BRITISH-based online auction Collecting Cars is looking for growth in its Australasian operations this year as it moves to fill the gap left by the closure of Australia’s long-time vintage and classic car auction, Shannons.

The company says that it is consolidating its position in Australia and is now moving into the New Zealand market where it will open an office in February. It will also branch out into the wider Asia-Pacific region this year.

Late last year Shannons announced that it was leaving the classic and vintage car auction business because it was becoming highly competitive.

The move left many collectors and car enthusiasts without an outlet for buying and selling their cars, number plates and memorabilia.

Collecting Cars was established to take on the automotive activities of international auction houses such as RM Sotheby’s and Bonhams. 

Edward Lovett, CEO Collecting Cars

It was founded in the UK by its CEO Edward Lovett in May 2019 and began selling cars listed from Australia in 2020. 

Mr Lovett said the company had already been attracting interest and bidding activity from Australians because of the predominance of right hand drive collectible cars in the UK.

Within a year it opened a Sydney office, had sold more than 100 cars from Australia, and along the way set a record price of $410,000 for a 1975 Porsche 911 (930) Turbo which set a new RHD sale price high for that model.

By June 2021 it set a milestone of $A180m worth of sales globally and has now achieved global sales of more than $A1 billion. To date the site has sold 16,000 cars worldwide and 1259 cars in Australia. Currently Australian cars are averaging successful bids of between $A90,000 and $100,000 each.

Globally the site has more than 750,000 followers on social media, more than 250,000 registered bidders, takes bids from more than 100 countries and has 100 employees to support the online auctions which are run 24/7.

Rod Stewart’s Ferrarri F50

Collecting Cars has offices in the UK, Australia, Germany, Sweden, Belgium, Italy, Spain, the Netherlands and the UAE. It is about to open its first New Zealand office. 

The timed auctions run for seven days from the time the car is listed and there are typically 500 cars available to buy at any one time. The cars stay with the customer until they have been paid for. The owners have the comfort of setting a reserve on the car. The bid increment is $500 once it gets over $A10,000. The site auctions memorabilia and number plates as well.

The key to the business model is that sellers do not pay to advertise. Rather the buyer pays a commission of 6 per cent of the sale price capped at $A10,000.

The site provides a detailed photography service of 150 images for a fee to the seller of $A250.

Mr Lovett said: “In probably 95 per cent of the circumstances, we send a professional photographer to the owner’s house to make sure the car is presented in the very best way possible.

“Clearly it is better to have 150 high-quality images, which makes a massive difference in being able to sell a car well.”

The site generates a lot of traffic as enthusiasts gather market intelligence by following current values achieved in the bidding and see the bids that did not secure the sale.

“You see all the bids, and you can see what something sold for and then you can see if something doesn’t sell.”

1998 Nissan Skyline (R33) GT-R Nismo 400R

Mr Lovett told GoAutoNews Premium: “We promote the cars around the world. We have 250,000 registered bidders from more than 100 countries. So the cars that we sell can sell domestically but they also sell internationally and attract competitive bidding from around the world.

“We have a huge amount of returning traffic every day because, every day as the business is running, we have a new selection of cars that are going live, and every day we have a new selection of cars ending. 

“There’s a huge amount of real-time data. People come to the website to see what cars are really selling for. If you go on to normal classified sites, you can only see what people are asking; you actually don’t know what prices things are selling for.

Among some of the more notable auctions have seen a Nissan Skyline R33 GT-R Nismo 400R go for $1.3 million after what Collecting Cars called ‘an incredible bidding war’. 

The F1 Grand Prix-winning Williams-Renault FW13B that beat Ayrton Senna when it was driven to victory in the 1990 Hungarian Grand Prix by Belgian Thierry Boutsen was listed on the site and is still on the market for an undisclosed sum. Media speculation suggested a price of around $A5 million might be achievable. 

Former Top Gear presenter James May sold his Tesla Model S through the site and David Beckham’s Lamborghini Gallardo was sold by a subsequent owners as “ex David Beckham owned”.

More than 600 Ferraris have been sold on Collecting Cars.

A  2007 Ferrari 599 GTB Fiorano previously owned by English guitarist and songwriter Eric Clapton was sold on the site. It had been ordered new by Clapton and had covered just 25,490 miles.

Chris Harris and Edward Lovett

The highest Ferrari sale on Collecting Cars was around $A5.6 million. The lowest price paid for a Ferrari was a Mondial 3.2 Cabriolet “in need of some work” found a winning bid of  about $A40,000 from British journalist, TV presenter and commentator Chris Harris (who is commercially linked to Collecting Cars).

Collecting Cars recently sold the ex-Rod Stewart Ferrari F50 with a winning bid of $A5.5 million. That made it the most expensive vehicle ever sold on an online-only auction platform outside the US. 

In early October 2023, Collecting Cars also sold a 1991 Ferrari F40 with 28,783 km on the odometer that received a winning bid of $A3.2 million. 

One entrepreneurial individual took advantage of the shortage of the Toyota GR Corolla hot hatch in Australia by listing the car on Collecting Cars in the UK. The car was bought by an Australian bidder and has now been delivered to Sydney. It achieved an almost $A14,000 premium over the list price.

Toyota GR Corolla