by Mike –
I find it interesting to compare actual sales results with my favorite classic car price guide – the Hagerty Price Guide.
I randomly selected cars from the recent auctions in Monterey by Gooding and RM. I then looked up the same model in the Hagerty Price Guide and below I compare the numbers.
All values are in USD and all prices from the Hagerty Price Guide are for condition 1 cars. Yes, I know that not all cars on this list are condition 1 but it is too difficult to assign a condition to each car just by reading the auction company description.
In bold I show the percentage difference between the actual sales price and the Hagerty Price Guide number. A positive percentage means the car sold for more than the price guide and a negative percentage means it sold for less than the price guide.
I have not done this in a while so here we go.
RM Auction
1993 Jaguar XJ220 – Sold for $462,000 – The Hagerty Price Guide Says – $371,000; +24.5% difference
1967 Toyota 2000GT – Sold for $825,000 – The Hagerty Price Guide Says – $1,100,000; -25% difference
1971 Lamborghini Miura P400 SV by Bertone – Sold for $2,475,000 – The Hagerty Price Guide Says – $1,750,000; +41.4% difference
1964 Ferrari 250 LM by Scaglietti – Sold for $17,600,000 – The Hagerty Price Guide Says – $19,000,000; -7.4% difference
1974 Ferrari Dino 246 GTS – Sold for $368,500 – The Hagerty Price Guide Says – $500,000; -26.3% difference
1966 Shelby 427 Cobra – Sold for $1,210,000 – The Hagerty Price Guide Says – $1,750,000; -30.9% difference
1966 Jaguar E-Type Series 1 4.2-Litre Roadster – Sold for $319,000 – The Hagerty Price Guide Says – $289,000; +10.4% difference
1967 Porsche 911 S Coupe – Sold for $253,000 – The Hagerty Price Guide Says – $315,000; -19.7% difference
Gooding
1988 Porsche 959 Komfort – SOLD $1,732,500 – The Hagerty Price Guide Says – $1,400,000; +23.8% difference
1963 Chevrolet Corvette 327/360 Fuel-Injected Coupe – SOLD $231,000 – The Hagerty Price Guide Says – $259,000; -10.8% difference
1967 Lamborghini 400 GT – SOLD $522,500 – The Hagerty Price Guide Says – $550,000; -5% difference
1967 Maserati Ghibli 4.7 Coupe – SOLD $198,000 – The Hagerty Price Guide Says – $260,000; -23.8% difference
1980 BMW M1 – SOLD $462,000 – The Hagerty Price Guide Says – $597,000; -22.6% difference
1961 Ferrari 250 GTE Series I – SOLD $797,500 – The Hagerty Price Guide Says – $520,000; +53.4% difference
1970 De Tomaso Mangusta – SOLD $324,500 – The Hagerty Price Guide Says – $281,000; +15.5% difference
1957 Lancia Aurelia B24S Cabriolet – SOLD $429,000 – The Hagerty Price Guide Says – $637,000; -32.7% difference
Is there anything to learn from the results of this random selection of 16 cars?
The total sales price of these 16 cars is $28,209,500. The total of the Hagerty Price Guide for these 16 cars is $29,579,000 – a difference of -4.6%. This is pretty good when I consider how far off all price guides were for a few years when prices were increasing faster than the guides could be printed. Maybe this is why the Hagerty Price Guide is available online now so there is no need to have a book printed.
The average of the percentages is -2.2%. This seems even closer until I look at the spread from +53.4% to -32.7%. The large spread means some transactions were far off the price guide number even though in aggregate the totals look very close.
I don’t think I learned anything from this. How about you?
Let us know what you think in the Comments.
Connecting Buyers With Sellers Of Classic Cars – All On-Line – Click Here.
Photos from RM and Gooding.
Dear Sirs,
I thank you for this interesting comparison.
But I think that the Hagerty Price Guide has to be compared with the net sales results, i.e. without the buyer’s premium.
I think that the buyer’s premium is the payment for the auction’s job and doesn’t influence the VALUE of a car.
Obviously my two cents opinion.
Best regards.
I’m always amazed at what happens at these auctions. I think ,in the case of inflated bids paid, that buyers got caught up in the process at the auction site. The other fact to consider is the auction prices do not include house commission ,usually @ 10%. This would have to be include and used as the real “sold’ price. Looking at these auctions on TV I’m sometimes surprised that the seller refuses to sell even ,at what seems, a more than fair price.So many of the so-called premium collector quality cars went unsold at the Mecum Monterey auction. What were their owners thinking?
I attended six auctions during Monterey. What I found was that cars values were clearly based on condition. Cars that did a shot were clearly restored to a very high level while mid quality cars did less money. As with any live auctions there were exceptions. I found that the Aston Martin DB2 at Gooding sold for less than it should have while a very nice 330 GTC at RM failed to sell at $625,000. The most crazy price paid had to be for the Eden Roc Fiat at $600,000 followed by the Ferrari 250 GTE at Gooding that sold for just short of $800,000 all in..