What do you tell your friends?

exact same situation here. a lot of ferraris can be had for relatively very cheap compared to new luxury cars. Hell a new bmw m3 fully loaded will set you back 70+ thousand and yet no one seems to care because it's not a Ferrari.

I keep it as secret as possible from my work colleagues for the exact same fear. I don't want my boss to turn me down the next time I ask for something.

 

If you weren't getting a Ferrari, would you be giving any of these people money? Who does that? Would your friends accept the money? What would they think if you said, "Here's $5k. Hope this helps."

You need to rethink this.

You're right. It will never be enough. People will think what they want - no matter what you say or where you got the money.

You might want to say something like this:

"I had to make a lot of sacrifices to get this car, but you know what? Life's short and I might as well enjoy it while I can. I may sell it in a few years and recoupe some of the costs - and put the money away for my retirement."

 

I have an older 308GTS and very rarely drive it to work because I happen to work for large municipality. On the rare occasion I have to park in City Hall underground parking I'm always hoping no one is looking.

Now, honestly, how many of you first thought "overpaid government worker" even knowing it was just a 308? Imagine what it's like when I go to work.

 

Good for you! Tax dollars well spent!

 

First of all, let me say that I'm not a Ferrari owner and I'm actually a college student right now so I'm not even "middle class" haha.. However I felt the need to chime in here...

I find it hard to believe that anyone would ask about a someone's personal financial situation because they saw that they had a certain car.

Even in my circle of friends and acquaintances (of very modest means) asking about someone's finances would be considered VERY tacky and rude. If someone has something (car, nice apartment, nice "things") that seem outside of their means it's just assumed that they have money from some other source (family maybe?) and it's not discussed.

As for the issue with employers... I don't know about that. I'm not really in a position to comment on this much but I will say that a negotiation about compensation should be based on how valuable your skills are to the company, and whether you have a competing offer from another prospective employer. Just because you're driving a nice car doesn't mean much. You could be a trust fund kid, or be up to your eyeballs in debt. Regardless, the company will pay you what they have to in order to keep you as an employee if your skills are required.

But of course, I understand that weird office politics will always be a part of life.

 

A lot of good advice had been offered here so far. The bottom line for your fear and others who have chimed in comes down to one word "jealousy". People in our everyday lives are for the most part jealous of other people's success, luck etc. It is not cool anymore to be successful.

While on the road there are 2 camps. Those who hate your guts by never letting you in, yelling stuff, etc. and those that wave, take photos, make complements and ask friendly questions. Because of those miserable people I never take the 430 spider anywhere out of my site as it is a big red target for keying and and unwanted touching.

At the end of the day your true friends won't care or judge you and will be happy you are happy.

Best of luck.

 

Very few of my friends have ever asked. On the rare occasion that the question has come up, I simply say that I am the second owner, and that the right car can be quite affordable if you save your money, don't waste it on foolish things, and shop smart.

About 6 months after I got the car I was out to lunch with 3-4 friends. The bill arrived and one of my buddies pushed it toward me, saying that I could afford to pay since I drove up in a Ferrari. I told them, with a grin on my face, that I had tangible proof outside as to why I had NO money left, and that I had spent it all on the car.

 

i genuinely feel bad for you guys in these situations. most of my life has been spent in relatively big and affluent cities, so nice cars are just part of the landscape. but my mother's side of the extended family is from the midwest and when i go there i can see that nobody would be looking at a ferrari owner with much more than jealousy and dislike, and that is a shame. when i am there with them i never talk about my cars. they know i have some nice ones, but i never talk about them ever, and they dont ask. kinda weird, but it avoids the inevitable.

i dont know what kind of advice to give you since i dont know what kind of job you have or what the earning potential is. but i will tell you the story of my first ferrari. in preparation of buying it, i secured a spot int he underground parking at the office because it was cheap. then i bought the car, and drove it to the office and parked it in my spot, which also as luck had it was located right next to the elevators. i went up to my desk, and went to the head of the whole office - luckily i knew him pretty well and he had hired me, and asked him to come and see something. i took him down to the garage, and showed him the car. he was floored. he asked me why i had bought it and i explained my passion, and that in fact it cost about half of the new mercedes he had bought. then i suggested that he look at it this way: in one day, EVERYBODY in the office was going to know about this car, and they would talk and ask whose it was etc etc. and he should tell everybody he knows that it was me, and that i had earned it with my success - which was fortunately true. and that this would inspire all the young guys to work harder. he agreed to give it a try and that was it. and that was the best thing i ever did - i got some ribbing but no real evil behavior.

