Supercars and classics are in hot demand, following an increase in the number of millionaires and billionaires in London, as well as uncertainty surrounding traditional investments.
Romans International, a Surrey-based supercar dealership, has attributed these factors to it being named as one of the fastest-growing businesses in Europe
Between 2012 and 2016, the company has seen its turnover increase from around £24 million to £70 million.
Tom Jaconelli, director of Romans International, said: “Trade in supercars has been phenomenal in the last few years and demand is continuing to outstrip supply.
“We’ve been trading for over 20 years and have never known business to be so strong – even when the economy has been at its best.
“With continued uncertainty in the markets, investors are seeing collectable, high value cars as an increasingly attractive option to invest their money. It’s not uncommon to have sold the same car two or three times in a year as values have risen and owners try to turn a quick profit, many making thousands of pounds in just a couple of months.
“Some of the cars are definitely worth playing the long game for though – we’ve seen some cars more than double in value in the space of two or three years and when it’s a £1million car to begin with that is one very handsome profit for the customer when he decides to sell it.”
Romans isn’t the only dealership to notice a growth in demand for high-end used cars, though, with other supercar specialists also seeing these as an alternative to traditional investment.
Alex Prindiville, founder and CEO of London-based supercar dealership Prindiville PLC, said: “We’ve had a wonderful start to the year with sales of several supercar and classic cars. There have been no signs of this stopping, investors are still searching for the cream of the crop in terms of Ferraris and Lamborghinis, with an upturn in USA and European buyers taking advantage of the exchange rates.”
Joe Macari Performance Cars has also seen interest in rare performance cars increase. A spokesperson said: “We’ve noted a strong growth in demand for classic and collectable cars. from our perspective we would attribute this growth to an increase in willingness of investors to look at alternative asset classes.
For years classic and collectable cars have been the best kept secret in investment – it seems that everyone is finally waking up to their viability.”
Rob Milner, director of Redline Specialist Cars, added: “We have certainly seen significant growth in the demand for supercars, particularly over the last three years and as a business, we now sell over 100 cars per month all over the UK.
“Geographically speaking, that demand has come mainly from London, the home counties and the affluent footballer-belt areas of the north such as Cheshire and Yorkshire’s Golden Triangles.!