How to get a 458...

That is a tough situation. I had the dealer put my trade in value on the 458 in writing when doing the paper work for the Spider. In my case I will be takinga $20k hit which I can live with. I was orginally give a September time frame to order the Spider and actually got a call a couple fo weeks ago and actually ordered my Spider last week. Good luck with everything and I hope it works out for you. If need be shop another dealer if that is a option to you.

 

this 'deal' is std ferrari practice for a long time. back in the day, ferrari of long island wanted me to do the same with a 355 to get a 360. other option is sell your car on your own and buy the spider on ebay, etc. end result probably same $

 

I would take a different angle. I would take the dealer's over list offer but lock in the price the dealer will buy back your coupe for when your spider comes in. While dealers don't like to lock in the buyback price some will do it. This way you have a fixed cost for use of the coupe.

 

Who's to say that he's(OP) not using this thread to his advantage. So far, the consensus here seems to indicate the deal is skewed in the dealer's favor, which could only serve to help the OP's bargaining position, if indeed they are monitoring this site.

 

Ferrari's are not exclusive. And in Europe they are very easy to buy. Why do American Ferrari buyers get treated like little kids whilst the rest of us don't?

My dealer in Holland didn't even ask for a deposit, I only forked over money when I had already sat in the car. And by that time he had flown to Italy to meet me at the factory to spec it. Remember mine was a special order, a car that he took a risk on as it is not resale red. Oh, and he gave me a discount without me asking for it. A stark contrast to the stories described in this thread.

I think American buyers have every right to complain about the US dealer network and the way they get treated as a client. But clearly there are enough desperate people over there to make the model work.


Onno

 

That is ther 1st discount I have heard of!

 

Luckily, the US is not Europe, although it's becoming more and more so every day

 

As long as there are buyers, in whatever country, willing to pay whatever a dealer wants, in order to be one of the first to own a new model, that is the way it will work. I personally don't subscribe to that philosophy of car ownership, but see nothing wrong with it for those who don't mind the arrangement. With today's global Ferrari market, it will likely only get worse for the American Ferrari buyer. Altruism doesn't square with supply and demand, so I don't expect to see it. To paraphrase the late movie director Billy Wilder: "If Ferrari dealers don't want to give buyers cars at sticker price, you can't stop them!" When multiple buyers exist for every available order slot, you won't see great new-car deals on Ferraris. That's the foundation of a capitalist economic system, and it seems to be working quite well for Ferrari. Fred

 

Well said.

This argument goes on all the time. But, no one really comes up with a solution. Do you want to just have a lottery and everyone picks a number out of a hat? What if you're too late to reach in the hat and all the slips are gone?

Or, do you want people to camp out in front of dealerships like they do for movie tickets or Walmart stores on "Black Friday"?

You've got a hot product that a lot of people want but who also want that product to be limited. Something's gotta give. You can't please everyone.

Call it a game but existing customers get first pick. Is that really unreasonable or unfair?

I don't think so.

 

The problem here in the U.S. is that we have to purchase from a Ferrari dealer in the area where we live. We are not free to purchase from any Ferrari dealership in the U.S.

I have been on a waiting list for a long time in CA and hopefully will be on a short waiting list in NC but I had to purchase a house there in order to have duel residency.

 

Well, you have to buy a car in Europe from your distributor in your country also. It's no different.

 

OK, I thought since he said that Ferrari are easy to buy in Europe that they are free to shop around. Is it easier to buy a Ferrari in Europe because there are less demand for them? Just wondering why it is so easy to purchase one?

 

There's 350 million people in the US with a strong car culture and lots of space to park one and drive one. Gas is remarkably cheap. Insurance is cheap. Taxes on car purchases are cheap.

That translates to a bigger market for Ferrari than Europe. It has been that way since the early 60's.

 

Thanks for the information.

 

Thats actually not correct. Apart from the UK where the importer have sole rights to right-hand drive cars (so you can't get a RHD anywhere else), you can buy where you like. EU rules and all that.

 

Why not just increase production? Allocate some 500-1000 cars more for the US market - sell more cars. Everybody wins - except of course those who thinks owning the latest Ferrari makes them a unique snowflake (which it really doesn't).

