why are Ferrari buyers so hung up on low mileage?

I pondered a bit

1/ There are some people who only drive a couple hundred miles a year - especially in the USA, probably boosted by the wage gap top earner profile in the US - that you don't see world wide.

2/ When you have two comparable cars, one with lower mileage the less used item will be worth more

3/ This has a market effect on pricing.

4/ It also has a feedback effect on desirability - money no object buyers will often only look at the dearest few idea being they are the best, sorted, and sold by reputable places.

5/ This feedback loop in (3), but more strongly (4), and good used demand (including allegedly Ferrari buying on the used market) widens the gap between reasonable depreciation for mileage and over-sensitivity to mileage - In the USA but this has bled elsewhere, where to be frank such financial success is harder to come by.

6/ Side effect is people who have oil under their nails getting a decent opportunity to buy a car at a fantastic discount.

6a/ Also results in something that has only been alluded to in this thread "Odomoter Calibration" which as far as I'm aware is widespread and not limited to private owners. IE the high profile case of Ferrari being called out for doing it by a disgruntled worker/buyer (hazy memory). Function exists for when cars are re-shelled but is used outside of that.



Extraneous to all that we get arguments about "you are driving it too much/too little", and the anecdote that used cars need less maintenance (unproven to me, but I can see it being the case, though not with F360 ball joints for sure). I'll have to go and sit in some aventaodors now as I'm tall. Dream killer or what?

 

Interesting stuff.

I'm European, so could you explain #1 in greater detail please?

Thanks

 

In the same way for market values




My sense is as Daniel Ariely would point out in “irrationally rational “ that the real offset in miles is less than our perceived offset.

I expect it comes from the under 1000 miles is like a new car and preserves the value near new for those that aren’t really interested in the driving experience as opposed to the owning experience.

Could be wrong.

I drive a Ferrari every day and every time I drive. Life is short.



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Happy to. Its my view only.

In spite of people predicting the collapse of America with perennial problems with the party system / obesity / degenerative culture / oxy death / lobbying... there is no denying it is a big country, resource rich with smart people who are the descendants of the adventurous / risk taking few who moved there (all this is in general). The economic juggernaut just will not be stopped.

My view is that most successful people in the EU would be financially better off in the US, both because of the availability of opportunity and tax system which seems to help HNW people more than in the EU. Mid level is probably around the same, but when we are talking about people with 5 Ferrari and they are in the sub 0.1% (guess)

Some of the driver of value gap when talking about very low mileage cars is signalling cache.
When your NW is 100x average one way to compete with your peers, who also have a lot, is to have ridiculous idiosyncrasies like - taking the bins out by putting them on top of your Ferrari, or having cars that you have literally never driven for lack of time. Massive power play there, but it does not mean they are bad people. Its just a way to stand out and its a very human urge - one that has driven me to try had and better myself. To some extent successfully.

In the UK there was a period where the gentrified built "Follies" - The idea was to make something that was stupidly expensive and pointless, to wow your buddies. An example being the ballroom that was built entirely under a lake at a stately home in Surrey.

"To create it, 600 workmen dug out four lakes, swept aside hills that got in the way of the view, and built a 32-room neo-Tudor house which was packed with treasures from across the world, including Italian statues and a bronze dolphin’s head so big that it got stuck under a bridge on the way from Southampton. (They had to lower the road to get it out.)"

Though net worth seems to know no limits, the psychological and intelligence bounds are much tighter - eg Bezos is worth vastly more than me (to put it mildly), but probably only twice as smart. Interestingly once you get to the Bill and Warren bank balance status, their method of signalling is to spend a day working in McDonald or whatever and laughing about it. That doesn't work unless its jarringly nonsensical.

All up for discussion. I think this is getting away from the point, apologies for wasting any time. I dont see the $/mileage gap driver in pure $ / economic terms, I think there are interesting societal and psychological underpinnings that drive some market effects for emotional / ego driven purchases. None pejorative use of the word ego.

What are your thoughts?

NB

 

Very interesting, and thank you for elaborating.

I think a lot of the personallity mechanics you describe, also applies to us here in Europe. The idiosyncrasies fits me to a tee. Maybe not the bins, but running boring errands, stopping for coffee at a drive-through in a Ferrari etc. all just because it's a bit of fun. Heck, I'm researching a roof carrier that will fit the SF90 because luggage space for a rjad trip is crap lol.

As you say, many who do stuff like that, are not bad people. Years ago I came to a realization. No matter how low key you try to be in a Ferrari, there will always be an element of show-boating that is beyond control. The cars "demand" attention no matter how quiet you try to be. What I came to find was that things only seemed to get awkward if one were to hide from this. So my philosophy is this. Just own it. Accept it as part of the experience. Nothing wrong with a fun little "happening" so to speak. Is there an element of bragging or peacocking in such idiosyncrasies? Yes, but they are fun and while a bit over the top, positive in their nature. It's a,different way of being proud of what you achieved, so yep, just embrace it and own it, because others respond positive when you are relaxed and comfortable.

