Performance shop owner shares how to save money on expensive Ferrari parts…or any car you’ve got
Imagine you can finally afford your dream car: a Ferrari 488. By “afford,” most people take it as winning a bank’s approval to sign the loan papers and getting it insured without sweating too much. Speaking of perspiration, according to Ferrari of Salt Lake City, the 488 averages a $200,000 to $300,000 sticker price…that’s used. Preowned 488 Pista listings are higher, pushing half a mil. Ferrari car insurance, then, just sounds piddly, averaging $5,300 a year.
While most high-end performance or luxury car owners understand that upkeep often forces drivers to throw in the towel, they might not know just how insane parts markups can get. Peter Boccarossa owns Bocca Motors, a high-end performance shop in Bethel, Connecticut. He and his team work on Ferrari, Lamborghini, Alfa Romeo Renault, Mercedes-AMG, BMW, and more. He’s used to crazy automaker parts markups and found a workaround.
“Ferrari kinda bones you every which way they can.”
Boccarossa explains that in order to get a Ferrari wheel off, he needed a special lug wrench. Of course, he had the tool at one point, but couldn’t find it, which meant he had to call the OEM parts department and order a new one.
“Thirteen hundred and eighty dollars…for a socket,” Boccarossa laments. “I mean, c’mon, you know?”
This is good advice for anyone who owns a car in general
Instead of paying the Ferrari parts department MSRP, the shop owner looked up who manufactures the socket, Paoli. Boccarossa called them up directly. “Paid 260 bucks, it arrived two days later from Europe.”
The comments confirm Ferrari and other automakers mark up their parts catalog just because, well, they can.
“My Ferrari 360 Spider needed a dome light, Ferrari P/N was like a grand. It’s just a Puegot part, $10 on Amazon,” one reported.
Since I worked at an independent shop for many years, I have my own stories. I once had a Bentley owner come through. They wanted their rear window fixed. It’d gone crooked in the frame and wouldn’t roll all the way up. We removed the door panel and found just regular old VW part numbers on the window motor and regulator. The markup, though! The estimate shocked the owner. He actually declined the repair and asked us to put a piece of wood under the window glass to hold it up in place. I can’t imagine what a dealership would have charged.
Keep in mind that while it’s true some parts manufacturers, like the Ferarri lug wrench supplier, are happy to ship directly to regular folks, some companies are committed to B2B sales and require a commercial account to complete a transaction.
