Joey Benjamini of Collectible Classics breaks down how he’s scaled a dealership-style business into a tech-driven, high-volume marketplace for classic sports cars—sourcing nationwide and selling rapidly with minimal “dealer” overhead. He compares online auction platforms (Bring a Trailer, Cars & Bids, Hagerty, etc.) to the missing “checkout” step, argues auctions work best for the right car types, and outlines what makes a listing succeed. The conversation also covers analog V8/“mechanical” desirability, under-the-radar collector targets, and his plans to enable full online buying by month’s end.
What does it take to sell more than 200 specialty cars every single month? In this episode, I sit down with Joey Benjamini from Collectible Classics in the Philadelphia area to unpack how they've completely redefined the traditional dealership model.
By building and leveraging their own proprietary tech stack, Collectible Classics has created a scalable, high-volume system that connects buyers and sellers in a way the classic car world hasn't seen before. We dive into how their approach works, why it's so effective, and what it means for the future of collector car transactions.
If you're a buyer, seller, or simply fascinated by how the business side of the hobby is evolving, this is an episode you won't want to miss.
The Collector Car Podcast features expert interviews, great collections, and market insights. With 25+ years of experience, Greg helps enthusiasts navigate the collector car world with confidence.
"one because Joey is one of the biggest sellers on Bring Your Trailer under Collectible Classics. I'm looking at Bring Your Trailer right now, 19 auctions live, but they have over 2300 pass listings."
Bring a Trailer is a website where people auction collectible cars. Cars are listed online and bidders compete until the auction closes.
Bring a Trailer (BaT) is an online auction site focused on enthusiast and collectible cars. Sellers list cars for auction, and buyers bid until the auction ends, often creating strong market signals for specific models and conditions.
"Spring Fling event. Now my Pontiac GTO, which is featured in the book as well, is curren..."
The Pontiac GTO is a muscle car, meaning it was built to be powerful and exciting. It’s a well-known model that collectors like because it’s part of classic American performance history. People often feature specific GTOs at events and in books.
The Pontiac GTO is a classic muscle car associated with the performance boom of its era. In collector discussions, it’s often highlighted because it represents a key chapter in American performance history and has strong enthusiast demand. The podcast mentions it as being featured in a book and tied to an event, reinforcing its collectible status.
"Well, there is a connection with John DeLorean with Packard in the 1950s, and then you moved on to Pontiac, obviously, created the GTO, and then obviously his iconic DeLorean."
This is talking about John DeLorean, a famous automotive figure. The episode is connecting his career history to different car brands and the cars people know today.
John DeLorean is referenced here in connection with Packard in the 1950s and later with Pontiac and the iconic DeLorean sports car. In collector storytelling, these cross-brand connections help explain how automotive careers and ideas moved between companies over time.
"I'll be at the Ferrari National Meet in Monticello, New York, end of June. And then there will be many more coming up."
Ferrari is referenced in the context of a “Ferrari National Meet,” which is an enthusiast event focused on the brand. For collectors, these meets often matter because they concentrate like-minded owners, cars, and knowledge.
"That's exactly how Peristyle Wealth approaches financial planning. As the Ferrari Club of America's official wealth management partner, they help avid"
They’re a company that helps people plan their money for the long term. The podcast is saying that collecting cars is like taking care of something valuable, and they help with that kind of planning.
Peristyle Wealth is presented as a financial planning partner that aligns with the collector mindset. The host connects “stewardship” in car collecting to long-term wealth planning.
"Peristyle Wealth Advisory Services offered through New Edge Advisors, LLC, a registered
[197.4s] investment advisor."
This is the company behind the financial advisory mentioned in the ad. It’s included because the show is talking about planning and investing, not just cars.
New Edge Advisors, LLC is named as the entity through which Peristyle Wealth Advisory Services is offered. The mention signals that the sponsor is tied to regulated investment advisory services, which can be relevant when collector cars are treated as assets.
"NCM Insurance specializes in agreed value coverage designed specifically for classic
[238.9s] collector and enthusiast vehicles."
Agreed value coverage is an insurance structure where you and the insurer set a specific value for the vehicle upfront. For classic cars, this helps avoid disputes after a loss because the payout is based on the agreed amount rather than the car’s depreciated “market value.”
"Track service history, store important records and keep your collection dialed in with confidence. From your daily driver to your dream car, Carport keeps everything in order so you're always ready for the road."
Service history is a log of what work a car has had—like oil changes, repairs, and inspections. Collectors like it because it shows whether the car was maintained and can help prove the car’s condition.
Service history is the record of maintenance and repairs a car has received over its life. For collectible cars, it helps buyers judge how well the car was cared for and can support value and authenticity claims.
"From your daily driver to your dream car, Carport keeps everything in order so you're always ready for the road. And best of all, it's free to use and is 100% private."
Carport sounds like an app that helps you keep track of your car’s paperwork and maintenance records. That’s useful for collectors because it keeps everything organized in one place.
Carport is presented here as a digital tool for organizing vehicle records and keeping a collection “dialed in.” In the collector-car world, record-keeping apps can make it easier to track maintenance, documents, and ownership details.
"So we do, we're a high volume seller of classic sports cars. We source cars from all across the US using our tech stack that we built that's kind of custom to what we do. And we source cars from like Idaho, New Mexico, Nebraska, Montana, all the way to like Florida or New York or California, wherever we buy."
Sourcing cars means tracking down and buying cars from different places. The more places you look, the more options you have for finding the right classic.
Sourcing cars refers to the process of finding and acquiring vehicles from different locations and sellers. For collectible classics, sourcing across many states can increase inventory variety and improve the odds of finding specific desirable examples.
"We're doing like 200 units a month. So in terms of volume of stores, if you think about like an average rooftop for like a regular dealership, like they're selling anywhere from like 50 to 150 units per month."
They’re counting how many cars they sell each month. More cars means they need a bigger system to find, process, and sell them efficiently.
