Frequently Asked Questions

 

Q:  How can you sell my car for only $199?

We have found that when we worked on straight commission, many sellers tried to build our commission into their asking price, which often priced the car out of the market.

What we offer instead is a two-part approach: Vintage Motor Cars charges you a simple listing fee of $199. That’s all that you pay out of pocket. Ever.

Then we create our own commission by selling your vehicle for a reasonable amount over your bottom-line price. In this way, you know exactly how much you’ll get from the price of your vehicle, and we negotiate with our own money. It’s a win-win!

 

Q:  My car has been on your site for weeks, and there haven’t been any offers. What’s wrong?

Nothing is wrong. Selling collector cars is often a game of finding exactly the right buyer at exactly the right moment. While everyone can appreciate that a 1929 Packard sedan is a wonderful car, there may only be a handful of people actively shopping for such a vehicle, and even fewer with the means to actually purchase one.

And, even for those people, it may take some time before they discover the car, gather their resources and make an offer. In fact, it is rare for any collector car to sell in less than 90 days, and not at all uncommon for it to take up to 6 months.

 

Q:  Will you sell my car for less than I expect?

Absolutely not.

Vintage Motor Cars’ marketing agreement very clearly states the minimum price at which we can sell your car. If you prefer, we can present you with every offer we receive, even those below the minimum, so you can decide how to proceed. However, if we receive an offer above the minimum, obviously we’ll sell the car.

 

Q:  I saw a car just like mine sell at auction for twice what I’m asking. Do you think we should raise the price?

The short answer is no; one sale does not a trend make.

The long answer is that auctions are a fascinating business, and each transaction merely represents what a willing buyer, along with a nearly-as-willing underbidder, agrees to pay for a certain item at a certain time. Without the hype and excitement of auction fever, or that feeling of falling in love on the spot, or any of the other emotional phenomena that happen at an auction, a one-time record-setting sale is an anomaly, not a new baseline.

In addition, the cars that sell for astronomical numbers are typically the best of the best. For instance, a 1958 Chevrolet Impala convertible sold at the 2011 Barrett-Jackson Scottsdale auction for $190,000. Does this mean that all 1958 Impala convertibles are now worth $190,000? Absolutely not. That specific vehicle at the Scottsdale auction was a freshly restored, #1 condition car in a great color with a rare, matching numbers drivetrain and full of desirable options that were factory-installed.

If your car doesn’t meet all those criteria then, unfortunately, it probably isn’t suddenly worth thousands more than it was yesterday. And even if it does meet those criteria, you’ll need to find someone who wants it as badly as the fellow who bought that one in Arizona. Like the stock market, most high-end collector vehicles appreciate at a slow and steady rate — overnight successes are exceedingly rare, and you should not count on one auction sale to adjust values across the board.

 

Q:  Why should I pay Vintage Motor Cars to market my car?

Yes, you can do it yourself, but how many single ads can you buy for $199? Will they include high quality photos, a professionally written description and ads in more than a dozen locations (both print and online) as well as a permanent online presence in six internet storefronts . . . all until your car is sold?

Of course, there are some cars that practically sell themselves and others where the difference between average and top dollar isn’t enough to justify the effort that Vintage Motor Cars puts forth. But for most antique, vintage, classic and special interest autos, it’s a matter of standing out in a very crowded field.

The question is really about value, and we have found that most of our clients drastically underestimate what is involved with selling a car for top dollar.

What you’re really buying is freedom from the headaches that come with selling a car:

• Are you available virtually 24 hours a day, 7 days a week to international buyers?
• Are you able to talk intelligently about the car collector market when someone calls and gives you a lowball offer based on another sale somewhere else?
• Do you have the patience to deal with people who will nit-pick your beloved classic car without any real intention of buying it?
• Are you prepared to invest hundreds or even thousands of dollars in advertising with the possibility that the car will not sell?
• Are you willing to spend your free time waiting for people who may or may not show up to view the car?

These are issues that any seller faces in today’s market.

And then there’s the business side:

• We can offer financing and trades, something that very few private collectors are willing to do. For us, it opens up a whole new field of buyers who may be cash-poor but definitely have the resources to buy.
• We also have experience shipping cars overseas, which is an increasingly important market that is also increasingly difficult to reach.

In short, what is your time and peace of mind worth to you?  Our clients value our ability to make the process smooth and painless. In many cases, the only question they ever hear from us is “Where do you want us to send the check?”