2022 Bugatti Chiron Pur Sport.
A version of this article first appeared in CNBC’s Inside Wealth newsletter with Robert Frank, a weekly guide to the high net worth investor and consumer. Sign up to receive future editions, straight to your inbox.
Bring a Trailer, the online classic car marketplace, sold a record $1.5 billion worth of cars last year despite a continued slump in classic car prices, according to its CEO.
The company held 45,000 auctions in 2024 split between cars, trucks, motorcycles, memorabilia and parts, and had more than 1.3 million bidders.
“With the stock market up and money flowing around, we had good velocity,” said Randy Nonnenberg, co-founder and president of Bring a Trailer, which is part of Hearst Autos.
The strong results for BaT defied the broader slowdown in the classic car market. Higher interest rates have made classic cars less attractive as investments, since collectors can now make 4% or 5% in risk-free cash equivalents. Total sales at live classic car auctions last year fell 11%, to $2.18 billion, according to Hagerty, the classic car insurance and auction company.
At the same time, baby boomers, who powered the collector market for decades, are now aging out. Many are selling their collections, leaving an oversupply of 1950s and 1960s vehicles that are less appealing to the new generation of collectors.
The boom in older trucks and off-roaders has also fizzled, Nonnenberg said.
“A lot of that was seen as a Covid bubble, and that’s cooled,” he said.
The new generation of collectors likes modern supercars and sports cars, especially models that are 2005 or later, according to classic car experts.
Nonnenberg said today’s younger collectors, including Gen Xers, millennials and members of Gen Z, “like cars they can use, where they can turn the key and just drive it. They’re less hobbyist.”
The very top of the market — with seven-figure or eight-figure cars — also remains weak. Collectors are more interested in less-expensive cars they can drive and enjoy today than they are in buying museum-quality artifacts that sit in a precious garage display.
“The market is super strong for high-end sports cars in the $200,000 to $500,000 range,” Nonnenberg said. “Cars over $2 million have had a tougher time,” Nonnenberg added.
The most expensive car sold on BaT last year was a 2022 Bugatti Chiron Pur Sport that went for $4.1 million. Also sold were a 2018 Bugatti Chiron for $3.1 million and a 2022 Lamborghini Countach LPI 800-4 that went for $2.5 million.
The most popular auction, drawing the most bidders, comments and views, was the sale of a 1991 BMW 850i 6-speed that was bought new and once owned by Michael Jordan. The sale price: $109,000.
Nonnenberg said he saw a big jump in bidding and demand right after the election, which continued through December and January, which are usually slow months.
“We saw people buying $250,000 Porsches on Election Day,” he said. “And we even saw awesome stuff selling on Christmas Eve.”
