Part 2 of a 3 Part Series: Buying and Selling Vehicles for the Enthusiast
How to Value a “Future Classic”
Valuing a Future Classic
In this second of this three part series, Buying and Selling Vehicles for the Enthusiast, Brent reviews how to value a “Future Classic”!
Buying a car you think will increase in value is risky. It's difficult to find data to back up your decision. However, there are ways to minimize risk when purchasing a car you believe will be worth more in the future.
About a year ago, I purchased a 1991 Oldsmobile Custom Cruiser for $6000, even though it was valued at around $1000. Why did I pay more? Well… I thought it was cool!
However, I didn't want to be overcharged. So, I convinced myself to buy the car because I thought there would be other people who would also think it's cool. As cars and their owners get older, two things happen: we become emotionally attached to the cars we loved when we were young, and we have the resources to own them. Rather than wait and see if the car's price would go up, I took a risk, hoping my intuition was correct. While having a gut feeling is a good start, let's discuss the most useful tools to determine the value of future classics.
Let’s see how the different resources value my Olds.
Common Vehicle Valuation Websites:
Tools like NADA (now JD Power), Kelly Blue Book, and Edmunds are helpful for determining the worth of newer vehicles, but they rely on past information. When purchasing a potential future classic, aim for the perfect moment when its original value has plummeted and it hasn't yet gained value as a classic car. These websites can indicate a decrease in value, but if you rely solely on this data you will never buy a future classic.
Kelly Blue Book: The website is not helpful for determining the value of my Olds because it only includes vehicle models from 1992 onwards.
NADA (Now JD Power): This website gave inaccurate information. When selecting my vehicle options, it had incorrect data. It allowed me to choose a 4 or 6 cylinder engine, even though this specific model always comes with an 8 cylinder engine. What's even worse, I could select the "Convertible Sport Package" for my 4-door station wagon!
Edmunds Today, Edmunds says the car is worth around $5,296. Looking at their trade-in value history below, you can see that the worth has increased over the past year.
While this is about what I paid for the car, keep reading to see what other research shows.
Recommendation: These websites will likely undervalue your future classic. They are great for your daily driver, but not recommended if you are looking to jump into the future classics game.
Classic Car Valuation Tools:
Tools like Classic Car Value, Collector Car Market Review or Classic.com are great for vehicles that have already been defined as classics. The problem with many of these websites is that they only focus on cars that are already considered classics. Once your car becomes a classic on these sites, it's no longer a future classic. This means that the potential for increased value is mostly lost.
Classic Car Value estimates the car at $5175. This is much better than what the car was valued at when I bought it, but below what I paid.
Collector Car Market only goes up to 1990, so this site provided no benefit for valuing my Olds.
Classic.com has some valuable data and paints a much more favorable picture of the potential value of for this car, averaging $13,407 over the last three years. To be fair though, the two highest sales were modified vehicles.
Recommendation: These are great tools once your vehicle becomes a classic, but they are inconsistent in providing directional guidance on your future classic.
Consumer Auction Websites:
A new option is consumer auction websites like Bring A Trailer, Hemmings, and Ebay Motors. You can check these websites to see if others think your future classic vehicle will go up in value. Most importantly, this is where you'll find out if others agree that your car is becoming a future classic.
My 1991 Oldsmobile Custom Cruiser isn't a classic car yet, but there is a growing audience interested in it based on research from these sources.
Hagerty, which I often use for getting valuation on future classics, does not have any valuation for this model. On other future classics you can often find data.
Bring a Trailer: shares historical data on sales so you can see actual sale prices over time. This site is an enthusiast site, so you will find classic cars here, but you will also find top quality enthusiast vehicles as well, including future classics.
Bring a Trailer Sale 7/16/23
1991 Oldsmobile Custom Cruiser with 99K sold for $9333 with paint faded from sun
Ebay Motors is valuable site to see “buy it now” listings, typically from specialty dealerships across the country all in one place. This can give you an indication of whether or not others are starting to see demand/desire for a future classic. The downside is that they do not share historical sales data.
Two current “buy it now” listings
1991, 105K miles, $13,500
1992, 166K miles, $11,750 (also listed at Hemmings)'
Hemmings Motor News provides a very thorough valuation that takes into consideration input (written history, photos, videos) that you provide. One time cost per vehicle valuation: $99. (look forward to a full review on this in the future)
Recommendation: These websites are likely to be the first place that you will start to see if others are showing interest in your future classic. This is the best place to start!
Up next in our three part series Buying and Selling Vehicles for the Enthusiast:
Part Three: Purchasing Future Classic Vehicles
Brent Mathieson is the CEO and Founder of Revive Auto Detailing, a detail shop in seacoast New Hampshire that in less than 5 years has grown from a 1 man, mobile detailing business to one of the largest detail shops in the region.