Demographics of Ferrari Owners?

I don't own one, but I sure feel like a broke ass reading that.

 

This data may be for new car purchases, not the ownership in general. If so, it's obviously skewed higher as the new cars sold today are very pricey. That would also explain the multiple Ferrari ownership which seems impossibly high in the general population of Ferrari owners. It's hard for me to believe that 65% of every Ferrari I see on the street has another one sitting at home in a garage.

I think the most telling features are the high college education and being self employed. It's darn difficult to make a bunch a money without an education and working for someone else, so that makes sense.

Speaking of "self employed", I know a certain CEO (whose company shall go nameless) who makes a bundle of money and would love to buy an F430 but it would be "politically incorrect" for him to do so while his company is going through tough times for the past several years. I'm glad I'm not trapped like he is in this game. Life is way to short for this kind of thing.

 

Looking around Fchat, the only common thread I can find is ....

... the bikini thread.

 

Great little read there. Yes, I agree- this is clearly the demo of a new buyer.

Annual household income of $1 million or more. <less than 50% of this today, but I bet we are all shooting for breaking even in 2009>

-- Ninety-eight percent are male. <check>

-- Age: 35 to 55 years old. <31 years old>

-- Occupation: professionals, entrepreneurs and high profile individuals; 82 percent are self-employed. <self-employed, entrepreneur, and I'm about as low profile as I can get without disappearing altogether>

-- College graduates: 79 percent. <check>

-- Post-graduate degrees: 39 percent. <drop-out>

-- Half the Ferrari owners own five or more cars and 65 percent own more than one Ferrari. <check on 5+ cars, no on 2+ Ferrari>

 

I recently took a survey for FNA. My favorite question was "what other modes of transport do you own" and helicopter, plane, yacht, were the options.

-dsd

 

I have serious doubts that most have anual incomes of 1M, even for new car buyers. 1M in net worth certainly. The rest rings true.

Dave

 

You are probably right. But, it is just a survey. There is nothing stopping the owners from lying to the piece of paper about how much money they make. Most surveys I have taken stop the income brackets at 250k+ a year.

 

I never answer the surveys about income. It's none of their business and I leave it blank.

 

Agreed.. 1M a year sounds a bit much to me also as a MEDIAN salary

 

I suspect most buyers of new Ferraris are making $1mil a year or more... buying a new $300k Ferrari making much less than that is foolish IMHO...

 

It depends on the survey. When I took the one from Porsche after I bought my Boxster the brackets had a lot more categories after $100k going way up, whereas a lot of surveys stop at around $100k and above. I would imagine Ferrari is very similar. I doubt many folks making $25k a year are Ferrari owners.

 

Over the years many of the enthusiasts I've known buying seem to have spent disproportionately on their Fcars. Not rich at all, just love vintage cars. Combine that will all the cars being dumped now and it does not point to deep pockets. Many new car owners strike me as having bought with home equity or on a corporate lease with credit.

 

For one thing, the vast majority sold are 200-250K. I bought a new one with money I was certain I would never really need but never made close to 1M in a year. What about all those folks that had to finance or lease them? Perhaps a few leased to their businesses, but not many. Anecdotally, not many of the new buyers I know ever made 1M. Besides, don't confuse income with wealth. Our household could get along OK on 60-70K a year and keep the Ferraris because we planned conservatively, have zero debt and built plenty of assets. Wealth is much more important than income.

Dave

 

I was considering starting a thread on this, as there are occasional posts asking for an opinion at what point in life a person should buy a Ferrari.
Basically, it amounts to "How much of one's net worth should one have tied up in non-transportation / pleasure use only cars?" This assumes that the person actually loves them and has always wanted them, not just thinks he can make a profit or pick up chicks or whatever.

How about 10% of one's net worth NOT including your primary residence? So if you have 2M in your KEOGH and 401K and other investments, you can have $200K in cars and not feel bad about it.

At that level, if the car's value fell to zero it wouldn't make a significant difference to your lifestyle now or in retirement. And if the stock market loses 40% your cars will too, so you're still at 10%!

Obviously, this will depend on age and other factors, but as a rough guide it makes sense to me.

Jim

 

One of the great benefits to living in Colorado!

 

I'd write down STAR TREK TRANSPORTER or maybe CAMEL

 

Well I guess I need to sell my car. I don't meet any of the listed crieteria. Maybe I'll have to go back and buy another Corvette and get back into my lower class status. HAHAHA. It would be more interesting to see the profiles of different models. As I had mentioned before I think there are maybe 3-4 different owner groups. Each has their own/different financial status. I would suggest the above would cover the newer model crowd. My 2C here

 

Wealth and income are irrelevant and only of importance to marketing people. If you are passionate about Ferrari's, you will find a way to purchase, own, maintain and drive the snot out of them. Frankly, the ongoing thread about demographics, wealth, and income is irrelevant and boring...especially when your life comes to its eventual end and you are six feet under.

Work hard for your personal goals and reward yourself.

But also recognize that in our brief lifetime on this planet, family, friends and health are more important than all the toys.

That's about the best advice I think you can give to the next generation of young, up and coming owners IMHO.
We are just caretakers of these fine automobiles for the next generation.

 

I was 15, had not yet finished my sophmore year of HS, made maybe $6K that year lifeguarding and mowing lawns. I was a male, as I still am, so I guess I fit in the demographics. The car was in boxes though, so maybe they did not count owners of non-car cars.

 

It sounds as though they've covered everything but athletic supporter cup size! Fred

 

1) They don't define 'typical'...is that 51%, to make it a majority, or 40%, as in the largest minority(with no clearcut majority?), or 99% ?

2) $1M is not indicated as median or not, when the figures below for Ford, etc. are labeled median.

3) as posted above by others, are these figures for -only- buyers of 'new' cars?

Like most numbers coming out of Maranello, i'll bet these are skewed to the optimistic side.

 

Sounds pretty conservative and reasonable. The only thing I would add is that if net worth was say 5M and your living expenses are low, then 20% or more in cars would be fine with me.

Age is very important. For instance, a 30 year old putting $200K into toy cars will be giving up far more eventual retirement wealth/income than a 50 year old.


Dave

 

@ the 1990 national meet @ the glen(or was it 91?) the then president of FOA told us the average client was a gynecologist with a practice making 50k a month

 

It differs from person to person.

If you've made 150k/yr forever and put 30% of that money away year after year and it grew, you do NOT need $1m in annual income to buy a new Ferrari. You can probably write a check.

I know some really well-off guys who are in serious panic mode right now...some of them surely make high six figures, even seven. They're so over leveraged in real estate and such, they couldn't afford to even think about a new Ferrari. For most of them, the situation is temporary. For some not so much.

I don't buy the 10% rule, either. If I have to have assets of $350k to buy a new Acura, well...

RMX