“Units” here means individual vehicles sold per month. In dealer operations, unit volume is a key metric because it affects staffing, inventory sourcing, reconditioning capacity, and how efficiently cars can be moved through the sales pipeline.
"...knowing about cars, you're like, if you had a 96, 911 turbo and you brought it into your Loka Honda de..."
The Porsche 911 is a famous sports car made by Porsche. A 911 Turbo is a faster, higher-performance version that uses a turbocharger to make more power. People talk about it a lot because it’s a classic model that collectors really value.
The Porsche 911 is a long-running sports car known for its rear-engine layout and distinctive silhouette. A “96 911 Turbo” (often referring to a mid-1990s 911 Turbo) is a particularly collectible version because it represents a high-performance era of the 911 line. It comes up in collector conversations because it’s both historically significant and widely recognized as a benchmark sports car.
"So several hundred, we're getting close to like having 500 plus cars in inventory at some point in the near future. We've capped at like 250 right now just because we've been space constrained."
Inventory means the cars they currently have available to sell. If they don’t have enough space, they can’t keep as many cars on hand.
Inventory refers to the number of cars a business has on hand and ready to sell. In this segment, the speaker ties inventory limits to physical storage constraints, which is a key operational lever in the collector-car market.
"Yeah. And I'm looking on your website. You have all sorts of great stuff from McLaren's to Maserati's to Corvette's the R1's to Porsche's to BMW's from Mercedes to Lamborghini's to Ferrari."
The Chevrolet Corvette is a sports car made by Chevrolet. It’s designed to be fast and fun to drive, and it has been around for a long time. Collectors often look for specific years or special versions.
The Chevrolet Corvette is an American sports car that’s known for strong performance and a long history in enthusiast circles. It’s often discussed in collector contexts because there are many generations and special editions, making it a frequent target for collecting and restoration. The podcast mentions it alongside other high-end brands, highlighting its place in the broader performance-car world.
"You have all sorts of great stuff from McLaren's to Maserati's to Corvette's the R1's to Porsche's to BMW's from Mercedes to Lamborghini's to Ferrari. So all the stuff all of us are looking for."
The Rivian R1S is an electric SUV made by Rivian. It’s built to carry people and gear, and it’s designed to handle more than just smooth roads. People talk about it because it’s a newer electric model that’s still in demand.
The Rivian R1S is a fully electric, three-row SUV designed for everyday usability with off-road capability. It’s discussed in collector-style conversations because it represents a newer wave of performance and adventure vehicles that people are actively seeking. The podcast’s mention of “the R1’s” places it among the cars enthusiasts are hunting for right now.
"The only thing I can think of is, you know, like we can talk about here in a minute, but like the online auctions, the eBay motors, you know, where you can buy a car."
eBay Motors is a part of eBay where people list cars for sale. Even if you buy through the site, the seller usually still has to handle the paperwork and shipping.
eBay Motors is eBay’s vehicle marketplace where buyers and sellers list cars, trucks, and parts. It’s commonly used for collector and enthusiast vehicles, but the platform still relies on the seller to complete title, payment, and shipping steps.
"there is a massive part of the business that's bring a trailer, agri-marketplace, broad arrow, Amelia Island, Sotheby's are in it."
Bring a Trailer is a popular website where car enthusiasts buy and sell collectible cars. Cars are usually listed with lots of details, and people bid like an auction.
Bring a Trailer (BaT) is a major online auction platform dedicated to enthusiast and collectible cars. It’s known for strong community engagement, detailed listings, and auction-style pricing rather than traditional dealer inventory sales.
"broad arrow, Amelia Island, Sotheby's are in it. Like all the different auction houses, Gooding, right?"
Sotheby’s is a global auction house brand that also operates in the collector-car space through specialized events and partnerships. The discussion uses it to highlight how traditional auction houses still play a major role in the classic-car market.
"I've sold thousands of cars on bring a trailer. I've sold hundreds of cars on cars and bids, hundreds of cars"
Cars and Bids is a website where people bid on collectible cars. They’re mentioning it to show there are multiple big online auction options.
Cars and Bids is another online auction platform for enthusiast and collectible vehicles. It’s mentioned to compare how different sites handle volume and buyer/seller connections in the modern marketplace.
Service records are receipts or logs showing what work was done and when. They help prove the car was maintained and can prevent surprises later.
Service records are documentation of maintenance and repairs performed over the car’s life. For collectible cars, they support claims about condition, help estimate future maintenance needs, and can increase buyer confidence and price.
"And if I had a guy who has a 69 Boss 429, I said, you do not want that on online auction. You need to have people see that Concord restoration in person."
The 1969 Ford Boss 429 is a famous, collectible Mustang. The point here is that if a car like this needs work, people should see it in person so they understand what they’re really buying.
The Ford 1969 Boss 429 is a highly collectible, performance-focused Mustang variant known for its big-engine heritage. The speaker uses it to argue that cars like this—especially when needing restoration—should be evaluated in person rather than relying on online auction exposure.
"And he ordered it like with a spoiler delete. He ordered all the carbon fiber bits that are still in the unopened boxes."
A spoiler delete means the car was ordered without the rear spoiler. Some buyers love the clean look, while others prefer the spoiler, so it can affect what people will pay.
A “spoiler delete” means the car was ordered without a factory spoiler, even if the model typically offers one. For collectors, this can be a meaningful spec choice because it affects appearance and can change how the car is valued by different buyers.
"So I see you have a car in here, the 2007 Lexus SC. And that looks like that might be the the Pebble Beach edition... 12,000 miles, it's sold to a Lexus dealer."
The Lexus SC is a luxury coupe meant for comfortable long drives. Here, the key point is that this one is a 2007 with very low miles, which usually makes it more desirable to collectors.
The Lexus SC is a luxury grand tourer (GT) coupe known for comfort and styling, and it’s a popular “collector classic” because it’s less common than mainstream Lexus models. In this segment, the speaker highlights a specific 2007 SC with very low mileage and a dealer sale history, both of which can strongly influence collector value.
