Filed under: Car Buying, Maintenance, Sports/GTs, Supercars, Ferrari
While my wallet gently weeps: What it costs to own a late-model Ferrari
Ferraris have often been compared to beautiful women. Like some of the aforementioned companions, they can become high-maintenance over time. Sure, the first couple of years of getting to really know each other are fun (or, in the case of the Ferrari, under warranty). But once the honeymoon is over, however, you might find that your bank account is getting more attention than you are, and that maybe this endeavour is a little more than you bargained for.
Sports Car Market has a story covering the first 6 ½ years of the life of a very-well-maintained Ferrari 550 Maranello. It began life as a $225,000 plaything for a successful real-estate investor in California. The well-documented repair history takes you through 36,000 miles of Ferrari ownership, and illustrates why owning a Ferrari means so much more than being able to simply buy one in the first place.
On the surface, it seems amazing just how much money has been spent on maintaining, personalizing, and repairing this vehicle. It's really all relative, though. For someone of considerable wealth, covering the maintenance costs of a Ferrari is no different than a person of average means picking up the tab to maintain his or her Toyota, Ford, Honda, or Chevy. The Sports Car Market piece is interesting because it provides such an unusually comprehensive look at one particular exotic's total cost of ownership. Make sure you read it through to the end for a great quote from one of the subject car's owners, which helps put it all into perspective.
Like we said, everything's relative.
[Source: Sports Car Market Magazine]
It is amazing how much money is spent on repairing and maintaining this vehicle. Obviously driven hard and enjoyed, here is a quick, but not nearly complete, list of repairs performed to the 550 at the owner's expense:
- Front ball joints and swaybar bushings
- Steering Box/power steering pump/steering rack
- Suspension bushings
- Radiator R&R for coolant leaks (twice)
- Instrument panel repair
- O2 sensor
- Front & Rear shocks
- Cam belts/tensioner bearings (twice)
- Valve job w/all-new valves and guides
- Oil leak repairs
- Plus all factory recommended maintenance, tires, etc.
The third owner purchased the Maranello in August of 2006 for $90,00 and had to immediately repair an oil leak to the tune of $1,582. The total out-of pocket repairs over the span of 36,200 miles and approximately 100 months of Ferrari ownership, including depreciation of some $135,000, comes to $200,760.50, or about $5.55/mile. Take out the$135,000 in depreciation, and the number drops to a mere $2.90/mile, or about fifteen times the number that an average Toyota will set you back for the same period.
On the surface, it seems amazing just how much money has been spent on maintaining, personalizing, and repairing this vehicle. It's really all relative, though. For someone of considerable wealth, covering the maintenance costs of a Ferrari is no different than a person of average means picking up the tab to maintain his or her Toyota, Ford, Honda, or Chevy. The Sports Car Market piece is interesting because it provides such an unusually comprehensive look at a single exotic's total cost of ownership. Make sure you read it through to the end for a great quote from one of the subject car's owners. It puts it all into perspective. Like we said, it's all relative.
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 3)
AutoFan 1:51PM (12/09/2006)
Don't give me this "it's an exotic" nonsense. For $250,000, the thing should be able to fix itself.
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indymcsc 2:43PM (12/09/2006)
Ok, I understand that an exotic car is more expensive to fix, but that car nearly fell apart. The amount of crap that needed to be replaced or fixed was a freaking joke.
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Mark Hoffman 2:52PM (12/09/2006)
I guess if you have the money...but to spend a quarter million on a car that has to be constantly repaired at astronomical prices? I don't get it.
Maybe that's because I'm one of those that doesn't have that kind of money, but even if I did, I can't imagine spending on a car that is so high maintenance.
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Robin Ohman 2:53PM (12/09/2006)
I have driven a number of vehicles over 100,000 miles before selling or trading them. This car is not built well enough to ever see six digits on its odometer. This article does however prove there is no direct correlation between intelligence and wealth.
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Chivo 3:04PM (12/09/2006)
That is not normal maintenence. That car fell apart, hence, it's crap. If you are paying $250,000 for a car, it should at the very least last 100,000 miles without any serious reliability problems.
Wonder if Masserati's have the same problem... you can buy one for the price of a 7 series, but with all those problems, probably would reach $150,000 in total expenses.
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AutoFan 3:14PM (12/09/2006)
Actually, considering it's made in a third-world country, that's probably a pretty good reliability record.
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Hollis 3:21PM (12/09/2006)
That's actually an abysmal reliability record. Sure you're supposed to run it hard and blah blah blah, but there are plenty of cars meant to be driven just as hard (and are just about as fast) that cost a mere fraction.
