 So the bonus has rolled in, and all those extra digits on your bank balance seem to smile coyly at you every time you log into your account, goading you to spend them. There's a pile of glossy car magazines on your coffee table, telling you in almost pornographic detail about the latest, time-bendingly rapid offerings from Italian supercar makers with even faster sounding names. You could buy any of them tomorrow and barely notice the deduction from that account. Except you can't: regardless of the size of that bonus, if you want a new, bespoke-built supercar you'll have to wait 18 months or more. Money can buy you a lot of things, but it doesn't let you jump the queue at Maranello or Modena. Fortunately, help is available for those with funds but no patience: brokers like Tom Hartley can find you the car you want, today. You'll pay for the privilege though. The 'overs' market – the name refers to cars that fetch over list price even when used – connects switched-on speculators who have had the nous to get their deposits down first on hot new cars, with the bonus boys and Premiership footballers who know less about cars, but know that they want the latest Ferrari or Lamborghini well before their workmates. The deals are done through established dealers like Hartley with smart premises or direct with the speculators who put their supercars in the small ads for big money before they've even driven them. How big? If you want a €1,350,000 Bugatti Veyron today you'll need to add at least €150,000 to your budget. Of the cars new for the 2008 model year, the Rolls-Royce Phantom Drophead Coupe is attracting the biggest premiums: add at least €100,000 to its €480,000 list price with options to avoid the 18-month waiting list. But how do you avoid paying the premiums in the first place? And could you play the market to drive a supercar for a year for free? If you don't have an inside source at one of the car companies you'll need to strike as soon as the car magazines start gossiping about a new model. If you wait until the 'spy shots' of heavily disguised test cars start to be published, you're already too late. To secure a really early car you'll need to register your interest three years or more before the car goes on sale, having found a dealer who's prepared to take a letter of interest or a deposit of up to €10,000 on a model that doesn't yet have a name. If you don't want to risk any cash, you could sell your place in the queue at the point at which you have to confirm the car's specification and pay the balance. This allows the buyer to choose their own options, but they still have to wait at least two months for it to be built. The biggest money is to be made in specifying the car carefully to appeal to the broadest range of buyers, paying for it, but selling as soon as you take delivery to a buyer who can simply drive it away. There's a risk, of course: not all cars from the famous marques attract overs, and some generate huge early interest but turn out to be disappointing to drive and the interest quickly fades. But if your car is attracting significant overs, you could drive it yourself, sell it when its value slips back to what you paid for it, and in the meantime enjoy the free use of a supercar. Be warned: the overs market depends largely on novelty, and once a car has been available for a few months its value can decline rapidly. But others can continue to change hands at over list price for years. The Ferrari Enzo has gone up in value since it was launched in 2003 – if you'd bought one then you could have enjoyed four years of hypercar ownership and sell now for a €300,000 profit. But if you decide to cash in, there will always be buyers prepared to pay premiums for the hottest new metal.
"One of my clients questioned why he had to pay €30,000 on top of the list price for his new Ferrari F430," says Hartley. "I explained that if he had to wait two years for one at list price he'd have to absorb two Ferrari price rises, and by the time his car arrived the excitement might have died away and he'd be left with a depreciating asset. Suddenly it made sense to him." Another private broker was more blunt. "You have to understand that the guys who buy these things aren't stretching to afford the €250,000-plus they cost. They have that, and another €50m on top. So if they have to spend an extra €30,000 to get the car they want today, they just don't care." |