Modern Classic Car Prices... going UP

"BoxerFanatic, troublesome iconoclast." (boxerfanatic)
04/13/2020 at 21:58 • Filed to: Used Cars, modern classic, Nice Price Or Crack Pipe, prices

Is it just me, or are car prices for 90s cars following air-cooled Porsches into the stratosphere? (these are recently completed sales)

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133K

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44K

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38K

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86K

Not even just sporty cars:

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Didn’t even meet reserve at 38.5K... Way over the price of a used late model Grand Cherokee Overland or Summit.

Who is paying huge money for these? People trying to hedge wealth outside of the tanked stock market or something?

DISCUSSION (19)

atfsgeoff > BoxerFanatic, troublesome iconoclast.
04/13/2020 at 22:17

BaT is the home for self-indulgent wieners with too much bloody money

fintail > BoxerFanatic, troublesome iconoclast.
04/13/2020 at 22:21

Fortiunately, BaT isn’t the market, I imagine it a pissing ground for overmonied techbros and boomers who don’t want to go to a B-J or Mecum event.

jimz > BoxerFanatic, troublesome iconoclast.
04/13/2020 at 22:27

yes, to some extent, as us Gen-Xers get money. same as what the boomers did to muscle car prices.

AestheticsInMotion > BoxerFanatic, troublesome iconoclast.
04/13/2020 at 22:33

I’m about five years behind the curve financially speaking on all of these 90's Japanese cars I love and it breaks my heart.

Junkrat aka Rick Sanchez: Fury Road Edition > BoxerFanatic, troublesome iconoclast.
04/13/2020 at 23:04

I have some money stashed away so I can buy a EK9 Civic Type R in a couple of years. I have been saving for over 10 years and I don’t think it’s going to be enough unless the market calms down.

Jim Spanfeller > BoxerFanatic, troublesome iconoclast.
04/13/2020 at 23:22

It’s stuff like this that’s a large part of why I, along with many other car enthusiasts, started getting into weird, overlooked, and obscure cars. If random assorted rich people who rarely even drive their cars are going to drive the prices of popular cars through the roof, then I guess the rest of us just have to find different cars to enjoy. And honestly, that’s not the worst thing in the world. They may never get to discover the joys of the weird, overlooked, and obscure cars that we love. Plus, I’d argue that weird, overlooked, and obscure cars are often far more interesting to see at car shows than yet another restomodded tri-five Chevy or Mustang or whatever.

Dr. Zoidberg - RIP Oppo > fintail
04/13/2020 at 23:26

They may not be the market, but they are a sanctuary for flippers, which ends up influencing the market, as supply is snagged up by people who wax them, stick on TRD decals, hit the frame rust with black Rust-Oleum two weeks later.

fintail > Dr. Zoidberg - RIP Oppo
04/13/2020 at 23:34

Good point. This area used to be the Klondike for odd old cars before flipping became a thing. Now it’s a battle to find material, and everyone knows how to take advantage of the ToyotaTax.

Kind of like how this area had somewhat affordable housing before house flipping became a fad.

Thisismydisplayname > fintail
04/13/2020 at 23:36

It’s becoming the market though. Why pay the big names for the privilege to have your car cross their block and give them a pretty hefty cut of the sale.

Dr. Zoidberg - RIP Oppo > fintail
04/13/2020 at 23:41

Even worse is that so many are doomed to just get passed around. Like that ridiculously expensive Integra GS-R on there last year. Who is gonna rack up thousands of miles on a GS-R they pad $80k or whatever for? No one: because you just paid $80k on a 20-year old Integra. You’re gonna keep it safe indoors and sell it when you want to free up cash.

Like these Tacomas I see selling on there for over $20k. Are they getting a yard of gravel dumped in that thing on the weekends in the spring? Hell no.

fintail > Thisismydisplayname
04/13/2020 at 23:43

I think many owners of cars attainable my commoners are happy to do a pri vate sale, at least for now. BaT has a lot of pro sellers, from anecdo tal observation anyway. It influences some of the market, and makes it harder for individuals to find cars, so there is impact yeah. Maybe not all positive.

fintail > Dr. Zoidberg - RIP Oppo
04/13/2020 at 23:45

Just like Bugattis and Duesies 50 years ago, or high spec muscle cars and Ferraris 30 years ago. They just get trailered from one home to another, until the owner gets bored, needs cash, or senses a profit, then on to another. Speculative assets, financial items.

functionoverfashion > BoxerFanatic, troublesome iconoclast.
04/14/2020 at 08:01

The BaT effect doesn’t bother me so much on something like a GT-R NISMO, but it bugs me that a manual 530xi wagon would be something like $15k on BaT while I could pick up any one of a million automatics of the same car for well under $10k on the regular market.

It really irks me when I see cars that have been “recently acquired by the seller” or “sold here on BaT just 13 months ago” - WTF. On the other hand, I was thinking about buying a car on BaT, driving it for a month, and selling it back, simply because it would be fun to own a car I’d never otherwise own, knowing I could get most of my money back at worst.

functionoverfashion > BoxerFanatic, troublesome iconoclast.
04/14/2020 at 08:03

I was also wondering if this trend will slow in light of current events. But it doesn’t seem to have slowed just yet.

BoxerFanatic, troublesome iconoclast. > atfsgeoff
04/14/2020 at 09:34

Two Rogers don’t make a right.

BoxerFanatic, troublesome iconoclast. > functionoverfashion
04/14/2020 at 09:40

Actually, I half wonder if things like classic cars, art, jewelry, and other speculative value objects actually get more attention at times like these, when people try to hedge from losing more in the markets...

Not that it is smart, it seems like selling low in the stock market just hoping not to go lower , and buying a bit high on those objects, hoping they’ll keep going higher.

Seems like the contrarian position would be the better move... selling one of these sorts of cars for big money , and buying in on firesale stock prices... and then going back the other direction later when the bull comes back to the market.

But it doesn’t matter much to John Q. Wage-Earner, who doesn’t have one of these cars in the garage, nor a huge amount of liquid capital saved to be able to buy commodities.

functionoverfashion > BoxerFanatic, troublesome iconoclast.
04/14/2020 at 09:47

Right, I mean, this kind of car buying is not a lot different from playing the market. John Q. W.E. as you say, isn’t doing any of that. It’s people moving money around that they don’t need to live their lives day-to-day anyway. So, does it really matter?

I’m just selfishly hoping that this would drive down prices of interesting-but-attainable cars, like manual BMW wagons and Volvo V70Rs.

BoxerFanatic, troublesome iconoclast. > functionoverfashion
04/14/2020 at 09:53

It matters in the way that we share this economy.

If they speculate and drive stock prices, or car prices, or other speculative items way up, they become or remain unattainable by people of normal means who have an interest in those things, but not the cubic wealth to risk or squander.

functionoverfashion > BoxerFanatic, troublesome iconoclast.
04/14/2020 at 10:01

Absolutely true. It drives the wealth inequality for sure.