Ferrari 488 Pista Owner Denied Insurance Claim After Crashing Into Light Pole

The owner of a Ferrari 488 Pista in China found out the hard way what can happen if you don’t correctly insure your new ride. Now, he will likely have to pay upwards of $140,000 to repair the Italian exotic.

Footage of the incident was recently shared to the Wham Baam Teslacam channel on YouTube after it was captured on film by the cameras of a Tesla Model S P100D. In the video, the red 488 Pista can be seen driving near the Model S for quite some time, and at one stage, appeared to try and race the Tesla off the line.

Trying to race an EV like the Tesla Model S P100D in anything other than another high-performance EV is generally a pretty bad idea but based on the footage shown, it appears the Tesla and the Ferrari both got off the line very quickly and were neck-and-neck as they pulled away from a set of traffic lights. However, whereas the Model S P100D has near-infinite levels of grip thanks to its all-wheel drive system, the Ferrari sends all of its power to the rear wheels.

The result? The rear wheels of the Ferrari appear to lose traction and the car immediately slides to the right. The driver is unable to catch the slide and the 488 Pista can be seen slamming into a light pole on the side of the road.

Watch: Reckless Ferrari 488 Driver Does Donuts In The Middle Of NYC’s Fifth Avenue

Photos of the crashed Ferrari were later shared with local news stations in China and showed that the front end was destroyed in the crash. Indeed, the bumper was torn off, the headlights destroyed, and apparently, all this amounted to damage worth $140,000. Unfortunately for the owner, the insurance company apparently refused to pay for the damage, asserting that his insurance was void as the photos he sent to the insurer when he first purchased the car showed it with blurred license plates.

It is unclear if the insurance company has seen the footage of the crash and if that too played a role in it denying coverage.