430 Post Ownership Cost Data - Purchasing "cheap" F430

On the flip side, I bought mine new 8/17/2005. It is a 3 pedal coupe so some common problems are eliminated. My total costs for service and repairs are well less than 20K. This does not include tires and brakes. I used to track it quite a bit so went through more of both than normal. Colorado is relatively reasonable for Ferrari service. The services I had done 10 or more years ago would be quite a bit more expensive now. It has 32K on it now and has been very reliable so far.

Dave

 

I've been trying to keep track of my expenses, if for no other reason than to give the next owner piece of mind. While my F430 has certainly spent a lot more money than my other cars, I view the expenses as cheaper than the car payment on a new car.

 

I track my expenses as I’m interested in actual ownership cost and to provide service history to the next owner. My 08 was in really nice condition when I bought it but normal wear and tear, tools (Launch X431 and others), some upgrades and a bunch of spare parts has my cost about the same as yours. My last year expenses are less than $2500 since I had gotten everything the way I want, BUT when I buy a set of Tubi exhaust manifolds that’s going to drive this year’s costs up. I planned for $5000 a year, so I’m ball park what I expected.

 

People often talk about the 430 vs 360 reliability but I have seen many more 430 problem threads pop up than 360 ones. The amount of money you have dropped I would say is on the extreme side. Very interesting read and hopeful this thread doesn’t scare potential Ferrari 430 buyers in the future. I combed this forum like crazy before I bought my 360 which has cost me barely anything since owning it. I do have a belt service next year but it’s fine with me and is a general maintenance item on 360’s.

 

Ok here's some numbers for a 'cheap' 2007 F430 f1 I got in 2019 for $92k

F1 started acting up couldn't diagnose or fix it so:

$30k for eag manual conversion using last oem kit
$6k new steering rack
$18k complete new bushings and flamblocs front and rear
$12k capristo headers after leak discovered on second one set
$12k new clutch and throwout bearing and clutch pedal assembly oem refresh with electric switch

Not including yearly services... went down rabbit hole and won't recover my expenses but let's see if it will now settle after refreshing pretty much everything...

in retrospect should have stopped and sold it when f1 acted up, much more fragile and expensive to maintain than GT Porsches... is it worth it? Debatable...

Wouldn't do it again

 

I stopped counting. It's easier to rationalize keeping the car when you don't know how much it is costing you.

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Remember this Lemma: The moment you don't look back at your car after parking it somewhere, it means a. you are not a car enthusiast; or b. you bought the wrong car.

The rest is irrelevant.

 

I like seeing real world maintenance expenditure examples, for so long Ferrari owners have been secretive about that.

I have a late 90s exotic that I have owned for almost 10 years, and have spent around $67,000 in that period. My largest bill was $13k for an engine out service that also had other work done. I’m sitting at about $12/mile.

But you know, it has been worth every penny. Special cars are that way for car guys. Doesn’t hurt that the value is 3X what I paid for it either, but that is just a side benefit.

 

My 1998 Maranello cost me $3 a mile, and I drove it 20,000 miles. Collector who brought it in 2008 put another $20,000 into it in hard dollars. His mechanic was on salary, but if you figure $20,000 for the mechanic’s time, this totals $100,000 in ten years for a car that originally sold for $210,000.

When I get asked whether I’ll buy another Ferrari, I think back to my Maranello.

Nah, not going to happen. I’m a driver not a lover.


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V12 maintenance costs (or the idea of what they are) keep me from chasing cars like that.

the reliability of the F430 is what drew me in. My car had full dealership service it’s whole life and I have all the records. It’s mostly just annual service costs. I’ve probably spent more money on mods and toys for it than whatever service the car has gone through the past 10 years.

 

IDK, a smooth melodic V-12 at full go is epic.

 

I dont know how these rules are in USA, but here in holland, if we trade in a car, most dealers straight away throw the papers from services away etc, some that tend to deal in higher end cars cut the adress etc from previous owners out, as they are not allowed to pass this onto new owners for privacy reasons, and it absolutely sucks, cause that way you lose alot of history to cars

 

I've had my 360 for more than three years and in that time, I've spent almost nothing on the car. I did spend about $60k on a special climate controlled garage. Does that count?

 

I loved mine. Nailing a second to third shift, beyond priceless.

 

I mean you massively overpaid for some of these services, so this is definitely not a typical cost of ownership.

$18k for bushings / flamblocs is one of the most outrageous service bills I've ever heard of. The parts cost ~10% of that bill.

Clutch and throwout bearing is <$3k, $3600 if you get an entirely new flywheel. The clutch job is not $8000 worth of labor.




I'm not a good barometer of operating cost as I have made money on both Ferraris I've sold (net of all costs). It helps to have your own shop because some of the labor rates / parts markups I see people pay are simply outrageous.

 

I saw that price on the bushings and thought the same thing. I think a common misconception on these cars is when people think they are getting better service when they approach maintenance (or modifications) with an open checkbook. Sure, cheaping out will get you a poor result, but you get to a point where spending as much money as possible has very diminished returns.

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The dealer at which my car was serviced provided me all of the service history but removed the owner's information from the pages.

 

For me its a reason i prefer buying from private sellers (bought my F430 from a private seller too), It really hurt when we once sold a car we owned from new (2007) and sold last year, all the bills to the car were with the car ofcorse, all dealer maintained etc, when we handed in the car, the whole map with all the bills they threw straight in the bin in front of us.... the whole history of that car gone, and cannot be retrieved fully anymore, as we owned that car for a long time in the GCC when we lived there... sucks for whoever buys that car from the dealer!

I think theres a difference in cheaping out (or not doing things at all), and trying to do it on a budget where you can (for example, topspeed headers instead of IPE/Capristo)

 

You are absolutely right, for the clutch job I decided to change the flywheel too and also the rear main seal
For the steering, I got a new assembly instead of rebuilding.
And for the bushings and flamblocks, did both upper and lower in and out
I am learning and I did get carried away. The engine is so sweet and in perfect order and it is a unique experience, the clutch and gearbox are finally perfect.
I just sent the shocks to be reconditioned and revalved and hope that will finally get it where it needs to be.
Where are you located? Am I paying too much for labor at my independent?

 

I bought top speed headers and can confirm that was a mistake [emoji28]

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Your numbers aren't exceptional from what I've seen. Most buyers incur the biggest expenses soon after buying. At least that's how it went for me when I bought used Ferraris.

I also know my annual average is guaranteed to increase going forward. The headers were replaced under warranty and I'm still running the V2. I'm considering getting Fabspeed and put the factory headers on a shelf while they are still good. I've had good luck as well. I did break it in by the book. Many, if not most, new owners beat on them from day one. I have never had to add oil even after two day track events. Good luck with your continued ownership.

Dave

 

Same. I think it's because that's usually when we have a thorough inspection done via PPI. I was a new owner and overpaid for a good bit of work (valve cover gaskets, new A/C compressor, and a few smalls). At the time, I was more worried about driving a car that wasn't sorted than price shopping mechanics.