McKeel Hagerty, CEO of Hagerty was recently interviewed about the current state of the collector classic car market and what they foresee for the future.
According to Mr. Hagerty, the classic car market is slowing down, but a new market of younger buyers is emerging and driving up prices on more recent model cars.
Auction sales are down 11% compared to just a year ago with high-end vehicles feeling most of that decline. One reason the top selling, one million dollars or higher, vehicles are seeing a decline is that there are just fewer of them being offered. The total number of cars for sale at auction fell 12 percent, according to Hagerty.
McKeel Hagerty, CEO of Hagerty, said the top end of the market has “plateaued” after huge price surges in 2014 and 2015.
“The market has been so strong for so many years, many of the best examples have already come to market at the auctions,” he said. “Once all that frothiness chewed itself up in the auction market, many of them have gone to a private sale environment.”
When the high-end cars become harder to find, the lower priced vehicles start to see an increase in demand. Two such vehicles are the 2008 Lamborghini Murcielago and the 2002 Pontiac Trans Am.
It might sound odd to hear that a Lamborghini is considered a lower end car, but try to remember that collector cars over the one million dollar price tag are what are now considered high-end.
That 2008 Lamborghini Murcielago is worth about $225,000 despite having an original price tag of $300,000. In the next ten years, however, that $225,000 price tag will easily double according to Hagerty’s market predictions.
Similar story goes for the 2002 Pontiac Trans Am. New they sold for $25,000. The good news is they are already selling as high as $35,000 in good condition. “Most cars depreciate to some level, and many of them just go down and disappear,” he said.
McKeel Hagerty continued “What distinguishes a collector car, it develops a curve where it depreciates and starts making its way back up to the purchase price and then it goes up from there. We call it the J curve. Both the Murcielago and the Trans Am have terrific J-curves.”