Selling a Ferrari

Make sure you have an agreement on the price, before a test drive is taken.

Not drive first and discuss the price afterwards.

 

Whenever I go to buy a car or sell one, it is usually out of state, so going that distance and putting money down says a lot.

 

Who is going to agree to that? I’m going to want some framework of a price the seller will agree to sell at, but I reserve the right to adjust my offer based on an inspection report or my own findings.

I say a prospective buyer has to have coin in the game, either travel expenses (as mentioned) above or a paid for inspection.

I might make an exception for someone who comes recommended from a 3rd party that I respect. I was able to get a couple of drives because my mentor was very well known and respected.

 

3 recent buyers of 360s myself included bought them site unseen from across the country. PPI was more important to me than a test drive and should be for your buyers as well. If they are willing to put down a deposit and pay for a PPI i think its safe to say they are a genuine buyer.

 

I guess guys that are richer then God can afford to do that, but I can’t. Standing in front of a seller face to face has been invaluable to me in judging character and motives. And it’s fun to travel to see cars and act like Wayne Carini.

 

I dont fit in the richer than god category . it just made more sense for me to have the car checked by someone that looks at these things all day everyday than get on a plane and have to quarantine when i got home.

I love the hunt and face to face as much as anyone it just wasnt practical this time around. My point is the same as yours. If someone is willing to put money down for travel and or inspection there is a good chance they are legit.

 

As a buyer, I think you need to have a ball park of what they want for the car to know if they are being resonable, then you pay for a PPI which means you are a serious buyer with skin in the game.

I would not let anyone drive a car I was selling, Ferrari or not, without knowing they were serious. Now for exotic specific, I would also only let a licensed Ferrari mechanic, with his own insurance, be the one to drive the car just incase. If someone doesn't want to pay for a PPI, they aren't serious enough no matter how much they travel, you don't know if that travel was coordinated with something else so it didn't actually cost them a dime. Keep in mind, when you sell a car with a PPI, it's technically signed off so that if something happens a week or a month after the sale I'm not worrying about a knock on my door at 3:00am in the morning. It's the mechanic's fault he didn't find something or the new owner broke it.

 

Typically costs more to travel than do a PPI. I'm a po' boy compared to many on this site and for me it made more sense to have it trailered to a shop and have someone that has seen and worked on these cars before look it over. Never saw the car in person until it was backed out of the truck and into my driveway.

 

I've never bought a car sight unseen. My 360 is no different. I had an agreed on price, and a PPI before I got on a plane to pick the car up. There's no way that I'd throw down a decent pile of cash for a car without personally inspecting, test driving, and verifying the VIN. Besides, the trip was an adventure. I picked up my car in New Jersey, drove it to my sister's place about 150 miles north, then transported it back to Memphis on the back of a UHaul trailer. It was an adventure worth doing.

 

I typically willl drive the car myself and they can make a value judgement riding as a passenger. I do ask a lot of questions such as will they pay cash or finance the car. I probe considerably i.e what cars they have in their stable ect. I know that at Ferrari dealerships they ask for drivers license and run a quick credit check. That gives them considerable info on the buyers profile.

 

Lots of good ideas.

Not sure how long I'll keep mine, but if / when, I'm not going to mess around with tire kickers.

 

I purchased all of my Ferraris except the first one without seeing them in person. If you have all of the records, that's actually better than in person: A car can look really nice but has not been adequately maintained. Lower miles cars can look like new, but then you've got all sorts of unseen problems from lack of use.

If I have a cough and Google some random doctor, I may look fine, but he doesn't have any of my records, so it's a shot in the dark for him. But my regular doctor has all of my records and probably wouldn't need to see me in person - a video visit would work fine. Records, records, records. Without them you are pissing in the wind.

My latest 360 I bought from artsd (fellow F-chatter). He had a video of the car and every record since it was almost new, so i didn't need to see the car first hand.

As for the question of preventing tire kickers, I highly doubt folks are going to show up for a joy ride without some significant level of interest in the car. More than likely, the buyer will be someone outside of your city and probably state.

 

Just trade it to a dealer. Sure they give you wholesale, but at least you won't have to deal with tire-kickers.

 

Lighting cigars with Benjamins or using them as toilet paper would be a better use of the money than trading it to a dealer. I guess if throwing that money away means nothing to you, the dealer is the way to go.

