[360soldier]

I'm Joe. Just wanted to say Hi. I've been lurking on the board for a few months or so, great information to be found.

I'm getting my first 360 (my first Ferrari) here sometime very soon. I've read what I feel is adequate information, though I certainly wouldn't consider myself an expert. I just found the FF buyer's guide so I'll be "ponying" up the money for the membership.

Okay I've got something to add, I am constantly amazed at the price variance between cars that are nearly identical on "paper." It can literally vary $60,000 or more on a car that has an average price of $130,000. I've seen 2000s for as cheap as 97,000 (real high miles) and as high as 169,000 when the specs are generally quite close. I'm no mathemetician but 50% variance, even on a very niche market product makes it hard to be on the buying end. If I could dedicate unlimited time to the search I'm sure I could maximize the return but I'm getting grumpy looking online.

I deal in some high line motorcycles and if we had a Ducati that could sell for $20,000 one day and $30,000 the next I'd sure wait until the next day!

Anyway, thanks for all of the great comments.

Someone asked how many people that owned Ferraris also buy or own Ducati motorcycles. Given the number of members at Motorsports Ranch that have Ferraris and Ducatis in their garages I'd have to guess it's pretty high. There should certainly be some strategic alliances between the two, if not corporate merging...

 

[Stradale]

Welcome Joe. Nice to see you here.

 

[Pete04222]

Welcome Joe, I look forward to seeing some pictures of your new 360!

As for the price variance, I don't know. I think there is a big difference between what something is worth and what you can realistically sell it for. I've been told that my 308 is worth $30k. I wouldn't buy it for that much. I guess it would depend on how bad someone wants to get rid of it.

If you want to get maximum return on your "investment", it depends a lot on luck. You need to have the person who wants your item and has the money see your ad when they are ready to buy. If there was someone out there who specifically wanted a carburetted 1979 308 GTS with the Euro frontend that has been lowered, has custom rims and an electronic ignition installed, I could probably sell mine to him for $30k. But it is going to take a while for us to find each other. If I want to get rid of it tomorrow I should probably be looking in the low 20's. So that is at least a 20% drop in price from what it is "worth" to move it quick.

You can have a 2000 360 that is "worth" $170k sit in your showroom for 2 years. If you want to move it then you drop the price by 20% and you sell it for $136k. The average price you mentioned.

Ferraris are luxury items, not transportation, so you can't just look up their value in the NADA guide from last month. They are worth whatever the buyer is willing to pay.

BTW- I just looked up the 2000 360 in the NADA guide and it says the average retail price is $124,300.

 

[Boxer]

I'm getting my first 360 (my first Ferrari) here sometime very soon. I've read what I feel is adequate information, though I certainly wouldn't consider myself an expert. I just found the FF buyer's guide so I'll be "ponying" up the money for the membership.

Okay I've got something to add, I am constantly amazed at the price variance between cars that are nearly identical on "paper." It can literally vary $60,000 or more on a car that has an average price of $130,000. I've seen 2000s for as cheap as 97,000 (real high miles) and as high as 169,000 when the specs are generally quite close. I'm no mathemetician but 50% variance, even on a very niche market product makes it hard to be on the buying end. If I could dedicate unlimited time to the search I'm sure I could maximize the return but I'm getting grumpy looking online.

Joe, Welcome and good luck in your search. In terms of pricing, suggest you take a look at the price guide on Ferrari Market Letter. It tends to run about 5-10% over the estimated selling prices but will give you the trends over the last 2 years.

 

[360soldier]

Where would I find the market letter? NADA is useless, IMHO. Is that a Ferrari Forum section? (I only ask because I've found so many new niches in this site)

Drama unfolded today with the car I really had my sights on. It was about the 3rd one I really considered. I called the DMV here and even though the car has a clear title (I've even seen a copy of the title with my own eyes, there is no brand on it I swear) it was at one point a theft recovery title and a "taxi" in Nevada! and it would have to be inspected in Texas prior to being street legal. Because of the value, my insurance company will not insure it if it was salvage at one point. I guess it makes sense to me now that it was only 95K. I'm really not picking off the "bottom of the barrel" 360s. I really felt confident that this one might be the one. I think one big problem with these cars is that true enthusiasts, people who actually care about the vehicles, simply don't sell the cars they drive. I'm not sure if they get stuck in a crate with mothballs up in the mountains, but I can't find one (priced right) that was owned by anyone who is enthusiastic about the machine. I've found a couple for $150K but I'm simply not going to spend that much.