"That was the highest ever sold Lexus SC 430 in the last decade. Yeah, yeah, you can pull it up on VAT, go on VAT, pull it up. I think it's sold for 48 K plus fees."
The Lexus SC 430 is a Lexus luxury car that’s popular with collectors. When a special version sells for a record price, it usually means it’s rare, well-kept, and has a strong ownership history.
The Lexus SC 430 is a luxury performance-oriented coupe/convertible from Lexus, known for its V8 power and grand-touring style. In collector-car pricing, specific high-profile examples—like a Pebble Beach edition—can command record sales because of provenance and condition.
"just start to finish, close a transaction. Apple pay."
Apple Pay is a way to pay with your iPhone or Apple device instead of using a card at checkout. It’s meant to make buying faster and easier.
Apple Pay is a mobile payment method that lets buyers pay quickly using a phone. In car sales, offering Apple Pay is part of streamlining checkout and reducing friction in the buying process.
"I'll give you the black two thousand twenty three Maserati MC 20. OK, I'll give you the white two thousand nineteen Chevrolet Corvette ZR one Coupe."
The Maserati MC 20 is a high-end supercar made by Maserati. Here they’re talking about a 2023 version, which can be a little different from other years in value and availability.
The Maserati MC 20 is a modern, mid-engine supercar from Maserati. In this segment it’s specifically referenced as a 2023 example, which matters because pricing and collectability can vary by model year.
"They have their hypercars, which is like the McLaren, yeah, McLaren P one. They have their supercars, which is the MP4 twelve C."
The McLaren P1 is one of McLaren’s most extreme, top-level cars. Here it’s mentioned as the example of their “hypercar” category.
The McLaren P1 is a flagship hypercar that helped establish McLaren’s top-tier performance reputation. The speaker groups it under McLaren’s “hypercars” series, contrasting it with their supercar and sport/touring lines.
"And then they make their touring series, which is like the McLaren GT. But all those cars are all the same platform."
The McLaren GT is meant to be more of a long-distance, road-trip supercar. In this segment, it’s used to show McLaren has different styles (sport, touring, supercar) but similar foundations.
The McLaren GT is a touring-focused model designed for longer-distance comfort while still delivering supercar performance. The speaker uses it as the example of McLaren’s “touring series,” which they say shares the same platform as the other models.
"But it's a ZTK. It's a performance package. It's like the track edition."
A “performance package” is a set of upgrades the manufacturer bundles together. It usually makes the car better for spirited driving or track use.
A “performance package” is a factory bundle of upgrades—often including track-focused cooling, tires, brakes, suspension, and/or aero. These packages can make a car feel and handle differently than a base configuration, and they often carry collectibility premium.
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Alright, before we get to Joey and Collectible Classics, definitely stay around for that
one because Joey is one of the biggest sellers on Bring Your Trailer under Collectible Classics.
I'm looking at Bring Your Trailer right now, 19 auctions live, but they have over 2300
pass listings.
So Joey is a mega player when it comes to selling cars, and you'll learn more about
his business and tech stacking and what he's doing to revolutionize the used car business.
Very, very interesting.
But before we get to that, I did want to give you a book update.
The book's pretty big, exactly 400 pages, which is really, really cool.
I will have it in hand in approximately three weeks.
You will see that on the podcast here on YouTube.
And my first launch event is at America's Packard Museum on April the 24th during their
Spring Fling event.
Now my Pontiac GTO, which is featured in the book as well, is currently at America's Packard
Museum.
And they posted this incredible picture of it the other day.
Now, why is it at the Packard Museum?
Well, there is a connection with John DeLorean with Packard in the 1950s, and then you moved
on to Pontiac, obviously, created the GTO, and then obviously his iconic DeLorean.
So if you would like to go, there will be a link to the Spring Fling in this description.
But beyond that, I have quite a few events coming up that I would love to see you at.
The next one after that will be the Greenbar Concorde to Elegance May the 1st.
I will be judging cards there, but I'm on a panel on Saturday, and I will have books
available as well.
I think they're going to go pretty quick.
I'm getting museums ordering 50 at a time, which is pretty cool.
Then locally in Cincinnati on May the 16th, I will have an event at Moto Car Club that
is on Facebook.
If you would like to sign up, that is limited, so you would have to jump on that pretty early.
And then beyond that, I will be at the Cincinnati Hanger Party for the Concorde Delegance as
well as during the Concorde Delegance.
And then on June the 20th, I will be at the Auburn Court Duesenberg Museum that morning,
Saturday morning, for their Cars and Coffee event, doing a book launch there along with
the signing.
I'll be at the Ferrari National Meet in Monticello, New York, end of June.
And then there will be many more coming up.
I hope to get out to the West Coast in conversations.
I know I'll be at the Nethercutt Collection, but not till September.
Should be some other stuff popping up.
So if you would like to get these alerts as far as where I'll be for the book event, please
send me your email address, Greg, at thecollectorcarpodcast.com.
I'll put you on the newsletter, which is pretty much every Monday, and there will be plenty
of links there to not only buy the book, but to find out where I will be.
So as always, please support my sponsors.
None of this could happen without them.
And let's get on to Joey's interview.
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Alright, welcome to another edition of the collector car podcast.
I'm really excited about this one because it's not often I have high-end dealers on
the podcast.
And today I do.
So I'd like to welcome Joey Benjamini.
How are you doing, Joey?
Great.
How are you doing?
Good.
Good.
So I appreciate you being on the podcast.
Now you run collectible classics out of the PA area.
If you would, just give us an overview of your business.
I know it's expanding before we get into some cool car topics.
Okay, absolutely.
So we do, we're a high volume seller of classic sports cars.
We source cars from all across the US using our tech stack that we built that's kind of
custom to what we do.
And we source cars from like Idaho, New Mexico, Nebraska, Montana, all the way to like Florida
or New York or California, wherever we buy.
