According to Carfax, my newly-bought 2006 F430 Spider (which has only 12K miles) had 5 previous owners! .....I'm #6 Fortunately, no accidents or any damage reported, and my Ferrari dealer assures me that it was thoroughly checked out. (According to service records, they also did almost $12K worth of work before putting it up for sale.....new clutch, new tires, new brakes, new filters, etc., etc). I heard that multiple owners in exotic cars is not uncommon but will this hurt resale value in the long run? Also, I'm curious as to why a car with only 12K miles needed so much work? Is this normal? Is Carfax not telling me the whole story?
no offense, but shouldn't you have asked these questions before buying the car? in any case, there was a recent thread on the number of owners: https://www.ferrarichat.com/forum/threads/how-many-owners-is-too-many.569309/ as for why the car needs so much work at 12k miles? New filters, oil, and coolant would just be annual service. If it needed new tires, brakes and a clutch at 12k miles, it may have had a HARD 12k miles. I'm assuming your F430 is F1 and if the PIS is not set properly or driven poorly, it'll induce extra clutch wear. Some people get 5k miles out of a clutch, others can go 50k miles. It depends on how you drive it.
Cars that aren’t driven much tend to need more service. That does not explain the clutch though. I tend to agree with timwu12. Probably a pretty rough 12k.
My latest car was in a collection sat for 19 years, it needed twice that amount of work (at dealer cost), though it had only one owner and 1200 miles. Not trying to rain on your parade, but if you purchase an expensive car (regardless of how much you paid), the parts and service costs tend to be higher as well. These cars were originally marketed to people that they believe can afford the costs to maintain them. You were asking whether the 430 was worth it to you, I can assure you, you are not the first person to ask that question. Could be a few of those previous owners ended up thinking it was not for them. Good luck and congrats!
I thought the 360/430 were marketed as more of a user friendly, reliable, lower maintenance cost super car that you could drive daily if you wanted to, no?
They were, but remember what you are comparing them to. Check out what it cost to replace a part of the AWD system in a FF, it is more than almost every model Kia makes.
Looking at this from another perspective... The car have been babied by the most anal owners on the planet. I cannot count all of the times that I have come across owners that have no idea how to drive their exotics (which causes all kinds of early wear & tear) yet they are fictitious with the paint, leather, upgrades, wheels/tires, books & records etc. With that said they are the absolute worst with F1 clutches, warm up procedures, leaving their left foot laying on the brake pedal as they drive, using the wrong fluids, skills at driving a stick (if its a manual), clutch release, parking lot ability etc. They think they are well versed though ~ and they may read just enough on-line to know the more common issues. So they will use blanket statements when anything has gone south like doing an "overnight reset" or "Bleed the F1 system" or blaming the PIS for a multitude of things. Enthusiast yes, but not mechanical people. Anyhow... My point is that you should not think that the car was treated rough or driven hard. Perhaps it was just handled by someone that would have been better off in a GTR or Corvette. Ferrari has made their modern cars more user friendly (for the masses) but there are still a considerable list of procedures that would need to be followed to make them as wear free as pedestrian cars. So don't mind the list of previous owners & early wear noted. As I am sure the paint is perfect.
The number of owners is no big deal, and the clutch may have just been replaced as a selling point. Sometimes they get replaced when they still have more than 50% life left. The important thing is how it drives. I passed on newer ones that had fewer owners before I bought my 6-owner '05 with 9500 miles. It just drove and shifted better than any of the others (I had test drove three 360s and three 430s).
1) As others have said, you didn't want to ask these questions before you bought the car? 2) Many parts get old in time and need to be replaced regardless of miles. No idea why a clutch or brakes (although you didn't say if they are complete brakes, pads, or just some hardware) need to be replaced that soon, though. 3) You just bought the car yesterday. Why are you so concerned about resale? Are you planning on selling it already? 4) As far as the number of owners, it really doesn't matter. Some people realize that owning a Ferrari isn't for them and sell it. Some people realize that they love owning a Ferrari but they want a different one and they trade it in on that. At the end of the day, you said you bought from a dealer who made the car like new before they sold it. That is really all that matters. Current condition and level of care trumps just about everything else. Enjoy your new car.
True, I asked about this to my agent at the dealership but he assured me that the car went through a rigorous inspection through Ferrari. I guess that I have a bit more peace of mind knowing that I purchased it through an authorized Ferrari dealer with a long and solid reputation.
The only things that are important when I look at a Ferrari is that the car doesn't have anything major wrong with it, and the price is inline with the age and condition of the car. Obviously it needs to meet my exterior and interior color preferences but most options don't mean squat to me other then the fender shields, and not because of resale because I like em. The Modern Ferraris I have driven over the last couple of years are some of the best driving cars out there. And in reality this is why I'm looking at Ferrari in the first place because they are such a joy to drive from the sound of the engine to the sight of the car sitting in your garage when you open the door the entire ownership of the car is an experience.
12k of maintenance doesn't get you a lot at Ferrari, specially with big ticket items like clutches. Your car is almost 10 years old on the original clutch, regardless of how much life it has left the throw out bearing will be close to "aging out" and leak, ruining the clutch. So its great that the clutch and hardware are already replaced. Also the # of owners is nothing to be concerned of. A lot of people buy ferrari and worry too much to drive them, so after a few years where the buzz of ownership wears off they sell them having barely put more than 1k miles.
Multiple owners is common.$12k is dealer inflated number. Many people buy as conversation piece versus driving . As for resell it isn't an investment instrument . Drive it enjoy it don't worry about resell. I know someone who resell their cars very similar to yours the next year for 20k less. Things age quicker from non use.
Words of wisdom from our man, Rob. This is somewhat common in the exotic / supercar market. Image Unavailable, Please Login
