Highest Price Ever Paid for F430 6-spd Gated MT

Hello 67bmer:

Thank you for this resent update! I had to look back to see if I ever told everyone the 'Rest of the Story' as Paul Harvey used to say. The whole purpose of me starting this thread was I was negotiating to purchase a 2009 F430 Spider Manual Transmission with 3,927 miles on it's clock that I had found on AutoTrader that was up in Salt Lake City. It had some very nice appointments which included the Premium Bose Sound system which was an extra 7.2K listed on the window sticker.

The car was originally listed for sale at $280K which was in the fall of 2016. In December of 2016 I made an offer of $245K which was turned down. Right before Christmas I visited the Ferrari Dealership in Beverly Hills to further hone in on a proper price for the vehicle. However, I never told them about the car I had found online. I next went to the Ferrari Dealership in Torrance, CA but there I told the GM about the car I was looking at and asked if I may ever see another 2009 F430 Spider MT with that low of mileage in my lifetime; if I past it up? His answer was 'not likely.' BTW, at the time I was 66. He said he offer $250K as the car was in Concours condition.

I waited until after the New Year and sent them an Email offering $250K for the vehicle, but never got a reply. After giving it another week I called them on the phone and asked them why they hadn't replied to my offer of $250K? I was told an offer of $250K was already made a week earlier and the owner had turned down the offer, as the car was on consignment with the Dealership. I figured it was probably the Torrance GM who had probably made the offer and was the very reason I was keeping it quiet about the vehicle as I didn't want to invite competition. Of course I was pissed that I wasn't told there was now competition for the very vehicle I had been negotiating for the last several months. I therefore asked if they would call me and let me know if any other competitive offers were made before they sold the vehicle, and they said they would. I was told the bare minimum the owner was now willing to accept was $260K.

After I hung up I realized they'd never be calling me to alert me of another potential buyer and the car would simply be sold before I could do anything about it. I also realized if I made another offer I needed to create a sense of urgency for them to act and respond to my offer ASAP, to close the deal. So after 5 minutes I called them back and offered $255K and told them if he wouldn't sell it, I would be flying down to Plano, TX to buy a 2007 F430 Spider MT for $180K the following day; so the money I was offering was soon, to go bye, bye, if I hadn't got a response soon!

Within about 2 minutes the phone rang and I was told I was the new proud owner of a 2009 F430 Spider MT with only 3,927 miles on its clock. However, they wanted me to fly to Salt Lafe City immediately to finalize the deal. When I hung up, I screamed halleluiah, the car is finally mine! I had spent nearly 3 months negotiating for the car. So, on January 19, 2017 I flew to Salt Lake City and purchased the vehicle, and it truly was in perfect condition. Sean Harris, the GM of Salt Lake City Ferrari was a great guy, and throw in the cost of 1K to have the vehicle shipped to me by trailer. At the time I was wondering if I had overpaid for the vehicle?

It's now been 7 years since I bought the car and it's still got under 5K on it's clock and is in perfect condition. The only things I have down to the car is add the Capristo Exhaust bracket for the rear muffler, add a front license plate by a bracket, new Michelin tires, and new tire pressure sensors. In Manhattan Beach they're sticklers for front license plates and the fine is hefty and I don't want ticket.

I love the gated manual transmission as it's sooo much fun to drive! It's good to know, I did indeed make a very wise investment! It really doesn't surprise me my manual 2009 is outselling the Scuds and 16Ms. However, I do recall reading about, I believe it was a 16M, that had been converted to a MT, but it may have been a Scud that was converted.

So thank you very much for your recent post!

johnfe

 

GogglesPisano:

Thanks, and it was also in 'Russo Resale Red' with Beige Daytona seats. I couldn't be happier with it, and doubt whether I'd ever sell it, but when never knows you can't predict the future.

Since before buying the F430 I had never even sat in one much less even drove one. Lol! The entire purpose of me starting this thread was to get an idea of what these cars were selling for, especially the ones on the high end. Obviously, I didn't want to overpay for the vehicle if I didn't have to. The problem for me was once I saw the 2009 F430 Spider MT in Salt Lake City, no other vehicle could measure up to it. So I knew I had to buy it. My persistence paid off as I was able to knock down the price by $25K.

However, in all these situations I believe there is an element of luck involved as well. Sean Harris the GM of Salt Lake City Ferrari told me the PO was a dentist who was hoping to hold out until the summer in order to get the top dollar for it since it was a Spider. But as luck would have it the dentist's wife suddenly got quite ill and when taken to the hospital it was initially thought, she might have a terminal illness, which happened only a few days before my call and final offer.

He stated the dentist suddenly realized there's more important things in life to attend to than squeezing every last dollar out of a car and attending to his wife was now more important. Honestly, Sean Harris stated; I don't think he'd have sold it when he did if that hadn't happened. Now I never did find out how the dentist's wife health turned out and wished no harm to her, but didn't mind an event happening that realigned the dentist's financial priorities.

Everyone on this forum was quite cordial especially since I was playing 'devils advocate' to challenge almost everything that I was being told. However, there was this one guy whose comment was quite snarky, which I never forgot.

348SStb: stated and I quote below: (That's on page 10 of this thread to put his comment in proper context)

"Thanks for the arithmetic and the 3rd grade math lesson. One can see that after joining this community a month ago and having had absolutely zero experience with Ferraris, you have quickly become quite the market analysis expert."

I basically ignored him, but may now remind him; 'He who laughs last, laughs the hardest.'

Thanks to all who participated meaningfully in this thread,

johnfe

 

Sankar:

Congratulations on your purchase, I couldn't agree with you more about the amount of enjoyment I have when driving my F430. I swear I get a natural high every time I drive it!

I never had the opportunity to drive an F1 so I can't compare the difference. However, before buying the Ferrari I was looking to buy a 2003 Aston Martin DB7. That was back in 2013. Back then I had to choose between a MT and Aston Martin's paddle shifted vehicle. I believe they referred to it as 'Touchtronic Transmission.' I first drove the 'Touchtronic' vehicle but, after driving the MT (Volante) DB7 my mind was made up; I simply had more fun driving it by manually pushing in the clutch and running through the gears. I can only assume the experience would be similar with the Ferrari's as well.

I still have the 2003 Aston Martin DB7 Vantage Volante which is a V12. It's a totally different experience, more of a grand touring, smooth running vehicle which is quite heavy by comparison. The DB7 has the weight of a Tank whereas the F430 is more like the weight of Linguini, lol!

Thanks for commenting,

johnfe