Ferrari Sues Customer for Buying a Purosangue and Flipping It in No Time

Last year, Ferrari announced that the Purosangue was sold out until 2026, which makes it the best-selling Prancing Horse product. The Italian automaker only builds between 2,200 and 3,000 examples per year. The production capacity could eventually be expanded to 15,000 cars in the coming years.

With such low production numbers, no wonder the used car market is desperate for the model. To keep the Purosangue as exclusive as possible and help the brand's enthusiasts be among the first to get an example, Ferrari imposes strict purchase clauses. All customers are banned from selling their unit during the first 18 months of ownership.

However, one owner, Todd Carlson, totally ignored the restriction and flipped the car, as reported by clubalfa.it. The Houston-based selling dealer where he bought the Purosangue informed him about violating the purchase contract and filed a lawsuit against him for breaching it at the Harris County District Court.

The Opportunity Agreement that Todd Carlson signed when he placed a deposit indicates that Ferarri of Houston had the first refusal on the car in the first 18 months after purchase. This means that Carlson could not have sold his not-an-SUV model to anybody else but Ferrari until December 2025.

If he does that, though, the Opportunity Agreement shows that he is liable to pay Ferrari of Houston the profit he made.

The dealership had the right to repurchase it at the original price. Todd Carlson bought the Ferrari in June 2024. He listed and sold it soon after the purchase, ignoring the contract clauses.

The Ferrari Purosangue is the brand's first four-door and the first four-seater since the GTC4Lusso. It is powered by a 6.5-liter V12 engine that generates 725 horsepower. The V12 accelerates the car from 0 to 60 mph (0 to 97 kph) in 3.3 seconds.

In the US, the Purosangue starts at $429,000 but can go well over $900,000 when potential buyers start checking some option boxes. Car sale websites are already full of listings of Purosangues, both in Europe and the US. All of them have below 6,000 miles on the clock and none costs below $650,000.

Ferrari is not the first to ban customers from flipping their cars

Rolls-Royce has threatened to blacklist buyers flipping their cars for life. Before rolling out the electric Spectre, the British luxury carmaker was looking into ways of protecting the brand's enthusiasts and those who really want its first EV. To prevent flipping, the automaker is keeping an eye on all those who buy a Spectre.

Rolls-Royce received far more orders than originally expected when it officially unveiled the model, back in the fall of 2022. The high demand made waiting lists and waiting times longer and longer, sometimes in excess of 15 months.

The company's CEO, Torsten Muller-Otvos, sent out a warning message for all those tempted to flip their Spectres. He announced that Rolls-Royce would ban customers from ever purchasing a model of the brand if they sell their car for a profit to a dealership or a person.

Back in 2017, Ford even went as far as filing a suit against actor and wrestler John Cena, who sold his Ford GT just two weeks or so after buying it for violating the purchase contract, which banned the hand-picked owners of the 1,000 GTs to be built from selling their supercar during the first two years after purchase.

Cena and the Ford Motor Company eventually settled their legal feud. The pro wrestle paid Ford an unspecified amount of money, which Ford reportedly donated to an unnamed charity.

Ford originally announced it would produce the GT for only two years, with only 250 cars to roll off the assembly line annually. However, high demand forced the automaker to change plans and double the life span of the model. Each of the 1,000 units started at around $480,000.

Tesla has also jumped on the flipping prevention bandwagon. The EV maker banned one of the gazillion customers who had listed his Cybertruck "basically everywhere," in an attempt to sell it, soon after having it delivered. The automaker also canceled his other orders.

The owner of the Cybetruck said he received an email from Tesla that warned them that any future orders would be canceled without a refund of the $100 reservation fee or $250 order fee.

According to the purchase contract, all those flipping their Cybertrucks without the sale being approved by Tesla will have to pay $50,000 or the value received as consideration for the sale or transfer, whichever is greater.

Now, it is Ferrari's turn to impose restrictions on flipping the Purosangue and owners should take it seriously.