Cost/Maintenance Spread Sheet

Bad idea. Everyone already knows they are upside down on these cars. But if anyone ever really seen it all in black and red it would probably push quite a few over the line. Ferrari's arent rational things to own in the first place, so why be rational about tracking expenses? It would be like tracking expenses on dating a girlfriend or having a wife and kids, you would go crazy if you seen the numbers.

 

I think the one that Steve has at his website is great. I just don't have time to do it for myself.
http://ferrari.stevejenkins.com/history/index.html?carid=gts328

 

I agree. If you need to track this sort of thing, sell the car, boat, plane, whatever toy. But, each to their own brand of masochism.

 

I have such an Excel maintenance expense sheet for all expenses except gas. No need to share publically as it's quite basic.
columns are A=date B=company C=type D=description E=cost

Each column is formatted to reflect contents and bottom line has standard =SUM(E1:E42) to totalize.
I can send you the empty .xls file if you aren't familiar with Excel. FWIW, my maintenance cost is $13k after 10 years and 10k miles.

 

There were several old threads on the board (now old archive) when I bought my 308.
The rule-of-thumb seemed to be
1) Buy the best example of the model you want that you can afford
2) Don't look at the gas guage except to keep it full
3) expect to spend $4K/year on average.
it's pretty spot-on.

I have all the records for my car.
I tried to translate Dealer-ese into a spreadsheet a few years back & gave up.
As of now, Quicken has all my details in it and GT Car Parts is a memorized transaction.
And I'm smart enough not to ask for a report on the Ferrari.
It would be painful. Reality is such a bummer.

I do track my gas mileage & gas purchases & do publish them here every year.

 

I did this spreadsheet thing on our boat shortly after we bought it 5 years ago and quit doing it within 6 months. It was too depressing and just interfered with using it. Now I just log whatever I do maint/repair wise as info of what I did in some detail but I NEVER put any associated costs down. I'm much happier that way and it would be too much of a downer for me to actually KNOW how much money I'm spending.

That being said, it's hard to argue that such accounting is a bad idea, I'm just not organized enough or willing to deal with the depression!

 

this is exactly what happened to me! i started tracking it, then got depressed. I solved the problem by taking one digit off the right side of the each number, and now i have only spent about $1,000

 

I made up a simple excel spreadsheet and record all spending and hours worked on. The only things I don't roll in are , insurance , registration and gas.

 

I think some take the idea of a spreadsheet the wrong way. It isn't done to form conclusions but to combine the documentation onto a single page. Example, when I can't remember my tire sizes, I look on this form.

One thing I would have done differently would be to add a column for mileage, I focused instead upon date...both are informative.

 

The spread sheet would me me, and more importantly, my wife very unhappy.

No excel sheets allowed.

 

I keep one, I just modify the formulas to decrease all entries: Enron school of business taught me well

 

Hi guys.

I've made this Excel sheet, that I use to know the regular services, spares, etc. Maybe it will be useful for you.

Cheers
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A nice looking sheet! If I just had the nerve to actually see how much I spent/am spending, I'd use it!

 

Cool looking spread sheet! I'll borrow the logo for mine, nice detail! ;-)

I also have an Excel sheet for services/repairs. I put the mileage, part numbers, dates, detailes and paste pictures each time I do any repair or service on the Mondial.

Each service is separated by a page break. I print each page and attach the receipts to it. The pages are then stored in a binder.

It is a continuos, long, vertical file. At the top rows, I have a summary sheet of what I spent, like a table of contents. So far, it has not been too bad costwise, though I do most of the work myself with a friend Ferrari mechanic.

It seams like a lot of work, but it is only 10 minutes max extra each time.

 

Looks very useful, except for the "expenses" part.

 

For sure it is important to record service work, mileage and dates - less so, for the costs.

This is a very worthwhile project. When cars get to be 30+ years old, particularly if they are not often used, we get into a real quandry regarding when and what to service. This is even more compllicated with a garage queen, or a car with few service receipts.

To complicate things further, we have a lot of stuff that gets "done while you are in there", basically off schedule, because "everything was off and it was a nocost-no brainer to replace x part or do x adjustment.

The obvious starting point is to begin with the factory service schedule, them plug in what you know has been done, then project out when each item needs to be done based on miles/time. I can see that his can start to get real unclear, so any of you guys out there with a lot of ferrari 308/mondial experience please feel free to offer your input on mileage/time for each maintenance item. Obviously, many things are on a as needed basis, like tires, alignment, wiper blades..... Other things are mileage/time specific, like the timing belts, (and no, i am not brave enough to posit a mileage/time criteria - I have no flame proof underware).

So, wheel bearings, valve adjustment, fuel hoses, coolant, coolant hoses, thermostat......


Any and all experienced opinions welcome, (I am still playing catch up - I've had the car for 4 years,been working through maintenance items/upgrading, and have been through a lot and have yert to wax the car).

Help,
chris

 

I spend that a year on memorabilia for the car!! And I'm poor!