2015 Ferrari 458 Speciale Aptera Impounded in London
This is what happens when you get caught driving your Ferrari without insurance in London.
Ferrari built just 499 examples of the 2015 458 Speciale Aptera and only 49 were made with the right-hand-drive configuration, making a rare and expensive supercar to wear the Prancing Horse. Folks walking the street in London this past weekend got to see one of the rare right-drive supercars in person as it was being impounded by the local police.
The Impounded 458
According to UK’s Daily Mail, the light blue 2015 Ferrari 458 Speciale Aptera was being driven by a 21-year old man in a group of high-end cars cruising through London on Sunday afternoon. That convoy included his father, who was driving a Porsche 918, so it is likely that the people driving these vehicles are financially comfortable.
The driver was first address by the police because he was blocking the road near Berkeley Square in London. Evidently, he was trying to park behind his dad’s Porsche and when there was no space, he was stopped on the street when the police came by. The police checked the information on the car and they found that the driver did not have insurance for the limited edition Ferrari. Since it is illegal to operate a vehicle in London without insurance, the 458 was immediately impounded by the police.
In the original article, it is mentioned that the right-drive 2015 Ferrari 459 Speciale Aptera has a value of around 600,000 British Pounds. With the current conversion rates, that means that this car is worth about $833,000 US Dollars, so when the young man was pulled over for blocking traffic and found to not have insurance, he had to watch his high-priced supercar literally be carried away by the local authorities.
In the long run, the owner should feel ridiculous for having a car of that value impounded simply because he didn’t bother to get insurance on the vehicle, but this is likely little more than an annoyance for a 21-year old guy driving an $833k Ferrari.
Delicate Loading Procedure
In most cases, when a vehicle is impounded in the United States, it is pulled up onto a roll-back flat-bed tow truck, but that often beats up the cars. Fortunately, the London police have a fancy towing rig that has a large arm that swings out over the car with four smaller arms that extend down to the wheels. Those four arms clamp onto the wheels and the larger arm lifts the car up onto the flat-bed, allowing the police to load the car without scraping it against the ramp on the way up.
While it is never good to see your Ferrari hauled away by the police, at least this type of tow truck takes special care of unique vehicles like this 458 Speciale Aptera.
Photos: Daily Mail
