Why Do Guys Sell??

Tastes change, people aren't always honest about what they want in a Ferrari etc. Some tell themselves it doesn't need to be fast, it just needs to be a Ferrari and then, like you, they decide that it really does need to be fast. Others decide that even though that was the Ferrari they wanted at the time, maybe they want a different one now or they just don't want one anymore. Maybe the maintenance costs add up, their financial situation changes etc. Maybe they decide they want to go racing and the Ferrari is the least practical car to do so with from a financial stand point.

I never plan to sell mine, but of course plans can change.

 

I never thought I'd sell my 355 in a million years for any price, but after what amounted to a 7 month stint in the shop and more gigantic repair bills, it wore me down and it had to go. Bought a 911, which is an absolutely perfect, amazingly faultless car that bores the hell out of me, so I'm looking into other Ferraris again. I'm so dumb.....

 

I sold my first and second Ferraris because in both cases I was offered more money than I could possibly turn down.

So, time to look for another!



Mike

 

Lots of potential reasons:

1. buy a different model
2. find out the dream was better than reality
3. life circumstances change--new family, job loss, etc.
4. money needed for something else
5. boredom

These are not in any particular order.

Dave

 

I haven't sold mine and quite frankly have no intention to.. at this time.

Things that would prompt me to sell:

1) Illness in my wife or children where there was a chance that selling it would give us more time. Car is on the market within the hour.
2) I find out that my children (don't have any yet) completely kill my desire to have the 360.
3) I come across a whole bunch of $$$$ and I come across a Lusso for $100k.

others reasons as stated above.

I never thought I'd sell my Boxster.. but I did two weeks ago for a Mini Cooper S. And I don't regret it one but actually or the costs of the damn Boxster. The Ferrari IS a COMPLETELY different animal though. No sell unless have to.

 

What he said.

Mine was #4 -- restoring ancient Porsches ain't cheap, but the right car/opportunity came up ahead of schedule, and so it goes...

I was pleasantly surprised on #2 -- thoroughly enjoyed the 328, and it was easy to live with.

 

Never planned to sell my 348SS but started a business and needed to free up the cash. I may or may not sell the 308QV at some time. I really want a Testarossa some day, but for now I am very happy.

I am done with the days of having to go fast in that particular car. I miss racing where you can really go fast, but stopped doing that for my family.....at least for now

 

I have sold one Ferrari. My taste changed. I wanted a more reliable, faster car that I could track if I wanted to. I have no plans to sell my 550. But one never knows what outside forces could come into play.

 

As for me - I wanted this car (308) for thirty years. The only reason I would sell it would be to get a different one. One day I might want to move to a different model, or my life circumstances might change. So there arent many reasons outside of that which might push me toward selling.





PDG

 

Each car has it's own personality. Unlike a mass production car, you learn as you go and it's pretty tough to really know these cars without owning one for a period of time. Then the owner can discover (A) it doesn't have the features wanted (B) it costs too much (C) he/she is moving up as funds allow and a host of other reasons.
My 1st Ferrari was a 308 GT4 with over 100K miles on it. Had lots of fun with it, moved on to a 308 GTB. That was 28 years ago. I have owned my C/4 for 11 or 12 years now.

 

I may not be the best data point, but it is the only one I have. I'm 60. Starting in 2003, I brought and sold three Ferraris (Maranello, Stradale, 330 GTC) in five years. (I also brought and sold one Maser, three Porsches, and several AMGs.) Fortunately, I came close to break even on the deal. (I lost my ass on the Maranello, but made up for it with the GTC.)

Why did I sell? Starting with the Stradale that I brought new, I had my fun and flipped it several months later for what I had paid. $200,000 is a high point to begin the depreciation cycle. I later sold the GTC because (1) it needed six-figures worth of work, and (2) it had doubled in value. Finally, I sold the Maranello because it was starting to turn into a money pit. A OEM air compressor is $5k. Plus, I realized that driving high-performance cars on public road is not a good idea. Just rowing the gears on the shark will see 70 on the speedo as you shift into 3rd. You can guess what happens next, and I still have not left my neighborhood.

I replaced the Maranello with a chick car - a Miata MX-5 and later still a Cayman, which is probably the best all around sports car you can buy today.

