Racing Cars

Every petrol head grew up with a dream car in mind which adjourned their bedroom wall. It is the car that they convinced themselves they would own when they grew up; spending countless hours fantasising about driving it around.

However, more often than not, this fantasy turns out to be nothing more than a pipe dream as the true value of money becomes apparent to us. This is ever truer at the moment with research by MoneySupermarket.com revealing that 65% of motorists are even considering giving up their basic Family cars in favour of more environmentally friendly options due to the rising price of fuel.

So how much would it actually cost to run that dream supercar?

Fuel prices

Fuel prices have been steadily increasing over the past fifteen years as a result of declining raw oil supplies. This is a problem which is not going to go away, and fuel prices are only going to increase in the coming years.

The average motorist completes 12,000 miles every single year in their vehicle, which in a basic vehicle such as a Ford Focus results in a £1,850 annual fuel bill calculated based on the Focus averaging 40 mpg.

Now let’s look at a Ferrari F355 Spider which only completes 15.4 miles on a gallon of fuel on average. This means that if the average motorist completing 12,000 miles per year were to own this vehicle, they would be forking out approximately £4,850 every single year.

This is over 260% more than the annual fuel bill on a basic vehicle like the Focus, adding £3,000 per year to a motorist’s annual running costs.

Insurance expenditure

Car insurance prices have risen by over 40% in the past 12 months according to the AA, with the average motorist now paying £921 for their policy. This increase was initially sparked by the global recession which increased unemployment rates and hence resulted in an increased number of fraudulent personal injury claims being made by individuals. The rise in the number of fraudulent claims being made was aided by the ‘no win, no fee’ legal services which were featuring far more often on day-time television.

Utilising the MoneySupermarket.com price comparison site, we found that middle aged motorists, who are usually on the receiving end of the cheapest quotes on account of them being statistically less likely to be involved in accidents than either older or younger motorists, would struggle to get an insurance quote for less than £4,000 if they owned a Ferrari F355 Spider worth £40,000. This is over 430% or over £3,000 more than what is paid annually by the average motorist.

Young drivers between the ages of 17 and 22 would also be disadvantaged on account of them being statistically the most likely age group to be involved in accidents; with one in five young drivers being involved in an accident within the first year of passing their tests. Motorists in this age bracket would therefore struggle to find car insurance premiums for less than £10,000, which is approximately over 410% and over £7,500 more than what is paid by the average driver in this age bracket.

Other charges

Road tax is now calculated based on C02 emissions emitted by a vehicle. High performance cars such as the Ferrari F355 Spider would therefore also be on the receiving end bigger road tax charges. The average motorist now spends £160 per year on road tax; this would jump up to about £260.

Car maintenance costs would also increase would also increase if you ditch your Focus in favour of a Ferrari. It is recommended that the F355 has a yearly service costing £398 and another major service every 18,000 miles which would cost a staggering £850; working out at about £1,000 every per year for the average driver if you split the cost the major service over two years. Conversely, servicing requirements for a Ford Focus over the same period would only cost approximately £350; working at as an additional spending of £650 per year on maintenance before any possible repair bills are factored in.

Running cost discrepancy

When you ask someone why they can’t afford a supercar, they will often cite the initial purchase costs as the reason. With Ferrari F355 Spiders being available for at least £40,000, £27,000 more than a basic Ford Focus from new, this is an excellent explanation.

However, as proven by this article, the running cost differential is equally as startling. It would cost approximately £10,110 per year for the average motorist to keep the Ferrari operational, compared to just £3,281 for the Ford Focus.

It would therefore cost you over £6,800 more every year to keep the Ferrari on the road. This isn’t the sort of money that you keep stashed in your sock draw for a rainy day. It seems that the dream of one day owning a supercar has never been further away for the average petrol head.

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