Why so many low mileage Ferraris out there?

Well you're clearly either just trying to pick an internet (i.e. anonymous) fight with this, or you have some axe to grind.

The OP's post has been hashed over many times - lots of reasons why Ferraris (or Bugattis, or Rolls, or.....) get used less by SOME people.

I would hold your water on mass generalizations - your suppositions are unfair, and it's wildly inaccurate.

To Rifledriver's point, in our case I agree - though we do use the FF a lot and leave the Suburban in the driveway unless we're hauling dogs or dirt...

 

Great answer! Thank you.

 

Ferrari owners are not an easily defined group. There are the super rich, and the dirt poor, the enthusiasts, and the sunday drivers.

So the reasons for low use will also be highly variable.

From the perspective of one of the older ones (328):
A) Nope. Very comfortable car to drive. Far more comfortable than the ricer.

B) Some of that. Car enthusiasts often have multiple rides, for different uses.

C,D,E,F) There are a few rare examples of this, but it's not a major factor.
G) Those content to sit in the back don't buy "drivers" cars.

H) Depending on location, can be a factor -- mostly seasonal. More of a reason they don't get driven in winter on salted roads.
(That, and the cost of a spare set of rims for snow tires. )

I) You wouldn't think so. But the years I drove my 328 as a summer DD, I did notice that I began to be surprised when someone made a big deal out of "Ferrari". It was just "my car". Also, when I drove it daily, most of the people along my commute got used to it.

As for "Workaholic culture, Low speed limits, traffic congestion, bad roads and highly highly aggressive police in the United States keeps Ferrari's off the roads."
Workaholic would only be a factor if you work at home.
Depending on city, aggressive police tend to go after ricers more than Ferraris.
(The ricer is typically a dumb kid. The Ferrari owner might show up to traffic court with "Dewey Cheatham and Howe". )

But low speed limits, congestion, and bad roads might account for low use for commuting.

I used to drive the 328 to work fairly often in MA metro west.
But in DC metro, the combination of cell phone zombies, potholes, gridlock, and slow travel makes me feel like I'm abusing the car in the city. Besides: where 75% of my commute time is spent idling at traffic lights, the smaller turbo machine doesn't burn as much at lights.

 

Yea well guess what. When you get pulled over and act like an ******* expect to get treated like one.

I suspect you know all about that.


I guess in your mud hut 3rd world country the police are all choir boys?

 

(I guess in your 3rd world country the police are all choir boys) no, they just take more bribes.

 

NO SOUP FOR YOU!!!!! STEP ASIDE!!!!!

 

I have owned my F355 for 15 years (in a row!) and never had a ticket.
That is because I don't drive it like someone the police are looking for, I drive it like an adult (at least until I find a nice secluded place with negligible constabulary oversight; then all bets are off.)

 

My first Fcar 430 spider was 7 years old with 5040 miles when I purchased her. On my 458 spider I've done 3700 miles in six months and can't wait to drive her on Thursday. No tickets so far but , most of the local police officers are my customers.

 

I do the exact same Currently at 9800 miles with my Speciale since Spring. My old 458 Italia had covered 45.000 miles in the 3 years I've had it.

As you say, these cars are ment to be driven and I can honestly say, it's not
Impossible to drive them as DD, even during winter with minus degrees and in snow, rain etc.

I would be unhappy, if I brought such an expensive car and only drove it summer Sunday's.

But I also agree, you see a lot of Ferraris for sale with low milage, also here in Scandinavia.

 

I agree. I once took the 430 to pick up a pizza, and one employee asked me why I was there in a Ferrari.....? I love driving it.

 

I think there are a ton of low miles non-Ferrari exotics out there as well.

Guys who own multiple cars, including an exotic, can only put so many miles on them, and frankly, driving a Ferrari to the Home Depot on a Tuesday night (which I have done on multiple occasions) is still more complicated than driving a Ford Explorer to the same place. (I have done that as well.)

If, however, you assume regular weekend use for the exotic in the garage, and that an average driver drives 12,000 miles a year, then 2/7 of 12,000 is . . . 3,500 miles a year. Most drivers put more miles on their cars commuting to work than having fun, so that 3,500 may be a little high. Now, in much of the country you'd want to subtract 25% of the weekends (winter and or other bad weather) and get 2,600+- miles a year. I'd suggest that's probably a little less than the average user here puts on his Ferrari annually.

