Ferrari too ostentatious for work?

There are places in America I would never take my Ferrari, or even my body for that matter, its just too dangerous. While I agree that what you drive to work should be your own choice, and not to allow your choice to be clouded by those you work with or for, where we drive, or the places we drive through, as well as where we park these beasts requires considerable thought. I dont even go into busy gas stations, I just dont need the ogling crowd BS. But I would NEVER let someone else think for me. If I want to drive MY car, nobody, no boss, no employees, are going to influence MY decision, other than to influence me to find another place of employment.

 

It's hard to imagine anyone falling that far. LOL ;^)

 

My Dino is for my special enjoyment only, and I'd take a cab if necessary to keep from driving it to work. IMHO driving it to work is needless, ostentatious display of wealth, from which no good can come, with the added risk of some vindictive as___le taking a nail to the paint, etc. My 2cts.

 

I you think a Dino is a needless, and ostentatious asset you should not own one. These are beautiful cars and the joy they bring to people who see them being driven far outweighs the negative comments from time. If you live in a part of the world where envy would drive someone to damage your car, you should move to where people are happier with themselves.
It is still just a car and if you have to compromise yourself, by denying the thing you bought because OTHER PEOPLE don't like, you have major issues that need to be worked out.
My experience is that if you drive the car to work on a frequent basis it becomes just that, your transportation. I do it every day because I get a real kick out of driving a Ferrari and the people at my office are used to seeing the cars and they enjoy them as well.

 

+1 410SA..

As I post in the vandalism threads, you just have to take care of it when it happens...You cannot let the vandals win.......LOL!

I have one of mine into the paint shop now, as a matter of fact....

I have stopped driving them to work though, as the exposure and odds do have to be weighed as to surroundings.....

 

To each his own, but driving it to work is just not for me. It may be "just a car", but it's my baby, and not easily replaceable or cheaply/easily fixable from possible vandalism. I don't "compromise myself", I just choose carefully when and where I drive it.

 

If you drive it regularly and you are no poser, I think you will be respected for driving it for the right reasons. If you are a poser and drive a Ferrari just for the image then you should be rightfully scorned. Also, if driven for the right reasons (i.e., passion), people will be curious and you can spread the passion and admiration. Just my $0.02 based on my own personal experience.

 

you can drive a Ferrari for any reason. Poser or not. If that's your game then please, enjoy your life. After all, Enzo didn't even like the road car market...just a necessary evil to fix his racing habit.

 

Drive it if you got it. I retired this year and you will find out that life is to short to worry about this type of issue. I used to drive mine to the office a few times a week and both I and my co-workers thought it was great. I now drive it to the gym and down to the deli and supermarket. Sure is fun when you pull into Home Depot for a can of paint. If it feels good to you then don't worry about the rest. Enjoy the drive

 

i dont see anything wrong with it if you are working among successful people... doctors... investment bankers.. etc.

i work in manufacturing sites where people make $8/hour. i think it would be a slap in their faces if i drove my 355 to work.

 

Interesting thread.

I have to agree that there is no one right answer, including "f'em all, do what you want." There's something to that, of course, but sometimes it just isn't good for business.

I know one guy, a very successful real estate developer, who could not drive a flashy car if he wanted to. He is a public figure in his community and doing anything flashy would invite a relentless sh!tstorm. There is no doubt that he would have a much harder time getting projects approved if he had the reputation of showing off his money. Fortunately for him, he isn't a car guy and has lots of other expensive interests that he can indulge without showing up on the local radar (wine collection, house in Vail, etc.).

Another developer, who currently works in the commercial rather than the residential sector, commutes in his 430. He even had a wall built around his garage space so that no one would ding his car. Since his business isn't subject to the whims of activists and politicians, there is no downside to driving whatever he wants. But he used to work with my other friend and while it made him crazy he followed the same (unwritten) rule and didn't drive any of his exotics in town. He's a smart and successful guy and he knew better than to jeopardize a very successful business through self-indulgence.

