Jay Leno on Ferrari maintenance

This is what he says. Is he right?

"On the other hand, buying a modern Ferrari as a collector car is not a good idea. If you buy a '50s to '70s Ferrari, you could do the work yourself. But from the mid-1990s on, no one can do the work on it except Ferrari. For almost any other car, an onboard-diagnostic machine is $600 to $1000. For Ferrari, it's something like $22,500. That's what it costs. Just the handheld! So someone who does his own maintenance is simply not capable of repairing a late-model Ferrari--any profit you think you'll make just isn't going to happen."

Source: Popular Mechanics, April 9, 2009

 

Pretty spot on. The ferrari "SD" readers aren't cheap.

 

Darius,

Thank you for your post. That is indeed an interesting and challenging question.

Although I believe increasing technology in cars, namely Ferraris, will also increase their complexity and maintenance costs, I also believe in due course, newer and cheaper ways will come by that will allow owners some "do it yourself" margin. Perhaps not as big a margin as in 70s and 80s Ferraris, but still...

Don't know what that will be though, although personally I bet on 3D printers for parts for instance. Newer technology has a higher price point that I believe will gradually lower once it spreads and becomes global and perhaps more "democratic" (if applied to everyday cars, for instance).

It's a tricky question, no doubt. I honestly believe the market will adapt at some point in time, but until it does and in what fashion it does, I can't come up with a definite answer. But it is indeed interesting to try and troubleshoot the future!

Kindest regards and thank you once again for giving us food for thought!

Nuno.

 

I asked an independent shop that works on F cars, Lambo etc, asked about Aston, he says the diagnostic tool was $20,000 so he cant help Aston owners,,

 

There's an SD3 for sale right now in the classifieds of this site for 18.5K Euro, if I recall correctly. So yes, his statement on the cost of the tools is pretty much spot on.

 

While the cost of the tools is only exorbitant,
You can get the car serviced at a fair number of independent "specialists" who have enough owners (n.e. victims) to justify the tools costs.

 

I've spent less than 10K for maintenance in 11 years of owning my 430. Certainly most models are more than that.

Dave

 

This coming from a guy who owns a McLaren F1 and flew the mechanic, tools, and replacement parts from Woking to LA for a month -- to do the yearly maintenance.

 

Ok....I get it but the guy is worth $350 million. Every car show he has starred in has someone else twisting wrenches for him on the restoration and the "profit" isn't an issue.

It just makes me wonder what the question was he was answering.

You could make the same argument on BMWs. They give me free oil changes on my 2014 X5 in hopes of selling me more "services" when I show up.

 

His statement makes the assumption that a collector car and the ability for the owner to work on it are related. I think most big time collectors don't even touch their cars very much, let alone wrench.

To me collector cars are all about demand. In 20 years, the generations that like 70-80s cars will be getting pretty old and it will be the turn of the 90s and 2000s.

Ultimately aren't these things like a sort of time machine for the collectors? When you were young you dreamed about it but couldn't afford it and now you can...

 

That quoted statement is from an article published in 2009. Look at the prices of 550s and 575s in 2009 compared to 2016, and I think Leno has been proven wrong. Even paying a Ferrari dealer to do any maintenance work that required an SD2 or SD3 diagnostics tool over the 7 years since, someone who bought a 550 or 575 in 2009 and wanted to sell now would be looking at a very healthy profit.

 

Well the La Ferrari and Aperta are collector cars...and those who own them can afford to have the car serviced by the dealer, especially with 7 years free maintenance.

I think he doth protest too much. I believe he owns a P1.

 

This is just Jay Leno trying to justify his general position against Ferrari IMHO. There are plenty of specialists out there who can work on the cars including modern cars. The free maintenance by Ferrari is nice but it really isn't comprehensive and I would rather trust a car that had more than an annual oil change for 7 years.

 

He has nothing against them they are just not for him at this point
Older ones the price is very high he feels cars should be bought and enjoyed afforably and what you like.
He had nothing to say about my collection but praise.
The man is a true enthusist.

 

He didn't imply that there weren't independent service options for later Ferraris. He simply said that it's now almost prohibitively expensive for owners to work on their own cars due to the cost of the necessary diagnostic tools, which is very true.

 

re: 3d printers, I wonder what the legalities of that will be? both in terms of liability as well as intellectual property.

 

I think leno should 3d print himself, therefore one can like Ferrari and one doesn't have too,,

 

Just for clarification, the LF does not have any free maintenance.

 

I believe 3D printers can't do everything. I can't see a 4340 steel part heat treated and ground to perfection.

 

Or you know, it doesn't have to be about investment value but about the car, driving it, how it makes you feel...

The moment you start getting into this for the $, you stop enjoying the car quite so much.

 

aftermarket readers for the common modern Ferrari already are out there (AutoEnginuity) for a fraction of the cost of spending $20K for the Leonardo system.

 

Jay Leno is wrong - unless he is talking solely about the transmission. I have a 03 360 and my $100 code reader works fine and I could fix most items on the car except the trans.

Now to clear the damn service wrench on a Maserati - he may be correct.

 

The SD is only needed for certain functions, not all work so it is possible for owners to work on cars themselves - I do it all the time

(Full disclosure - I do want an SD )

 

AE can only handle stuff via the OBDII port. Last I knew, AE had no support for 355 F1 systems as one example.

 

Has anyone ever found out what mean ol' Ferrari did to poor ol' Jay to make him but hurt like a baby for 30 years. Jeez.