So Why Not Buy?

Coming out of your house each morning, crunching your way across the gravel driveway to your garage and opening it up to reveal a thoroughbred sports car can be a pretty great feeling. But 99% of the time, you'll open the garage, take a look at the car, smile to yourself, look to the skies and predict rain (if it isn't already tipping it down that is) and then grab the keys for your daily runabout instead.

Supercars, unfortunately, just aren't do-all vehicles in most cases, which means that a lot of the time, your new car looks great whilst depreciating steadily, which actually means that, on a per-mile basis, your car could be costing you a lot more than you think. If every time you opened the garage door just to have a sneaky peek £50 notes came fluttering out and disappeared in the wind, you would probably do it a lot less.

Then there are part prices; the Lamborghini Gallardo is one of the most popular rides amongst asset-sharing car clubs, so let us use that as an example. Brake discs and pads all round, sir? Not much change from £3,000 if you visit your friendly local Lambo dealer. Want a side order of a 15,000-mile service with that? £2,200 please. If you like to do the odd standing start or use the car a lot around town, then the clutch can take a bit of a beating as well, which will relieve you of around a further £2,500. Not forgetting that you have to insure your car and, to use my good self as an example, 27 years old, garaged, pretty decent postcode, 3 points... and the best quote I could find was on the sunny side of £4,000!

So running a supercar or even a high-end sports car is expensive. Hardly groundbreaking revelations though; when you buy a Ford Focus, you expect low running costs and cheap servicing. However, get yourself behind the wheel of a Ferrari F430 and you expect big bills and to become pretty friendly with your local petrol station attendant.

But if you are only really going to end up using your car for special occasions or for those truly memorable road trips, then why not join a fractional ownership or asset-sharing-based car club? The benefits are clear; no concerns over unexpected bills, depreciation or general maintenance, just a yearly membership fee and the petrol you use to finance. Rather than having to select one car, you also get access to a range of the newest and best vehicles. With regards to the latter point, this means that car clubs can make sense, even to those who simply must own their own piece of precious metal.

Here at Fractional Life, we have a variety of information available to help you select the car club that best serves your needs, as well as a directory containing all of the major players in the market worldwide. Why not request a brochure via Fractional Life and then contact the company of your choice to arrange an appointment to look around their premises? Don't forget to take our guide to the top 25 questions to ask.

Happy motoring!