A Targeted Way to Reach Classic, Exotic and Collectible Car Buyers

Dealers that want rich opportunities to reach a broad base of classic-, exotic- and collectible-car buyers can list their inventory for free on Classic.com.

Sebastian Mora, pre-owned sales manager, Ferrari of Naples, FL, also uses the site, which boasts about 400,000 listings, as one of a number of tools to appraise cars that come into his store. And he believes the leads he receives from his postings are a higher quality than might come through more conventional online sites.
“Their audience is a little bit different than the broader audience,” Mora tells Wards. “That means you have fewer shoppers that (aren’t serious about buying).”
Juan Diego Calle, co-founder of the website likens it to Zillow for cars.

“Some of these cars are exotic, others are right off the production line,” says Calle. “Some of these cars are highly sought after by limited-production dealers that appreciate in value, but not all of them are. Many are modern-day classics. We want to help dealers get their inventory seen.”

Sure, Calle says, a “classic,” or collectible may be a ʼ29 Ford Model T or even a ʼ57 Chevrolet Bel Air. But a ʼ13 Chrysler 200 and a ʼ85 Chevrolet El Camino also fall into those categories.

Mora and several other car dealers say the classic- and exotic-car business is booming, a statement backed by The Hagerty Group, which operates as a lifestyle brand and provider of specialty automobile insurance. And dealers want to get the highest prices possible. To meet that goal, Mora uses the site as an appraisal tool for his own inventory.

Such appraisals may be more complicated now than in past years.

Consider that Hagerty reports that from 2014-2018 Ferraris going for between $50,000 to $250,000 were the hot items for online auction. Now Gen X and younger buyers – the buyers that Hagerty notes power the classic-car market -- are most interested in a broader array of vehicles such as the BMW E30 3-series, Pontiac Firebirds and even vintage trucks. Hagerty expects online classic-car auctions to continue to boom, but cars priced at over $1 million and at $10,000 or lower are unlikely to be hot sellers.

“In the future we want to offer dealers the opportunity to promote their vehicles within our user base,” says Calle. “We now have about 70 different sellers on the site including auction houses. Now we plan to continue to add about five dealers a week, then increase it to 10 dealers per week.

“Our goal is to give users access all inventory out there,” he adds. “We have classic cars, exotic cars and even newer cars of interest.”