Current European 550 values ?

I can think of multiple reasons. One is because the system is not continuous in measuring. The sensors run on batteries so power is at a premium.
The system needs to be sure that the new reading is not a fluke so it probably waits for more than one measurement before saying it is all OK.
I can also imagine some systems to double-check through indirect means.

 

Terry, now you have me curious. Can you contact me off list so as to not take this thread too far off track.
le4706g at hotmail dot com

Jim

 

I agree. The increase in value is real but it goes at snails pace. My car has been carefully vetted and labelled as a 100K car in case of forced sale. Curiously part of the value sits in the fact that it is an original Belgian car delivered to Belgium and always stayed in Belgium. I never imagined that to be a positive.
I always buy on condition first, country of origin is never a topic for me.

 

One-country cars are indeed regarded as more safe. It is easier to track its provenance - ownership and maintenance history, mileage etc. Simply put, a better chance it is not a car that's "been around".

Buying on condition, we'll probably agree even a vandalised or neglected car can be a good car - close to invariably better than an abused one. Superficially it may seem the same but there is such a big difference. You need to have a trained eye, an awful lot of people do not have that experience and absolutely no idea what to look for, so they put their money on provenance, quite literally.

 

Make sure that your car is registered on the 'right' side of the wall when they build one between Flanders and Wallonia!
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Rory, back to your original interesting point. Around 2.5-3.5 years ago when I was researching 550s, I was also looking in France and the near continent. Because it seemed weird to pay the premiums for UK cars with steering wheels on the other side. At the time, in 2014, and others here will remember, a good but not garage queen 550, no stories, was between 45 and 55k euros. I nearly bought a nice blue one near Lyon for 55k euros, around 25k km, in the fall of 14.
Early 15 asking prices started rising noticeably but the pound strengthening against the euro, in our favour. I bought mine then in Italy. By mid 15 that nice 55k car would have been asking around 100k, if it had been around at all. This was the time of our famous 'Maranellos are disappearing' thread. By the end of that year, that car would have been asking anything from 130 to 150k. And it wouldn't have sold.
Now, it seems from your research that such a car would sell in the mid to upper 80s. This makes sense to me. And I think that's a very good price for such a great car: prices overshot, and are still asking too much in many cases, but once they readjust, they will move up again more gently. The 55k car 2.5 years ago is a 85k car now and will be a 115k car in a couple of years.
That's observation leading to prediction, but if you find a great car for less than 90k, I'd buy it. I'd buy one myself at that price. But not at 150k.

 

OP: red/black UK LHD eBay item number:182432807976

 

Do not get me started on that. If I register it again it will be in another country....
This country is filled with idiots regardless the color in which they sit.

 

Make sure the wall includes Brussels on their side. A few less bureaucrats is always a good deal.

 

The European market shows somewhere like 200 cars for sale at the moment.

FWIIW, since the Lyon sales of the two Red/Blacks at 90.000€, other sales I am aware of concern a Red/Cream in Holland 34.000km which I believe went for 120.000€ this last week

https://www.facebook.com/ginacollectorcars/photos/ms.c.eJw9zdsNwDAIQ9GNKjDhtf9iVePC55HJjbdomEqWdZc9~;vu4RLiMoZpm6mPj~;e6H~_753GuO89xnjorfX97~_jvwHua~;Zl~_gh6d~;Zieibfjs4xbh~;1AqWKMFQ~-.bps.a.590163091173318.1073741948.165543843635247/590163107839983/?type=3&theater

and a 1-owner Black/Tan that appeared to be exceptional in every way, 18.000 km, sold for 134.000€ yesterday.

2000 Ferrari 550 Maranello | Weekend Heroes

Many cars that were listed in the 130 to 160K bracket are surreptitiously being nudged 10 or 20k at a time lower.

 

I'd prefer to build a wall around Brussels, seal it at the top...

 

Ferrari 550 Maranello manual LHD left hand drive 16,000 miles only from new | eBay

If true, fetched £73.000 or about 85.000€ - ex Japan car, saw it in the flesh, bizarrely repainted with no black skirts any more but genuine mileage and very clean.

 

That listing ended with reserve not met. It has been relisted here..

Ferrari 550 Maranello manual LHD left hand drive 16,000 miles only from new | eBay

Buy it now for £84,950 which is the same price that it is on for on Pistonheads....

The narrative reads like a bad dream:

"options include factory Scudderia Ferrari wing shields", Exhibit A attached, m'lud.

"Xenon lamps.." Either an aftermarket retrofit or perhaps just some more BS?

"totally unmarked and as new condition... " What about the repainted lower panels?

"perfect example for Ferrari Classiche certification" Aren't they all?

I'm surprised you travelled to view it.
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Because it was 15 miles from where my parents live ........ and there's another, better, car nearby.

