Buying a 550

[paul0843]

cgt2 said:

21ATS said:

Having driven both, it's not the driving bit that bothers me (i.e. when you're making progress). There's actually a reasonably good argument for the F1 over the manual in that specific area.

It's the parking, junctions, traffic, manouvering, beeping in reverse etc that I struggled with. I'd need to live with one for a while to figure out if it bothered me long term or if it was something I'd just get comfortable with.

I'm actually ok with that now there's a realistic option of swapping it to a manual if I find I really struggle with the F1 system.

Unlike the OP, this isn't an itch I'm scratching, this is life keeper for me.

Having owned both I would say the 550 ticked more boxes for me personally. I preferred the more retro cabin, Jaeger dials rather than generic Fiat/Alfa ones, no beeps when indicating. To drive I honestly could not tell the difference, at the age these cars are now maintenance and setup would outweigh any nominal horsepower advantage.

Was just about to post exactly the same and agreed ,550 has a more retro cabin.
Have owned both ,in manual.
The materials in the 550 ,dials,leather,plastics definitely felt like they were of higher quality .
Maintenance was also very similar,and apart from normal servicing nothing untoward for both of them.

[jackal]

bish_345 said:

As best I can tell, Collecting Cars have sold 5 RHD 550s. Including their 6% premium the prices were approximately 63k, 64k, 80k, 82k and 84k. The mileages were 55k,58k,46k,30k and 27k.
I see three cars in the PH classifieds at dealers (not Slades) who are asking 90-95k for 35k-27k mile cars. Basically a 10k mark up on the Collecting Car "private sale" prices for comparable cars. I don't find that particularly out of whack. Pity the previous owner of my current 550 (mileage in the teens) who paid, if I remember correctly from the file, at least 160k in the heady days of 2015 or so....

good luck

having done a bit of research, I now wouldn't even buy a bag of crisps from Slades

YMMV

[AlvinSultana]

This car seems to be making strong money.

Accident damage, tired interior, poor service history, numerous areas of rust bubbles, 11 year old tyres etc, and thats a description which is designed to sound appealing !


https://collectingcars.com/for-sale/2000-ferrari-5...

[550M]

You forgot to mention the £15k recommissioning bill?

You rarely see such an honest description. Without an HPI marker, the memory of such damage would usually be affected by acute amnesia by most vendors....

[21ATS]

I did a bit of research into this car as I liked the colour scheme and the fact that is had no sheilds.

I was advised by someone who knew the car and the backstory (I can't reveal who) not to consider it "at any price".

Honestly, it wouldn't take many phone calls to find out exactly what had happened to it and how the interior and tool kit arrived at the condition they are now at. You could start with the name of the specialist on the front numberplate.

[AlvinSultana]

21ATS said:

not to consider it "at any price".

.

Indeed.

I cannot imagine the bids are from real persons wanting to sink £60k plus into such an orphan.

The market for these cars is incredibly sensitive to vehicles without the proper credentials.

The 550 buyer wants to see evidence of pampering, not abuse and neglect.

[bish_345]

AlvinSultana said:

21ATS said:

not to consider it "at any price".

.

Indeed.

I cannot imagine the bids are from real persons wanting to sink £60k plus into such an orphan.

The market for these cars is incredibly sensitive to vehicles without the proper credentials.

The 550 buyer wants to see evidence of pampering, not abuse and neglect.

"Stored for a number of years....". I can imagine the storage conditions given the state of that toolkit.
"cosmetic damage....". Replacing wishbones and a driveshaft seems a bit more than "cosmetic".

[MDL111]

From what I can see from quickly scrolling through the pics, I think the interior looks ok/perfectly fine for a 20+ year old car and the toolkit looks like it was used at some point, but so what it is a toolkit. I quite like the color combination, but it would not be my first choice.

[21ATS]

bish_345 said:

"Stored for a number of years....". I can imagine the storage conditions given the state of that toolkit.
"cosmetic damage....". Replacing wishbones and a driveshaft seems a bit more than "cosmetic".

It was left outside in a yard in it's damaged condition for an extended period of time (multiple months - possibly years) before the repair was undertaken. There was an extensive internal mould issue as a result.

Edited by 21ATS on Thursday 8th April 21:14

[jw673]

AlvinSultana said:

21ATS said:

not to consider it "at any price".

.

Indeed.

I cannot imagine the bids are from real persons wanting to sink £60k plus into such an orphan.

The market for these cars is incredibly sensitive to vehicles without the proper credentials.

The 550 buyer wants to see evidence of pampering, not abuse and neglect.

Per an earlier thread - a UK PHer listed their car on an online auction site that is known for pestering sellers to remove (or lower) the reserve. In this case the seller was guaranteed that by removing the reserve the car would at least make £X in the bidding (a price less than the reserve, although acceptable to the seller).

As luck would have it the auction did indeed end at £X, with the winning bidder (located in China) being not particularly responsive to emails . Unfortunately, the bidder had only provided a partial contact number to the auction site so it wasn't possible to contact them via phone . While waiting for a response the seller was unable to list (or sell) their car elsewhere due to the auction's T&Cs.

The current 550 owner may soon find themselves emailing China, with little in the way of response. I guess it beats having to contact a wall, fire extinguisher, or light switch... although I'm not entirely sure how acceptable that is in an auction without reserve.

[21ATS]

Winning bid £72,990.

Assuming that's plus commission that's £77,369.40 for a structurally damaged car with patchy history, plus whatever else can't be seen.

That doesn't add up to me at all.