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Greg A. 3:31PM (12/09/2006)
Apparently you don't buy a Ferrari, you just borrow it from a Ferrari serviceship.
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Car videos & Motorcycle videos 3:33PM (12/09/2006)
I wonder what will the price be in a few years on the new Ferrari 599, these front engine ferrari's don't do so well on resale.
http://www.dpccars.com
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nist 3:59PM (12/09/2006)
"... the license plate frame was replaced for $124.99 ..."
LMAO.
Apart from the obvious fact that none of the three owners were car enthusiasts (which is the situation for pretty much all of the exotic car owners, one notable exception is Jay Leno), we should all laugh at the probable fact that that license plate frame was made in China for less than one US dollar.
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Greg A. 4:09PM (12/09/2006)
A few thoughts of mine now that I've read the article:
•In the third paragraph, the writer writes, "550 Ferrari S/N 111317 was sold new on March 19, 1998..." and in the next-to-last paragraph, he writes, "The warranty on 550 S/N 111317 ran out in March, 2000..." However, the seventh paragraph reads, "In December 2001, [yadda yadda yadda] closed the year out at $2,078.82. Total for the second year out of warranty, [blah blah blah]." He forgot that the second year out of warranty didn't end until March 18, 2002.
•"In March [2002], at 22,956 miles, the license plate frame was replaced for $124.99..." LMAO! Was the license plate frame made out of platinum or did the owner have Ferrari service put it on because he was too busy/lazy/dumb to do it himself?
•"The third owner appreciated the subtle lines and wanted a user-friendly Ferrari that could be driven daily in New York weather and traffic... His last toy was a new Porsche Turbo..." On the one hand, the Porsche Turbo had all-wheel drive, which would be better than the Ferrari's rear-wheel drive with traction control in inclement weather. On the other hand, I think New York drivers would more careful driving next to or behind a 550 Maranello than they would a 911, even a Turbo, because the Ferrari is much less common.
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Chivo 4:09PM (12/09/2006)
Italy is not a third world country, AutoFan... get your facts straight.
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Andy 4:11PM (12/09/2006)
Chivo:
Maseratis are bad, but not as bad as the Ferrari. I know of Ferrari's bad quality well. One acquaintance bought a 360 Spider (new), where it left him stranded in LA after only two months of ownership. Another fellow had an F355 Spider that went out on him on the I-5. A colleague who owned a second-hand 456M was buried with maintenance fees. A single trip to the Ferrari dealership cost him as much as my old '67 Camaro.
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Greg A. 4:17PM (12/09/2006)
Re: #10: Just an FYI: While Jay Leno is a bona fide car enthusiast and no doubt works on a car or bike himself from time to time, he has his own service department, complete with staff!
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Racer 4:28PM (12/09/2006)
Lesson learned: when buying an exotic car, drive it as much as you can when it's under warranty, then sell and move on to the next one.
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Ralph 4:34PM (12/09/2006)
18,000 miles is normal for replacing ball joints in a front engine sports car.
Tell that to any Corvette owner.
Guess we know that Fiats don't change just because they get more expensive.
But it is odd that people able to make the money to buy one would be stupid enough to do so.
Suggests that they really don't like cars, just status objects.
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nist 4:44PM (12/09/2006)
"14. Re: #10: Just an FYI: While Jay Leno is a bona fide car enthusiast and no doubt works on a car or bike himself from time to time, he has his own service department, complete with staff!" Greg
No doubt. But when all is said and done, Jay Leno has far, FAR more appreciation for the cars than, say, Ralph Lauren, who simply collects the vehicles as status symbols and as part of his investment strategy.
"15. Lesson learned: when buying an exotic car, drive it as much as you can when it's under warranty, then sell and move on to the next one." Racer
Sounds like a good plan!
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akatsuki 4:46PM (12/09/2006)
Reliability in cars is a relatively recent phenomenon. It is also why people buy Porsches for daily drivers rather than Ferraris. Porsche cars are expensive to maintain comparatively, but not as much as the Italians, and they are far, far more reliable.
If I was going to buy a daily driver exotic, I would probably buy a Carrera GT just for that reason, although the clutch is a bit questionable. Or perhaps the Acura NSX, which was another daily driver, and maybe the new one might be... The Vette, of course.
I imagine the Lotus cars, using their Toyota engines, might not be too fussy.
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AutoFan 5:16PM (12/09/2006)
Chivo...ever been to Italy?
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Chivo 5:36PM (12/09/2006)
Italy looks like a third world country, but it has a 1st world economy.
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