Isn't it funny how 95% of small-ads and even dealer BS show stuff as if they were trying to sell the model, the concept, the design, the history even ?

How many moody pictures of rear wings, air-vents, do we need ?

There's even one current advert extolling the size of the 550 bonnet air-inlet as being to give the engine enough fresh air - I wonder if that's peculiar to their car ?

Easier, I suppose, than showing the state of the driver's seat bolster, overspray marks around the bonnet hinges, cut-aways in the floor-pan to access filters, scrapes on the inside edges of wheel rims, front bumper brackets (visible either side of the radiator, below) that have been re-drilled to get the holes to line up, or the condition of your fingers when you've manipulated the bonnet-latch's sticky-finish.

 

Do not forget the 575s with larger brakes and better weight distribution, both common threads in ads.

 

The good cars sell themselves. Just facts, no adjectives.

 

Hello everyone,

Just an FYI.

I did call the seller of this car. He seemed to have a good demeanor and seemed genuine? But when I asked for all of the information to be emailed to me showing history and so fourth, no reply. The seller could be a reputable one, but with a couple of attempts, that's all I need to walk away!

I am thinking of getting a 550/575. I don't mind one with high mileage provided the service history is there! To be honest I am looking at all models...360/430, 512TR. I am in no rush so if the right one presents it's self either here in Canada or overseas, I'm game!

Cheers

 

Any Jap export that was bought at auction IN JAPAN comes more or less whitewashed, in that history beyond the MoT / TuV certificates is absent.

In my experience.

So there's no history for the sellers to submit.

However, for the mechanically astute, who gives a toss if a 20.000km car has no service stamps ? The Japanese are notoriously fastidious , the ones that own the cars are not short of a few bob to get the servicing done, and as long as the belts gets changed before they break there is no substitute for low mileage.

And those Jap Shaken MoT's are a great way of giving credibility ; I'm looking at cars that have done 100 km from one year to the next. The chassis numbers and the kms are in legible conventional numbers.

And if they've been in a heated, darkened and underground parking space, in a climate that has never seen salt, in an environment where using the performance is impossible, that sounds like car buyer's heaven.

European dealers' anecdotes of being paid for changing oil that didn't need changing are legion, all in the name of the stamp in the book.

Ferrari have been very clever in endowing the dealers with a status akin to that of a guru, whereas most of the operations carried out on the 550, at least, are no different to those carried out in a Ford dealership.

AND whilst enabling them to cooly bill 7000€ (read my lips) for "sticky switch" treatment - seen just last week in Belgium, with the original invoice in my hands. They have the nerve to use that same term as a line on the bill.

 

So I needed a radiator plug for my 550 (damned thing was plastic and I wanted the aluminium one)...I swing by the local (80km away!) F dealer. New building. Nice. Ask to see the parts department.

While waiting I spot an F40 in the showroom. I ask the receptionist if the F40 is for sale. "We have no F40 in stock" she replies...maybe I was wrong and it was a Fiero with an F40 bodykit...anyway...

Up comes the parts guy and I explain what I need. He digs up his parts catalog (he goes to the Eurospares website would you believe it!) but he cannot point to the right part. So we walk to the garage in search for the chief mechanic. Up walks a guy that was probably 3-5 years old when the 550 was new.

Guess what...;o)

 

Further evidence of some consolidation ?

The "Schumacher" version 70.000km being touted in Holland for 150K€ is being privately advertised at 115.

Is that model actually any different than what any Tom-Dick-Or-Harry could order by ticking Rosso C over Grey, plus roll-bar, carbon seats, and the FHP ? We're there other one-off options that made this car different ? There doesn't seem to be any WSR-type badging or w.h.y.

 

I am wondering if Rory got any satisfaction from this search quest? On mobile.de there are 76 550s marked as being for sale in continental Europe right now. Lots of high milers (not saying that's bad, just a fact) clustered around 80-120k euros. Then the asking prices go up with lower miles, almost in direct proportion. It doesn't look like a natural market, looks like a bit of a panic. There aren't many cars that jump out. Many nice ones are plainly being hung onto, also.

Asking prices are around what they were in mid-to-late 2015. Plainly most of these cars are not selling.

One that looked interesting was this one. In current asking price terms, it's quite reasonable. If it's real, it could be a good buy.

Ferrari F 550 Maranello Like a new car!!!!! als Sportwagen/Coupé in Madrid

 

That one does indeed look particularly nice Darius. Just look at the leather covering the steering wheel airbag - I can see no evidence of UV damage so might assume that this car has led a pampered life.

 

Mogulboy, that's what i would expect for such a price.....

Darius, the car looks very well, escpecially inside. Pricely, I would consider it on the high side, low mileage but an "average" color combination. As special equipments don't show any issue on prices here in Europe, it's still worth considering....

 

Where to find?

 

Yes, and it's also a 2001, which I think some people value.