Dean Parsons, of Adderley Street, Uppingham, smashed the £70,000 sports car after spending the evening in a pub. But the 43-year-old, who was banned from the road at the time and had a four-month suspended prison sentence hanging over him for a previous drink-driving conviction, fled the scene.
He then told friend Mark Bowen, of Newtown Crescent, Uppingham, he would pay him to accept responsibility for the crash.
But Bowen admitted he had not been at the wheel after the pair were arrested.
Yesterday both were jailed at Leicester Crown Court after admitting perverting the course of justice.
Used car dealer Parsons was disqualified from driving for two years in June last year after he admitted drink- driving and careless driving.
Stuart Lody, prosecuting, said that in January, less than six months after being banned, Parsons drove his Ferrari to the Gatehouse pub in Bisbrooke to meet a woman friend. Although Parsons owned the car, it was registered in the name of an employee.
Mr Lody said Parsons had been drinking and when he said he was going to drive, his friend took the Ferrari's keys from him. But he managed to retrieve them before driving away towards Morcott with his friend following in her car.
Mr Lody said: "She came across an accident. The defendant had gone into a large stretch of hedgerow. The car was a write-off. She found him nearby with blood on his head and decided to get him away from the scene. The car was left in a somewhat dangerous position and they went to another pub."
Police arrived on the scene, traced the registered owner, then tracked Parsons to the pub, where he denied being the driver and said his injuries had been caused by a fall.
Mr Lody said: "The defendant then decided to hatch a plot to get himself out of trouble. He approached his employee, the registered owner, but he refused. In the event, Mark Bowen was offered the sum of £8,000 to accept the blame."
Bowen, 27, initially claimed to be the driver, but later revealed the truth.
Jonathan Straw, defending Bowen, said he was an "impressionable and vulner-able young man who idolised Parsons."
He said: "He would have taken the blame whether money was offered or not. The reality is his culpability is not as high as that of his co-defendant."
Catarina Sjolin, defending Parsons, told the court he was an alcoholic who life was controlled by drink.
She said: "He has gone from being a generous local businessman with many friends to the sorry state you see in the dock today."
Judge Jeremy Lea said the offences were so serious that both men must be handed immediate prison sentences.
He jailed Parsons for 18 months for perverting the course of justice, and sentenced him to two months in prison, to run consecutively after he also admitted driving while disqualified.
In addition, Parsons was told he must serve a further four months for breaching the suspended sentence he received in June last year.
Bowen was jailed for nine months.