 

I've owned my own business since I was in my 20's. Through the years you learn to qualify customers. There are questions that you can ask when selling your car. Like what cars have you owned in the past, how long did you keep them, what was it that made you want to sell them or trade them. And most important to me is to ask if there are other marques outside of Ferrari they are considering. Kinda gives you an idea of where your buyer is and the what and why of his interests in your car. I usually can spot a "joy ride" candidate in a matter of minutes.
But as it has been said in the above posts by others, most likely someone will traveling a significant distance to see the car so that in and of itself usually means that they are serious about a purchase. But still, I would ask if he or she is looking specifically for a Ferrari 360 or are there other cars in the mix that they are considering. IMO if someone is also considering other marques, then maybe the potential buyer is simply wanting to use your car for comparisons.

When I sell a car (which is not often) I will ask if the buyer wants to go for a ride. I'm fairly confident that I myself would be able to garner all of what I need to from the passenger seat and that any potential buyer would be able to do the same. I bring the car up to operating temps and put it through it's paces. The feel may be different from the driver's seat but the feedback from the car is, for the most part, the same for a passenger. And of course if someone is truly interested, before they go for a ride they should be looking the car over pretty carefully from top to bottom looking at any potential issues both cosmetically and mechanical-- even if just for oil leaks or obvious undercarriage damage. All things a joy ride seeker is not concerned about since he or she has no interest in actually purchasing the car.

But with that said there will be time wasters. Un-knowledgeable lookers, those not financially prepared to buy, and those simply with nothing better to do on a Saturday.

 

All the Ferraris I have sold I take the potential buyer for a ride.. shift through all the gears show them all the functions xcetera then after talking turkey and they want to make an offer then we can talk about them taking it for a test drive.

 

What worked/works for me is the following: I show the car around extensively, for as long as it takes and the amount of times the prospective buyer asks of me. Share records, invoices, everything. We go for a ride together, but no one drives my car except me.

As long as the car is registered under my name and I’m yet to receive full payment, the conditions above are non-negotiable. But it’s a very personal thing and very based on past experiences, both from an owner’s perspective and from a buyer’s experience.

Fact of the matter is we tend to repeat behaviors that worked for us in the past, whether some may label them “right” or “wrong”.

Kind regards,

Nuno.

 

In that case, I would politely ask:
If they will be financing or paying cash.
How many other cars are in the mix-- how many other cars/Ferrraris have you looked at buying.
What exactly are the specs you are looking for and how many boxes does your car, the seller, check for "you the buyer".
If you decide this is the car for you, how soon can you take delivery.

That should sort out any "looky Lews". I would politely decline to offer any rides to anyone who cannot or doesn't provide any answers to your pre-qualifying questions. Perhaps a little white lie that you have an appointment or a Zoom meeting that you are going to be late for and you need to go.

Good luck and remember many times folks will ask of you things that they really have no right to ask. It's OK to simply say no.

 

I usually sell cars via online. When I sold my first viper, I had lots if messages on Facebook. One view of their profile usually gave a good indication of if they were serious. For instance, the 17 year old girl that did housekeeping at the motel I figured probably wasn't serious. When I inquired about her funds, she exploded and told me I have no idea what I'm talking about and that she has a "marsaides"


If they are calling you, gage their interest by what they know about the car. If they know nothing about it, they probably aren't serious. Or they won the lottery. If in doubt ask for proof of funds.

 

As a buyer will you get compression test done as part of PPI and as a seller will you agree to that?

 

When I was shopping for my F430 this spring, I had narrowed the initial search to 3 cars, based on on line advertisements, which I decided pursue to the next stage.

The first one i contacted was within easy driving distance of my home, and was probably the nicest car of the three, and at a great price. (That's why it was at the top of the list, haha). So I sent a simple and courteous email to the seller (no phone number was included in the ad), the text of which said essentially: "I'm very interested in your car, but would like to know does it have factory exhaust or aftermarket, and does it have a comprehensive service history? "
The seller's response? "Send proof of funds".
I said "sure, can you just quickly tell me if the car comes with a service history?"
Response: "proof of funds?"

Long story shortened, I did eventually talk with the seller, after providing the "proof" he wanted to see. He explained that he simply didn't want to waste his time with the "dumb saps who don't have two dimes to rub together" The car seemed perfect in every way, but I subsequently eliminated it from my list because I was not going to have my first- Ferrari- buying- experience forever marred by this jack-ass seller, who thought of himself as "above the little people", who was insulting us "dumb saps" who aren't trust fund boobs (or whatever his business is).

Ultimately, I paid perhaps more than I could have, to an absolute gentleman of a seller who represented the car EXACTLY as it arrived (I purchased both sight unseen and without ppi). (Thanks Dan L. !)

I kinda hope the first seller reads this, and recognizes himself. I never did get back to him, and he probably assumes I was simply another sap without 2 dimness to rub together.

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I love it when someone stands on Principle like this post above!! ^^

Well done! I have no time for arrogant rich pricks that think they're better than anyone due to their money.

They bleed the same color we do.