If I buy a Ferrari

Dude...

Your best bet is to get a car you want. If there's a certain Ferrari you want, and it's within your budget, then go get it.

As for losing money on a car - that's going to happen with pretty much whatever you decide to get. So get something you'll enjoy and forget about it. Buying a Ferrari as an investment is about as sensible as buying a Ferrari for practicality.

Good luck and let us know what you decide to do.

 

What NNO said ... cars depreciate, Ferraris are cars, Ferraris depreciate. Ferraris are weekend toy cars for most, so there will always be a supply of low mileage cars around, putting one with some miles on it at a disadvantage in the market.

If you want to drive it often, buy an '80s/'90s Ferrari with moderate mileage (say, 40K miles). It's already depreciated. Depending on your budget, a 360 Modena with 30K miles could be an option -- great car, and it's already taken a huge hit from 'high' mileage.

Depending on what you like and how you fit, the 328 is relatively economical to run (by Ferrari standards) and is done depreciating due to age. The 355 is also a very respected/liked car, though operating costs are higher and prices may still be settling a bit. But both models are looked on very favorably by fans of modern Ferraris and are in demand when the time comes to sell.

 

Not to be personal but what is your budget? this will determine of what type of ferrari you can own.

 

f the *******s buy it if you like it drive it everywhere that's what I do. Not smart fiscally but who wants to be 80 and rich? You can't use it then except for a fancier life support machineb

 

I was in the same situation earlier this year, having driven Porsches for many years. And, my '04 996 tt cab was a fantastic car. It performed well, there were no faster street cars at the track, its maintenance was minimal and it was a superb everyday driver - if I wanted it to be.

But, once you actually sit in a newer F car, listen to it and finally drive it, there is a significant difference - very visceral. Since I could not find a 430 at a reaonable price, I bought a 2500 mile 360 F1 spider and have loved every minute. Of course, there are differences. Maintenance will be much greater, I do not park my F car on the street where I parked my Porsche (downtown DC) in the evening, so going out for dinner downtown means not driving the 360.

I also was pleasantly surprised that my track times with the 360 are very similar to the tt - but I did have to replace my drilled front rotors with slotted ones.

I guess the conclusion is - for me, there is no looking back, except I keep watching what Porsche is doing, but I think that the Ferrari is nearly in a class by itself, perhaps with the Lambo.

Good luck.

Robert

 

What the hell are you talking about?????

 

Well, if you post an ad that says "It's too much car -- it's too much work -- I can't handle this beast", then there will be a number of shoppers thinking, "Wimp". (At least, untill they get behind the wheel.)

If you're worried about adding miles to the clock, then most informed buyers will know that a car with up to date maintenance is better than a garage queen. (Of course, there's no shortage of uninformed buyers for Ferraris.)

But higher mileage will bring reduced prices.
Simple answer to that one: If you like it enough to drive it a lot, don't ever sell it.

Besides, market variations will move the prices around more than the mileage, for the most part.

 

What he said.

Who cares. Get what you want. And do with it what you want.

Let me put it this way, there are some folks (okay one that I know of) on this board who have only one car. It's a Ferrari. And they drive it. Everywhere.

 

I also own Porsche's and the 575M gets along nicely with the German girls.

Steve

 

A man walks into the Rolls Royce dealership and is admiring the cars. A salesman walks up to him and says "May I help you sir?" The man asks "How many mile per gallon does it get?" The salesman replies, "If you have to ask, you can't afford it."

The same, in a sense it true of your question. If you have to ask how much you might lose on depreciation if you drive the car, you can't afford it. You have to ask yourself what you are buying the car for. If you want the car to drive, do it, and don't worry about resale. Whatever happens to the value is part of the cost of enjoying the car. If you are a collector and just want to admire it, or just want it to impress people, by all means, don't drive it much, spend all your spare time polishing and cleaning it, and when you're finally bored with it, sell it. But if you are really a car enthusiast, buy what you desire, buy what really turns you on, and enjoy the heck out of it. You don't have to trash it, but don't be afraid of putting a few miles on it. After all, its a CAR, it's meant to be driven.

One alternative -- don't buy new. Buy a car used or "pre-owned" as BMW would have you believe. That way someone else has taken the initial hit on depreciation, and you can buy a good, low mileage car, drive it, and still maintain value in a relative sense.

 

If you can stretch another $20K, it sounds like you'd really enjoy the Challenge Stradale...
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You will almost certainly lose money on any newer serial production Ferrari road car. You will likely lose a lower percentage than with other sports cars such as Vettes and Vipers though....maybe even less than on a Porsche. Unless you bought one of the great low production front-engine V12s of the 60s and early 70s, the days are gone on speculating of Ferraris IMHO...they just make too many now...

