A lot of factors go into classic car valuation, or setting the price on a classic car, including the popularity of the model, the rarity of the car, the provenance or story that goes with the car, and the condition. Gathering all the details to correctly price a car ends up taking a lot of time, and it’s really common for people to assign the kind of prices they see on reality TV shows to their cars only to be surprised and frustrated when they don’t sell. So, take a look at these classic car valuation tips and learn how Classic Cars Online US can help you if you’re looking to sell a classic car.
Classic Car Valuation Tips: 1965 Pontiac GTO image courtesy of Pixabay
Researching Classic Car Values
Pricing guides are one of your first sources to look when you’re putting a price on a classic car, but it shouldn’t be your only source of pricing information. A number of companies put out these guides, like NADA, Hemmings, Kelley Blue Book, and Hagerty’s, just to list a few potential sources. One advantage using pricing guides is that they take condition into consideration. That’s also a problem with them, it’s very easy to misjudge the condition based on a subjective opinion and choose the wrong one. One solution is to be very explicit in regards to the car’s good features and its flaws. Another solution is to compare the results of two or three different pricing guides to see how close the results are.
Adjusting the Price of a Classic Car for Popularity, Rarity, Provenance, and Condition
Understanding and setting a value on these four things (popularity of the model, rarity, provenance, and condition) are the keys to accurately putting a price tag on your classic car when you want to sell it. Read on for the basic details you need to know.
Popularity: Some car models are just more popular than others, and when these desirable models hit the market, they tend to go for higher prices. Here’s the catch, popularity of models tends to go in waves, or trends, and to set an accurate price, you need to know what’s trending. The best way to find this information is simply to do some market research, and that’s one of the services we provide, if you need help with it when selling your own vintage automobile.
Rarity: Rarity is another tricky detail to calculate into a classic car’s price, but it’s an important one. Some cars are obvious in their rarity, but were never especially popular, which reduces their value. other super popular models had a small number of options buyers could select from the manufacturer that made them incredibly rare, even though the model as a whole was produced in the millions. To find this information, you need to go into production run data and find out if your car was rare or not, and this is another service we include in our valuation bundles.
Provenance: Provenance is a little harder to determine in that title information is private in most states, but if you know, for example that Elvis owned the car you’re trying to sell, and you have a picture of him beside it, then your value just went through the roof. Even if your car wasn’t owned by a celebrity, however, the story behind it adds to its value because it’s human nature to enjoy a good story, so if you know the car’s history, don’t hesitate to share it in the listing because it adds value to the car.
Condition: I briefly mentioned condition above, in the section about Pricing Guides, but it’s worth examining a bit more deeply. With condition, you’re going to look at things like mileage, if known, rust, dents, paint quality, interior condition, trunk condition, how it runs – if it runs, and even the condition of the undercarriage. Every detail is important, so ideally, a close inspection is the best thing you can do to protect yourself and to be able to set an accurate price on a classic car.
How Classic Cars Online US Can Help You With Classic Car Valuation
Our classic car valuation services are designed to give you the information you need while saving you time and effort. At this time, as of 2017, our classic car valuation services include doing the market research for you. we’ll run the specs of your vehicle (based on the condition you describe and any photos you are able to provide) through a minimum of two pricing guides, determine the current popularity of the model, and we’ll research its rarity to find out how many of that particular model were produced.
For more information and prices, fill out the contact form below or send an email to [email protected] and we’ll get back to you right away.