 

I find it interesting that some are responding with "just get another job" or "move somewhere where people respect other's belongings". It is not always an option to just "find another job", as this may be the only job that person can do that can pay for a Ferrari. Similarly, unless one is particularly blessed financially there are bound to be envious people in the neighborhood/town/gated fortress community or there will be visitors that feel that way. Telling people to just live their life and get over it is pretty simple in a black and white world, but as previously mentioned there are times and places where conspicuous consumption is punished by ignorant people or less-fortunate people with no hope of ever owning a Ferrari (they are out there, I swear). We know a 308 is cheaper than an Expedition, but if one earned that 308 by working with people that cannot afford any new car not built in Korea it just takes the joy out of driving the 308 to work. It just isn't worth it. Better to find a more idealized setting to truly wring the car out and do what it was meant to do every weekend than drive in rush hour to work on a weekday and prepare to argue with people who have no interest in listening to your argument. Some people have to walk that tightrope in order to even have a Ferrari. "No compromises" leaves one sitting all alone wondering where everything went and why nobody wants to talk to them.


gp

 

I should have made specific examples.....

Drove a 1977 Ferrari to construction site, I was Project Manager of $4M contract.
Smashed out tailight lens, $475 + labor, dent in rear quarter where they 'missed' with pipe wrench...$500 respray.

Jusy fixed it, but put word out that if I ever found them they'd be toast...


Another site, $6M expansion of existing well known Medical facility, car parked at Centarl Plant where we were bringing in more 15KV circuits......
Antenna trim stolen, necessitating new total unit, non OEM, acid (From Path Lab?) down a cracked open window in 100 degree heat, ruined interior leather, arm rest, window trim black anodizing, etc.......big bucks repair.

Of course, seeing normal road use I have been hit by a Mustang, out of control backwards at 124 MPH...came across three lanes!

Hit T bone in driver's door by Suburban, spun completely in the wet grass, leaving display as Art Car.

Then just last month, again an Art Car function, someone caved in the front clip sitting on it for a photo???
$800 damage at FoH to repair.


So you can leave it in your garage...or drive it everywhere........or something in between, as your wallet can support.
A newer car, all this would have bankrupted me! LOL!

 

Dude! You've had some bad luck! That's no fun at all.

 

So if I assume you have a trophy wife then you must not let her out.

 

Enzo was a driver. He was about speed. Enzo was no poser!

 

>>>Everyone had mansions, a Rolls Royce with a chauffeur, a gardener, a butler, etc., yet all were highly respected. They could park downtown and walk into their offices or buildings, and even the wash women and elevator operators smiled and waved, even as desperate as times were in those days. The kids would walk around the cars and marvel at them. It truly was a life to strive for. Yet today, there is an even higher percentage who have achieved some semblance of wealth, and there are greater opportunities to achieve it today than ever existed before. Now you can’t drive your car to your work because the employees wont like it?<<<


The view I seem to be getting from many is that the cost of the Ferrari is not sooo much the issue as is the nature of the car....

What's that saying about "XXXX car is your girlfriend/wife, but a Ferrari is your mistress."

It sounds like the same negative attitude one would get if their work collagues knew that they were married, but they showed up to the company picnic with an very attractive mistress or (worse yet) call girl. Catch the drift?

Sure, show up to work in your brand new BMW/Mercedes/Volvo/Saab/Audi/etc...expensive, but sedatly viewed. Show up with something that THEY (Ferrari/etc...) want, and you are now being totally envied.

Many exotics cause you to be viewed as a "bad-boy, speed limit scoff-law" type because others know that your are driving something that is meant to perform WAY above the standards needed for normal driving...that your car possesses abilities that their does not. They may think, "why do you need a car that can do 180+ mph?"

My view is that is you have to explain it to them, they wouldn't "get it" anyway....

It's your life, you sacrificed for the car (or maybe you didn't), enjoy the fruits of your efforts.

Only caution: if ticking off the clients that helped you gain the ability to get that car could cut back doing business with you, thus causing a big loss, then just keep things on the "down-low"....no sense in inviting trouble.

