The entire country is under a stay-at-home order, but that doesn’t mean you can’t still buy a classic car or truck at an auction. You’ll just have to do it online. That is what many of the major auction houses are doing during this pandemic.
Its going to be an adjustment for those that are used to being able to get up close and personal with the cars before they cross the auction block. Even still, it is optimistic to see that the show must go on.
Bonhams , one of the world’s largest and most renowned auctioneers of fine art and antiques, motor cars and jewelry, had 2 automotive sales in the U.K. continued as scheduled. They were on March 21 and March 29. Both events were safely held with all bids coming in via phone and online. No one was allowed into the auction room, so there were no hands raising their bidding panels. They did make private appointments prior to the auctions for bidders to see the vehicles prior to bidding.
RM Sotheby’s, another international auction powerhouse that specializes in rare antique, classic, and sports & racing cars, was successfully able to hold their annual Palm Beach Auction. The event that was originally to be held at the Palm Beach International Raceway on 20–21 March, was held completely online. The decision to hold it entirely via the internet cam only 10 days before the live show’s scheduled dat.
259 vehicles and 21 lots of memorabilia opened for bidding on 20 March. The online-only auction totaled $13.7 million in sales, with an overall sell-through rate of 69 percent. They saw an unprecedented level of interest in its online platform, with nearly 900 registered bidders—23 percent more than the average number of registered bidders at live RM Sotheby’s South Florida auctions over the last four years. Bidders participated from 44 countries, with 36 percent bidding with RM Sotheby’s for the first time. Over the course of the auction (20–28 March), there were more than 615,000 page-views within the Online Only Palm Beach section of rmsothebys.com alone.
“This was an unprecedented online collector car auction in terms of both value of cars offered over four days and the speed at which we had to pivot from the regularly scheduled South Florida auction,” said Kenneth Ahn, President, RM Sotheby’s, following the auction. “The decision to shift our long-established physical auction to our online platform was not without its complexities. However, as the industry’s largest market maker by total sales, we had many clients who were counting on us to sell their cars in this market and significant bidder interest gearing up for the physical auction.
“The COVID-19 virus pandemic is clearly a new challenge for our industry and business. We were able to quickly mobilize and adapt to the changing environment, allowing us to continue to serve our clients in a meaningful and effective way. We have received tremendously positive feedback from our clients and industry participants over the past several days, and we will continue to refine and improve our digital platform based on this experience. The management team and I are truly thankful for the support from our clients who entrusted us to sell their cars online on a scale we have never attempted before, and for the dedication of our team members.”
Barrett-Jackson have had to postpone at least one of their events. Barrett-Jackson events have come to be much more than just an auction, they provide days’ worth of entertainment and excitement for the average classic car enthusiast, not just bidders. The 2020 Palm Beach auction, originally scheduled for April 16-18, is now set to take place from Oct. 15-17.
“While every indication shows that our bidders, consignors and sponsors were behind our efforts to hold our auction, we’ve decided to follow the advice of the Florida governor and exercise an abundance of caution at this time,” said Craig Jackson, chairman and CEO of Barrett-Jackson. “Our decision to postpone the auction was made to protect the public’s safety and health.”
Their Northeast show in Connecticut is still scheduled for June 24-27, but the future likeliness for large crowd gatherings in the coming months is still yet to be seen. Until then, we hope that everyone is staying healthy and safe and doing their part to get us all through this together!