And then we'll ship them into PA.
We'll go through and get them right.
And then we'll sell them nationwide again.
So we kind of have taken the dealership model, I guess, and completely shifted it.
So coming into this, none of my team is like dealership background people, but we found
a way to become the largest volume seller of classic sports cars in North America.
We're doing like 200 units a month.
So in terms of volume of stores, if you think about like an average rooftop for like a regular
dealership, like they're selling anywhere from like 50 to 150 units per month.
But those are like new car dealerships that are getting cars dropped off from boats from
like Japan or Germany.
So we're doing double the work, which is like we source them and we sell them.
So it's really 400 transactions to sell 200 cars because on both sides, we're dealing
with the customers.
So just using this tech stack, using infrastructure that we built enabled us to do this high volume
rapid-paced transaction of like collector's cars.
And then why I think it sticks in the current market is the following, like you being a
collector car guy and like knowing about cars, you're like, if you had a 96, 911 turbo
and you brought it into your Loka Honda dealer or Toyota dealer, or even if you brought it
into your Porsche dealer, they might not give you the money on that car or like appreciate
what it is because what's their outlet.
So we kind of fill the gap where like Carvana and all the other in-person dealerships like
miss the value on those cars and we can come in and like buy those cars and offer people
like a clean, easy experience for selling those cars.
And once customers work with us, they don't want to sell cars in any other way ever again.
It just doesn't make sense.
So speak to that.
Like what's your flagship store?
And I know you're expanding like what are your locations?
So right now, so important for us is like warehouse space and warehouse is super hot and
cross like not just the car industry, but any industry.
So warehouse space is what we need and we have two warehouses in PA right now.
We have a 15,000 square foot warehouse and then we just closed on a 100,000 square foot
warehouse on a 10 acre lot.
So capacity from these two locations is say 200 cars at the 15,000 square foot location
and another like 500 cars at the 100,000 square foot location.
So several hundred, we're getting close to like having 500 plus cars in inventory at some
point in the near future.
We've capped at like 250 right now just because we've been space constrained.
But that's that's our location.
And then we hope to expand to like all across the U.S.
using this model of like tech stack enabled private party sourcing and selling.
And I guess we'll talk more about where I feel like the market's going in the future.
But I think there's a massive space that's completely under capitalized and like under
access and it will make space for collector car market to become much bigger and much
broader and like enable people to really like dig into that market and like get access
to the cars they want, but haven't been able to find.
Now explain tech.
You said tech stack explain that.
So our process and I can't get into like the exact details because I'm not going to give
like our secret sauce.
You want to give up the secret sauce.
That's the piece that like enables it.
But when I talk about tech stack, when you think about buying a car and let's say Nebraska
and then selling it, how do you get from Nebraska to PA to sale and what tech along
that path enables that transaction to go quickly from let's say document to logistics
to recon.
So all of those pieces we've built from the ground up.
And so since we've built those pieces that enable our team to operate efficiently,
that's how we think about the tech stack and like elaborating tech in the business
and making it into like a synergistic one piece experience for like our team.
It kind of sounds like you're the beginning stages of Amazon for books.
And it just, you know, you're figuring out all the logistics, how can we make this
profitable and easy to use, right?
Yeah. So that's yeah, I would say like thinking about the car space from that
perspective, as opposed to thinking about it from.
The old fashioned perspective, which is getting a car in let's sell it for
a thousand dollar margin, put back in finance warranty and like third party service
contracts on it. Like we don't do any of that stuff.
So it's like making sure that the whole transaction is efficient.
And that's where we see profits or like positive outcomes, if that makes sense.
Yeah. And I'm looking on your website.
You have all sorts of great stuff from McLaren's to Maserati's to Corvette's
the R1's to Porsche's to BMW's from Mercedes to Lamborghini's to Ferrari.
So all the stuff all of us are looking for.
I'll give you some crazy insight, which is our website is going to get a
complete makeover in the next 30 days.
So I don't like our website isn't even live.
We have like 150 cars listed.
We probably have 300 cars in stock and out of it's accurate at this point
because we're shifting to a like talk about Amazon, like you hit the nail on the head.
Our website and go check it in 30 days from now.
You'll be able to buy a car from our website.
Check out on our website.
Like no, like I don't know how
no one's done this yet, which is crazy, which is like absolutely wild.
Like I don't know how the new car dealerships are open and you can't buy a car
online. It's pretty wild that like that's not done yet.
So we'll have that done in 30 days start to finish.
So that will be pretty cool.
The only thing I can think of is, you know, like we can talk about here in a minute,
but like the online auctions, the eBay motors, you know, where you can buy a car.
But yeah, actually, what's that?
Because not actually, because they connect you with the seller.
Like let's say right buyer wants a car, seller has a car, you agree on a price.
Sure, they've they've established that capacity.
But what they haven't done is figure out how to do paperwork,
figure out how to do payment, figure out how to do logistic and title.
And all that piece, they haven't done that yet.
So our website in like 30 days from now is going to able A to Z like done.
So you could in theory check out on our website.
That's cool. Yeah, it's interesting
because I know I've been working with Somo, Sotheby's Motorsports.
And, you know, that's the part that's kind of missing.
And I think they're going to have a buy it now option at some point.
I don't know how soon that will be.
But yeah, you know, you think about all the auction house, bring a trailer.
You think about the agri-marketplace.
You think about all those.
They don't have that buy it.
Check out. It's pretty it's pretty well.
But listen, let's talk more about like the auction houses and those pieces,
which is like there is a massive part of the business
that's bring a trailer, agri-marketplace,
broad arrow, Amelia Island, Sotheby's are in it.
Like all the different auction houses, Gooding, right?
Like we were at Amelia Island, so all those things.
So like those are still going to play a massive part in the market.
But at the same time, they still don't have that checkout.
But I don't think they need to have that checkout
because that's more about connecting buyers and sellers, I would say.
So like we're the largest volume seller on bring a trailer.
