SPECIAL REPORT
European dealers are enjoying a buoyant market for classics but say that leaving the EU has left the UK’s classic car scene in no-man’s land
The European classic-car market is booming despite the pressures of war, economic stagnation and Brexit’s ramifications may have left the UK out in the cold.
Julian Messent of Vintage & Prestige, a dealer with premises in both Essex and Antwerp, Belgium, said: ‘Brexit hasn’t done the British classic car trade any good. In fact it’s essentially separated the UK market from the EU. It’s a pain moving cars across the Channel and the imposition of VAT scares buyers off. It changes from country to country – someone could be paying an additional six, 18, 21 per cent on top of the UK sales price depending on where they live. It’s irritating.
‘But the EU market itself is quite strong and this year in particular it’s very good. It was quiet, more difficult during Covid then the war in Ukraine knocked things flat again. But people’s confidence has come back here now. But that crossover of confidence into the UK market isn’t as strong.’
That said, it’s a British marque that Messent tips for success in the European market: ‘ACs have really picked up. An AC 16/90 is a better car than an Alfa Romeo 1750 and yet you can buy one for €100k rather than €350k. But the majority of ACs are in the UK and so private buyers are having a harder time getting them over. And that’s where dealers come in, so the situation is good and bad.’
John Hulsebosch, founder of Dutch sales platform Blackwood Holland, shares this sense of confidence – he’s chosen this moment to launch his business: ‘I’ve been talking to a few Americans recently. The market for some cars is surprisingly good although the market for Porsches is flatlining; they were coming up rapidly for years but now it’s levelled off. But with the US Dollar’s current parity with the Euro, Americans are turning to Europe to find exceptional cars. They need to be special, though – they have plenty of their own classics, Cadillacs etc
