New Ferrari Owner Paranoia

You own the car. Don't let the car own you. It's a car made to enjoy.

 

Start off with some nice point A to point A drives. Get to know the car and enjoy it. As your comfort level increases, expand the usage scenarios - grocery store, Starbucks, restaurants, cars & coffee, etc. Park in sensible locations, be courteous. In nearly 25 K miles and 5 years, the response of people to our Ferrari has been overwhelmingly positive. To be honest, it's a bit humbling driving a car that so many people dream of owning. As said above, own the car, don't let it own you. Enjoy...T

 

Agree with Tom. To paraphrase from Toy Story: it is a car. C. A. R. Maybe a special car, but still a car. If something happens to it, deal with it and move on. Not the end of the world and certainly not a reason to not drive and enjoy.

 

Whenever I park in a public lot, such as at the supermarket, I park far back where there are empty spaces and if the lot is on a slant, always uphill.

When you do this you may find someone parking next to you. However, it usually is someone else with a nice car who doesn't want their car dinged. So you know they are not going to ding you and they are comfortable when you return that you will not ding them.

 

Costco is actually a great place to park your F-car as they tend to have very large parking spaces and very large lots.

Also, depending on which F-car you have, can actually pack a lot of groceries in it!

Enjoy your F-car!

T
p.s. I have no idea how I made that heat-wave effect!
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I do this as well, except the uphill part (it's pretty flat here!), and have only had people park nearby a few times, and then a respectable distance away. Once it was a clapped out mini-van. Turns it was a mom and her son, and he was totally digging the F-car. I think the young man knew more about the car than I did! For all the worries about dings, depreciation, etc. these are the things I have really enjoyed during F owndership...T

 

Now you're talkin'!!!!

And another anxiety reliever - change your odometer to miles till empty. You will then not see how many mile you are putting on. Has cured me of mileage anxiety.

 

It's time! I like going for early morning drives, especially weekends, before there is much traffic and it's a bit cooler...T

 

From what I understand, any accident that's not reported to insurance and repaired by a 3rd party doesn't get reported to CarFax.

 

Your car has a sad!!!

 

It’s a normal part of the process. Just go enjoy it.


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If it really bothers you, just take trips and then come home, never parking anywhere.

 

Break your fear or you will not really enjoy the car. You'll be one of those paranoid souls who only ever drives Point A to Point A.* IMO it's a terrible way to live.

I think that you'll be pleasantly surprised how respectful people are overall. I started with a 'driver' level 355 and drove it everywhere in Vegas and left it with the top open. Over 4 years, I would see people check it out and take pictures with it but they didn't damage it. That initial experience lead to several more years of near-daily use of my next ones.

One time, someone poured a big gulp of Coke down the side of my 458 but it was already wrapped (and left the cup beside it) so no damage. That was at my own office complex... we have wandering vagrant traffic issue in the back.

I'll add, it sounds backwards but that's why you need to get through that First Scratch, probably under the spoiler lip, vent in rage, and then get back in the car and drive the heck out of it for the next 2-4 years. The first one always stings. But then, you are freed from perfection and can get as much driving out of it as you can muster.

*Growing up, the only person in my extended family who had a Ferrari (my step dad's second cousin, an early 328) was so worried about damage or vandalism he never drove it. In a decade I never actually saw it, was basically a mythology in the family.

 

"I think that you'll be pleasantly surprised how respectful people are overall. "
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That has been my experience driving and parking my 575 in 45 States over a 16 year period. No door dings or intentional damage. I think the major issue is to decide why you have a Ferrari, if it's going to be enjoyed as garage art , then minimal driving, risk exposure and stress. After a lot of thought and mental "conditioning" I decided that I would accept the "risks" of damage from driving a Ferrari. I have been fortunate and after 105,000 miles, the car has had no significant "trauma". Even if the car had sustained dings, scratches, etc., the 100,000+ miles of pure driving pleasure were more than worth it. On the other hand, enjoying the car sitting in the garage as mechanical art is just as valid an experience and from mileage reported on resale, seems to be the majority of owners

 

Miami is chock full of exotics.

Maybe one of the few places in the world where you can semi fly under the radar. They're just not that unusual down here. It ain't Iowa.

 

I can vouch that Steve has put these miles on his car. It still looks amazing.
Steve was good to see y’all at Crescent this year.

 

"Steve was good to see y’all at Crescent this year."
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Multiple days of good people, fun roads and 1100 more miles on the "clock". Two run, airport runway drag race, La Ferrari vs GT3 RS was the best! :>)

 

I rarely park my 328 , and when I do, Its always in my field of vision. Im not sure about the drivers in FL, they cant be any worse than In California, so just keep your eyes scanning, as if you were on a motorcycle and you will be ok, The worst you can do, is NOT DRIVE IT !! lol

Thank you

 

The biggest problem is a police report.....public record

 

very true!

 

Unless it's a rare bird of some kind, why would you get mile anxiety? In this case it's a 488. Pile iit on.

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In six weeks I logged 3500 km on my Pista Spider.

Just drive it. A car not driven has no value imo.

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