I've sold thousands of cars on bring a trailer.
I've sold hundreds of cars on cars and bids, hundreds of cars
on haggardy, hundreds of cars at all the other auction platforms.
And I would say that like they're great, but they still they're not going to.
I don't think they need to do the checkout.
I wouldn't I wouldn't tell them to do it because.
They still aren't the seller.
Do you see what I'm saying?
The only person who really wants to enable that is the person
who's actually selling the car, not the auction house,
because the seller would still have to get on board with it.
But I guess that's my perspective on that.
What about you? What do you think about?
What do you think about auction houses in the future?
You know, I think they're going down the right path.
I think, you know, I'll give Sotheby's Motorsport again as an example.
That's an auction online arm of RM Sotheby's, very necessary.
And they're doing they're doing a good job.
They have a lot of dealer partnerships happening right now.
And I think what's interesting is a dealership like such as yourself,
you know, you you could have an auction tab, you know,
so I'm starting to see on some of these dealer websites,
they don't want to deal with the auction aspect of it,
but they create a partnership, whether it's bring a trailer or some or whatever.
And then they have an auction page, you know, on their website,
which I think is a pretty cool idea.
It gives dealers another avenue in which to sell cars.
And some cars would sell better at auction than others,
depending on what they are, as you know. Certainly.
How would you compare?
Like, would you pick out, you know, with experience with all these online platforms,
which one have you enjoyed the process more?
Which one do you have maybe some advice for?
You know, how would you compare?
I won't give advice because I've already given them advice
and they know my takes on any advice I have for them.
And I don't want to throw them under the bus.
So it's OK. I won't I won't say any of my like takes on.
It definitely it's difficult to run an online auction platform.
It's not an easy thing.
And there's so much competition in the space nowadays.
Yeah, so much competition like everyone.
Everyone has an online platform at this point for auctions
or is trying to have one at least.
It's pretty difficult and we've seen very difficult. Yes.
This year alone, like five new auction platforms pop up.
But those are just the ones like that I see that are like big enough to get eyes on them.
There's probably another 20 of them that I don't even know about
that are still like trying to like run an online auction platform.
So I don't I don't have any ideas of making an online auction platform.
I think that's a super hard business to be in.
I would say that the people who were first to market have an advantage there.
Right. So like bring a trailer, cars and bids,
Agri-D, RM, Sotheby's or any of those places that have already been there in market.
It's going to be easier to deal.
So that's one.
But I guess more so my idea in like terms of online auctions.
I think online auctions are an awesome product,
but they're just a piece in the ecosystem of selling cars.
So I would say there's a place for everything.
And like people sometimes think in too drastic of measures, which is like
only cars will be sold on online auctions now
and there'll never be any other types of transactions.
That's just not true because there's so many cars
that shouldn't be sold on online auctions.
Like you see it every week.
Like if you go on, bring a trailer and you look at what's selling,
you'll see cars where you go like that shouldn't have been listed here.
Yeah. That was a mistake.
And it might be because the sellers just not qualified to list it there.
Right. Like if you take 12
photos of your Porsche 911 Turbo 1987 slant nose with your iPhone
and you put four pictures of the tire date codes
and you have an 18 photo listing, like that's not selling.
You know what I mean?
Like you're leaving $200,000 on the table on a listing like that.
So I think the auction online platforms are a great piece.
But I think that they're going to shift and you already see it,
which is like they're shifting to sellers like 9-eleven R or WAP,
collectible classics, Vantage Auto, 1600 Veloce,
Michael Motocars, like they're very good for someone
who can put a really thorough presentation together for a vehicle.
And they're very bad for someone who can't put it on
thorough presentation together for a vehicle.
And that means photos, date codes on the tires,
tread depth reading, underbody photos, walk around videos, cold start videos,
driving videos, top operation videos, suspension operation video,
interior photos, engine photos, engine stamp photos, service records,
build docs, receipts, impressions.
Like if you can't make a full picture of that car,
online platform will not serve you if you sell like that.
So I guess that that's my take there.
But I would say like, so where does that fit in the whole ecosystem?
I feel like online auctions are going to be great
for cars that are commodities, if that makes sense. Absolutely.
If you think about like, what's a car that's a commodity?
That means Porsche 911s perform really well in online auctions
because there's hundreds of them.
And what happens with an online auction is you see value.
They're going to revert to the mean and you're going to have outliers,
but it's all going to be super compact.
And then I think other auction houses like Amelia Island
that we were both at like two weekends ago, right?
I think that's an awesome place for one off cars
where there's nothing else like it and you have the people in the room
and you have the right bidders and you'll get that outstanding outcome
because there'll never be another one like it, right?
And sometimes that will fall through the cracks on an online platform.
It just won't get the attention it needs to get
versus if you have an auction like Amelia Island on a weekend
and brought Arrow, how they run it.
Like if you have a car and they like everyone's waiting for that CGT to sell,
like the blue CGT to sell like everyone's waiting for months.
Like it's a months of anticipation.
Like we're having this blue CGT be there or you're missing it.
You know what I mean?
Yes, also cars call it pre-1990,
but I'm thinking more of the cars that need a restoration.
At some point, even the cars from the 50s and 60s,
you know, so many cars look good in pictures, even if they're not good.
And if I had a guy who has a 69 Boss 429, I said,
you do not want that on online auction.
You need to have people see that Concord restoration in person.
You know, and it's just especially one off colors, you know,
that kind of one off course, where you're never finding another one.
Right. Right.
So I think that's how the ecosystem should work.
Like we have, I think RM Sotheby's like broad arrow
and then like the lesser versions, which is like Meekum and like
Barrett Jackson, let's say.
I think those have a space, probably broad arrow
and like RM Sotheby's and Goodings more so than Meekum and Barrett Jackson.
Because I feel like Meekum and Barrett Jackson are just overpriced online
auctions in person. Right.
All right.
They're just running VAT in person on a weekend.
Right. Right.
So but sometimes they're not right.
