Jay Leno’s car collection encompasses a wide variety of marques, from the familiar to the very esoteric. But one name is missing: Ferrari.
In a December 2021 appearance on the podcast “Cars and Culture,” Leno explained why he doesn’t own a single car with the Prancing Horse badge.
“I just never liked dealing with the dealers,” Leno said. “It’s not an indictment of the car.”
Considering how expensive the cars are, Leno feels Ferrari dealers don’t treat customers properly. In the short clip, he cited Ferrari dealers forcing customers to buy multiple cars in order to secure orders, and claimed the company strong-arms owners into paying for certificates of authenticity. Other supercar builders do better, he said.
Leno recalled McLaren offering a free power upgrade for his MP4-12C, and a salesperson honestly telling him that he didn’t need to spend $20,000 on carbon-ceramic brakes. Leno is a big McLaren fan; he’s owned an F1 since new and was the first outside McLaren to drive a P1, but regardless, it’s hard to argue with service like that.
Similarly, Leno said Porsche delivered his Carrera GT to his garage and gave him a full walkthrough of the car (which turned out to be a bit unreliable, admittedly). Ferrari would never provide that level of service, he claims.
Leno said Ferrari still makes “excellent” cars, and he’s featured a few on his “Jay Leno’s Garage” YouTube show, ranging from a classic 1960 250 PF Cabriolet to a modern SF90 Stradale. One perk of having a popular YouTube show is that, even if you don’t want to deal with the potential headaches of owning a Ferrari, you can always borrow one.
This article was originally published by Motor Authority, an editorial partner of ClassicCars.com.
YOUR LUCK JAY MY CHEVY DEALER WANTS ME TO PAY 20,000 OVER STICKER FOR A CORVETTE,,,,,BET YOU DONT !!!!!
I thought it was just us commoners that got the mafia shakedown treatment from Ferrari dealers. Yes, I paid well over sticker for my C8 (which was worth ever penny!) but at least it was straight forward transaction over phone and internet…vs “we can only discuss in person” (no paper trail) and then being told you need to buy and sell back to them 3 cars in 3 months and then you might be special enough to get the car you actually want.
I bought, years ago, a 308 GTB at Lake Forest, IL dealer and got dinner and a T shirt. Years after that I ran into my salesman at a car show and he recognized me! Great people to deal with (and I’m not rich and I am hard to deal with). They also did all my service and while all was not perfect and always expensive; they were always gracious and attentive and a pleasure to deal with.
I really enjoy my Ferraris, and my other cars. Just take it to a Ferrari Mechanic at a non Ferrari dealership. Problem solved.
Absolutely – definitely nothing but good things to say about the cars – love my cars – comment directed solely at the way the dealers behave