 

Sure does, and it can differ from niche to niche even within the same field. I'm a transactional attorney, and I work by the hour as you know. I just bought my first F-car, but I already know that I'm going to have to be real careful about how I bring that thing to work or drive it around clients. The unfortunate perception in my niche area of the law is that we're too damn expensive to start with, so we're careful not to be too flashy even when it comes to office decor and things like that. We've had some prospective new clients come in the office, look around at some nice antiques or whatever, and say something like "I'm not paying $350 an hour for this ****," and walk out the door. If they saw a Ferrari in the parking lot it would only make it worse. Some of my clients will understand. Candidly, most of them won't, and that's a shame.

 

Robert:

That is a shame. Its touph on a hourly basis. Personally if I'm going to hire someone who is going to cut on me (a doctor) or save me financially (a lawyer) I want the most successful in the field.

I'm a business/individual litigation attorney, who works my fees into a partnership agreement with my clients with my fees contigent upon outcome. If a client were to notice a new ferrari outside of the office they are inspired!! Clients want you successful, they just dont want you successful to thier detriment.

Many transactional firms are trying to think outside the box in their fee structure. If you can include a contingent component when possible you can dust off that Ferrari cover!!

 

Like Frank, I'm a contingency fee lawyer. People come to us because we've a record of getting adequate compensation for those that seek our assistance. They hope that we're successful, because that means we've done well for our clients.

I've NEVER had any of my cars vandalized. I've NEVER had nasty comments made about the car. I have received numerous comments about how neat the car was, and I've let people sit in it, occasionally given rides in it. I guess it depends on your attitude, and the people you hang with.

Art

 

My Dad said the absolute worse thing he could do in his business would be to drive a ferrari to work.

He's in construction.

 

John, Art, maybe I need to come practice with you guys HA. Got any openings for a transactional aviation attorney? We do think outside the box with blended rates, premiums for certain results, flat fees, etc etc. But the vast lion's share of our work is day to day general corporate representation. And I know that YOU know those kind of clients. Generally great to work with, and a its a privilege to represent them. But, again, if they see me blasting around town in an F-car every day (and I live in a small town, they WOULD see me, especially in a rosso 328, for sure)........ well, it's just not the thing to do, I guess. It is what it is though, I can deal with it.

 

I too choose an Audi as much for the statement it does not make rather than its superiority. It has some merits and I race 3 of them and 5 so am somewhat wedded to the product. Its interesting because in so many ways its comparable or superior to a BMW or a MB but never elicits a comment Among the collection is a Sport Quattro which in the US is looked upon as an ugly foreign carfrom the problematic 80s. However when I drive a Ferrari to work - different story although none of them are new. So much emotion do they extract that ina recent attempt to unionize our operation, my use of the marque was cited by the union as an example of how management was disconnected from the work force. I am neither an owner nor the CEO, just a management pukkah wallah with no real authority as is the case in most large corporations. Yet the Ferrari image (as I would believe is that of the Lambo, Bentley, RR, some MB) as opposed to the Alfa (soon to reenter the US with a $250K price point) Maserati, Saleen, Panoz, Noble, Aston, and even $1 million Dodge models is such that it presumes that the owner is more flash than dash.

I have not seen this covered elsewhere but the social environment of "green", inconspicuous consumption are IMO the only politically acceptable way to represent yourself for career purposes. Put another way, if you were to race MX5s or F-V, there is no problem explaining that to your employer. That you might be invited to drive or even own an ALMS car or a Rolex cup car, places you socially and politically in a different category at your place of work. I would argue that the latter is definitely inferior to the former. the sam eapplies to the car statement you make in the parking lot.

Its a shame but that is the nature of democracy - it tries to level the playing field and the perception alone that you have leveraged something to enjoy a perceivable level of motoring superiority invites social taxation to level you out.

One of the reasons why texas for example enjoys such wide spread use of trucks - the social statement implies a lot more than the transport offers.

 

Yes, absolutely.

And honestly I believe the only guys that should drive very high-end cars to work are business owners or high powered pros like stock brokers where this sort of display of wealth is accepted and even encouraged. Note: this is not my personal feeling, but driving a car the caliber of a Ferrari could have a negative affect on your career (if you are a working man), as it would most certainly draw undue attention and jealousy, especially from superiors.

 

So, true. When I was interviewing contractors the guys driving the $45,000 duallies did not set my world on fire, but the guys driving the beater Ford van would always sell me (and they always had the lowest bid).