A $4 million Bugatti and Michael Jordan's BMW brought car auction company a record year
Bring a Trailer, the online classic car marketplace, sold a record $1.5 billion worth of cars last year despite a continued slump in classic car prices, according to its CEO.
Bring a Trailer, the online classic car marketplace, sold a record $1.5 billion worth of cars last year despite a continued slump in classic car prices, according to its CEO.
The company held 45,000 auctions in 2024 split between cars, trucks, motorcycles, memorabilia and parts, and had more than 1.3 million bidders.
“With the stock market up and money flowing around, we had good velocity,” said Randy Nonnenberg, co-founder and president of Bring a Trailer, which is part of Hearst Autos.
The strong results for BaT defied the broader slowdown in the classic car market. Higher interest rates have made classic cars less attractive as investments, since collectors can now make 4% or 5% in risk-free cash equivalents. Total sales at live classic car auctions last year fell 11%, to $2.18 billion, according to Hagerty, the classic car insurance and auction company.
At the same time, baby boomers, who powered the collector market for decades, are now aging out. Many are selling their collections, leaving an oversupply of 1950s and 1960s vehicles that are less appealing to the new generation of collectors.
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