Mileage

My best guess from a recent poster who asked a similar question was $1500/month all in, excluding purchase price. That includes gas, repairs, maintenance, tires, insurance, FCA events, dinners with Ferrari friends, some small mods, a new key, etc...T

 

It's hard to give absolutes. The general rule of thumb with regards to the California seems to be the more regularly the car is driven, the happier it is. This is true for many cars ... the so-called "garage queens" that make it out for a few hundred or 1,000 miles a year seem to develop teething problems, whether that's from seals drying out or shrinking, parts being affected by corrosion or just from fluids not circulating, battery and electronics issues from a lack of use, and so forth.

For $10k a year, you can buy the $4500 factory New Power warranty to insulate yourself against major component failures. An additional $500 added to that once the car is past its 7 years of free service will take care of maintenance, leaving you $5k for unexpected issues. It is a Ferrari, and parts and labor that are not covered can be expensive. But you can also go to an independent instead of an authorized dealer at a certain point, if you have one locally who knows the modern cars, and perhaps save a little. If you buy the car from a Ferrari dealer, they will usually throw in the warranty or at least give you the first two years for the price of one. It doesn't cover everything, but it covers some scary things.

There's a gentleman who posts on here -- Rick Lederman -- who drove his Californias everywhere daily, rain, snow, racking up tens of thousands of miles without issue, then trading them for new ones after 30k miles or so. His favorite thing to do was take people for rides and launch the car. He was not babying his cars You will find his posts if you search this forum -- his user name is RickLederman and you can search that way. I believe he has an FF now, or perhaps he's moved onto a Lusso.

I think you will be just fine. Start out with a warranty, try to get a car that has been driven regularly and maintained correctly, even if that means starting out with a 10k mile car instead of a 2k mile car. Drive it all the time, maintain it properly, and you should be fine.

 

I bought a single owner 2011 in 2017 with 20,000 miles on it. I am now approaching 39,000 miles with no issues except a gear in one of the window motors. Covered under the warranty.
I’ve made several 1200 mi round trips to my place in FL with no problem.
Three things I would suggest
1. Drive it regularly. I go out any day when it’s not raining for 45 min to an hour.
2. Keep it on a CTek battery tender, not that piece of crap that comes with the car.
3. Get a warranty, that’s $4500 per year for me but worth it if you have a big problem.
I’ve spent maybe $500 per year at a good independent shop on oil change and regular maintenance.
For what it’s worth.
Good luck.

 

There's quite a few threads just like yours - spends some time reading this section - its not an unusual question....

 

Tom, if I recall correctly, his price included purchase/depreciation/etc. ... it's hard to imagine it costing $18k a year to run a California. Aside from a balky top sensor that was covered under warranty, in the three years I drove a California 30, my cost was, literally, zero ... other than gas and me extending the original warranty for two years which ultimately I did not need or use. And I did put some new tires on at 12k miles or so. But I don't think that counts Nor would I count depreciation ... you only suffer the depreciation if you sell the car.

It's not to say you can't have a $7k gearbox issue if you are unlucky, or that you can get a car that goes through a needy period. But so far, three years with my Cali 30 and one with my Cali T, I really have had very little to worry about, and nothing to pay for that wasn't elective -- like the new exhaust I just ordered.