Pebble Beach is upon us and many of you have had your hotel rooms booked for nine months now. But how long have you been doing your due-diligence on that vehicle you have your eye on? The week-long event is always an incredible opportunity to see extraordinary vehicles, reunite with long-time friends and the gauge the marketplace for signs of where we’re headed. However, it can also be a event where expensive mistakes are made.
I recently read a BloombergBusinessWeek article explaining how to “outsmart the slump” in the classic car marketplace. Here’s a hint; it’s not a slump – it’s a bubble – and you can’t outsmart it. To the best of my knowledge, unlike the housing market, nobody is creating a product where we can short classic car prices. And besides, most of you have paid cash for these cars.
Here’s what you’ll see at Monterey Car Week 2017; The best of the best will do exceedingly well. Unicorns (cars that practically don’t exist) will pull unbelievable sums of money. The rest of the market (some very nice cars, but not exceedingly rare) will significantly underperform prices achieved in the last two years.
You can’t outsmart it, but you can spend time amassing rock solid research. Go that extra mile to perform your due-diligence, proceed with caution and don’t be afraid to hire a professional. A second opinion from a knowledgeable unbiased source is never a bad thing.
So, whether you are a collector, investor or just trying to find a prize this month — you can’t go wrong by researching, inspecting, seeking counsel from knowledgeable sources, considering the alternatives, or maybe even waiting for the bubble to burst and prices to correct.