with a history of experience is practically unbeatable and as long as we use money, and not pigs, to buy things Ferrari will always exist and its market base will rarely, if ever, erode.

Btw....your homeless-at-my-windshield story still makes me cringe at an intersection.

 

Yes. They insisted on doing this car- going against the the strongest brand in their strongest category right out of the gates. Recipe for failure if you ask me. They could have instead done a low volume super car that would have allowed them to slowly enter the market. Oh well.....

 

I still think the biggest factor in Mclaren's struggles is a lack of dealers. There's a large market of potential buyers unwilling to buy such an expensive car, from a new company, without a nearby dealer for support. It's a big risk. I live 300 miles from my nearest dealer and have been fortunate not to need him. They have taken very good care of me, but they're still 300 miles away.
There's no way the smaller Mac will succeed without a larger dealer network.

 

Drifting is fun and all, but it's slow and not much of an indication of handling to me. It just looks cool for videos. Sort of like figure skating vs speed skating. IMO the Ferrari appears to handle better due to a much higher steering ratio. If handling is objectively measured by lap times and speeds in given corners I am not sure either car is better.

 

It's why I don't have any interest. All cars break.

 

Good deal on a Mac. Great car and fast, I think it's good for people to get into an exotic car with carbon tub and strong performance. I look at it as a good thing. Also the competition is good for Ferrari. I think Mclaren will be okay I. The long term.