 

I think your wallet will be in some pain if you buy any new Porsche 911 (ANY flavor) for $150K. The best way to experience any car without getting financially raped is to find a top-notch, lightly used one, maybe 2-3 years old.

Your budget would get you an excellent 360, and if you have all those cars in your garage I can't see how you'd run up huge miles on a Ferrari anyway. You may also find after a year that you want to move on to something else. It happens.

If you don't buy one, you will be yet another guy with a garage full of 911s and a list of reasons why you never bought a Ferrari.

 

I'd say that the first key to buying a Ferrari is to not buy the most expensive one you can afford. Pretty much any used sports car will have a couple of nagging issues to resolve (which contributed to why the previous owner was willing to part with it), and maintenance on Italian cars starts from day one.

The maintenance schedule is gospel on an Italian car. Skimping on maintenance is a quick way to have a rolling headache on your hands.

Properly (and comprehensively) maintained, they can be kept at daily driver reliability. And if you didn't break your personal bank to buy it, you can insure it and park it, knowing that it's replacable.

Like the mileage issue, being afraid to drive the car takes a lot of the fun out of ownership.

Euro cars could have issues with replacement parts -- some of the parts are different, and might be harder to find. But I think that's less the case with the later cars you'd likely be shopping for.

Buy it, insure it, keep a reserve for maintenance, and then drive the heck out of it.

... Oh, and for the parking issue: The rearward visibility isn't all that bad, if you use the side mirrors.

 

Shcools out..... for teh summer!!!! (humming the beat.)

 

I agree with carb said. If you're worrying about what people think because you have a Ferrari, then you shouldn't have one. Make the car a personal choice, not a other persons choice.

 

I think the question is "I intend to DRIVE the car, and put some miles on it - is that going to kill the value considering most owners wax them and look at them more than drive them".

It seems like most folks are giving sterilized answers and nobody wants to say the truth (IMO). The truth is YES it will be worth significantly less with "normal" miles as compared to a similar car with poser-level miles. That's just reality. Go check the price of a 355 with 8,500 miles against one with 50,000 miles - its a significant difference. Its a larger difference than, say, between a Cadillac with 8,500 vs a Caddy with 50k miles. The fact is, most people dont drive these cars, so when you go to sell, you're going to take a big hit on the price to 'make up' for the miles you put on the car.

I went through the same thing with other cars I owned that people hardly drive. When you get to a certain level of car, people just don't drive them. That means one of two things. Either you have to stick with another brand that people don't turn their noses up at if they have some miles, OR you have to be in a financial position that the added depreciation isn't a factor for you.

Jim G on this forum mentioned that he owned a TR that he drove daily - rain, sun or SNOW. He put something like 100k miles on the car and got, if I remember right, something in the $20-30k range when he got rid of it some years later. You can get some very nice performance cars that you can drive normally and put 10-15k miles a year on, and not take a bath relative to other cars of the same model. Porsches, E55's, M5's, M6's, SL55's and others. On the other hand if you drive a 430 58k miles in 5 years, you ain't gonna get even close to the price that a 2500 mile 430 would get. And IMO the delta in price is larger (%-wise) for something like a 430 than it would be for an E55.

You can gauge what the depreciation is going to be based on what you want to buy and how long you want to own, and then decide if that number is too big. If it is, you can save by buying an older used car, or not driving it as much.

 

But the other side of that coin is that the mileage is less significant on a Caddy, because a 20 year old Caddy isn't worth squat regardless of mileage.

Miles matter a little, age matters not much at all, maintenance matters to informed buyers (but there are tons of the other kind).

The whole concept of "average sale price" on these cars is a bit off. Over a couple of decades, the cars diverge significantly, and there is huge variety in the types of buyers.

A factory-original, all stock, zero miles with window sticker example of a 20 year old Ferrari might be of value to someone looking for precisely that. But such a barn queen will be worthless to someone who wants a daily driver.

An EFI converted, upgraded suspension version with 40K miles and a complete service history will be more valuable to someone looking for a regular use car, but worthless to the concourse ribbon collector.

Price is a matter of matching the product to the buyer ... and there ain't no setch animule as the "average" Ferrari buyer.

A high miles Ferrari will pull less "average" price, because it's the collectors who pay ludicrous prices for "unmolested" (and un-driven) cars.

The way to lose your shirt on a Ferrari is to buy a low miles concourse car, pour money into making it run reliably, then pile miles on it. You won't be able to sell it as a concourse car.

But buy a car that already has over 10K on the clock, is well maintained, and is priced for the buyer who wants a "driver", and miles won't hurt quite so much.