By Ricky Beggs
Managing Editor, Black Book
Some people may have viewed the Beggs on the Used Car Market videos during the last two and a half years where we have given updates on the motorcycle and powersports markets, the medium and heavy duty trucks, collectible and exotic cars and even the RV markets – all specialty markets reported on by Black Book.
These markets are too important to be add-ons to the weekly auto focused updates. Our plan is to release a monthly video market update, giving viewers the latest in-depth insight into these specialty markets. They will be released to the media sources and also posted on the Black Book home page.
Recreational Vehicles
The RV market is making a major recovery from the economic crisis from 2008. New and used RV sales plummeted even more than the auto industry during the past few years.
The sales at special RV auctions continue to show strength as the 1- to 4-year old models are great alternatives to new. Eric Lawrence, the editor of the quarterly updated, electronic delivered RV Guide has been tracking the market for years.
“There is a lot of pent up demand out there. For the last several years, consumers have been holding back on big ticket items,” he said. “Many felt that the economy was too shaky to make a long term financial commitment, but the economy seems to have leveled off and is showing some signs of health, so consumers are starting to break out their checkbooks again and are buying some of the luxury type items that they had been holding off on.”
Motorcycles and Powersports
The motorcycle and powersports market has also reflected the improving economy with wholesale market values at auction showing some impressive trends and mostly increasing values.
Two wheeled street units are up almost across the board. Many 1- to 5-year-old Harley models are up 6 to 9 percent over the past month. One must keep in mind it is prime retail selling season just around the corner. Fortunately many lenders are easing up on credit criteria and are also buying much deeper down the credit score line. Like the car market, the supply of used powersports units at auctions continues to be lower than market demand.
Our market analysis even shows where some models are bringing about the same or even more at auction today than at this same time last year. For example, a 2008 Harley-Davidson Fat Boy was worth $12,815 in April 2010. Today that same bike is bringing $12,735, depreciation over the last year of only $80.
A few other examples where value is actually increasing are a 2007 Honda VTX1300 Retro model increasing from $5,085 last April by $610, to $5,695 today.
There are even metric sport bikes showing amazing retention value over the past year as we have a 2008 Kawasaki Ninja 650R up $205 from $3,830 to $4,035 in today’s market. Check out the 2007 Suzuki GSX600 which was worth $4,815 last year and now a year older and with more miles today, is worth $5,380. If you want and need used inventory, be ready to step up a little more than you would probably like.
Medium and Heavy Duty trucks and Commercial Trailers
The big truck industry, from medium duty to the over the road class 8 tractors, has also followed the positive value trending since the first of the year. Lack of supply is a partial answer for this market segment. Some buyers are taking care of their current truck and tractor needs and satisfying the 2007 emission requirements by purchasing used 2008 models instead of new.
As current ordered new trucks start to hit the ground in the next few months, it will be interesting to see if the even less expensive 2006s and 2007s, which should be the typical trade-in for these new trucks, will get enough used buyer attention to hold the strong values.
With more commercial business starting as we head out of the economic downturn, over the road tractors and commercial trailers, with increasing tonnage, have values showing greater demand and strength, as the charts show. There are increases of about $3000 on some 2008 long haul tractors and over $2000 on the complimenting commercial trailers.
Collectible Vehicles
The final specialty market also brings out a tremendous amount of interest from a very passionate group of buyers and sellers. The collectible vehicles in the Black Book CPI Value Guide have shown some strong values since the first of 2011, but not that many with ridiculous increases.
A recent sale of a Hemi Cuda Convertible which brought $1.7 million might be the exception to the majority of transactions. The mid-50s American Classics, with quality construction and timeless designs are getting solid interest and consistent retention values. With the majority of recent interest focused on musclecars, these had been overlooked in recent years.
The mid to late 70s models continue to gain interest as the coming collector models. Ten years ago this segment was the laughingstock of the collector industry. Today, many first time collectors are looking at these cars as a good entry point into the hobby or as an investment. The entry collectors may be looking at the 70s as these might have been their first car.
Buyers still have the upper hand in the collectible car market. But at least today, as the economy improves, the sellers do not have to adjust their expected values as much to complete the deal.
Ricky Beggs is the managing editor at Black Book, which is is widely known within the automotive and financial industries for publishing a family of highly respected electronic and printed vehicle valuation guides. He can be reached at rbeggs@blackbookusa.com.
Black Book editor outlines trends in specialty markets > RV Daily Report |.
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