Investing in The Car Crowd

Yellabowley

Grumpy_chap said:

Yellabowley said:

Evening all,

I was just wondering if anyone had any experience of ‘The Car Crowd’? I am starting to build up some monthly savings and have decided to keep half in a savings account earning interest, but with the other half, do something with a higher risk/reward. I have no interest in crypto but I have been looking at various other methods of investing. The one that caught my eye was The Car Crowd. I am a bit car mad and consider myself quite knowledgeable when it comes to future car values. I have made money on cars in the past by identifying appreciating models, but I’ve never had the money or the space spare to do it properly.

With the car crowd, they buy the car but then investors buy shares in that car and the company store and service it. The owners then vote on when to sell it and then everyone shares the profit. They are registered with the FCA but I don’t really know whether I need to look for any other assurances?

They seem to buy a car a month that they believe to be an appreciating asset, and then you choose which you want to invest in. As I’m going for a higher risk investment I figured this might actually be enjoyable at the same time, which I don’t think you can say for many investments. At the end of the days the type of cars I would be investing in will never be worthless so I’m not so much worried about the investment, it’s more about what happens if they run into financial trouble or go bankrupt etc. and how much cover the FCA provide.

I’m a naturally cautious person and I’m venturing into new territory so any advice would be much appreciated. I have very little experience in investing so don’t worry about teaching me suck eggs. There may well be eggs I am yet to suck!!

Thanks in advance.

Wasn't there a car scheme recently where you bought a car to then be leased and that did not end well.  I guess the difference was, that scheme was buying depreciating assets whereas this scheme is targeting the purchase of appreciating assets.

If you are "a bit car mad" and "quite knowledgeable when it comes to future car values", wouldn't the best way to invest in cars to be buying a car that is on the cusp of becoming a classic?  It does not necessarily need to be an expensive entry point, plus you get to use the car and have some enjoyment so not a total loss even if the value just plummets to total loss, PLUS (and this is a big plus) you actually know the car exists if you physically have it in your possession.  Here is one idea:
https://www.autotrader.co.uk/car-details/202201051045367

Yeah that would definitely be the best way. But as I say I don’t have the space to store the car. I am looking at a classic golf which I’m going to use as a daily which should eventually appreciate. But to get the best returns you are far better dry storing the car and using it sparingly. The Smart Roadster fits the bill of what you’re saying precisely. They are down around the £2000 mark now but the Brabus versions are on the up and what you’ll find is that the standard versions eventually follow the more desirable versions.

As I say it was just an alternative to traditional investments that I’d read about in an article on here. I’m just worried about how safe the money is rather than anything else and from the replies I’ve more or less decided it’s a non starter.

Yellabowley

Malthusian said:

Yellabowley said:

I’m not risk averse. Far from it. I was just looking at alternatives to traditional investments. I’ve heard of things like investing in whiskey for example. Classic cars are probably as safe a bet as anything else out there and it’s something I am fairly knowledgeable about.

Any diversified mainstream investment is a considerably safer bet than some micro-cap company nobody has ever heard of that claims to be investing in depreciating assets.

As others have noted, if you have enough knowledge of the classic car market to be confident of making a profit from it, it makes no sense to trust your money to some third party.

I mean there’s absolutely no doubt in my mind that the assets are appreciating (or at least the ones I’d be investing in are). For example they’ve got a Vauxhall Nova on there at the moment. Now I’m not a Nova fan but plenty are, however for some reason Novas haven’t followed the values of 205s and Renault 5s but they will, and so they’re a great investment at the moment.

As for doing it myself I’d love to have a collection of classic cars sat appreciating in a dry store somewhere, but it simply isn’t feasible for me (or most people I’d imagine) so this is the alternative. I think given the feedback on here I’ll give it a miss though.

Cheers all.

On-the-coast

Things go up and things go down (in value), but today's value is the best guess at what's something is really worth.
I've got a friend who's trying to shift some of his classic car collection, including a renault 5.  At this time in the lifecycle of the internal combustion engine v. electrification it's an intereresting time to be to be investing in classic cars, and for some, a bit of a challenge realising their value...

eskbanker

Yellabowley said:

As I say it was just an alternative to traditional investments that I’d read about in an article on here. I’m just worried about how safe the money is rather than anything else and from the replies I’ve more or less decided it’s a non starter.

Indeed.

Even with jump leads....

jimjames

Yellabowley said:

Grumpy_chap said:

Yellabowley said:

Evening all,

I was just wondering if anyone had any experience of ‘The Car Crowd’? I am starting to build up some monthly savings and have decided to keep half in a savings account earning interest, but with the other half, do something with a higher risk/reward. I have no interest in crypto but I have been looking at various other methods of investing. The one that caught my eye was The Car Crowd. I am a bit car mad and consider myself quite knowledgeable when it comes to future car values. I have made money on cars in the past by identifying appreciating models, but I’ve never had the money or the space spare to do it properly.

With the car crowd, they buy the car but then investors buy shares in that car and the company store and service it. The owners then vote on when to sell it and then everyone shares the profit. They are registered with the FCA but I don’t really know whether I need to look for any other assurances?

They seem to buy a car a month that they believe to be an appreciating asset, and then you choose which you want to invest in. As I’m going for a higher risk investment I figured this might actually be enjoyable at the same time, which I don’t think you can say for many investments. At the end of the days the type of cars I would be investing in will never be worthless so I’m not so much worried about the investment, it’s more about what happens if they run into financial trouble or go bankrupt etc. and how much cover the FCA provide.

I’m a naturally cautious person and I’m venturing into new territory so any advice would be much appreciated. I have very little experience in investing so don’t worry about teaching me suck eggs. There may well be eggs I am yet to suck!!

Thanks in advance.

Wasn't there a car scheme recently where you bought a car to then be leased and that did not end well.  I guess the difference was, that scheme was buying depreciating assets whereas this scheme is targeting the purchase of appreciating assets.

If you are "a bit car mad" and "quite knowledgeable when it comes to future car values", wouldn't the best way to invest in cars to be buying a car that is on the cusp of becoming a classic?  It does not necessarily need to be an expensive entry point, plus you get to use the car and have some enjoyment so not a total loss even if the value just plummets to total loss, PLUS (and this is a big plus) you actually know the car exists if you physically have it in your possession.  Here is one idea:
https://www.autotrader.co.uk/car-details/202201051045367

As I say it was just an alternative to traditional investments that I’d read about in an article on here. I’m just worried about how safe the money is rather than anything else and from the replies I’ve more or less decided it’s a non starter.

I'd suggest that once you have traditional, mainstream investments then would be the time to look at riskier alternatives that have no protection rather than starting with the risky investments and then adding cautious ones. I'd misunderstood your comment about being cautious as meaning you were risk averse.

ferreroreeses

Seems like low liquidity and , personally I'd keep my assets in more liquid assets unless I'm planning to keep the asset for 10+ years (houses, gold etc) - things that have historically performed well.

It's an interesting concept but it kind of defeats the purpose of owning an asset like a car or watch that you can enjoy AND it appreciates in value. With this you're only getting 1 out of 2 benefits of owning this type of asset.