Late last year, I had the opportunity to back my old Maranello back from the person I sold it to after he had done at least $20k worth of work to it. He had only put about 200 miles on it. (He was a collector.) I sold it for $77k and probably could have brought it back for $60. But like Lorena the Whore in Lonesome Dove, I believe it is bad luck to go backwards, so I passed.

I currently drive a Lexus LS. Go figure.

Dale

PS As you can probably tell, I don't become emotionally involved with machinery. I love to drive em, but I don't love em.

 

Nobody "needs" a Ferrari. You want one.

When you stop wanting one you sell or trade it.

Life's too short to hold on to things you don't want anymore. Time to move on. No biggie.

I would also say that sometimes your dreams turn out to be nightmares. Like taking a stripper out on a date, there's a big difference between fantasy and reality.

 

+1 on this list. Here are some examples of my car sales:

1. buy a different model - I sold a Euro QV to go back to a 328 (328s are simply better built IMO). More recently, I considered getting a Challenge car, but have decided to keep my current car line up for now
2. find out the dream was better than reality - This hasn't applied to F cars for me, but I sold a Porsche 930 for this reason
3. life circumstances change - I sold a 328 during a business startup phase
4. money needed for something else - See #3.
5. boredom - This hasn't applied to F cars for me, but has been the case for numerous daily drivers.

One other reason that may apply to other's Ferrari sale: impending maintenance and repair costs prove to be better off selling.

Lastly, I've never sold a Ferrari for being too slow. For US roads, I think most are sufficient and a lot are overkill. I wouldn't mind getting a faster race car, but I still have a couple of seconds left of laptime in my current race car.

 

I have some background in psychoanalysis from my business training... from marketing. So here's my take:

When a person's interest is in what an object represents rather than the object itself, that person can easily switch his attention to another object. He is not really after the object.

That's also why there are true collectors who really never sell.

 

I guess that explains it. I have never been a collector. Even when I brought baseball cards as a kid, I would chew the gum and trade the cards.

And I got into Ferraris because I decided to get out of motorcycles, and they were about as close to a motorcycle as four wheels can get.

Dale

 

These points are probably more relevant that most would ever admit.

Not many people can handle the heavy invoice bills over a decade or so , hence why many ratty cars come on the market. It doesn't take steel to own one of these ,it needs a fat wallet.

Upgraded car or not , the day comes where many people just say wtf.

 

How about the oldest thing in the world.............the passing of Time. We do what we do because we know that eventually time ticks away and with it we also go away. Time and a place for everything in life. Most of us here are very fortunate to have had both the resources and the time to enjoy these vehicles. We should be more grateful that we have been given both. Some never have either. Time is a precious commodity we never get back......so enjoy every thing you do even if it is only for a little while.

 

I sold my F355 Spider for several reasons

- I didnt do my research and was unprepared for the maintenance costs
- I was frustrated with a top mechanism that went to the dealer 3 times and still wouldnt work right
- I had a financial hiccup that scared me and that was the final straw to push me to sell it.

That was many years ago. Now I am casually looking for another one as I know the brand and car much better and can appreciate it much more.

 

OK... time for some soul searching from Fchatters.

Ferrari's aren't all that great -- at least on certain levels.

Sorry, they aren't. They do a lot of things really, really well and some other things really, really poorly.

We overlook or accept many of them as owners... poor craftsmanship, poor engineering, unreliability, a lack of transparency in the process, weak performance of subsystems, ridiculously overcharged parts, enormous service bills, user unfriendliness, electronic systems 5 years behind the rest of the industry, gearboxes that can't shift into 2nd, batteries that drain unless you hook up a silly charger through the door... I'm sure there are many other issues.

Ferrari's are wonderful cars and I've enjoyed each one of them for different reasons. But the are also a PITA.

Sometimes the PITA is more than the payoff of ownership. When that happens, you check one thing off your bucket list and move to something new.

And there is nothing wrong with that.

 

WRONG WRONG WRONG!!!!! Have your ever and I mean ever stopped traffic in your Subaru or had the hot looking 35 year give you a second look in your Camry??? Despite all the inconvience's of a Ferrari it still is a head turner and a hell of a lot more fun than trying to clip an apex in a VW Bug. Besides......going to a cavalcade of Corvettes in a TR is like flavoring someones corn flakes with urine. makes for a fun day !!

 

The crowds and fanboys become tiring after awhile- almost annoying.