Advice for selling huge collections, cars and parts

[MarrsCars]

As you may know from some of my posts I am assisting a friend who is selling several vintage cars; Mercedes, early VW, Jags, Ford, Chevy, Lincoln, Rolls-Royce, Porsche and even a former President's limo. He recently told me there are a further two collections upcoming that he would like my help with as well. I am told these collections consist of low mileage cars bought purely for one collection as well as literally rooms full of parts, memorabilia and literature in the other.

An auction house takes too big of a cut for his liking as a broker, so we are considering doing a full inventory (likely over several months) of all the parts, separated by country of origin, marque and model. Again, literally dozens if not hundreds of marques represented in these vast collections. I would like to ask, when you folks go to a very large automotive estate sale are you more interested in items having a set price that you can perhaps even haggle or do you prefer an auction setting where any price could be achieved? Would you prefer to separate the sales into Euro cars one day, then American the next, or maybe based on era ranges (there is enough material to warrant multi-day sales), or maybe have cars and parts one weekend, literature the next, memorabilia and similar another, or would you just have one huge event lasting a weekend with everything in one sale from all car types and eras for all to see? We are too far for Hershey or similar venue to be a viable option, likely these items will be sold from the estates when they reside. Any and all opinions welcome.

Please note, I am not offering "sneak peeks" or taking want lists just yet so please don't message asking for specific cars or parts, I will post again in the For Sale section when these items become available. This will take some time. We are presently only working on the overall plan until we get some idea of what we have and in what quantities & condition.

Edited April 27, 2014 by MarrsCars (see edit history)

[MochetVelo]

The nice thing about an auction is that everything goes, and usually averaging retail value. That is, some stuff they "give away" or scrap, some goes more-or-less at value, and some goes above actual value. If the collection is valuable, you can often work with an auctioneer on commission. On the other hand, you might enjoy sorting stuff and running a tag sale. I'd think the two routes would net the seller about the same, but the auction a lot less work.

Phil

[vermontboy]

If you are going to run a tag sale there will be items left over - lots of items left over .... think worst case (a rainy weekend, or week for that matter). What would you do having put all that time and effort into it if you ended up with over half the items unsold. As MochetVelo stated - in an auction setting it all goes.

[Guest AlCapone]

I myself had a similar situation. I chose the auction house method and have never regretted it for a minute. It was quick and easy and I think I got a higher price in the end. No packaging, shipping, prolonged storage and playing with 100's of cheques. In this case I say give it to the big guy.

Wayne

[1939_Buick]

As you may know from some of my posts I am assisting a friend who is selling several vintage cars; Mercedes, early VW, Jags, Ford, Chevy, Lincoln, Rolls-Royce, Porsche and even a former President's limo. He recently told me there are a further two collections upcoming that he would like my help with as well. I am told these collections consist of low mileage cars bought purely for one collection as well as literally rooms full of parts, memorabilia and literature in the other.

An auction house takes too big of a cut for his liking as a broker, so we are considering doing a full inventory (likely over several months) of all the parts, separated by country of origin, marque and model.....

If he paying an hourly rate for your time or some else to catalogue and/or conduct individual item sales or groups of items, including shipping, this will eat into the final net amount. The last 2% will take 20% of the time & effort & cost. Big popular stuff goes quickly

[Paul Dobbin]

As you will learn, selling off 100% of a collection is a costly thing when you add up all the related expenses. I hope you'll find an auction company who can do it all for you for a reasonable fee.

I had a friend who died of cancer about 8 years ago. He called an auction company with a good list of buyers and held a one day auction. By sundown all the cars, parts, tools, trucks, trailers, gas pumps, etc. etc. were sold and GONE. The seller paid 10% plus the advertising cost, and his buddies drove the cars across the block. The buyers paid 10% and everyone was happy. The auction company came a few days before and sorted and box lotted the stuff. That sounded fair to me.

My friend watched the whole thing from his bedroom window and had another great antique car experience. He told me that if by some miracle he survived, he could buy an all new collection of stuff, but his old stuff would not be a burden to his family.

Finding the auctioneer with a good buyer list is the key.

[alsancle]

If you want to get rid of everything, an auction company is the way to go. Somebody has to spend the time and do the work, a company that knows what they are doing will be most efficient at it.

[MarrsCars]

Thank you all for the experienced comments, I think you have convinced me, I will now pass along your wisdom to the other parties involved. Sometimes when you are so close to a big project you can't see the forest for the trees. Much appreciated.

[Guest AlCapone]

Obviously you have their interests at heart ! You have seen the forest and the trees ! Good luck !

Wayne