White_Knuckles

What on-line resources do you guys use to range in on an old car value?

I usually poke around with four favs - NADA, Kelly, Hagarty, and Craig's to get a feel on "fair" value. I just came across the below link to - "Collector car market review" and discovered they return different numbers in comparison to the four favs seemingly more conservative or perhaps more realistic?

http://www.collectorcarmarket.com/makes.html

Wondered what you use to figure out a proper insurance value or just confirm you're upside down now and heading further South like me? Ha!

Tedd Thompson

On my car (#2- 55 Olds convertible) it seems a little high but not out of reason if it were a very strong #2 car. Its all about what someone is willing to pay on any one day... Tedd

MDchanic

I personally think CollectorCarMarket is a bit closer to reality than some of the others, but we've had "discussions" about this here in the past, and some think some of the others are closer.

Personally, I don't think the "I've been looking for one of these for twenty years!" price is reflective of the real market value of any car, but there are those who price them up in that range, and then just wait for years until "that guy" comes around.

- Eric

oldcutlass

If your going to insure it, come up with a reasonable value, detail it, and take pictures. Check with a few insurance companies, email some pictures, and get it insured. I wouldn't worry about what the car is worth, just enjoy. Leave the guides to the real collectables, ours are worth what someone is willing to stroke a check for.

joe_padavano

First, the prices paid at big name auctions like BJ, Russo and Steele, etc do not reflect the real world. Second, there aren't enough Oldsmobiles sold at these venues to develop a statistically valid database. As a result, most old car price guides skew very high on value.

Second, most people greatly overrate the condition of their car. A number one car is better than factory. As it sat in the showroom, most cars would only be a number two. If the car is perfect but driven at all, it's a 2 or 3.

Third, I like to point out that the only value that matters is the value set when cash changes hands. I use the Search Completed Auctions function on ebay. If you do this, you'll find that very, VERY few of the high dollar cars ever sell online.

Fourth, one resource that follows on-line auction prices for a number of years (ebay only goes back about 30 days) is http://collectorcarpricetracker.com/. You now have to sign up (it's free), but I haven't gotten any spam from it.

White_Knuckles

Good info and thoughts. In my own case, I'm just exploring the general insurance valve if she gets stuffed? When I bought the car, I used Hagerty's eval guide, sent them required pictures, and think it's covered as an agreed fair value. That was years ago so now seeing the value number dive on new sources made me wonder just how pricing is established? Am I too high with what I think it's worth? I clearly know it's a driver and set the value at 7K. Of course the actual investment is higher which means nothing as it's a hobby toy not an "investment" car.

Joe_P > That's very interesting. I suspected skewed results where data may be scarce. "When in doubt - go high - they'll never know" formula?

Glad to reinforce the "what someone's willing to pay for it" statement is true. The data that is available may be ambiguous at best. Great, that makes it a mystery science. Guess I'll stick with 7K, we can make up numbers just as well!

oldcutlass

I don't know the overall condition of yours. I don't use the valuation books as a guide only, I look at cost to replace also. With that said mine is insured for $15k agreed value, the difference in cost is not much.

Gary M

Wish I had not looked there a couple years ago. They ( looking back on it) were valued too high. Recently I tried to find their classic section and could not find it. I agree that auctions like Mecum and BJ do sell higher than normal but they charge a pretty penny for the service. As long as everyone leaves happy.