If that is infact a real sale, I hope the nutter that bought it will come here and give us an update when they've had the car given a proper once over.

[cgt2]

21ATS said:

Winning bid £72,990.

Assuming that's plus commission that's £77,369.40 for a structurally damaged car with patchy history, plus whatever else can't be seen.

That doesn't add up to me at all.

If that is infact a real sale, I hope the nutter that bought it will come here and give us an update when they've had the car given a proper once over.

Pretty crazy as Mike Wheeler sold a straight car in the same colour combo last year albeit with 50k miles for £70k (just checked).

Edited by cgt2 on Thursday 8th April 22:09

[21ATS]

cgt2 said:

Pretty crazy as Mike Wheeler sold a straight car in the same colour combo six months ago for £70k.

I agree, that makes little sense. But right now many things don't make a great deal of sense.

We're living in an enormous asset bubble fuelled by furlough payments, grants and little in the way of interest rates.

I'm genuinely interested to see how this plays out over the next 1-5 years. The fallout could be life changing.

[bish_345]

MDL111 said:

From what I can see from quickly scrolling through the pics, I think the interior looks ok/perfectly fine for a 20+ year old car and the toolkit looks like it was used at some point, but so what it is a toolkit. I quite like the color combination, but it would not be my first choice.

I've no problem with a used toolkit. However, in this case, zooming in on the photos you can see that anything metallic on or in the toolkit is seriously rusted. It is prima facie evidence of damp storage conditions for an extended period. That would give me concern about the state of the underneath of the car (of which there are no pictures...). On the plus side, looking at the invoices, they have at least done the "stickies" and the passenger air bag cover....

[MDL111]

bish_345 said:

MDL111 said:

From what I can see from quickly scrolling through the pics, I think the interior looks ok/perfectly fine for a 20+ year old car and the toolkit looks like it was used at some point, but so what it is a toolkit. I quite like the color combination, but it would not be my first choice.

I've no problem with a used toolkit. However, in this case, zooming in on the photos you can see that anything metallic on or in the toolkit is seriously rusted. It is prima facie evidence of damp storage conditions for an extended period. That would give me concern about the state of the underneath of the car (of which there are no pictures...). On the plus side, looking at the invoices, they have at least done the "stickies" and the passenger air bag cover....

Fair point if the toolkit managed to get that rusty while being in the car, then that is most likely not great. I assume it could have been put away wet and never opened again, would certainly require further DD.

[AlvinSultana]

No one buys a used 550 at retail price, unseen on an online auction, with a serious list of red flags.

This “sale” will never materialise.

[jtremlett]

MDL111 said:

bish_345 said:

MDL111 said:

From what I can see from quickly scrolling through the pics, I think the interior looks ok/perfectly fine for a 20+ year old car and the toolkit looks like it was used at some point, but so what it is a toolkit. I quite like the color combination, but it would not be my first choice.

I've no problem with a used toolkit. However, in this case, zooming in on the photos you can see that anything metallic on or in the toolkit is seriously rusted. It is prima facie evidence of damp storage conditions for an extended period. That would give me concern about the state of the underneath of the car (of which there are no pictures...). On the plus side, looking at the invoices, they have at least done the "stickies" and the passenger air bag cover....

Fair point if the toolkit managed to get that rusty while being in the car, then that is most likely not great. I assume it could have been put away wet and never opened again, would certainly require further DD.

The car was stored outside and unused for some considerable period and the interior went mouldy. I believe that is also the reason for the state of the steering wheel. I saw it on several occasions during this time.

[MDL111]

jtremlett said:

MDL111 said:

bish_345 said:

MDL111 said:

From what I can see from quickly scrolling through the pics, I think the interior looks ok/perfectly fine for a 20+ year old car and the toolkit looks like it was used at some point, but so what it is a toolkit. I quite like the color combination, but it would not be my first choice.

I've no problem with a used toolkit. However, in this case, zooming in on the photos you can see that anything metallic on or in the toolkit is seriously rusted. It is prima facie evidence of damp storage conditions for an extended period. That would give me concern about the state of the underneath of the car (of which there are no pictures...). On the plus side, looking at the invoices, they have at least done the "stickies" and the passenger air bag cover....

Fair point if the toolkit managed to get that rusty while being in the car, then that is most likely not great. I assume it could have been put away wet and never opened again, would certainly require further DD.

The car was stored outside and unused for some considerable period and the interior went mouldy. I believe that is also the reason for the state of the steering wheel. I saw it on several occasions during this time.

Ouch
Mmhh need to reevaluate how I store some of my cars if being outside leads to mould - not good and need to monitor that closely

[seawise]

only yesterday i was chatting to someone in the trade (Ferrari specialist) who was explaining that the sales market was very difficult currently, with dealer cars SOR at unrealistic prices, owners looking to sell but again at optimistic values and the only true barometer being what something reaches on an auction platform.

Then last night this car with all it's red flags gets that price - well quite extraordinary.

it feels almost make belief.

[21ATS]

seawise said:

only yesterday i was chatting to someone in the trade (Ferrari specialist) who was explaining that the sales market was very difficult currently, with dealer cars SOR at unrealistic prices, owners looking to sell but again at optimistic values and the only true barometer being what something reaches on an auction platform.

Then last night this car with all it's red flags gets that price - well quite extraordinary.

it feels almost make belief.

This sale combined with the Manual 575 that recently "sold" at Silverstone have a whiff about them.

Like you say, some very unrealistic SOR prices being asked. There's a lot of brinkmanship going on right now. People really needing to exit cars before the artificial economy ends, but hanging out for as much as possible for as long as possible.