Pre-owned. How many owners are too many? | FerrariChat

Pre-owned. How many owners are too many?

Discussion in 'Ferrari Discussion (not model specific)' started by jjmalez, Jun 17, 2020.

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  1. jjmalez

    jjmalez F1 Veteran
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    Apr 8, 2005
    5,948
    Northern Illinois
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    Joseph
    Hello,

    Looking at a couple Ferrari's in my price range. (348-360) Question, how many previous owners are too many?

    Found a nice looking 348. Carfax lists eight previous owners. Yes the car is 26 years old. But eight owners?

    I see this regularly in the 348/355/360 market.

    Joe
     
  2. 19633500GT

    19633500GT F1 World Champ
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    Nov 9, 2010
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    Muffin-Tops
    Joe. If it looks nice, drives nice, and the PPI checks out alright, who cares how many owners. They aren’t driving it, YOU will be.
     
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  3. Alex308qv

    Alex308qv Formula Junior

    Jul 1, 2016
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    Alex
    Yeah key is professional PPI and (if available) a review of the maintenance records, and if possible a conversation with 1-2 prior owners. Eight feels like a lot but many owners of occasional use cars run through a lot of them. Doing these things should provide reasonable assurance there isn't some underlying issue causing the sales. (Also, I have also seen Carfaxes that look like multiple owners when it is sometimes the same owner moving and re-registering in a new state.)
     
    Texas Forever likes this.
  4. vrsurgeon

    vrsurgeon F1 World Champ
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    Dec 13, 2009
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    Curt
    How does it look right now. Mine had like 6-8 owners 10 years ago, I still bought it and she's been PERFECT. You ask about the owners to get an idea about the condition of the car when you buy it... why not do a PPI before you buy it... to get an idea about the condition of the car?
     
  5. hardtop

    hardtop F1 World Champ

    Jan 31, 2002
    11,285
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    Fewer is better but Ferrari owners tend to be a fickle lot and always looking to move on to another car. I did that myself in my early days of Ferrari ownership. Over time, I've kept them for longer periods. I would recommend doing as much research as possible to see if there are chronic issues but barring that, I wouldn't worry about it too much.

    Dave
     
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  6. PFSEX

    PFSEX Formula Junior

    Jun 30, 2006
    843
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    John Ratto
    A lot of these cars had multiple (2-5) owners in their first couple of years. This was back in the days when a current model (or one iteration old) car in hand was worth significantly more than its MSRP. I would say that the import thing to look at is how many owners in the past 5 years.
     
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  7. technom3

    technom3 F1 World Champ
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    Mar 29, 2007
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    Yes. This makes alot of sense.
     
  8. Ron328

    Ron328 F1 Rookie
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    Mar 10, 2003
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    Exactly.
     
  9. Husker

    Husker F1 World Champ

    Dec 31, 2003
    11,788
    western hemisphere
    Buy for condition and records.
     
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  10. Robb

    Robb Moderator
    Moderator Lifetime Rossa Owner

    Feb 28, 2004
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    Robb
    Right, buy something special that has been well maintained. Number of owners really isn’t a worry. Was it a Vegas rental car? That would be more of a worry...

    Robb
     
    George Vosburgh likes this.
  11. Shark01

    Shark01 F1 Veteran

    Jun 25, 2005
    5,687
    I like this for an approach....for a 25 year old car, maybe go back and look for 10 years of stable ownership. Another concern is miles over time. It could have had just 1 owner the last 10 years, but if he only drove it 1,000 miles during that period I would be concerned.
     
  12. Texas Forever

    Texas Forever Seven Time F1 World Champ
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    Apr 28, 2003
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    Texas!
    Gerald Rouse of Ferrari Market Letter fame used to say only three things mattered when buying a used Ferrari: (1) Condition, (2) Condition, and (3) Condition. What happened before was not relevant. His specific reference was to vintage Ferraris. If you're looking a 275 GTB, for example, what difference would it make if the car was previously crashed beyond recognition. All that matters today was how well the car was repaired.

    I think the same holds true for newer Ferraris. I would only buy a "known car," where you know what has happened and what repairs have been done. Buying an unknown car is not for me.
     
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  13. SD455TA

    SD455TA Formula Junior

    The one thing I will say about vehicles I have driven over my nearly 50 years of driving ( and I know many out there can attest to this) is that cars did best when they were with their existing owner over time. No doubt about it. After all, why do you think that trucking firms want to keep the same driver in the truck as long as they can and thats because you put a new driver in the unit and it suffers a breakdown. So, going forward to today, for myself, I would much rather obtain a Ferrari that has fewer owners than more. My Speciale, being a 2015 car, I am considering myself to be LUCKY to be only the 3rd owner of it. My explanation to all the excessive ownership is that many Ferrari owners were either so anxious to buy the next model.....AKA...too much money and no brains in many cases....that these things traded hands like nobody's business which again, cars do no like because each driver operates differently. The other possibility is that the owner of those excessive owner situations could be that they recognized that they got in over their heads and had to walk away from the car because they could not afford the ownership.
     
  14. Innovativethinker

    Innovativethinker F1 Veteran
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    Aug 8, 2009
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    More than 1 owner per five years since original purchase. That is my guide.
     
  15. Llenroc

    Llenroc F1 Rookie
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    Jun 9, 2004
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    The fewer owners IMO the better; the question you should ask is: would you buy a rental car?
     
  16. Bullfighter

    Bullfighter Two Time F1 World Champ
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    Jan 26, 2005
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    No, I wouldn’t consider a rental car. I know how I drove them…

    I like to see long term ownership for a few reasons:

    1. You don’t defer maintenance on a car you keep for 10 or 20 years. A $5000 service visit is tolerable on a “keeper”, but for a 2-3 year “fling” there’s incentive to go cheap. This is probably the key reason. One owner every 10 years seems a reasonable goal, although not an ironclad rule.

    2. If a car is really satisfying and brings more joy than frustration, it tends to be a long-term keeper. My 911/964 had one owner for 28 years, and in the year I’ve had it I can see why. There aren’t many of that model year/configuration so it’s not something one could easily replace. My 328 had three owners and was a special car due to the condition and rare colors.

    3. History and records. Yes, I agree with Roush about condition-condition-condition, but I like to have original tools, books, window sticker, etc., and the likelihood of that is better if a car hasn’t changed hands too often.




    Sent from my iPad using FerrariChat.com mobile app
     
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  17. Llenroc

    Llenroc F1 Rookie
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    As I thought about my ownership of my fun cars over the last 45 years; they have been either new(not many) or one owner cars. I hadn’t really given that any thought until now so I must be biased internally or have the “one owner car gene”. haha
     
  18. Doug.

    Doug. F1 Rookie
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    Apr 16, 2004
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    Las Vegas, NV
    The thing that scares people about a lot of previous owners, is every one takes time seeing what the car will do, pushing it/abusing it, etc and then dumping it.

    I think that's a little unfounded with F-Cars though as they change hands mostly without being driven much at all. Also majority of owners aren't idiots. Most important is the condition of the car, and service records.
     

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