It’s been just over a two months since we last spoke about my 2014 Maserati GranTurismo that I bought with a goal of flipping publicly so that you can witness this happen in realtime as one of our case studies.
I want to give you an update on the car and give you more of a background as to why I chose this specific car.
A month or so ago, I drove to Miami to buy a 2011 Mercedes-Benz CL65 AMG (had one before), one that I may add was priced perfectly at $64k with low miles and already modified.
The dealer played me (as many do) and couldn’t find the keys that day. I still intended to buy the car without driving it, but they wouldn’t lower their price despite their shenanigans.
Worst part was that I later found out they sold it for $56k vs my offer of $60k that day.
I was so pissed that I decided on my way home that I would just stop by and see why this particular 2014 Maserati GranTurismo Sport was still sitting on the lot after 45 days and priced aggressively.
By utilizing a strategy I teach at Exotic Car Hacks to identify incredible cars with poor photos, this Maserati caught my attention.
The dealer was initially asking $74,900 on this loaded car with 29k miles, and lowered it to $68,900 weeks later.
Yet the car was still there and there were reasons why car hadn’t sold…
- Bad images
- Poor description of car
- Car needed front and rear brakes ($6,000 from dealership)
- Mileage was higher than most (29k)
- Low visibility (only on Autotrader)
These were cases for a much needed good discount, but that also meant the opportunity for a flip with an upside.
I explained in a previous post the upside of this specific car by looking at the market and seeing no other dealers listing similar cars for under $80k.
This meant there was a chance for a good margin, and even though all others would be lower mileage, there are still 80% of the car buying population who buy on price first, not on quality.
I usually wouldn’t consider a flip on any Maserati, but in this case I went beyond that.
I looked on eBay only to notice that a friend of mine in LA at TAG Motorsports had a set of HRE Wheels, suspension, exhaust and more sitting used that they couldn’t sell.
The MSRP on everything was over $17,000 but he was willing to sell it to me for $3,500 plus shipping.
This meant that I technically bought this car around the possibility of mods for it.
I then bought all those mods and decided to buy the car too.
My plan was simple…
- Buy the car cheap enough for a fair margin
- Modify it with the highest quality parts for a fraction of the cost (added value)
- Bring it up to speed on maintenance and brakes
- Still had 2 years of warranty left
- Profit at least $10,000 while enjoying it.
Here’s how the deal broke down.
I negotiated the car for $62,500 from its $68k asking price.
I did this based on the following criteria on these dealer’s cost assuming best case scenario.
- Scuffs on lower front bumper ($500)
- 2 dents on rear quarter panel ($200)
- Brakes needed ($3,500)
- Front tires were unevenly worn on inside which is a common issue ($500)
- Last day of the month, meaning bonus money on car
- Had sat over 45 days at an Auto Nation store
That was my argument and the dealer accepted my offer.
The car ended up being financed for $62,500 plus taxes and fees and had $67k invested in the car at the point of sale with a 3% rate over 84 months putting us under $900 in monthly payments with only $3k down.
A $150k Maserati GranTurismo Sport for $900 a month is like a high end Lexus lease.
That is insane.
Even more insane is how beautiful this daily driven car now looked with the new mods.
Here is the breakdown of how cost of maintenance and repair will play out:
- Scuff on lower front bumper can be fixed by companies like Colors on Parade for $200
- Dents in rear quarter panel can be taken out by companies like Dent Warrior for $200
- Brakes were too expensive at Maserati so we went to Formula Dynamics and spent less money to upgrade the brakes to a big brake kit for $2,000 on all corners
- Front tires don’t matter cause for $4k installed, you put on HRE Wheels and springs
The listing of the car can be seen here on eBay ready for its new home: http://www.ebay.com/itm/2014-Maserati-Gran-Turismo-SPORT-MC-/332029019264?vxp=mtr
Stay tuned as I expect a buyer for this car shortly since I am receiving lots of interest and obviously some low ballers and tire kickers.
The funny thing is that this car is actually growing on me when I thought I would hate it. Oh well..