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Will my car appreciate in value?

eee348

eee348

New member
Happy Sunday Petrol heads

I have been searching the web for the last hour trying to find guidance on the likely future value of my Ferrari. But alas no joy (but I love the often inane suggestions on answer.com :hanged:) :grin:

I have a 348 and I aim to keep it for a long time. Therefore the 'Ebenezer' part of me became curious to know what the historical trends for 'classic' Ferraris have been over the course of history and therefore, what the price of my car may be in say 10 years time.

From what I can tell a Ferrari value rapidly depreciates in the first 3-4 years (no surprise), then it seems to level out. At a certain age (based on condition) the price starts to rise again. Looks like the 308 and 328's are on that rising slope now.

Any thoughts and guidance speed lovers?

Ta, e
 
348's have pretty much bottomed out at £20k ish. They are unlikely to go much lower. Much as I like 348's, it is not considered a 'great' model like a 308, 328 and even 355, so this will limit future increase in values. On the plus side, there are low production numbers of 348's though, so they may creep up but not massively IMO.

I know SteveW disagrees, but nice cars can be had under that figure, depends how desperate the seller is to shift the car quickly. The last 348 I had I bought for £18k and it was a very nice example which had just had a major belt service at a Ferrari main dealer (a third of the value of the car :shocked:).

You also have to remember there is a very limited market for 348's as they are harder to drive than later cars, so you are immediately appealing to a smaller number of potential buyers. This is illustrated by the fact that many cars on the market tend to stay there for months before shifting. And there are quite a few examples out there that people can afford to buy and not maintain so I would imagine that proportionately there is a higher number of doggy examples around than the other models discussed.
 
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cgt said:
348's have pretty much bottomed out at £20k ish. They are unlikely to go much lower. Much as I like 348's, it is not considered a 'great' model like a 308, 328 and even 355, so this will limit future increase in values. On the plus side, there are low production numbers of 348's though, so they may creep up but not massively IMO.

I know SteveW disagrees, but nice cars can be had under that figure, depends how desperate the seller is to shift the car quickly. The last 348 I had I bought for £18k and it was a very nice example which had just had a major belt service at a Ferrari main dealer (a third of the value of the car :shocked:).

You also have to remember there is a very limited market for 348's as they are harder to drive than later cars, so you are immediately appealing to a smaller number of potential buyers. This is illustrated by the fact that many cars on the market tend to stay there for months before shifting. And there are quite a few examples out there that people can afford to buy and not maintain so I would imagine that proportionately there is a higher number of doggy examples around than the other models discussed.
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I don't entirely disagree with you mate :grin: I'm sure there maybe someone who is desperate to get out of their car who will sell a "nice" example for under 20k but 99 out of a 100 will be shall we say "tired" :wink3: also one mans idea of "nice" may not be mine :wink3::grin:

I do agree with you that the 348 has a limited appeal, the owners tend to fall into 1 of 2 catagories
1.Those that really want a 348 for what it is
2.Those that really want something else, more often than not a 355 but can't afford one.In fact there was a post to that effect on here in the last week.

You're also correct about the buying of the car isn't the problem, the maintainance is.
 
Before I bought mine, I found that 'good' ones from reputable dealers etc were advertised for around the 27k mark, I pushed the boat to 30 in the belief that what I was buying from Cartwrights was a very good well looked after example and would 'hopefully' not need much expenditure.

I came across the article in the Times http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/driving/used_car_reviews/article823833.ece

Note that it is dated 2003 and advised that you will need 30k for a good example.

I feel that its a matter of running costs, and I personally don't expect to get all my money back if and when I may come to sell, mainly because I will probably incur the costs of belts and service etc to ensure it is properly salable.

So, I'm going to hold on and enjoy mine. I doubt that I will lose the kind of money that I have in the past. Actually that's one of the reasons I bought it.

PS. I agree with Steve's post. I thoroughly enjoyed his running report in the refurb of the 348 spider, and asked my self, surely the cost of the car and the all the work he put into it would outweigh the value. But I can see it was a 'labour of love' something I would love to do. But don't have the set up. (or the money):wink3:
 
I don't have a 348 as per the subject of this thread but I have bought my 355 with a clear understanding in my own mind of what ownership of one of these cars entails :

I don't expect to lose money on the purchase price of the car as I think they have bottomed out at around the £38-40k mark for decent examples purchased from an independent specialist with a limited warranty and recent belt service.