I remember shopping for a 911 a number of years ago. The dealer told me they expected their buyers to use the cars for less than 5,000 miles a year. That anything over that made it a high miles car. Is there much difference with a Ferrari? Other than the threshold seems to be about 3K miles per year, not really.

As to the "police state, high traffic, bad roads that is the USA" theory causing the low miles, I can't imagine a bigger pile of bull****.

However, I don't want to go all P&R here, so let's just stick to my statistical analysis.

D

 

+1
That pretty much sums it up for me as well
I have my hands full living my own life, I don't care what the other guy does
Order what you want, in whatever color you want, and drive it whenever you want.........as long as it makes you happy

 

A nice piece of work BTW! Well done Sir.

 

Sorry that is total nonsense. I drive all my cars on a regular basis and have yet to experience police "harassment". I assume your not from America otherwise you wouldn't comment on America. Wherever you are from enjoy your car and lay off this country. A lot of us here enjoy the privilege of living here.

 

I drive my car when the sun is out and the streets are dry. Only been followed by one policeman. He followed me to a car repair shop, he just wanted to see it up close. I enjoyed talking with him. I have never been harassed by the police.

 

I have driven one nearly 60,000 miles in 18 years and I have only been pulled over once - and I didn't even get a ticket.

What the hell are you talking about??

 

I think he's smoking something.

 

I bought a California as a daily driver.

I still find I take my SUV or the Audi more often than not. They are simply more comfortable and easier to deal with. I maybe drive the Cali three days per week and because i am an extremely busy person, thats only maybe ~75-100 miles per week which ends up being 4500 miles per year. Thats pretty low.

Now, imagine I have 3 exotics that I spread out those 4500 miles to. Suddenly each car only gets 1500 miles per year.

See how easy it is to figure out why they have low miles ?

Its not rocket science, its some simple deduction and logic.

 

Yea, you kind of qualify in the low mileage camp.....

That's an average of 70 miles a week....

North American exotics tend to have lower mileage than other regions especially continental europe.

The reasons I outlined for the OP are valid.

1) Workaholic culture means no time to enjoy car.
2) Poor road infrastructure, especially in North East, California and Midwest.
3) Low speed limits and aggressive traffic police.

 

When the water is warm, I live in a condo on the beach in Florida. There's only open garage, so I would never bring my car here. I will only drive it when the weather is good and will only take it certain places that are safe to park (or as safe as you can be). So with only half a year and winter driving in Dallas, which does get quite a bit of ice and rain in the winter, it's simply not driven very often. We have a Range Rover as a daily driver that takes on the bad weather nicely. No use risking a Ferrari to get groceries.

My husband and I also both work from home, so no commuting.

 

Where I live the roads are great. Flat, multiple lane highways with 70 MPH speed limits and low police presence. I would guess that 1/3 of the population here has TONS of leisure time being a state with a higher percentage of retirees than average. But I still don't see a ton of Ferraris out there. I do see a ****-ton of Corvettes however, which seems to be the semi-exotic of choice in SW Florida.

But even when I lived in the northeast, none of these "limitations" reduced my exotic driving time, or the driving time of my buddies, all of whom worked hard, earned a great living and had a least one exotic to drive for fun. I can recall several occasions meeting one of my friends for lunch, and we'd often both be driving something Ferrari-ish.

Your premise is false, your reasoning a fool's game. The reason they don't get a ton of miles is that here in the USA, they're not used as daily drivers. Taking a $200K (or more) car to work, especially if you are a boss, is extremely bad form. Even worse, showing up at a sales call in a Ferrari is a formula for disaster.

These are not commuter cars, and they are not sedans chock full of sales guys or customers. They are weekend and evening FUN cars.

Your argument is just poppycock. And now I'm done feeding this particular troll.

D

 

This factor establishes the "windows" in which any special interest or collector is driven. As others have also pointed out, the seasons and the weather further narrows the windows.

And then comes the relentless march of father time that may plant seeds of reliability doubt in the back of owners minds that can result in shorter drives and further narrow the windows. In an older car, there may be fear in an owner's mind of stressing some old age part to failure causing damage and the inconvenience and embarrassment of being stranded on the road, even if one has towing insurance. The five-year time limit on belts and ten-year limit on tires can roll around a lot faster than we like. At some point after the "newness" factor has worn off, owners probably get conservative with their cars and drive them closer to home.

 

Answer:

Because people like saying they have one over driving them.

 

why would you want to introduce logic & reason into the mix?

 

One possible answer is there really aren't that many low miles Ferraris out there. It simply appears so.