As you may have read in some of our Maserati Buyer’s Guides, they are incredible cars and if bought properly, can be what I call one of the best ‘cheater cars’ on the market. A cheater car is a car that looks much more expensive than it really is to the people who do not know exotics. Maserati’s actually make for some of the most affordable exotic cars on the market.
While Maserati may seem like they are cars for those more privileged, they really are far from it. Most people fear their maintenance costs and as a result, stay away from them. They assume their attractive sales pricing (similar to Mercedes) is too good to be true and will result in very high maintenance costs or repairs out of warranty.
Over the past decade Maserati has earned a bad reputation for reliability especially as it pertains to their earlier cars (2005 – 2009), but its been a while since those days and the best years are not the latest, but rather the final era before becoming Chrysler influenced plastic product. Something many new Quattroporte and Ghibli owners will tell you first hand with constant craftsmanship issues.
The best Maserati cars you can own are the following: The 2011 – 2013 Maserati Quattroporte S and GTS, as well as the GranTurismo S, Sport, and MC between 2013 – 2015.
While the older models of the same generation for both cars are still ok, they are more likely to be a hit or miss deal based on their history.
They are GREAT cars to own and drive and are quite the bang for a buck. However, they are also very hard to flip as most dealers don’t like holding them because they drop prices hard (even used).
Maserati is notorious for offering very aggressive lease deals and incentives on new cars that drop the prices of older models way lower.
Not to mention the high level of inventory on demand all times making it one of the hardest flips for a big profit, especially if you are not a dealer.
In this particular case, I found a very nice 2014 Maserati GranTurismo Sport well loaded in a very attractive color combo (pictured above).
I originally saw the car listed for $74,000+ and brought it down to $66,500 by negotiating the fact that it had been sitting for over 45 days in a franchise Land Rover dealer.
Some of the reasons I decided to look at this particular car was that it was a 2014 and a late build at that, so it had warranty till end of 2018. The options and colors looked awesome in person, but the dealer made it look awful in photos. Finally, the cars entire history was documented and showed a very healthy future for a driven car.
I decided to take a chance by buying a normal car many of you would buy and pay my taxes, fees, and more, making it no different than what a normal person would do.
I will attempt to sell the car for $3,000 to $5,000 more than I paid for in the next 6-8 months.
Typically I would only share this with Insider Members only, not everyone, but I want you to understand how I came to this conclusion that the price was right.
If you are an Insider, then you already know why I use eBay as a great indicator of what dealers are getting and moving cars at.
If I search for 2014 Maserati GranTurismo Sport, only a few cars appear meaning that if I list my new car in there for $72K, I am still cheaper than 90% of the inventory on the market.
While I may look cheaper, I am also profitable but it goes further than that. Its also a matter of positioning the car well.
The original dealer missed the mark, but using my strategies in ad copy and design, I think I’ll be able to pull a great flip that often has ended in people losing big money, including myself, on my last Maserati Quattroporte.
Stay tuned as I document my attempt at flipping this Maserati GranTurismo Sport and become an Insider Member to follow this upcoming case study.