12 months later, there were 3 more ferraris, 6 porsches, an aston, and a few mercs and m3's etc. the plan worked just fine. but that only works in a place that is super commercial and all about making the money.

the other thing that i found that might work is to prepare people for the event. tell your friends and family that you are thinking about buying one. that gets all the bs out of the way ahead of time. you can explain yourself and the costs etc, and that may help you when it actually comes.

the only other thing i can suggest is to move....but that may not be possible.

 

When people ask "you have a Ferrari?", I tell 'em, "Only a little one."
(To a purist, a V8 isn't really a Ferrari. )

I was worried about the security office thinking it was "unexplained affluence", but it turns out one of the security guys was looking at a Mondial, and had a realistic idea what the older ones run.

But the surprise is that most people don't *want* to hear that "real people" can afford Ferraris.
The belief that they all cost (pinky in mouth) a million dollars is their excuse for not owning one, themselves.

The first time I drove the 328 to work, one of the millwrights came over and demanded to know how I could have "a better car than the CEO".
I told him that the CEO drives a Buick, so we *ALL* have better cars.
(Except the guy with the Aztek. )

 

I always find these kinds of threads bizarre.

Do you know what I tell my friends?

"Do you want to go for a drive?".


Because, if they can't handle my success, then they can't be very good friends. And, if I think I can't trust them with being happy for me, I'm not being a very good friend.

 

very well said

 

That's what I'll say from now on! Thanks!

 

My boss drives a 997, and has two houses so he does not have a problem with my Ferraris. One time a co-worker told me that other people think I should tone down the car thing. I told him "I am at the age in my life where I don't have to kiss anyone's ass, so eff them."

All my neighbors have seen me in and out of my cars multiple times. I always work on my cars in the garage (not a big garage) so some of the cars are always outside and visible. All my neighbors like my cars. And as a hobby, I fix their cars too so they don't complain much. The ones that are further away always stop, stare, take picture, give thumbs up, make nice comments. And the jealous ones, well, eff them.

I buy what my passion tells me. I drive what my passion drives me. And I don't wait until I am old to do it. For anyone else who has a problem with any of that, well, eff them.

 

AMEN! Me too

 

In Australia, when people say "Wow, you have a Ferrari, you must be rich" I usually reply "Actually I'd be a lot richer if I didn't have Ferrari to support..." since I feel everyone in Australia pretty much has the same chance to own one as I do BUT here in Hong Kong I prefer people not to know and especially my junior co-workers since there is a much wider gap between chances here and many, despite working very hard and doing everything right, will probably never own ANY car...
And to kids who say "Gee I wish my family coauld afford that" I say "Your parents have you instead!".

 

bah, lying about it is the worst.

Just choose one of:

a) How many credit cards do you have? I have 0.
b) How many credit cards do you have? I have 20.

Of course either of those is likely a lie but it's said tongue-in-cheek.

 

Most people have no idea how reasonably priced most Ferraris are that were built between 1975 and 2005. I have been looking and learning before I buy my first and I am leaning towards a 360. I live in South Carolina so I will tell people, if asked, that my 360 cost about as much as a loaded F250. The last F250 I looked at on a dealer’s lot about a year ago was 64k. That’s something most people can understand.

I have no friends so I don’t have to care what they think. My coworkers and my boss make a lot of money so that would not be an issue. They already know I am a car guy.

 

When we bought our Cayenne Turbo, a couple of people asked me how I afforded it (they have no idea what I make or what a 6-year-old Cayenne costs apparently).

I tried to brush them off with humor by saying..."aww, you know...I got a sugar mama at home"

This backfired as a year later someone close to these two was asking (nosing) around in my personal business and made the statement that my wife grew up with money and has lots of family money. So apparently my sarcasm earlier was lost on them.

 

Agree. I never lie about owning a Ferrari - I just never volunteer the information to most people.

"Tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth". Well, 2 out of 3 isn't so bad.
.

 

+1

I regard bringing the topic up without being asked very bad form. It's brash and vacuous.

 

i just say i used to be rich and this is all i have left.

 

It's not difficult to believe the car played a role. Not at all.

 

Every one who knows me knows I have owned sports cars since I was 17 years old. They also know I work 24/7 and always have. They also know my home is a little crap hole and I live very frugaly, and I must be spending my hard earned money elsewhere.

 

It is to me. That has never happened to me and I do take my 360 to work and also client sites.

 

Things are different today, I guess, among the younger folks. In my generation, and in generations before, we were socialized that it is indiscreet to pry into other peoples' financial situations ----- other than for a few extremely close friends, and only within the context of something pertinent, I have never had anyone ask me such questions as "How do you afford that?", and I certainly have not asked such a question of anyone else......

The culture in the US today is much more obsessed with money and measuring status than it used to be ---- too bad, IMHO.