Anyone want to talk me out of it?

My retirement preparation list includes a bigger garage.

 

Buddy, I am in Clearwater, FL and I kept my first Ferrari (a black/black 360) in the driveway for the whole year I owned it. NO problem. I kept my second one (red/tan spider) as well as a 911 and a brand new Bently out on the front lawn while the garage was being built.. took 6 months... No problem. Soap and water wash each week, and drive them for what they are... CARS!

Making the plunge to my first exotic, in my case a Lambo, was the best thing I have ever done. DO IT !!! BUY IT !!! It will change your life. The last thing you'd want is to be on your death bed with regrets.

 

Even if you find the best-maintained 360 in the U.S., you should keep a car fund with $10K in it. This holds true for any model.

 

I agree. I don't think they will go that low either.

 

It is not $10,000 a year maintenance. you can search the threads abut typical maintenance costs. For me it is short of $1000 every year (oil, filter, check things) and $2,500 every other year (add the rest of the fluids like brake, tranny, coolent). Every third year is a belt replacement - if other things are good it is like $1,500 added to whatever other year it is falling under. Somewhere in here you will have to add brake pads and clutch, I have 11K miles and not run into either of those. I'm close to tires, maybe $800 for all four.

I spent a bit on cosmetics. If I hit a curb, I paid $225 to have the wheel made perfect. I had the seat bolsters redone for about the same. I just like having the car present well.

The 10K fund is for the exceptional but possible maintenance. If the car gets wrecked or burns in a fire insurance will reimburse you a significant part of lost value. If a perfectly well maintained timing belt snaps the valves will be chewed up - auto insurance does not cover repairs. A new engine for a 360 maybe $20,000? somone can chime in here.

If a car qualifies for a Power Warrenty from Ferrari, you can insure against the catostrophic engine/drivetrain failure, but it is super expensive. So if your instrument panel goes dark, it is an uninsured expense, you cannot sell the car without repairing it and the pod is in the thousands. Same for an engine computer (ECU) or shift computer module, probably one grand each, there is no repairing them - solid state - just buy a new one. If your headlight pod is cracked the car will never pass inspection nor be sellable until you come up with the bucks for a new headlight pod.

So the ten grand repair fund is prudent, probably never fully called on in any year but if you could not swing it you will have an undrivable, unsellable paper weight.

One shold not buy a car that requires them to skimp unreasonably in other areas of their life. My wife recently gave me a gift of driving experience driving five exotics for a day and it really could have got the exotic bug out of my system had I tried it before I bought. The ten grand repair fund alone could let you do that sort of thing six or seven times. They even have events at tracks, which if you own an exotic is more complicated to do than you might think. Even if you are retired once you drive one of these cars you will always wonder what it would be like to go a little extralegal safely.

 

Bob,

The first 360 I had had no issues. Zero. I did an oil change.($410) The tires were bald when I traded it in.

The second one needed a clutch 6 months after I bought it. While I had it in for a clutch, they recommended belt service, flush, oil change and battery. The whole deal came to over 6k, but Ferrari of Central Florida were nice enough to get the clutch covered under warranty. My portion was about $1800 IIRC. Ferrari of Central Florida really handled it well... great group of guys!

Most cars like these eat tires. Expect 4 -6,000 miles out of a set of Pirellis, maybe 7 - 8 out of Michelin Pilot Sports. So you're looking at roughly $1200 per year in tires. DIY oil change will run you $60 including the OEM filter. A dealer oil change ran me $410 the last time I did it.

Like one other guy said, if you keep $10k tucked away for big service issues or repairs, you should be cool. I think in a regular, trouble free year you could get by on about $2000/year.

I have no idea how long your brake pads will last. A LOT depends on how you drive the car, but if you just drive reasonably they should last as long as an average car, I would guess.

Even if you get clobbered by an unexpected bill, aren't all cars suceptible to that misfortune?

