Hi all, message from a newbie. I'm seriously considering buying a 550 next year when I've saved up enough. The car is a bit above my meagre Mining Engineer's standing but working taxfree without a wife helps and around this time next year I should be in the market (if only I lived in the US, where they cost 30% less than what they cost in Holland! Then again, unrestricted highways are only 200km away in Germany). I've found this forum to be a great help, particularly the experiences from owners. Thanks guys, it gives a great insight into Ferrari (and 550) ownership issues. However, the most useful resource I've found to be UK magazine EVO, where the Editor was running a 550 as a daily driver for 18 months. All his reports can be found on their website, and I thought it may be useful or interesting to you guys as well. The End Of Term report can be found here: http://www.evo.co.uk/carreviews/evolongtermtests/201227/ferrari_550.html I think it gives much better insight into the running costs for a UK-based 550 than the article in the other thread which talks about $10/km. There is also an interesting report on when he put his 550 on the dyno, with very good results. You can find it here: http://www.evo.co.uk/carreviews/evolongtermtests/60696/ferrari_550.html Cheers, Onno
Very nice article! Does anybody know the dates when Ferrari "changed the glue company" that cause the leather to pull away in the dash/windshield area? -Joe
Thanks for the link! Great review and extremely helpful. Good luck and post pics of your 550 when you get it!
Begining of 1998 until the end of 1999, was the period when the sub-standard adhesive was used, nearly 2 years worth of production ! It is worth noting that not all cars affected only those left in bright sunlight for long periods 3+ hours... Argento
Quote:Good luck and post pics of your 550 when you get it! As if I wouldn't ! I'm aiming to do some test driving this summer, and I will let you know my experiences. My intention is to take a long time before deciding - I want to know all there is to know about these cars before I fork out 100k (Euro). I'm not a complete Ferrari virgin (my brother owned a 328GTB), but there is a lot to be learned. I might get one from Germany, Belgium or somewhere else in Europe if there isn't a nice example to be found in Holland. I'm aiming for a Blu Tour de France with black/tan hide, but we'll see; I like the other dark metallic colours too. It'll be an exciting 12 months, I think. Onno P.S. How do quotes work in this place?
You don't really need to spend 100K for a 550 nowadays. That's more like 575M "Fiorano" money. In Switzerland the lowest-mileage 550s can be found for about 85K Euros; I may sell my own 550 (nero daytona, tan leather, Fiorano set-up, barchetta wheels, a real beauty) if I find a good replacement 575 Fiorano, for 65K Euros. On the Swiss market now a non-Fiorano 575M will realistically go for 85K; a Fiorano for 90-100K. So, if you can bear doing all the boring import papers, I strongly suggest you look at the Swiss market, I will be able to help you with this: I am managing partner in a company that is specialized in supercar trading, we regularly export to the EU. PM me if you wish to talk about this further.
Hey, that's good news. Prices in Holland are certainly not like that, the cheaper ones tend to be around EUR80K, but they have serious mileage. Cars at Ferrari specialists for EUR100K still have 40,000kms on the clock (see this link: http://www.munsterhuissportscars.nl/html/index1.html , click on Occasions). So EUR65K is a real bargain in my opinion. Very nice spec you have on your car, BTW, I would be a happy man owning one of those! I will certainly go snooping on the Swiss market. I'm not in a hurry (I work abroad so I can't drive the car regularly anyway) and importing might be the way to go. I'm just worried about things I might have to do in person. I work in the middle of nowhere and it's not easy for me to get to Switzerland, say. Does anybody have any idea on the paperwork involved? Help is appreciated, as are your great replies. [Edit: Just did some research on the Dutch tax laws. Note to sensitive US readers - you may want to sit down before proceeding...) We have a tax here on top of VAT (that's right, tax on tax, for motor vehicles only) which comes to 45.2% for new cars. But it reduces for older cars, so if you are importing a car, you will need to pay a reduced amount. For a 550 Maranello we will assume the 1999 price when new of EUR255,024. We then get the following table: Date registered abroad TAX owed on import (EUR) Jan 1997 11,157 Jan 1998 13,947 Jan 1999 16,039 Jan 2000 19,526 Jan 2001 22,798 Makes importing seem rather less of an option, unless you could really get a nice low mileage number for less than 75K. God, I love this country....] Onno
Seems Niki Hasler in Basel, CH, has a 12,500km example for EUR74K from 1997. With import that would come to 85K. There is also a 2001, 23,000km example for the same price. With import that would come to 97K. You can definitely not buy a similar 550 in Holland for that money. I'll keep this option open. Thanks for the tip! Onno
Hi, forget about official dealer prices, we can get you cars with full Ferrari history for 10K less than dealer prices. Just contact me by PM when you are ready. Our company deals exactly in this sort of cars, we can help you sort out all the paperwork for export to the EU. We could arrange the car to be delivered at your door (by truck) in Holland, so that you don't have to worry about going to Switzerland at all, although we do encourage you to come and test a car before buying it! We can also provide EU-wide insurance warranty with substantial coverage for much lower prices than the official Ferrari Power warranty (which does not cover you 100% in any case!). By the way, I would go for cars that are at least Y2000, since they had many upgrades (reinforced coolant hoses and engine mounts are the most important). If you are interested in my very own car I could send you pictures by e-mail.
Thanks Andre, I'll definitely keep that in mind. I had heard about the improvements and would prefer a newer car, but that will cost me a fair bit extra importing. Buying from a non-dealer may be a great way to compensate for that. If I had the dosh I'd be very interested in your car but it's a bit too early at the moment. I'll keep you posted. Onno
