New thing. Every Monday from now on, I'm going to settle the week before in one email: what sold & what it tells us. As always let us know your feedback, you can email [email protected] - every email is answered!!

Last week in one number

$83 million. That's what changed hands at online auctions last week, across 1,370 vehicles. On the same platforms, that's 6% more cars than the week before and 19% more money.

But here's the thing. The typical car barely moved. The extra money all came from the top: the ten biggest sales added up to $11.3 million, about 14% of the week, from less than 1% of the cars.

The biggest of the lot was a McLaren Senna with 826 miles, $2,575,000 on duPont Registry Live. Bring a Trailer did the heavy lifting as usual, 879 cars and $51.1 million. And Collecting Cars in the UK had the week of its year: $12.5 million from 78 cars, more than double the week before from exactly the same number of sales.

Sale of the Week: two Ford GTs, one day, double the money

On Thursday, two 2006 Ford GTs sold a few hours apart.

A one-owner car with 3,900 miles made $640,000 on duPont Registry Live. A 3,000-mile Heritage Edition, the one in the Le Mans colors, made $1,261,000 on Bring a Trailer. Same car underneath. Similar miles. The paint and the story were worth $621,000.

Same car, different money

The Ford GTs weren't a one-off. All week, the same car kept selling twice within days, and every pair told you exactly what buyers were paying for.

The top ten

Five Ferraris, two Lamborghinis, a Porsche, a Ford and a McLaren.

Seen it before

This is the bit I find the MOST fascinating. Of last week's cars, about 1 in 8 had already been through an auction in the last few years. 120 had sold before, and 23 had been listed and didn't find a buyer.

So what happened to the money? Mostly, it went backwards, which surprised me! Of the 120 that had sold before, 73 came back lower and 45 came back higher. The typical one came back about 8% down, roughly 19 months after it last sold. And that's before inflation and before fees.

Six months is the line. Cars that came back within six months held their money, about 2% down. Anything longer than that, whether it was seven months or more than three years, came back around 8% lower.

The badge mattered. Twenty Porsches came back, and 12 of them sold for more than last time, up about 6% in the middle. The manual 911s led the way: a 2010 Carrera S six-speed went from $73,000 to $109,772, (lots of additions) and a 1991 Carrera 4 Targa from $74,000 to $101,000. Five Toyotas came back. Five went up.

Pretty much everything else went the other way. Ten of 11 Chevrolets sold for less. Mercedes split four up and eight down. BMWs came back 26% lower. All four Jeeps lost money.

So did the price. Of the 39 cars that sold for under $15,000, 30 had made more the last time, and the typical one came back 14% lower. Over $100,000, it was nine up and seven down.

The best result: a 15,000-mile 2014 Ferrari F12berlinetta, $225,000 in July 2024 and $350,000 last week. The worst clean one: a 2014 BMW M5 Competition, $50,500 two years ago and $28,750 on Friday. And if you think a quick flip is safe, a 9,000-mile 2008 Porsche 911 Carrera 4 made $84,500 in May and $61,500 last week.

Now the twist. The cars that didn't sell last time told a completely different story. Twenty-three of last week's sales had been listed before without finding a buyer, and 16 of them beat the bid their owner turned down.

A 2005 Porsche 911 Carrera S was turned away at $28,750 in December and sold for $45,000. A 2,700-mile Aston Martin V12 Vantage S Roadster was turned away at $241,000 last November and made $380,000 on Friday.

Not every bet paid off, though. A 1971 Mercedes-Benz 280SE 3.5 Cabriolet was bid to $260,000 in July. The owner said no. Last week it sold for $240,000.

And probably like me, some of you will wanna know did any get listed on one site and do better on another. Well here you go.

5 up, 1 flat, 3 down. That's a much better record than the week overall (73 down, 45 up). But with only 9 cars I wouldn't claim BaT pays more; most of the gains are older cars held for years. The CRX was also modified in between, so it's not a clean comparison.

Going the other way:

Conclusion (very short take)

The middle of the market sat still last week while the top end ran. If you're sitting on a car waiting to see where it goes, the resales say six months is about as long as the money waits for you.

After that, most (not all) have came back lower recently. The people who did best were the ones who said no to a low bid and came back. That’s he data speaking. But of course there is still a lot of nuance with every listing. To find out where your car will sell best and if there’s a day of the week it sells better & more try out our free tool - GoAskSam.com

Feel free to share on of our data/images. Please just credit us :)