488 Accident - Repair costs and Depreciation

Yes. A $70,000 deduct, at a minimum, for a $7,000 repair (if it shows up on Carfax) is correct.

Fix it out of pocket. It is the only way.

 

LOL

 

for discerning buyers, the deduct is 100%. a repaired Ferrari is simply a non-starter.

 

A repaired car is saleable, but he does have a point. There is a cadre of buyers who simply will not consider any vehicle with a known damage history. That's what the diminished value compensation is for: your buyer pool is smaller, and everyone will want a discount because they know when *they* go to sell it, that same problem waits for them.

That's why its so amusing to go by the local "exotic repair" body shop. There's a LOT of cars out there with damage that simply is never reported. Someone opens a checkbook and makes sure insurance is never involved. Carfax etc. stays clean, and two buyers down the road nobody knows anything . . .

 

You can have that philosophy, but as you recommend that repairs be made out of pocket, the "discerning" buyer can be easily fooled.

 

There are insurance companies that don't report to carfax. By FAR though, the biggest source of information is police reports, public records.

 

When I was going to sell my 488 last year.... I had told a few people I replaced the windshield due to a small crack from rock. Ferrari dealer did the replacement with Ferrari glass and the windshield is like new no chips. I had people walk away no matter what from the car.
Also just not Ferrari's... I had a 2012 Porsche Carrera GTS and had to replace a headlight and front bumper cover. That took out a lot of potential buyers.

 

That’s really rough, I am sorry to hear. Hopefully the diminished claim comes through and luckily that’s an avenue for you. My state doesn’t allow for diminished claims.

If it were me, I would probably just sell the car right away for another one and try getting the difference back with the diminished value claim. I feel like a repaired car is never really the same no matter how good the shop. No discount would make a car with a bad Carfax worth it imo, not worth it.

 

Good way of looking at it. $50k discount is a nice silver lining to some cosmetic damage. I also imagine the diminished value decreases as you put miles on the car (the people who want low mileage cars probably care more about a clean Carfax), so might as well enjoy the car to its fullest!

Having to wait is the worst. At least you don’t have to worry about salted roads in the winter!

 

So sorry to hear about your unfortunate experience. I think an important question to look into is not so much just the diminished value or "resale value" but the ability to actually sell the car down the road. I don't have any personal experience in this, but I did inquire about a F Car that had been in accident when I was shopping for a car last year. I had inquired about a car locally through a private private and found out that the car had been in a "small" accident and when I kept asking the owner questions, he was pretty honest and showed me images of the accident and his car was priced about 60-80k below market and he struggled to sell it as a "private Party" because he said no Ferrari Dealer would buy or sell his car on consignment. I had no intention of buying a car from a "private party" and wanted a certified Ferrari w/ warranty and build a relationship with my local Ferrari dealership. I would be looking for a minimum of 30-40% in depreciation value and fight on your ability to sell the vehicle in the future. (I would also ask your local dealer if they would ever consider taking your car in on a trade:consignment down the road.