The Strange Case of the Stolen Ferrari
Those of you following the world of classic cars this week may have heard of the recent recovery of a rare Ferrari 250 PF, reportedly worth $4-5 million, which was stolen 15 years ago. The car was reported stolen in Spain and recently "found" in the garage of a wealthy collector in the U.S. The law in situations like this is interesting, and in this case potentially complicated by the international travels the car has completed since its disappearance.
Typically, the owner of a stolen car is reimbursed by his or her insurance company for the market value of the car when it's stolen. In this case, the car would have been worth about $500,000 at the time. The new owner of the car, whether or not he was aware of the stolen status of the car, is basically out of luck and would need to pursue civil damages with the dealer or individual from whom he bought it. In such a case, the insurance company would actually own the car.
In this case, however, the owner from whom it was stolen reports that he did NOT accept payment by his insurance company because he felt that due to the rarity of the vehicle it would eventually be found. Granted, as a very expensive Ferrari and one of only 50 made, this was a likely scenario which has proven true. Most regular stolen cars would likely have been broken down for parts but one doesn't just sell a Ferrari 250 engine without a bit of explaining.
Making matters more curious, however, is that the folks at Sports Car Market Magazine who follow the market for collector cars closely, have created a detailed history of the car. It helps that one of their own writers is a classic car dealer who once sold this very car (before it's theft). Since it was stolen, it was not exactly hidden away in secret storage... it had been shown publicly at numerous concours d'elegance, restored by noted shops in the U.S., openly advertised for sale, and changed hands four times (!) before ending up in the collection of the most recent unlucky owner. The excruciating details of the car's history can be found online along with a legal analysis here. This should be interesting to watch.
Steve Haas
Stumble It!
Typically, the owner of a stolen car is reimbursed by his or her insurance company for the market value of the car when it's stolen. In this case, the car would have been worth about $500,000 at the time. The new owner of the car, whether or not he was aware of the stolen status of the car, is basically out of luck and would need to pursue civil damages with the dealer or individual from whom he bought it. In such a case, the insurance company would actually own the car.
In this case, however, the owner from whom it was stolen reports that he did NOT accept payment by his insurance company because he felt that due to the rarity of the vehicle it would eventually be found. Granted, as a very expensive Ferrari and one of only 50 made, this was a likely scenario which has proven true. Most regular stolen cars would likely have been broken down for parts but one doesn't just sell a Ferrari 250 engine without a bit of explaining.
Making matters more curious, however, is that the folks at Sports Car Market Magazine who follow the market for collector cars closely, have created a detailed history of the car. It helps that one of their own writers is a classic car dealer who once sold this very car (before it's theft). Since it was stolen, it was not exactly hidden away in secret storage... it had been shown publicly at numerous concours d'elegance, restored by noted shops in the U.S., openly advertised for sale, and changed hands four times (!) before ending up in the collection of the most recent unlucky owner. The excruciating details of the car's history can be found online along with a legal analysis here. This should be interesting to watch.
Steve Haas
Labels: collector cars, MotaMouth
Stumble It!
posted by Miss Mota Mouth@ 1:20 PM 1 Comments
1 Comments:
Steve, how come you never blog about my stolen Nissan 200SX?
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