Greetings!

It seems like I frequently hear about people being on 2-3 year waiting lists for Ferrari's. This cant really be the case for EVERY one right? .... if you walk into a Ferrari dealership and say "I want a brand new car", will you find in stock cars, or do you need to order everytime? My father always asks me this question and I never know the answer. Not that I am anywhere near being in the market, I just figured this would be the right place to ask.

Thanks for the help... love the forum!

 

The dealer demographic has changed a lot in the last decade or so. When I bought one in the late 90's, there were cars in the showrooms and salesmen who acted like they really wanted your business.

Nowadays you're not getting a new car unless you're on their customer list, and you suck enough appendage to get an allocation.

Fortunately, at least for me, they stopped making interesting cars anyway.

If you really want an F-car, I recommend buying used.

 

wow no kidding! so if your joe-schmoe and walk in with a check for the full amount and ask to get on the list for whatever ferrari's next big car is.... theres still no guarentee. wow

 

the new york times (i believe) wrote an article about the monstrous year end bonuses goldman sachs employees earned. in it, they speak about how these bonuses were to be spent. miller motorcars in greenwich, ct has 50 deposits on the new gtb, but they will only recieve one (which i think was an underestimate to prove a point) car, initially. the question of to whom this car will go was posed and it seems it is a very hard question for miller to answer, except to say that it will be one of their best customers; good luck getting one period, nevermind as your first f car (which is a very real possibility for young i bankers/hedge fund analysts, etc...)!

 

The ferrari market is a whole new world. Stuck up salesmen, shady dealers, premium prices. Once you establish yourself as a real buyer you get better deals and better service.

 

wow I never would have guessed. If were walking in somewhere looking to spend multiple hundreds of thousands of dollars, I would hope to be treated with first class service! .... seems like the reality would be beyond frustrating!

thanks for the input

 

While that is true in most cases their are still exceptions. In my case I met the owner of a dealership at a car show and he was just an awsome guy. Over the years my dad and I would see him and talk to him and we all became friends. The owner knew we wanted a car real bad and that i am a huge enthusiast which he understands since he races cars with his son (which I'm so jealous of) and decided to take a chance and get us a car. This particular dealer is top notch and decided to break the rules for us. I agree that for the most part the dealers suck, but their are some guys who are just genuinly nice people and understand how messed up the process is and want to get enthusiasts and the like into cars. These dealers know no matter what they are gonna sell cars, why not give them to good people and people who will appreciate them. Now if you are some chump who wants to flip a car for a profit they will black list you and you will NEVER get another car.

Anyways long story short you can get cars its hard though.

 

the dealers are probably stuck up because 95% of the people coming through their doors are schmoes. It's simple supply and demand, lots of people can stroke a check for the full amount at anytime and because of that new dealers use new customers to pay high premiums to make more money. The process sucks, but because people want the cars so bad they'll pay the premium. Once you've had a car or two from the dealer and they've dealt with you then they take care of you price and service wise. I can't even imagine being a Ferrari salesman and having to deal with all the lookie-loos all day.

 

HAHA yeah it would definitly get annoying. I have noticed that if they think you have cars they tend to be nicer, but they are still asses most of the time.

 

say you ordered an f430 spider now any idea how long the wait is? do you even know what model year you may get?

Thanks for the input.... these are just merely curiousity questions

 

Well first off the 430s have an airbag problem I believe with USDOT. They were granted a waiver until august or september(cant remember which) of 07. So people some people are saying they are going to fix the problem with a facelift, some say there is going to be a whole new car, they might just fix the problem and leave the car as is, or they may stop selling them in the US. As to which of these rumors is the truth I don't know. Most dealers in big cities i.e. miami, la, nyc will probably say that production is sold out and they can only get you a used car. Some of the smaller dealers may have a spot available but everything is up in the air with the airbag thing. Another thing Ferrari does is gift cars to dealers sometimes, which means they get a car they didn't order but Ferrari just sent it to them. These cars are a surprise so they arn't normally spoken for, but the dealers tend to work up their list of orders and give the car to somebody with an order already. In theory if you had a contact at a dealer you could get one of these gift cars since its not like your stealing someone else's car. Another thing to keep in ming is that most dealers don't have a physical list of name and order spots, they have their portfolio of clients and they just call whomever when they decide to give them a car.

So really the 430 is a horrible car to look at as far as wait time. You have a very little to no chance of getting a spider if you dont have something setup already. A coupe you might be able to pull off but it would be a luck thing, I can't really say "3 months" because for the most part every car and then some is sold.

599s for instance are said to be sold out for all of the production. A lot of guys are taking 150-200k over sticker with miles right now. Those are real numbers too, not well i heard this guy may have done this or that crap we always hear on the net. So if you want a 599 get ready to pay a huge premium.

 

That's why I love Lamborghini. You can walk in, see the car, drive it home.

 

thats unbelievable. its like a whole different world with the demand for these types of cars and how much power that gives the dealers. I can see how egoe's and attitudes really swell with this kind of product. ....if someone doesnt want to pay the premium....who cares... the next guy will!! just unreal, thanks for all the info!

Jeff

 

Is Lambo really a whole different story?? I am currently working with Joey Kramer tyring to put a deal together for a friend of his (tried to sell joey his winter beater STI, but lost the deal)... but he has a gallardo spyder and that was the first time ive been up close with that car. Just an unreal machine!

 

Yeah thats conveinent, but you pay the price on resale. I mean it's easy to buy cars people don't want, or in this case don't want as much.