We at the Specialist Vehicle Trade Association think the latter. And here is why..
- The volume of sales have slowed so it’s a great time to enjoy a wider choice of cars, then negotiate not only for a quality vehicle but its price too. The SVA has a number of retailers for New Modern Collectible cars such as McLaren, Aston and Lamborghini, as well as seriously desirable full-on Classics that should provide an enjoyable and good long term investment. During Covid 19 some dealers are now also using the online auction houses to keep ahead so it’s possible to buy a quality dealer car at an online price.
- With the World Wide lockdown, there is plenty of time to do your research and due diligence! This is vital to buy the right car at the right price, if your new to the Classic car world or an ‘Investorcollector’ you need to do your research and compare values, check sales from auctions across the world of important cars to see if what is being offered is a good investment as well as a fine car. A quality dealer will assist you in this, but remember they want you to buy so ask around, are the widely known in the sector and are they members of an organisation like the SVA? An excellent site to view some of the best auction houses around the UK is Classicauctionsreview.co.uk from expert Richard Hudson-Evans, a highly expert and well-regarded individual in the sector.
- Now you cant physically go to see a car as easily as you could have, but many businesses provide a ‘virtual’ walk around their showroom so you can see cars, then each car should have a whole section or page with lots of images and details-provenance about the car. With Cars for sale ‘Less is NOT more’! A quality car will have lots of evidence or servicing, restoration and its previous ownerships, if little or nothing or large gaps in MOT’s pause!
- The rise of Online Auctions is taking the Classic and Collectible car world by storm, some of these platforms are now fully trustworthy and transparent way to buy a car online. The leader in this area is ‘The Market‘, an SVA member they have provided some advice below to better set out how their business has grown exponentially both prior to and since Covid 19.
- Costs to buy digitally vary greatly, but this should NOT be the sole indicator of your choosing a digital route to buying a car, especially if ‘Investment’ is more important than saving some money.. Remember THE CAR IS THE STAR! So buying the right car at the right price is the goal, and the various companies will also have different benefits and fees, so buy from a reliable but suitable to you provider.
Lets take a look at the UK’s first and busiest online auction house ‘The Market‘
Using an example of an actual sale is a good way to see how this provider works, click on the image below to see this 1964 E-Type S1 FHC sold recently. There are no Buyer fees in this sale and the Owner paid just 5% Seller fee on the sale in this case £3,400
Hagerty have one of the best platforms to get a good idea of values on thousands of Classic Cars, this particular model and year has an average price of £75,100. So remembering the car is the first importance followed by the price you paid, buying this fine example for over £7,000 less than the average values is a good buy! https://www.hagertyinsurance.co.uk/price-guide/1964-Jaguar-E~type
Another important factor is the ‘Sale Rate’ to consider when your selling a car through an auction, if a sale room has 100 auction lots but only sells 60 of them, the sale rate is 60%. Not very good if your a seller, in 2019 The Market achieved a Sale Rate of around 82% and with Covid 19 kicking in they achieved 86% in March 2020.. This position will continue we think in the future, not only during Covid 19 but ongoing, the market place will we think change so that virtual auctioneering across the board will become more common and with enhanced viewing, provenance and document checks and bidding.
Viewing the car and its documentation
The Market has a templated layout to each car details using 7 catagories and at least 1500 words to describe the vehicle in transparent detail. Each car has a gallery of up to 200 photographs showing every aspect of the car inside, outside and underneath, along wth videos and photo’s of all relevant documents, provenance and service history. The Market are experts in their field and their ‘What we think’ gives their expert view on the car, a quality retailer will tell it like it is, they will say ‘Needs some attention’ or ‘Would enjoy some preventative work’ if needed. But the Market will also say a car is perfect, pristine, concourse or as new, because their reputation is everything..
If you wish to buy, sell or browse for vehicles go to The Market
Martyn Raybould Managing Director SVA