Editor’s note: Mark Wigginton is taking over this space for a few weeks while Publisher Martin grinds away at his stroke rehabilitation. A bunch of us from SCM World Headquarters visited him a few days ago, and he’s making amazing progress at regaining mobility on his left side. The man is even playing the piano! We’re sure he will be back very soon. In the meantime, welcome to the car-addled world of Mark Wigginton:
It’s pretty easy to read about the collector car world and think, “damn, all the rich guys are having more fun than me.”
The headlines are often about the biggest, the most expensive, the most face-melting, record-setting sale of the moment.
But here you sit, a stone freak old car fan, living in a garage-free apartment and struggling to keep yourself in artisanal beer and avocado toast — but still dreaming of marque cars. You feel, well, left out.
Put that feeling in the past, cut-rate investor. Because something called Rally Rd. is here to make you feel like the player you know you are, if you only had the big bank account.
Rally Rd. is, naturally, an app. And like all apps, it promises to change the world — in this case the world of classic and high-end automobile collecting. The idea is a platform that allows you to own a piece of a record-setting collectible, in such a way that the non-millionaires among us may drop casually in cocktail conversation about “my Lambo” or “my F40” or whatever cars are currently available at Rally Rd.
The way it works is Rally Rd. buys collector cars they think are appropriately priced (they are owned by RSE Collection LLC, a subsidiary), they then divide the car’s value into Millennial bite-sized shares and then offer them on the app. Trading is once a month per car.
Typical shares can be from less than $10 to more than $300.
Rally Rd. says they plan to hold cars on a long-term basis, but they will distribute profits when they do sell a car. This is kind of like a company stock sale.
The cars are held and maintained in a secure facility. Soon you will be able to dial up a video feed so you can show your friends “your car” as it sits in storage — hopefully appreciating at the same continuous rate upward as car collecting always has.
Oh wait, there are risks.
Markets are markets, and they go both directions. Just ask all those owners of million-dollar Ferraris suddenly worth half that the last time the marked round-tripped.
But that’s the Rally Rd. notion. You get to take the ride with the amount of money your gig economy life allows you to take.
In this way, you kinda/sorta get to be one of the big guys. Now you don’t have to talk about your embarrassing budget collector car (mumbles austinhealysprite) and can instead talk about the 1993 Jaguar XJ220 (sitting at just under $500,000 in value) you own.
You won’t get to actually drive the car, but how many big collectors drive all of their cars?
Here, look at the video of my car in storage! — Mark Wigginton
Mark, I disagree. Cars are made to be driven. Because they are desirable, there is a demand and a market. Looking at a photo of a car that you own a share of, is no different than looking at an auction catalogue online, if you can’t touch or drive it. Driving your AUSTIN HEALEY SPRITE ( no mumbling here) is a hell of a lot more fun than looking at a pic on your phone. And you can find parking for it if you really want to, probably for less than the cost of a share in your market classic.
Wow, that sure felt like an infomercial for Rally Rd. I came away with a very different feeling than Keith’s columns had provided.
This is the first I am hearing of this app/company, and I think it is a very interesting idea. To me it is not really about bragging to people that you own a small share of a car that you will never be able to drive. It is about being able to invest in a car that you think may appreciate in the future. We’ve all said at one time or another “I wish I had kept that car I used to own because now they sell for big bucks”. Well this gives us an opportunity to identify a future collectible that may be currently under priced and potentially invest in it. I think it is kind of a cool concept, and appreciate the fact that SCM brought it to my attention.
Sorry but… So we, who can’t afford to play in the world of car swap for profit game, for cars that will go into hibernation, contribute pennies to make the car swapping market price even more cars out of our range and out of use. More loss for car enthusiasts. No thanks.
I think that it is a very interesting concept. Many of us have probably bought a car with a friend, driven and enjoyed it, then flipped it and split the profit (or loss). This formalizes the process, although limits the fun.