WE have all dreamed. When an exotic beauty like an Aston Martin Vanquish or a Lamborghini whooshes past you would have little passion for driving if, for a few fleeting moments you did not imagine yourself behind the wheel.

But the real truth about owning thesessuper cars is that even if you negotiated an advantageous purchase price you would have to have massively deep pockets to keep it on the road unless you took out cover

And I don't just mean fuel and insurance.

Warranty provider WarrantyWise.co.uk has released data that provides a true picture of how much it costs to repair cars such as a Lamborghini, Maserati, Aston Martin or Porsche.

The company's biggest payout was £15,000 to a Lamborghini Murcielago owner for major engine repairs. I expect the owner is glad that he or she took out the £166 per month cover.

A Porsche 911 and Maserati 4200 are the second and third largest pay-outs, of around £10,000 each for engine repairs

Gearbox issues can leave owners with a hefty bill, too, with big repair costs of just under £10,000 for Aston Martin's Vanquish and DB9 models needing major repairs to their automatic gearboxes.

Away from the largest repair payouts, WarrantyWise's data reveal just how expensive relatively minor issues can be in complex, exotic cars.

Repairing the ECU in a Ferrari 360, for example, came with a bill of nearly £2,000, with a similar amount required for wheel bearing repairs in a Ferrari 355.

An air-conditioning fix in a Maserati GranTurismo resulted in a £1,885 payout from WarrantyWise and replacing the water pump in a GranTurismo Spider commanded a repair payout of £2,278.

Even the more run of the mill cars aren't immune to a crippling bill, though, with payouts of more than £5,000 each for family favourites, the Renault Grand Espace and Volkswagen Passat.

Warranties at this more sensible end of the scale, including for popular models like the Ford Fiesta and Volkswagen Golf, start from just £19 per month.

It all goes to prove that the sweet life of driving exotic carscarries high penalties if you are not covered.