Low mileage Ferraris.... should new owner keep miles low?

I previously had a 430 with 26k miles. Loved the car, and wanted to drive it and enjoy it, but also didn't want to run the miles way up.

My thoughts were: drive it on a nice day, and on nice roads on a special occasion. Not just commute it. So the miles would run up, but not get way up there.

I'm looking at other 430's, some legit low mile like 5-10k. One side of me says: cool, I can rack up more miles.

Other side says: watch the miles a bit, could be a good financial pay years down the road*

*a local friend of mine bought a daytona in 1986 for $45,000 and recently sold it for something insane! And he told me that he was a driver type, until he saw the market value of his car skyrocket and it turned into a garage queen.

Just looking for other members' input....

 

I’ve found that with vintage cars the odometer is less of a consideration. After 30 or 40 years, maintenance and replacement of worn or aged bits is more important. Plus older odometers are hard to trust — easy to disconnect and susceptible to failure.

Also, a Daytona is a serious hand built classic from the Enzo era. It will be a blue chip investment type of car always. Miles aren’t the key to their value.

Compare that to modern Ferraris where the odometer actually does drive value. Whether that matters to you hinges on your net worth and the significance of the car in that context. Personally, I’ve gotten to a point in my life where I won’t buy a car whose value is based on its low odometer reading. They will all need either a rebuild or mechanical refresh at some point, and life is a one way trip. The experiences are the reall value.

 

Not playing with toys is not fun. But if the pleasure comes from wiping your toy with a diaper then by all means enjoy what you enjoy.

 

Bah drive it unless its a really limited car

i do around 5000km a year in mine

 

I understand that a lot of newer cars have mileage blockers installed anyway so it's really a crap shoot, I bought my car to drive and not just look at it!
Alden

 

+1 just drive the car the 430 is a nice car but will never be a real collector car ,if you don’t drive it it will cost you in maintenance down the road
You spend all this money just to look at it go to the Ferrari Museum and look at them and invest the money,just drive it the are so much fun.

 

I'm not rich enough to own a 1:1 scale model of anything. I sure don't want to be on my deathbed knowing that the car is perfect for the next guy.

 

Great imput. I do plan on putting miles on it, so I'll probably skip the 4k miles car and its associated premium

 

Good move 15-20K on this car is ok and you know all the serious problems where taken care of by the owner before you if you find a gated Car even better good luck with your search

 

Easy, a 430 with what 20,000 produced is not a collector grade car, a Daytona is not a valid comparison. If you really want a car that can possibly become that someday go get a Challenge Stradale with 1,300 made......or cross over into the light and get a rarer variant of a Lamborghini Diablo. The late 90s cars have some rediculously low production. My car for example is a one year only design with only 142 units worldwide. So it is worth 3X+ what I paid for it 10 years ago.

The only real choice you have is do you want to pay a premium for a low mile 430 and either let it sit to preserve capital or drive the premium away. Now while it won't be a collector car, it is still easier to sell low mile exotics.

 

If I had a Ferrari I’d be driving it weekly for the several months a year that I could - say maybe 2-3 thousand miles.

Cool story - I know a guy that picked up his brand new 918 - I think it was shipped out East to Georgia or something like that - he flew out and drove it home - pretty sure it was brand new or very early on.

MDS

 

Very wise in my opinion

Get yourself 11/12,000 MI example that has all the boxes clicked off and I think you'll be much happier and probably get it closer to 110-120

 

Buying a 11k mile car and putting 6 7 or 8k on it and selling it and buying another one is a good idea.

Also a 20k mile car and selling it when it has 27 or 28k is a good idea.

Instead of piling all the miles on one car you can spread it out.
But you must be good at selling cars. If you aren't. Then just buy one with 10 and sell it at 27. Your going to lose but... Hopefully it takes you enough time that the value increase naturally on the car and you don't get hurt too badly

 

Going with this multi-car plan probably isn't the best course of action for 95% of us. You would be likely buying at retail but selling at wholesale.....then you have sales tax to deal with which is oppressive in some states like mine. I personally hate the car selling experience (not crazy about car buying either).