Like Meekum sold those Ferrari collect that Ferrari collection.
And that wasn't that wasn't bring a trailer on a weekend.
No, no, that was spectacular.
It was one off and they did really, really well.
So the way I see the market and those people don't see it this way yet
is that the unpersoned auction houses
need to stick to really, really unique cars and they'll get the results.
And that's where those people should sell their cars.
And then there's another subset, which is like commodity cars
that should be presented really, really nicely and sell on online auction platforms.
And then there's a subset, which is like people who don't have the.
Capacity to list a car in an online auction platform
should still stick to like Craigslist, Facebook, Marketplace, AutoTraderCars.com
because if you can't put together a package in seven days,
let someone come see that car in person who's local and you might get a little bit
less money, but at the same time, you're going to get more than if you would have
listed it with 18 photos on an online auction platform.
You know, that's a really good point about putting the package together.
And I think that's why I see the dealers doing so well on bringing trailers
because they got it down to a science, right? They know. Yeah.
You know, for whatever car I know for Lamborghini Kuntas,
these are the 200 pictures I need to take.
These are the stampings I know where they are.
You know, you take someone who's owned the car for 30 years
and they barely use their cell phone, you know, camera and they're trying to do it
just doesn't make sense at all. Right. So, you know, it's funny,
I had a conversation this morning with a client in an interesting car.
It's a 2017 C7 Corvette, nothing special,
but he ordered it new 300 miles untouched and it's a Grand Sport.
And he ordered it like with a spoiler delete.
He ordered all the carbon fiber bits that are still in the unopened boxes.
And he asked for my opinion, where would I sell that car now?
Take your dealer hat off of it, off of it, because you probably say,
well, I could sell it real quick here, but send it to me.
Yeah. Yeah. I was going to say, send it, use your first option.
But talking about the online platforms, you know, it's a it's not a rear car,
but it's unique spec.
It's black on black with chrome wheels and all the carbon fiber bits are in boxes,
never put on the car, no spoiler, rear spec, but it's a Grand Sport,
not a zero six or a zero one.
Where would you sell that car online?
I'd definitely say online auction, right?
Which one?
Don't bring a trailer there, probably, Hagerty, probably.
Honestly, Mannheim, those cars bring like all the money at Mannheim, which is crazy.
But like American Muscle does really, really well on like
like wholesale to dealers, because there's American muscle car dealers.
Like think about like Ford and Chevy stores in the GM's of those stores.
They always want that piece to put in their showroom.
So like those cars sometimes outperform on like Mannheim or OVE or ACV.
Yeah, even better than what they're going to do on like that's a crazy take, right?
Yeah.
But actually, I'm being 100 percent serious.
Like give you an example, 18 ZL1 or 17 ZL1.
I had it on BAT, ran it.
It sold at Mannheim for like 15 grand more.
Oh, my gosh.
So they're like Dodge Hellcats.
Like they'll sell at Mannheim for 10 grand more than they sell on online auction
platforms, because those are cars that go to get financed, go to a retail dealership.
And like that's what they're set up for, which is like selling those cars.
And they like have the customers come in and then they make the money on the
finance and they make the money on the warranty and the service, you know?
Yeah, I told them I said as an individual on like normally, I want to say bring
a trailer for an individual unless you have some type of guidance.
But I said his car would make sense because the peanut gallery, especially Corvette
guys, they want to take cars apart, show their expertise by tearing a car apart.
We're not going to share apart a brand new grand sport with three miles.
If anything, the peanut gallery will give you more visibility to the rarity
of the spec, to the rarity of the carbon fiber pieces in the box.
So I told them, I said, you know, this case, the peanut gallery might actually
help you out because it's going to be calling out the really cool stuff
that the average auction platform probably won't highlight, right?
Yeah, I agree.
Definitely, definitely a good point there.
I would say that that will add, add excitement.
There'll definitely be a lot of guys who are like super hot on that car,
probably not even interested in bidding, but just like, wow, that's so cool.
That's part of the problem, too, with bring a trailer.
But yeah, so that's there.
That's my take on like the car market, I guess.
Tell me about the way it's shifting.
Yeah, tell me about what you think is up and coming.
I know you mentioned under pre-call like AMGs, Mercedes.
What what do you see that's kind of?
I don't want to say this under value, but still it's not on everybody's radar right now.
Yeah, I would say like definitely anything with big motor V8s, like heavy, high
horsepower, but like analog, I feel like that's very exciting for people
because nowadays like cars are so.
Electronically like neutered that you can't actually like get the experience.
That's a great phrase.
Electronically neutered, I was just like, go into like, go into like a go
into an R230 SL 65 or a Dodge Viper GTS ACR like Porsche 911 996 Turbo or like
any of that kind of car.
It's just such a different driving experience than those newer cars.
Like you see, like you feel the mechanical aspect to it.
Yeah, and I feel like that's going to be exciting for people in the next five,
10 years, 15 years when people think about like, what's a cool collector car to own?
I just a 911 Turbo S 2019 is a cool car, right?
But right, a 2000 or a 96 911 Turbo S is like a way cooler car.
Right. Yeah, it's like, it's like, and there's a reason like they're selling
for like half a million dollars already.
So like other cars that are close to that and you can make those similar comparisons
are those will be cars that are like highly desirable in the years to come.
Yeah, like I want a 2012 911 Carrera S because it's or GTS, you know,
because it's not the Turbo, but it's the most nationally aspirated.
It's the last of that generation, last of the smaller 911, you know,
and I like to get one of those just, you know, I don't want it already.
I know, I don't want the 13 because that's the new of the next generation
where there's some bugs and issues.
I want the last of the last generation.
Yeah, so I agree with you.
I think there's this, I don't know if I would say you can say 1999
or 1996, whatever you said.
But to me, the ultimate sweet spot is like 05 to 15.
Like that last 10 years of the analog, right?
Most of the cars we do are in that space.
