Carry a Trailer, the favored on-line public sale web site for collectible vehicles, posted file gross sales in 2023, at the same time as classic-car costs hit the skids.

Carry a Trailer’s gross sales elevated about 2% final yr to over $1.4 billion from $1.35 billion in 2022, in keeping with the corporate’s CEO Randy Nonnenberg. Carry a Trailer bought over 30,000 vehicles in 2023, up 19% from 2022.

The expansion within the variety of vehicles bought helped to offset a decline in costs. The typical value of a automotive bought on the positioning fell to $54,000 in 2023 from $59,500 in 2022.

The corporate’s development marked a uncommon shiny spot within the classic-car market in 2023, as costs fell from their feverish highs of 2021 and 2022 and rising rates of interest took a toll on collectors. Complete public sale gross sales of basic vehicles (for each on-line and dwell auctions) fell 3% final yr to $4.19 billion from $4.32 billion in 2022, in keeping with knowledge from Traditional.com. Costs for a lot of fashions have fallen 10% or extra, in keeping with classic-car analysts.

In an interview with CNBC, Nonnenberg mentioned inflation, financial uncertainty, a risky inventory market and turmoil abroad have cooled demand amongst potential bidders. However he mentioned sellers are nonetheless providing trophy vehicles, and consumers are bidding, even when their provides are decrease.

“Folks had been slightly bit nervous about their portfolio, so that may decelerate discretionary automotive shopping for,” he mentioned. “We thought we would see that folks would cease promoting or holding vehicles in the event that they’re nervous. Apparently, we did not see that. We nonetheless noticed folks eager to commerce out into one thing else. It is simply modified the pricing slightly bit.”

Carry a Trailer’s low-cost, consumer pleasant platform additionally continued to draw automotive lovers. Its variety of registered customers grew to 1.2 million in 2023, up from 880,000 in 2022, in keeping with Nonnenberg.

The variety of lively bidders surged to over 520,000. Sellers on Carry a Trailer pay a flat price of $99, whereas the customer price is 5% of the automotive’s sale value with a cap of $5,000 — a fraction of what conventional car-auction companies take. The positioning provides every thing from $3,000 bikes to $200,00 Porsches and $1 million Ferraris.

The massive draw of Carry a Trailer is the public sale voyeurism. Customers comply with bids and gross sales in actual time, and consider images of and feedback on uncommon vehicles. The positioning has as much as 1,000 vehicles being auctioned at anyone time, and auctions for every automotive usually final per week, Nonnenberg mentioned.

For 2024, the corporate is launching a brand new suite of companies to hurry up the checkout course of, serving to consumers with paperwork, cash transfers and different necessities.

Nonnenberg mentioned this yr’s gross sales are shaping as much as be nearly as good as or higher than these of 2023, as costs stabilize and bidders acquire confidence from potential rate of interest cuts later within the yr.

“The spring months are actually standard on Carry a Trailer as a result of persons are sort of popping out of winter, and opening up their storage and beginning to care about journey and vehicles,” he mentioned. “We expect we might be proper on monitor for a typical spring for us, which is thrilling.”

Whereas Carry a Trailer did not beat its earlier file for most costly automotive bought on the positioning — a $5.36 million La Ferrari bought in 2022 — it managed to promote two vehicles for over $2 million final yr. It is most costly sale in 2023 was a 2014 Pagani Huayra that bought for $2.9 million. It additionally bought a uncommon 1967 Porsche 910 race automotive for $2.5 million, a 2020 “Liquid Carbon” Ford GT for $1.8 million and a 2005 Porsche Carrera GT with solely 601 miles for $1.8 million.

Nonnenberg mentioned extra newer vehicles from the 2000s and 2010s are beginning to go up for public sale.

“Even vehicles from the 2000s are beginning to turn into collector’s gadgets,” he mentioned. “As every thing goes electrical, these vehicles from 20 years in the past turn into extra particular. Lots of people assume BAT is for Nineteen Sixties vehicles. It is truly rather more trendy.”