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Alex Cortese is a Dallas-based automotive consultant with over 40,000 Instagram followers. He just posted his call with Jason, a client looking to trade in his 2021 Ferrari SF90 Stradale hybrid two-door coupe. Jason feels suffocated by the car loan, so he’s inquiring about swapping the SF90 for a $68,000 Chevrolet Corvette Stingray in Alex’s inventory.

“I don’t know, man…the payments are getting kind of crazy.”

The Ferrari driver paid $770,000 in 2021. Jason wants the trade to get as close to his payoff as possible, ideally absolving the loan entirely.

He still owes a little under $700,000.

According to Alex, the Ferrari’s Manheim Market Report (MMR) is only $461,000. Since that’s the vehicle’s trade-in value, the full retail value is more like $535,000.

“Oh my God,” the Ferrari owner laments.

“You’re a little over $200,000 in negative equity, bro,” Alex confirms.

It sounds like Jason is stuck with his car payments unless he can somehow come up with the cash difference between what he still owes and what the SF90 is worth now.

In 2021, the Ferrari SF90 Stradale factory MSRP was $507K to $558K. So, how does a car loan like this even happen?

A few commenters wondered how in the world the buyer landed on a $770,000 car loan when the vehicle is worth so much less now. There are several possibilities here.

First, if Jason purchased the SF90 used, its sale price could have been far above its original, new-from-factory MSRP. A dealership could easily mark up a used Ferrari based on market demand. After all, Ferrari blocks just anyone from buying a new model. Potential customers must provide a history of used Ferrari ownership before qualifying to purchase a new unit straight from the factory.

Next, it’s possible Jason rolled old negative equity from another car (or cars) he owed on. Folks often take the cash gap between a car loan balance and its current trade-in value and work whatever’s left over into a new loan balance. This could happen if Jason financed another high-end vehicle and still owed more than it was worth on trade when he moved up into the Ferrari.

Now, it’s not unheard of for the ultra-wealthy to finance their supercars. This is because keeping their money in higher-earning interest zones far exceeds any car loan interest terms. As such, they avoid paying a lump sum for depreciating assets like a fancy car so their money can continue earning them even more money. Unfortunately, though, it sounds like this particular buyer is getting really uncomfortable with his financing situation.

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Editor-in-Chief

Sarah Kennedy

Sarah Kennedy is the Editor-in-Chief of MotorBiscuit. She joined the team as Managing Editor in 2021 and has more than 20 years of automotive and operations expertise. She held ASE certifications as an Automotive Service Consultant and Parts Specialist and was a licensed car salesperson for many years. Sarah often focuses on helping drivers navigate used car buying and vehicle ownership. She created “Shop Smarts,” a column for MOTOR Magazine, and was a contributor there for eight years. Her work earned her a Gold Medalist award from the American Society of Business Publication Editors in 2014 and Bronze Medalist awards from the International Automotive Media Competition in 2014 and 2015. She attended the Automotive Management Institute and earned her bachelor’s degree from The Ohio State University.