Determining the worth of classic cars can be quite challenging. How do you assess the value of a 1987 Porsche 930 Turbo with only two previous owners? Should you factor in the flawless paint job, or consider the minor rust on the undercarriage?
Whether you're fulfilling your childhood dream of owning a classic car or diving into the world of classic car investments, there are online tools available to smoothly navigate you through the valuation process.
Unsurprisingly, over 70% of classic cars trade hands in private sales between classic car aficionados. 20% are sold through auctions and only 10% go through dealerships. This makes it difficult for a classic car enthusiast to price a car without decades of experience under their belt. Your best bet in evaluating a classic car is to use the numerous valuation tools available online.
These are the tools that our classic car customers recommend:
The Hagerty Valuation Tool is the first tool that you should check. Since their main business is providing classic car insurance, they are able to closely monitor the market and work with their customers to estimate values on their classic cars. They also have access to additional data from the Hemmings classic car marketplace. - http://www.hagerty.com/valuationtools/HVT/VehicleSearch
Started by an advisory firm for classic car collectors, K500 is a newly launched index that provides ratings and values the most coveted classic cars. Data is gathered from verifiable auctions around the world. While they don’t provide values for every single classic out there, they do share informative outlooks of where the collectors car market is headed and what to keep your eye on. - http://k500.com/the-guide
Since 1922, the National Appraisal Guides began to an extensive effort to study used car values in the United States. To this day, NADA continues to publish values on all classic cars and used cars sold. You can find their valuation guide online, or in print. - http://www.nadaguides.com/Cars/Manufacturers?from=classic
This is perhaps as close to Wall Street as classic car enthusiasts get. Run by the Historic Automobile Group International, the HAGI Index tracks classic car values as compared to other luxury investments such as Art. They claim over 100,000 transactions are taken into account from classic car specialists, private sales, auctions and dealerships. This is a great index to look out for on a monthly basis to see which makes & models are growing in value. - http://www.historicautomobilegroup.com/
The Collector Car Market Review is an online resource that tracks the price of classic cars from over 65 manufacturers. Published in a similar format to the NADA Guides, the Market Review uses 5 different levels of condition to best estimate what your classic car is worth. They also publish values on youngtimer and modern exotics. - http://www.collectorcarmarket.com/
We hope these tools can help you make the correct decisions when buying classic cars.
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