I agree with JazzyO that a Ferrari isn't exclusive anyway, so just make more of them. The European allocation just matches demand.

 

Bear in mind that if they do produce more cars to sell, there will be more used cars on the market which may take away from the future sales of new cars. It's easy to ponder, but there is something to be said for having a greater demand than supply. Sure, if you supply more you can sell more, but if the demand wanes, then what? I'm sure this has been discussed at length by Ferrari and I'm also sure that they've concluded that their production numbers are exactly where they want them to be.

 

Since cars are built-to-order you can just adjust it and build what you have orders for. No need to overproduce. I just think they could balance it a bit more in the US even without flooding the market. If the demand is there, why not fulfill it.

 

And the standard of living is ~20% higher in the US compared to Yurrup.

 

And that's part of the problem, I think. The new Ferrari market is not raw free-market capitalism; Ferrari is gaming the system so that you're locked into one dealership or another. They know their buyers can't play multiple dealerships off one another, the way people can if they're buying Porsches or BMWs or Hondas. So each dealership can pretty much do as they want, because they know you can't go buy that car anywhere else.

And saying "No one's making you buy a Ferrari" isn't a justification for their methods. Sorry, but it's not. Because it's not a comparable product, and they know that. Porsches and McLarens and Lamborghinis are all wonderful, amazing cars, but Ferraris are unique in terms of brand cachet, reputation and all sorts of other factors.

Let's call it what it is: corrupt. It's a corrupt system, and just because it's been that way for a long time doesn't make it any less corrupt.

 

the "system" is just for new Fcars...used Fcars can be bought anywhere. Buy used, problem solved.

 

Not really. I can buy with a German or a Belgian dealer and import the car into The Netherlands. This, in fact, happens a lot and since Europe has free trade it is all above board. Naturally, the local dealer might be a little bit upset but there's nothing they can do about it. It may mean I have to travel 200 miles to service the car, but in all likihood the local dealer would love to service my car anyway, and I could also create quite an issue with Ferrari West Europe if they would refuse to service a car in warranty.

I am not pointing this out in some sort of "Europe is better" discussion, I am just here to give a counterpoint to the people that said "you are treated this way because Ferraris are exclusive". Hogwash. There is no reason for this US sales model, other than that FNA wants the model to be like that and they can get away with it because the clients tolerate it. Only the US dealer network treats their clients this way, it is not a model dictated by Ferrari Italy. That is my only point.

I find the fact that some of you want to turn this into a P&R discussion quite comical, BTW. US good. Europe bad. LOL.


Onno

 

No, not everybody wins. And, its not so easy to do.

First, you devalue everyone else's car. This is a really small market (3000 pieces a year) adding another 1000 cars could be a disaster in resale. A disaster in resale means that fewer people come back to buy again because they were burned too badly. It also screws up lease programs which are based on resale value.

Second, everyone wants their car first. That's impossible. You can't make 3000 cars in a week and then shut down the rest of the year. It takes time to build them. You have to wait your time. You can't just take cars away from another territory. Those territories have dealers and they need new cars also to survive.

Third, the production lines are already at close to maximum capacity. Without heavy investment and a lot of time and training of new personnel, Ferrari can't just flick on a switch and make more of them. If you try to speed up production, quality will suffer. You can't get blood from a stone.

Saying Ferrari's are not exclusive is complete baloney unless you live in LA or Miami. Of course it's exclusive. And, you guys who have never gotten one don't understand the excitement of ordering, waiting for, and finally receiving your car.

If it were the same as going down to your local Toyota dealer and picking out a Camry in stock, do you really think it would be as interesting or exciting?

No matter what you say, you can't get it all.

 

That's because someone here already said it was better in Europe... (Europe good, USA bad)

 

Correct. The dealers lose.

Your point of view is much different than mine about it, so I'm going to leave the rest at that.

You really find it that exciting? I must be jaded. Perhaps I should buy fewer, but to me it really isn't much more exciting than ordering a Cayenne. I find the fun is in owning the car, not the ordering/delivery process (my 458 was my 9th new Ferrari in 11 years).