550 and cost per mile?

Not exactly the answer to your question, but Doody put a comparison list together of members costs to do a major.
http://www.ferrarichat.com/forum/showthread.php?t=4345&page=2

I thought I heard several say that the 550 was one of the most reliable of the modern Ferraris
with good ease of maintenance

 

I submit that if your metric is cost per mile, then you should by a Honda.

 

My local Ferrari dealer automatically deducts $11.87 per per mile from my checking account for the 550, and $4.35 for my CS which is still under warranty.

 

So if I drive 10k miles per year my maintenance is going to cost me $100,000 per year?

 

Consider the source.

 

I sincerely hope that the general consensus here is that this figure is completely ridiculous. If not, I need to reconsider my F-car aspirations. To be sure, these cars are not going to be the cheapest to operate, but there is a meaningful distinction between passion and financial suicide. I am going to grab a copy of SCM this weekend to have a look.

 

For my 575, excluding gas, <50 cents per mile.

Steve

 

I agree, consider the source. Not reliable at all.

 

Lets say we buy a nice used 2000 model at $100K and keep it 10 years. Lets say we spend $5K per year on maintenance . Resale residual value should be something lets say $30K. So total cost = $120K.

Assume we do 6000 miles per year for 10 years then we get $2 per mile.

Of course if your bought your 550 new in 2000 at $180K then the 10 year cost would $200K so average is $3.3 per mile.

Anyone spent more than $5K per year on maintenance (not upgrades)?
Ron

 

I'm sorry, but he's smoking crack. I didn't read the article, but perhaps his math of $10/mile factors the depreciation of front-12 Ferraris?

The 550, from my measly little perspective of our big blue marble, is quite solid. A few cooling issues, inadaqute brakes, and some other little pissy things. I sell very few "repair" parts to the 550 folks.

 

They are almost as bad as a 328. We all know how bad those were (except M.S.).

 

I'm sorry, but the $10.27/mile was from one owner who did extensive "personalization" to the car (Tubi, shields, painted calipers, etc) and didn't drive may miles.

Everyone else associated with the car did under $3.00/mile, and one year (out of warranty) the first owner only paid $0.37/mile.

So, read the article before misquoting it!

 

I think he's talking about people who put 1000 miles per year (or less) on their 550s. I can see his logic, albeit somewhat fuzzy. It could theoretically cost you much, much more than $10 per mile when you factor in a cam belt break out of warranty, depreciation, a cat fire, etc. Last year, I saw a 1997 550 with 3,500 miles on the clock being sold by the original owner for $115k. How much is that per mile?

 

Let's see the former owner of my car lost 65000 on the car. Spent about 3,000 on maintainance. Drove it 5000 miles. Sheenan's math is about right, a friend owns a 550 worth 100,000 less than he paid for it. Drove it 5,000 miles.
Hmm anybody here good at long division?

 

In some ways, it's hard to get a real number because there are 2 very large variables that will dictate the final number and without knowing any or even 1 of the 2, the answer arrived at is close to meaningless.

The biggest variables are:
1) When did you buy the car?
If you bought one recently, well then, it may be close to being fully depreciated and, if you plan on selling it in the next 3-5 years, you'll take a relatively small hit. If you're not going to sell it, then you'll need to depreciate it over the life of the car and the total miles driven. Possible range for the depreciation (ranging from, you bought it new vs recently) if you plan to sell it within a 5 year period....my guess is, a high of 130,000 to a low of 5000.

So that's a huge range.

2) How many miles are you driving it per year? If it's a garage queen and you're only doing 1-2k/yr, then yearly maintenance costs become meaningful although they would still be a relatively small contributor compared to the initial cost of the car.

I could easily come up with scenarios that would give a range around $10/mile, or one that would be a heck of a lot more reasonable- although reasonable is not really a word that you should properly use around these kinds of purchases.

Let's all keep in mind these are not rational decisions we make when we buy these cars, unless you've found some way of quantitating the smile factor.

 

parkerfe...extended warranty..the <50 cents doesn't included depreciation..only operating costs..and a lot of miles

Steve

 

I have driven 7,000 Kms in two years with my '00 F550. My costs have been:

Mechanical repairs - $0
Normal service - $800
Bodywork repair (front spoiler chipped) - $300
Fuel - $1500
Tires - $700
Insurance - $4700
Road Tax - $800

TOTAL: $8800 for 4400 miles in 24 months, which makes exactly $2.00 per mile. And please note that 50% of the total expenditure was for insurance alone! I think the 550/575 are very solid, well-built and reliable cars. No reason why they should be more expensive to run than a big BMW, if treated properly.

 

Wow. I read the article yesterday and if that's the case, I'm glad I bought my Boxer too instead of a 550 which I came close to buying instead.

 

Did you actually bother to read any of us real owners' replies to this topic??? There is NO WAY a 550/575 could cost $10 per mile unless it was literally falling to pieces every time you put it on the road, which is clearly not the case. To repeat my personal experience:

I have driven 7,000 Kms in two years with my '00 F550.

Mechanical repairs - $0
Normal service - $800
Bodywork repair (front spoiler chipped) - $300
Fuel - $1500
Tires - $700
Insurance - $4700
Road Tax - $800

TOTAL: $8800 for 4400 miles in 24 months, which makes exactly $2.00 per mile. And please note that 50% of the total expenditure was for insurance alone! Actual "running" costs are almost negligible.

 

Well thats better than the 24' powerboat i owned for a year and a half.

 

Didn't the original argument include depreciation in the value?
Wouldn't this be the big hit that skews the numbers...

 

Buy a ratty GT4, and go get a major performed(towed in on flatbed of course).Then once it is back home, back the car out of the driveway once, drive around in a few circles at the foot of the driveway, then pull immediately back in. Take the battery out, put in fuel stabilizer, and put car on jackstands.

Repeat yearly, and you too can brag about how your Ferrari costs you $5,000 per mile to operate!