You Won't Believe HOW MUCH This Ferrari COST To Maintain from NEW! (FULL 21 Year History Examined)

Have you ever wondered if the legendary running costs of Ferrari V12s is true? Here I go through ALL the costs of this Ferrari 550 from NEW and compare them to the costs of running a V8 Ferrari 430. The results might surprise you.

[DoubleOSeven]

Bought a 1990 Mk2 Golf with 50k on it 5 years ago for £650 and spent £12 on a wheel bearing so far. I think I’ll keep it.

[notroll]

I keep grinning when people look at luxury cars and ask about fuel consumption... they have no idea that fuel is just a negligeable part of the total maintenance cost...

[morecowbell]

I owned a 2002 Acura NSX for about 13 years.
I followed the factory maintenance schedule and I don't think I spent more than $1600 in any given year and that would have been only in the more robust maintenance intervals.
My average running costs (not including insurance or gas) were far less, probably $700 a year. The cars are well built and did't fall apart.

[jeffreyrichard]

The sheer amount of part failures/swaps that you have to do on these cars is absolutely absurd considering their purchase price
Granted that they are fast and handle well but so do alot of other cars that do not put their owners though the expense and hassle.
I know plenty of ex Ferrari owners who got rid of these not because they couldn't afford them but because they were tired of the hassle of keeping them up.

[mrstanhope]

Those prices are hilarious. Unless you are the one paying.

[chetanburman]

Haha! I finally dodged that bullet/ con of keeping Ferraris, sold both my 458 Spider and the 812 SF. They cost a bomb to maintain, garage, and insure and run. They were pleasurable enough in the beginning, but that wore off significantly after each year of keeping them. 812 SF lasted just 3 months considering I waited 2 years for my atelier spec car! Very happy to get rid of both :))

[timbutton]

These sort of costs make Harry's Jag v12 rebuild look cheap!

[wantcLOTS]

Compare and Contrast: Bought my 550 in 2005 from Maranello UK when it was 4yrs old, with a full MDSH and had done 11k miles. I paid £74k. Over the next 12 years I did 15k miles in it including drives to Monaco, Lake Como and the Nurburgring. Went to umpteen FOC meetings and outings which provided access to all sorts of Ferrari exclusive events like "behind the scenes" visits to dealerships and new car launches. Even had a go at entering it in the National Concours one year (just 2 weeks after driving back from Italy - I came 4th in class). Including tyres (but not petrol or insurance) my bills in that time totalled approx £24k, or £2k/year, with services done every single year at main Ferrari dealerships so as to maintain its "perfect" service record. It never broke down or left me stranded and the only recurrent issue was leaking camshaft seals when the 3 year belt changes were done. In 2017 I sold it for....£135k. With a net profit of around £35k I'd say that was cheap and extremely enjoyable motoring....

[ala]

I was lucky to own a 550 back when the car was only 5 years old, and in 3 years of ownership it cost almost nothing to run. Just fuel (lots of it, sure), tires and scheduled servicing. Nothing ever broke down, nothing ever leaked. This was by far the most reliable car I had owned at the time, and I got it up to 38, 000 miles. The first owner of this red one must have been unlucky.

[philiplevett]

If it hasn't been mentioned before, it would be interesting to know how those costs relate to mileage. The cost per mile including insurance, and fuel would be a reality check.

[pmikey]

I wouldn’t trust those “pre sale” inspections as far as I could throw them.

[RandomGuyDan]

Most of the parts you are listing wouldn't have needed replacing on a Honda or Toyota until 100k miles or beyond. It is outrageous that a modern car would need ball joints or engine mounts so soon.

[andylaws]

Glad I didn't have to watch JayM explaining all of this!!! ;)

[ozeskiman]

I budget around Aus$5-7k a year for my 2002 575M. Some years it's been less, some years more. I've had the car 7 years and probably spent A$40k, 30k on maintenance, 10k on body and interior to keep it in top nick. However, I'm about to do the premium service and that's going to cost approx A$17k.. which is a lot. For replacing fuel lines, pumps, brake lines etc. Around 50 parts which cost A$12k. Labour around 5k. Does the car need it? Probably not all of it now, but its almost 20yo and has 60, 000km on the clock. I drive it regularly and often quite hard, so I want to know it's in great condition. But, as any Ferrari owner will tell you, anything can go wrong at any time and parts are expensive. My Ferrari dealer does the servicing and their labour rate is less than my MB dealer. I had an MB CL55 and that cost big money too.
I love driving this car, much more than either the 355 or 430 that I had. It drives superbly, is comfortable and when you floor it to 7, 500 in 2nd and 3rd it's a rush. The Maranello (550 & 575M), is for me, one of the best looking Pinifarina designed, front engined V12 Ferraris. You can see the 250/275/365 lineage. A modern classic and still a bargain to buy today, relatively speaking. No supercar, once out of warranty, is cheap to own. Imagine owning an MC F1. There's a major service that costs over 75k! They recommend replacing the gold foil in the engines bay. WTF.

[davidsherley]

Ferrari seems to be upholding its reputation for building wonderful driver experience cars that require extensive and costly pit stops in the repair shop.

[grahamsalmons]

Brilliant video Jack but the reality is that unless you’ve got plenty of dosh, don’t stretch for a Ferrari. Fascinating, especially some of the eye watering bills.
I’m a car nut, and my brother has had a series of Ferraris. They are lovely in their own way, but I’m so pleased he owned them, and I just got to enjoy a ride once in a while. I think one of the services on his 456 was £12000!
The contrast to your renovation of the tomato is stark!

[laapulsford]

I think the moral of this story is, Ferrari engineer crap cars.

[kickstartedwards]

Owned a 550 from 2009 to 2013, bought the car with 36, 000 miles on it and when I added up the service invoices they came out to almost exactly £35k all with main dealers - I thought I would save a lot of money by using independents but I did about 12k miles and spent almost exactly £12k which included items like restoring the switchgear (went sticky) and the underbonnet felt was replaced with 2 wheels which just did not retain pressure any longer.
When I sold the car it was in excellent condition and bought by a specialist who spent most of day inspecting it including compression tests, within weeks I had to call the dealer to sort out transfer of a private plate, he told me that a head gasket failed at speed and caused serious engine damage - my luckiest escape

[matthewcurtis]

What would have been an interesting addition at the end of this video is a quick comparison of average annual running costs to a couple of British sports cars, Jaguar or Aston Martin for example. Perhaps another video...

[moiluck]

As a 348 owner I can say there are 2 ways of keeping your Ferrari going. One is taking the car to the Ferrari dealer or specialist for keeping it in perfect condition. The other is doing that yourself and living with a not that perfection level of maintenance. The first way gives you a pleasant ownership and peace of mind if you can afford the great cost. The second gives you many many headaches and knowledge about your machine while saving big amounts of money and even making “affordable” a car designed for ripping millionaries. Needless to say modern Ferraris are not easy for DIY’s because electronics and sophistication