Nizer

So just for fun I pulled together a table of 5yr costs above and beyond normal stuff like licensing, fees, service, etc. of owning an exotic in MA (in this case $140k RS).

Tossing this out there not to depress others but to solicit advice on ways to contain or reduce these costs from those more experienced. One note: my insurance estimate is a complete SWAG based on my current stable and could be off by a large margin.

Appreciate any serious feedback beyond the obvious like buy used.

Serge944

I wish my insurance was just 3k/yr. 23 y.o. & 3 points on my record. And people wonder why I sold the Ducati...

Only thing I can think of is buy used from a private party & claim a reduced selling price. At least in CA, you save not only on the sales tax, but also on registration fees, which are based solely on the selling price. Just a thought - not that I would ever consider cheating the govt. out of their money...

prosper

I have notice that your insurance is the same $3,000 for the next 5 years,
while your GT3 RS will depreciate significantly over the next 5 years after you bought it new.

Is it possible for you to ask for readjustment of your insurance cost to your insurance provider ?

but maybe your insurance cost is only for Liability and not Full Coverage... that is why your cost is always the same... at $3,000

anyway, if those $3,000 is for full coverage, you should ask for smaller insurance fee each year, adjusted with the depreciation of your car.

Even your Excise Tax depreciate as you point out on the table above.

Regarding the sales tax, you might get away by buying the car using out of states address where they have 0% sales tax or lower sales tax on that state.
at least this is what some of my friend doing in the 1990's... don't know if it still can be done...

The Guzzler tax... now that is not avoidable, and probably since it will only occur once when you bought the car new,
so maybe it is best to put it into the total cost of the car, and not as tax.

The sales tax on the other hand is not a one time cost, and can vary from state to state...
What I mean as not a one time cost is, even used car buyer still have to pay sales tax... (right ?)

anyway, it had been a while since I live in USA,...
so if I make a mistake on my post above,
please kindly understand
and please kindly help me to understand more of the current regulation.

ps: if your insurance at $3,000 per year is for full coverage of a GT3 RS(including liability), that is very cheap, because I used to pay $6,000 for full coverage in 1994 for my Mercedes E500,
and when I bought my Turbo 3.6, I remember that I only pay liability coverage because a full coverage for a Turbo 3.6 was too expensive (at more than $15,000) so it is not worth it...
of course at that time I was only 21 years old... so that could be the "big factor"...

malmasri

Ouch that is painful, however they need the funds to pay for health insurance for everyone.
Here is my suggestion: Move to a less hostile state....
For example In my state OH the annual cost for my GT3 RS after the Initial purchase is as follow:
1- Registration $60.
2- Insurance $ 360.
The difference pays for all the fun days on the track

fc-racer

I think the best way to own an exotic car and to still have a shirt on your back after 3 years is to buy a relatively rare model used. As an example, of the four cars I've owned, I came out ahead (excluding maintenance) in two of them and both were purchased used, are rare and considered special models from Porsche:

1989 944 Turbo S - Sold after 4 years for the same as I bought it for
1991 911 Turbo - Bought for $63k, sold 2 years later for $51k
1996 911 Turbo - Sold after 3 years for the same as I bought it for
2007 GT3 - Bought for $155k, haven't sold, but only worth about $115k now if I'm lucky

I don't think I'll buy new again, it really makes the ownership experience pretty painful.

Nizer

Wow! That's amazing.

To be fair, my insurance estimate is just a guess as I said and I trust other GT3 owners who are MA residents can provide more accurate estimates. As for keeping insurance level, my experience is that while the value of a car depreciates over time, the insurance companies always seem to find a way to keep their premiums level. I can always skip the collision and just take track day insurance but not sure it would save much money.

Regarding buying out of state and trying to smuggle it in or anything along that line, I'm not interested in doing anything illegal.

Nizer

You missed the last line of my post

But I take your point and I've bought a lot of used cars. I also suspect that when people talk about breaking even or coming out ahead buying used, they aren't factoring in all their costs. More often I suspect the real advantage of buying used is that it yields a more favorable "rent/value" equation.

RWK

Insurance for my Rs IN mass is only $ 1,113.00 yr

Depreciation is +/- $20k Yr

Speed cost lots of money. How fast do you want to go?

russo

I am glad I live in Texas. States lie Taxacheusettes and Kalifornia are chasing away their golden geese.

bkniep

If your car is limited use and not a daily driver, you might try some of the specialty insurance places like Leland West and Hagerty's.
I have a regular sedan for work related stuff. My insurance on my 1996 993TT is $720/yr for 5K miles and my 97 355 spider is $640 for the same.

I'll second the used v new argument as well. I bought both my fun cars inexpensively, and will sell them for close to what I paid if not more.

I'll probably get flamed on this section of the board, but FWIW, on track, my suspension tweaked but otherwise stock 993 can keep up with the GT3s pretty easily. Torque is good.

Bill

rmag

You haven't even listed the real cost of owning the RS, which is track events/consumables which run >$1,000 a day. Multiply that by 30-40 days a year and see what you come up with. My advice, put away the spreadsheets and just enjoy the car.

BTW, feel lucky you don't live in VA, you get hit with 5% personal property tax every year on the car.

fc-racer

My apologies, serves me right for replying to a post at work! I agree with you that the only factor that really improves is the rent equation and not the maintenance. As an example, my 944 Turbo was bought and sold for break-even, but the maintenance over the 4 years was nearly $30k! In that regard, the GT3 has been "cheap".

cfjan

I use State Farm here in MA. I insure my house and all 3 cars in the family with them. The '05 6GT3 is only $1080 or so per year for full coverage. (granted it is no 7GT3RS) The '07 Cayman S is $860 or so... and both are in the 12k miles+ category (although I don't DD my GT3, so I will ask for adjustment after the 1st year..)

So maybe you can shop around for your new RS on the insurance cost... you might be able to do better.. !

Targa Tim

Hey Nizer,

You're thinking too much...

Make a table of how much you've lost in the stock market in the last 2 years and this car maintenance cost is nothing.

Besides, if money can buy happiness, do you still need to calculate anything?

Nizer

Thanks for the comp. Regarding your last question, fast enough for the occasional pucker; not so fast that I can't walk away.

My next call. Thanks.

Ha, ha. Don't even want to go there. That's the giant sucking sound you here whenever you drive onto a track...

Thanks for the comp.

My performance in the markets the last two years is what's funding the RS

So I just got a real quote: approx. $1,600 with $2k deductible and 5k mileage limit. An improvement but sounds like I can do better.