Like I'd say like our average year, like I can actually look real quick
because I have all this data because we're super tech.
But looking at like the average year of inventory that we have right now.
Yeah, yeah, just average year of all our units of 200 units.
Average year is two thousand and six point three three.
Oh, there you go.
So average year is 06.
So like, yeah, right in that spot, which is which is where we focus
and which is under capitalized by like retail car dealerships.
Like if you look at the inventory we have and let's say we have
ten million dollars of inventory or whatever it is.
If you booked it out to like wholesale, what like what's wholesale
on a 91 zero one with 10,000 miles in in steel blue?
Right. Yeah, what's wholesale?
Like, yes, I paid forty some grant for it.
So like it's not it's like wholesale is like five thousand dollars.
Right. I mean, right.
Or like what's like so these are all like under capitalized cars
by like the broader retail car platform and like not collectors.
You probably have my 2012 GTS on your site right now.
I see an 08 Turbo.
I don't I don't I don't have a GTS for you.
I have a I have a bunch of I don't have a GTS for you.
I have a Carrera S. I have a 09 S. I have a 08 S.
I have an 08 S cab. I have a 06 S cab.
Oh, you got all sorts of good stuff on there.
Yeah, whatever you want.
The cabs are really cheap, by the way.
The cab. Oh, yeah, that's because I don't even want one.
Yeah. How about SLS?
What do you think of the SLS?
Mercedes, to me, that is a car that will never go down.
What did one sell for at a million this last?
Wasn't there one at a million that sold for a lot of money?
I don't remember.
It might have been a black series.
Those are still six hundred.
It was a black series. Yeah.
Yeah, no, definitely cars that are going to be hot.
Those have big, muscly V8s, lots of power, super analog, super like real car.
You know what I mean?
Before they like put three liter twin
turbo electric motors in the back.
Yeah. So I see you have a car in here, the 2007 Lexus SC.
And that looks like that might be the the Pebble Beach edition.
Is it really? It's not.
It's a Pebble Beach color, but it's not a Pebble Beach edition.
12,000 miles, it's sold to a Lexus dealer.
What are you $50,000?
Yeah, see, those are not in anyone's radar.
And I think I got a client that's got five of those,
including the Pebble Beach edition in his collection.
And I'm like, man, I love to have that Pebble Beach one.
I just set the record for the highest sale ever on that car.
That was the highest ever sold Lexus SC 430 in the last decade.
Yeah, yeah, you can pull it up on VAT, go on VAT, pull it up.
I think it's sold for 48 K plus fees. Wow.
So that's the highest ever sold to like 50 grand on an SC 430 with 12,000 miles.
Yeah, I think that's 30 on it, but it's the Pebble Beach one.
So that I bought another one yesterday.
I just bought a red one with 12,000 miles yesterday.
I need I need the Lexus dealer in South Carolina Hilton had to call me on that one.
Paid 50 on this last one.
I very well, I very well.
Well, cool, man. Well, yeah, like what other trends do you see out there
that people need to keep an eye on it?
Because I know, you know, friars are blowing up.
You know, I see you have some friars,
but you don't it looks like you don't necessarily focus on friars.
Is that right? You know, yeah.
We probably do more stuff in like the commodity market, right?
So like when I'm talking about like what cars are commodities,
I'm thinking like anything that's sold hundreds of them.
And then we just pick out the really, really nice ones.
So those are easy cars to transact on where we can say like here's market on it.
We can pay slightly under market.
We got to sell it for market, right?
And those cars are super easy for us to transact on.
Like I'd say like we've done.
A hundred SL 65s or like we've done.
Dozens and dozens of like
Range Rovers or Shippanamaras or Shana 11s.
I've probably done two hundred Porsche 996s, maybe 300 at this point.
I probably have 20 right now.
Yeah. So those cars and those are like commodities,
which is like people know what they're worth and they're super easy to transact on.
Stuff that we don't do as much as like stuff
that's one offer stuff that's like super, super condition dependent
because then you have to be like in person and be careful.
Yeah. So that's that's interesting because like for Ferrari, you're exactly right.
You know, those can sway a hundred thousand dollars based on the option package.
You know, and so you got to get to the granular level on some of those crazy cars.
So now what is that process?
How do you find cars? Speaking of which, you know, good question.
OK, how do we find cars?
So one is like the simplest way, which is like scouring the Internet for deals.
I'm sure everyone's done that at home.
So we're pretty good at that.
We spend we have a bunch of buyers who do that.
But the other way we do it is through network.
So we have a ton of clients that are like part of our network and we'll say, hey,
like, do you want to sell a car?
And then customers will reach out to us from like an email or a text
or a flyer or whatever it is.
And they'll be like, yeah, I have 18 cars.
My wife told me I have to sell eight.
All right. And then we'll just buy like a package of people's cars.
So like, that's the best way we come across inventory,
which is we can make it super clean and easy for someone with like a large
collection or a bunch of assets that wants to move them and doesn't want to deal
with the hassle of listing 15 cars for sale individually
and spending the next like six months dealing with like online auction platforms.
Right. So so we can make that super quick and like seamless,
which is like we do 200 of those a month.
So selling a car is something we do all day long.
So it doesn't slow us down, per se.
You got to figure it out. Yeah. Yeah.
So yeah, that's that.
And then definitely like the ways we're looking to expand are like breaking
into other people's like client lists and saying like, hey, we have the ability
to offer you same day payment, pick up from your doorstep, easy,
hassle free transaction and like no pressure to take our offer.
But we're like the only people who are doing that at scale
because of like our tech stack that I talked about.
And like we can do 250 cars a month.
No one else can touch 250 cars a month.
Right. And like that's just getting started.
The objectives to be doing in the next like 48 months,
a thousand cars a month would be the objective. Right.
So like that's where we're looking to go.
And like we spent a lot of time getting the granular right,
which is like how the process works A to Z. Right.
And once you build that out, it's just scale.
