The 2022 Barrett-Jackson’s Scottsdale auction was the most successful in the company’s 50-year history with $203.2 million in sales, but attention turns now to the Palm Beach auction is less than five weeks away.
Nonetheless, Barrett-Jackson chairman and CEO Craig Jackson took some time from preparing for the upcoming Palm Beach auction to provide his insight in the collector car industry.
“People are looking for a few things,” Jackson said. “A place to park their money that’s not going to get eaten up by inflation. Cars they can buy, go out and have instant enjoyment with because we’ve all realized we’re not going to live forever.”
The average price of a vehicle sold at the recent Barrett-Jackson Scottsdale auction was $106,202, a substantial increase from the average price in 2020 of $71,833.
After a strong Scottsdale auction expectations are high as Barrett-Jackson prepares their docket for Palm Beach.
“Right now, our average price is pretty high,” Jackson said. “But you’ve got to have cars for starting on Thursday, and you got to have something for everybody. So, it’ll be a signature Barrett-Jackson with all the diversity, but the momentum we’re feeling is incredible. We have 300 cars right now in the pipeline plus these collections. So, we’ll probably be in the 550 mark.”
Barrett-Jackson bucks the trend as a no-reserve auction platform with a 100 percent sell-through rate. The no-reserve format can be a gamble for the consignor as no minimum price has to be met to sell a vehicle, and with high-end auction prices in six- and even seven-figures ,the buyer needs to feel confident in their purchase of a collector car with an advertised pedigree.
“We’ve really shown across the board that we can sell super cars at no reserve, in every segment of the market,” Jackson said. “Also, the buyers feel confident buying from Barrett-Jackson, how well we scrutinize the cars. We don’t guarantee them, but we definitely go through them with a fine-tooth comb to make sure that they’re being represented as accurately as possible.”
The upcoming Barrett-Jackson Palm Beach auction is scheduled for April 7-9 at the South Florida Fairgrounds and Jackson is optimistic about the state of the collector car industry.
“I think that the collector car hobby is as strong as it’s ever been,” he said.