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You are an honest person.

A Supercar is a litmus paper - it often tells you more about the person objecting to it / enjoying seeing it than it tells you about the owner. My personal favorite interaction being when I used to get next to a school bus at the traffic lights, wave and nail it. Unbound joy and a dream kick-starter for young kids (hopefully). As a father, the joy of a young boy is something special, worth cultivating, and one of the real positives of super-cars existing. (Some girls like them too!)

 

Extremely interesting commentary. Another way of “signaling” wealth with Ferrari’s for a small subset of owners is driving the wheels off them and using them for mundane tasks because you own several and mileage and rock chips just don’t matter. I remember reading a story in some car mag many years ago about an elderly Italian Count (IIRC) who drove his Ferrari 250GTO around daily to the shops, etc. He would smoke his cigar while driving it and on the passenger seat was his big ‘ol dog who went everywhere with him. Now that is cool!

 

Absolutely cool, and I'd like to think I'm that type of person too.

Knowingly or not, its also remarkable, as in it garners a level of notoriety.

Anything can be over-analysed, and its unfair to do it. The facts have to speak for themselves at some point otherwise all genuine virtue could be misappropriated as attention seeking. IE It's impossible to separate any affected signal (intentional/conscious or not) from someone gaming the life algorithm. Like, click, subscribe!

(I say "intentional/conscious or not" as its just one step from an intentional gaming to just say "its my personality". Not sure if there is any in reality difference (outcomes) or if its just human semantics.)

If we get too far into it I'm going to start being accused of signalling to be some bare foot bathrobe wearing philosophical dude, fundamentally misunderstanding what this place is about

 

Do I fall within that category? 8300 on the GTS in three months

Kinda proud of that number

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You’re fine, interesting discussion.
It is a slippery slope because virtually anything can be attributed to some basic peacock signaling, subconscious or otherwise. I happen to love to drive my Ferrari’s (47k miles on 458 spider, 11k on Speciale for instance). I may be signaling I suppose, but I honestly wish there were no other drivers on the road, like ever, as in an Omega Man (or remake I Am Legend) post-apocalyptic type world. I just love the whole driving experience too much to not pile on miles. My 458 spider passenger door has a couple small door dings I won’t fix because I don’t want it to be too perfect.

 

Yes!
I can’t wait to get my GTS!

 

Can't wait to get the Pirellis off of it. God they suck

 

When I had my first Ferrari a 458 spider on my first day with it my 225 pound English Mastiiff ran over and leaped over the closed door into the passenger seat and refused to leave until I took him for a drive, drool flying and all.
It was an epic event that I survived despite my heart attack. After that a didn’t sweat the small dings etc


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I specified Michelin on my build.

 

Tried to, but Maranello came back and said that we could not specify a tyre. They told us that Michelins would only be used if Pirellis were out of stick. Is this written in your build sheet?

 

Growing up we had an Old English Mastiff, her birthday was the same as mine. Loved her! Drool was epic!

 

Yep, on the build sheet and on the MyFerrari app specs.

 

'Talk about mundane:
I used to drive my yellow Enzo to Home Depot when I needed just a few items (but not on crowded weekends and peek times). They eventually got to know me somehow and always asked what car I drove today. Often people would accrue by the time I got back to the car and I let people take pictures of their kids in the drivers seat. I'm sure everybody had a good feeling about the "Event". I'll admit it was part of the fun of ownership.

Ali

 

Yes, comes up as TYMX Michelin tyres. It's odd that you can't request them in Europe. All of my builds in the US have always requested them and all but one build came with them. The one that didn't was my 488 spider which the dealer swapped out immediately.

 

Ordered mine with Michelin’s here in US and got them- no sweat.


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I asked for them when ordering my Lusso in France. The dealer told me that this would go as a special request, and might be denied by the factory, based on availability. But the dealer agreed to swap the tires to Michelin if it ever came with P Zeros. Luckily, I got the Michelins.

 

Coming back to the original discussion about mileage, I wonder what issues would crop up if you kept an 812 or GTS and drove it for 50k, 70k, 90k or more miles. Obviously most owners don’t, but I plan to.

would you need an engine rebuild at some point? Or other issues? I don’t mean obvious replacement things like tyres and brake pads

 

I certainly don’t know, but I’d be concerned that such a highly stressed engine would indeed need a rebuild in the 75K-125K miles range.

 

Dang I will never buy a SLS LOL!

 

Different strokes for different folks I can’t get over the big old nose of the STO not to mention it is underpowered. The F8 is a way better choice for ME!

Now I do like Lambo’s but Aventadors are not drivers cars more of just a wow car. I had a friend who had one and said he wished he hadn’t sold his 458 that it was
A much better driving car. That being said I would not kick an Aventador out of bed!