It's just like taking your vertically integrated system and like adding
pieces until you get the scale, which is like the pieces are staff,
which we have like the best staff space, which is like warehouse.
And then capital.
So those are like your three constraining factors.
And then you just add one of like you add in parallel to all those pieces.
And then you get to like capacity that you want to be at.
Right. Yeah. No, that's great.
Now, what's the best way for our folks to find you?
Uh, you can find us on Instagram, collectible classic cars.
You can find us on our website, collectibleclassics.com.
If you want to sell a car, just on our website, submit it.
We'll take you 30 seconds and we'll get you an offer beyond that.
You can find us all over the online auction platforms,
like Haggerty marketplace, bring a trailer, cars and bids.
We sell a ton of stuff there.
And then I would say like take a look back in the next 30 days
and check out our website and see if you can actually check out on our website.
Now, you guys can like test me on that in 30 days.
So check on April 30th.
If you can go on our website and buy a car
in like without, without any, without anyone helping you,
just start to finish, close a transaction.
Apple pay.
Crypto. Crypto. Crypto wire, whatever you want.
But we'll have it integrated by if it's not done April 30th
and like hit us up and tell us, Hey, we're not doing a good job.
OK, I can do that. Yeah.
All right, I think we'd be first to market with that if we get it done.
Yeah, I do have something at the end here.
I did not give you a heads up about.
But since you said on the pre-call, you don't mind making it embarrassing yourself.
I thought I'd do it anyways. You ready?
Go for it.
All right. It's a little segment I call keep cash and crush.
So I give you three cars.
These are going to be three cars from your website.
And you have to pick one to keep forever, one to cash in.
I think it's going to be easy.
This one to send to the crusher.
Oh, it's going to be easy.
OK, yeah, I got this.
All right, so I'll give you three cars.
I'll give you the black two thousand twenty three Maserati MC 20.
OK, I'll give you the white two thousand
nineteen Chevrolet Corvette ZR one Coupe. OK.
And then I'll give you the I don't know the proper name, but the orange.
There are seven McLaren five seventy S spider.
OK, easy. What were the three options?
The the black Maserati MC 20.
No, what were the three options in terms of?
Oh, I'm sorry, keep cash or crush.
So keep one, cash one, crush one. OK.
OK, so you're thinking about it's not that easy.
OK, in terms of keep.
I keep the McLaren five seventy S.
I think those are super cool cars.
I think all the McLarens are like wildly undervalued.
I'm like super, super hot on all the McLarens.
They're super, super cool cars and they do not have a good reputation.
And I'm going to single handedly change that.
No, I'm joking, but I'm working on it.
So keep the McLaren five seventy S.
Those are a lot of performance, super comfortable to drive wildly fast
and fun cars to own.
And they're actually affordable, which is crazy.
Like you can buy a McLaren for the same price as a nine eleven turbo.
How's the reliability?
They're pretty solid.
They build the same car, like just in 10 different formats,
like their underlying product between all their series and they build.
So starting their first car as they produced in like the last 50 years
were in 2009, I want to say, or 2008, like they made the MP4.
Twenty eleven was really when they came out,
but they were building them in eight oh nine and like those were test cars.
So eleven is the MP4 twelve C and that was their supercar series.
And since then, they've made four different series.
They have their hypercars, which is like the McLaren, yeah, McLaren P one.
They have their supercars, which is the MP4 twelve C.
Then it was the six fifty at six fifty S.
Then it's the seven fifty S.
And then it's seven, six, five, seven, sixty five.
So all their supercar series, then they make their
like sport car series, which is the five seventy S.
And then they make their touring series, which is like the McLaren GT.
But all those cars are all the same platform.
So they've had time to dial it in.
Like it's the same engine.
It's the same body.
It's the same chassis.
Like they're not building 30 different cars, if that makes sense.
And they're not like making hybrid SUVs.
So like, yes, they have service costs,
but I would say that they're no different than the service costs on a.
Nine eleven turbo, like I don't think they're that crazy different
than owning another hundred thousand dollar sports car or like a Mercedes SLS
or a Mercedes AMG GT.
Like I don't think they're worth worse in terms of service in those.
It's unfortunate, though, because where they do lack is something
that they can't even change, which is like aftermarket support.
Right. I would say like, so like Porsche has like endless
enthusiast groups and like they have endless support and like
aftermarket Porsche specialists, right?
So you don't have to bring your car to Porsche.
McLaren growing in that direction, like they're growing that you can go
and like send your car to a private service shop and not go through the dealership network.
Right. OK, so I said, I said, keep the McLaren 570S.
I said, yeah, which is cash and which is crush.
OK, I'm crushing the ZR1.
Oh, no, just doesn't do it for me.
I just don't need it.
And then I said, cash the MC 20.
Yeah, I'll cash the MC 20.
We'll sell the Maserati MC 20. That's a really, really cool car.
The ZR1 is like Corvette's doing so good that there's so many of the cars.
Do you know how many C8s they've made?
Oh, yeah. Yeah.
Well, this is the last one.
This is the C7. This is the last C7.
And it's an automatic.
It's an auto. It's an auto.
All right. But it's a ZTK.
It's a performance package. It's like the track edition.
Well, I think that's right.
I think the MC 20 is a little underappreciated.
That's gorgeous.
Cool cars, cool, cool, cool cars.
Very cool cars.
I wish all the brands would just focus on making performance cars
and forget about their crossover SUVs.
Well, yeah, true. Right.
Well, Joey, I really enjoyed it.
I appreciate your time on a collector car podcast.
And I think we're going to do a tour of your new facility here.
Yeah, that will be cool.
Yeah, it will be exciting.
That will be 30 days after the first set of 30 days.
Oh, so I could call you out.
If I can't buy a car online, I can call you out.
Yeah, yeah.
And then after that, so by May 30th,
we should be in the new facility.
And then you should come tour and it will be pretty crazy.
All right, buddy.
Well, thanks for being on the collector car podcast.
I appreciate it, man.
I appreciate it.
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