 

You would never drive it. In a very real sense you’re a slave to the odometer.

I posted this elsewhere but recently I attended a celebration of the late Chad McQueen. His father’s 911 and Speedster were displayed in the Porsche showroom alongside a dozen modern, nearly new 911 variants. The McQueen 911S had a few rock chips on the hood, and looked well used. The Speedster has chips and delamination on the original plastic steering wheel - again it looked well used. I highly doubt Steve McQueen ever worried about putting fun miles on either car.

 

Also, save your wife for the next guy.

Working your ass off to buy a dream car, and then immediately being scared to drive it because you are already thinking of not losing any money……wild scene.

 

Why not, my wife has been saving me for the next woman for a long time

 

I got a CS to drive with miles and a CS to collect that is very rare and low miles.

I got a FGT with miles to drive hard, modify etc. Never have to worry or regret.

 

What great cars these are to drive and enjoy....mine too has miles (33k) and mods (like $40k worth).

 

Can you share a pic of these beauties ?

MDS

 

Didnt read the thread but did you get a wife or girlfriend and not **** her too for the next guy?

 

depends on how long you want to keep the car. if you want to buy, have some fun, then sell soonish (year or so) and not lose much money, then use it as a sunny weekend driver. keep the service up to date and all is good.
if you want a garage queen then all you are going to do it look at it. Spend lots keeping it fully up to perfect spec at the Ferrari Dealer. Then sell on at or more than you bought it for. Keep in mind a full, and i mean full, no cutting corners, low budgets, etc, Service and Maintenace is outrageously expensive at Ferrari, especially for older models. Throw in a few new shockers, bushes, brake parts, tires, sensors and you are in the 20-30kUSD bill with a service. you may get the best price when you sell, but not necessarily recoup this cost.
if you do the math's, it's probably cheaper for you to buy, use, service independently then sell at lower end of excellent condition, than to garage queen spend 10ks at the dealers and make a sale profit on your original purchase price.
And if the cars are going up in value, they all tend to go up proportionally (as well as down).
For me personally, i won't buy a low milage, rarely used car again. once you start to use it all sorts of issues need addressing. mainly rubbers, gaskets and seals. which of course are not cheap. used ones tend to be better and normally require the standard S&M items as with most brands.
mine:
1996 F355 Manual Spider - 128k kms. normal wear and tear + Services. Replaced fuel pump last year. Independant servicing. owned 17 years.
2013 458 Spider - 98k kms. Normal wear and tear. Replaced fuel pumps 2 years ago. Independant servicing. owned 5 years.
2003 575M F1 - 27k kms. (i got in 2018 at 15k kms). all suspension and steering rubbers needed replacing. hoses and most engine gaskets weeping within first year of me using it. constant CEL for a O2 sensor that have all been replaced and ECU swap which no one can diagnose (note, no engine running issues for 10k Kms).

 

You're pretty new here, and obviously missed one of the most apt, classic lines ever uttered on this subject:

The version he put in his FChat signature:

Not putting miles on your Ferrari is like not having sex with your Girl Friend so she'll be more desirable to her next Boy Friend​

 

I guess I fall into the category of just looking at it in my garage and paying for upkeep all the time. When you have low miles, you can just command so much more if you have the service records to back it up. I love my 360, but I just like owning it and looking at it in my garage and caring for the car. I am just happy to even own a Ferrari that I loved growing up. It’s my third car so I don’t really care to drive it. That doesn’t mean I don’t want to drive it, I just don’t have the time often but I love looking at it. I have 17k miles on mine and I really only drive it to get it serviced.

 

I respect everything you said because it’s your situation. With that said, everything in your post could still be true (caring for it, looking at it, paying for upkeep haha, etc) even if you drove it.

Realistically though, you even may drive it often for a third car. If it was a first car we probably aren’t even talking about this.

Lastly, you may get more financially for the car when you sell it, but you still paid for all the upkeep over X number of years, so it’s not like it was a good investment. Better off putting it in indexes. Or at least what you think the difference will be between if you drive it and if you don’t and then drive it, and you’ll make out better when you do sell it