As far as the maintenance and running costs are concerned, I don't think you can factor these into the overall cost of ownership (i.e. linked as a part of the purchase price) as the numbers can end up so disproportionate to the value of the car. I went into the ownership experience in the relativley safe knowledge that the cash I spent on the car was pretty 'safe' in terms of further depreciation and that things like servicing, maintenance, insurance etc. were costs to be taken on the chin on an annual basis and justified as the 'cost' of my hobby.......

Well, that's the way I look at it anyways
 
to answer your question politley yes it will for some reason with cars/bikes what was crap unreliable and what nobody wanted years ago is now worth a few quid so i suppose in time to come people might want a 348 :thumbsup:
 
A large part of both perceived and real lower values of 348's comes from the constant knocks the car gets both in the media and otherwise (usually from people that have never driven one). If enough people say something enough times, it will become accepted, rather than people make their own judgements.

Over time this has definitely caused a 'downward correction' in pricing. There was a member on here who was trying to sell his 348 last year. It looked a top example, he had obviously spent a lot of money on the car and maintained it exceptionally well, yet month after month he kept reducing it as he had no takers.

355's are very collectible and have held firm for several years though as it addressed the few faults the 348 had, is one of the all time great looking Ferraris (probably the last really beautiful one) and generally always gets rave reviews from owners and motoring press. Being easier to drive and live with also helps.
 
I interviewed Chris from Coys Auction house from Kensington at the Autosport show the other week and he said he thinks the 348's will go up in value. He also said that the 355 will hit £100k :shocked:

He's an expert in this type of field where as i'm not so it was interesting to hear his thoughts on certain values with all the experience and knowledge he has. However, he did not say when he thinks the 355 will be worth £100k. Maybe 50 years? :grin:
 
Adz man said:
I interviewed Chris from Coys Auction house from Kensington at the Autosport show the other week and he said he thinks the 348's will go up in value. He also said that the 355 will hit £100k :shocked:

He's an expert in this type of field where as i'm not so it was interesting to hear his thoughts on certain values with all the experience and knowledge he has. However, he did not say when he thinks the 355 will be worth £100k. Maybe 50 years? :grin:
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Nice to hear. I was starting to loose faith :laugh:

It would be interesting to plot the average cost of each model over time to see if any trends exist. I expect they do.

Like you say Adz, I may have to wait a while though :grin:
 
It would take a very VERY long time IMO for a 355 to reach £100k purely because of the number of cars out there. Any model where there are more than a dozen examples for sale at any given time can never really be considered 'special' in the way an ultra low production model will.
 
cgt said:
It would take a very VERY long time IMO for a 355 to reach £100k purely because of the number of cars out there. Any model where there are more than a dozen examples for sale at any given time can never really be considered 'special' in the way an ultra low production model will.
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Can't see that ever being an average price - but who knows, maybe in a few years an absolutely mint low mileage 355 will sell for silly money at the Barrett Jackson auctions (or similar).
 
Iain said:
Can't see that ever being an average price - but who knows, maybe in a few years an absolutely mint low mileage 355 will sell for silly money at the Barrett Jackson auctions (or similar).
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Which raises the question, how many such examples are really out there? :hmmm:
 
So we have established that the 348 IS a good car at reasonable money that while
it wont make the owner a killing it wont drop like a stone either and it is beautiful to look at
and you need to know how to drive to get the best out of it.

Where as the 355 is the default car for those who hope to make a small profit want the looks
but cannot drive very well:grin:
 
marky1 said:
A 348 will go up less in value than the amount you have to spend on it every year.:)
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Correct IMO. Cars are "rarely" investments. Some appreciate over time, but TBH you'd probably get the same ROI with your money elsewhere.

Own one for pleasure only:thumbsup:
 
marky1 said:
A 348 will go up less in value than the amount you have to spend on it every year.:)
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I am not so certain that is entirely correct. They have bottomed out for sure but I think due to relatively small numbers will only go upwards. Servicing costs are only expensive when it comes to cambelt time.
 
Whatever you drive there are running costs. Petrol, insurance, brake pads, servicing. Even on a £500 fiesta you will have running costs. In my opinion the 348 will not lose a penny in depreciation ever, and the late pristine examples will appreciate over the next 10 years. It's a simple game of numbers. I would bet that a late immaculate 348 will be worth more than a 430 in 15 years time. Just because compared to the 430 there were so few made. So the maintenance can be a little costly, but think of the smile it puts on your face driving/owning it. My first Ferrari was a 348 and I love them. Very underrated indeed!
 
Adz man said:
:laugh: I'm sorry I really cant see that happening
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10 years ago I said the same about Maseratis. The ghibli cup being worth more than the 3200 just because of the numbers. At the time the person I was talking to laughed and said never! Early 3200 now sub 10k. Ghibli cup 18k. Too many 430s and so few 348s.
 
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