Just cough up the money and buy it. The "smiles per mile" are worth much more than the money. Do you really want to go the rest of your life wondering how it "could have been"?

Oh, and don't wait until you retire... You'll miss the fun of driving to work in a Ferrari!

 

No, nowhere remotely near that for routine maintenance and incidental repairs. $10k is a realistic amount to have available as a catastrophic failure fund.

Over my past eight years as a Ferrari owner, the biggest mechanical catastrophe was a sudden disintegration of the 330 2+2's original clutch. I got it off the road right away and had it flatbedded to the shop. Cost to replace the clutch assembly was about $3,500.00.

To give it to you straight, owning a Ferrari isn't cheap, and chances are even that you will have a big and unexpected repair bill or two during your ownership of a car that is out of warranty. In addition, periodic cam belt changes are required for just about every Ferrari built since the early to mid 1970's. Call a Ferrari dealer and an indy shop or two and find out the recommended interval and cost for the model you want.

You have to be at peace with these facts before jumping in, period.

 

Don't limit yourself to 5 - 7000 miles per year. The more you drive it the better. My car is bleeding me dry because its 24 years old. I purchased mine as a good driver. Maintenance, all rubber, cooling, fuel lines. Now it needs a new top and tires. I'm still at only about 30 - 33K overall into the car for everything. It's been a great car and has never left me stranded. I'm at a lower budget level so it's been killing me. However I expect that if nothing unexpected comes up as of the end of 2011 I'll be able to drive the car for 3 years with nothing but oil changes. The danager with a Ferrari is the $10K problem, but with a 360 it won't be annually. If you get a car with a good amount of miles on it and a good ppi, I think you'll get years of trouble free service. Jump right in and drive it as much as you can. The more I drive mine the better it is.

I don't see why a 360 won't get into the 30's eventually. TR's have dropped into the 40's, 308, 328, Mondials, 348's, all are getting there. 456's are close, 550's are within reaching range. It's just time and maintenance costs. Even the 50's and 60's classics were once simply miserable old cars and sold for values that suggested as much. Nothing wrong with it, just drive and enjoy them.

 

IMO, you're realistically on top of the financial aspects, and your wife will come around after her first few rides and the familiarity with the Ferrari culture (or the cult of Ferrari) that comes with ongoing ownership.

Take your time lloking and buy the best car you can afford.

 

This is an interesting thread with the various perspectives on parking/storage. I've been thinking about picking up a 308 or Mondial but my big reservation is that I only have a two car garage and already have three cars. It's no fun leaving any car outside all the time. The sun and weather do age them faster (plus snow and ice removal is a pain, but the op won't have that problem).

I still think my personal answer is to acquire more indoor parking before I get any more cars. But, to each their own.

 

The garage issue has been my biggest impediment as well.
To be fair I'm much better off having waited considering how much I've learned here in the last two years.

 

Forget the need for a garage.

One man I know kept his F50 outside in "covered" parking. I remember seeing it completely green one day from all the pollen on one spring day.

Just don't buy a car that's perfect perfect, and the occasional scratch, paint chip, etc won't bug you as much. Sure you'll get less when you sell the car if the paint isn't just right, but you'll spend less on the on the buy side when you get a car that wasn't a garage queen, so there's no net difference.

And for big damage/theft, that's what insurance is for.

 

This seems like a reasonable estimate to me. Find a good independent to do your work.

 

As much as I've heard about the real estate market in Florida tanking in the last few years, couldn't you get a place with a garage pretty much dirt cheap? And, not to avoid the obvious, if Maseratis and Jaguars have been comfortably in the budget, how can a place with a garage not be?

 

Covering your dream is essential-even if that means a good outdoor cover. That dash will become a prune in that Florida sun. IMO, it is not worth the hassle if it adds stress. If you can swing it, a 430 would be more satisfying and definitely much less maintenance costs (if you're not unlucky). If you can do it-DO IT!