Does anyone here self insure? The salvage value on these is SO high that it shouldn't be that hard to do. I'm really starting to consider just paying cash for it, insuring it on my own and just salvaging it if I ball it up or get taken out by a Cell phone wielding SUV. I saw a motor sell for $35,000 and a chassis w/ a clear title sell for $29,000 on ebay. The rest of the car-in parts- should probably be worth the balance right? I'm just stretching to put this in my budget and any thoughts would be appreciated.


Alrighty, we'll see ya.

 

[Andrew]

Where would I find the market letter? NADA is useless, IMHO. Is that a Ferrari Forum section? (I only ask because I've found so many new niches in this site)

Glad to see people are exploring. I've been trying to think of a way to redesign the site to get more movement throughout but I like it the way it is.


Sorry there is no NADA section, yet :wink:

 

[Boxer]

Where would I find the market letter? NADA is useless, IMHO. Is that a Ferrari Forum section? (I only ask because I've found so many new niches in this site)

Drama unfolded today with the car I really had my sights on. It was about the 3rd one I really considered. I called the DMV here and even though the car has a clear title (I've even seen a copy of the title with my own eyes, there is no brand on it I swear) it was at one point a theft recovery title and a "taxi" in Nevada! and it would have to be inspected in Texas prior to being street legal. Because of the value, my insurance company will not insure it if it was salvage at one point. I guess it makes sense to me now that it was only 95K. I'm really not picking off the "bottom of the barrel" 360s. I really felt confident that this one might be the one. I think one big problem with these cars is that true enthusiasts, people who actually care about the vehicles, simply don't sell the cars they drive. I'm not sure if they get stuck in a crate with mothballs up in the mountains, but I can't find one (priced right) that was owned by anyone who is enthusiastic about the machine. I've found a couple for $150K but I'm simply not going to spend that much.

Does anyone here self insure? The salvage value on these is SO high that it shouldn't be that hard to do. I'm really starting to consider just paying cash for it, insuring it on my own and just salvaging it if I ball it up or get taken out by a Cell phone wielding SUV. I saw a motor sell for $35,000 and a chassis w/ a clear title sell for $29,000 on ebay. The rest of the car-in parts- should probably be worth the balance right? I'm just stretching to put this in my budget and any thoughts would be appreciated.


Alrighty, we'll see ya.

The url for Ferrari Market Letter is:

http://www.ferrarimarketletter.com/

and you might also want to contact

Michael Sheehan at www.ferraris-online.com

for advice. In general, I would plan on spending up to 6 months to find the right car and would not even consider a car that did not have a clean well documented title and history. In terms of insurance, no idea what Texas law requires and the US is lawsuit happy....

Good luck.

 

[360soldier]

The url for Ferrari Market Letter is:

http://www.ferrarimarketletter.com/

and you might also want to contact

Michael Sheehan at www.ferraris-online.com

for advice. In general, I would plan on spending up to 6 months to find the right car and would not even consider a car that did not have a clean well documented title and history. In terms of insurance, no idea what Texas law requires and the US is lawsuit happy....

Good luck.

thanks for the link, I learn more every day!

I'm sorry, I didn't make that clear on the insurance statement. I would carry liability insurance through a traditional carrier. What's so expensive and hard to find is insurance for comprehensive and collision (theft, hail, stray shopping carts and under-insured drivers) but it seems as though even in parts, these cars are worth what you pay for them for quite some time. They just don't depreciate and I own a salvage company so I can really hedge my bets and self-insure IF I had enough actuarial data on the parts values. I have a very good ins co.and even their highest deductible and lowest premium was over $550 a month. And my record is fairly clean.

As to the car and records, I'm definitely not the pickiest person. I look for the major services and title history. In this particular case, the title was from Nevada and once the car has been repaired and inspected, it is re-issued the same VIN and the salvage history is removed. So had I not run a twix or a vin check I would have never known about the salvage history. Well, that one's history now. Back to the books.