CLASSIC CAR SPENDING UP BY A THIRD

Owners are spending more on restorations and taking their cars to shows – why it’s good news for the classic movement

Classic owners are spending more on their hobby than they were three years ago, research by the Federation of British Historic Vehicle Clubs has revealed. The reseach shows that the average number of vehicles owned has increased, as has the amount invested in restorations, but it also advised more needs to be done to educate younger classic fans.

Jon Downer of JDA Research, which carried out the survey, said: ‘The general level of interest is up, which is good news for everybody. Visibility is up, and more people are seeing these vehicles on the road and knowing people that own them, but perhaps more revealingly, the ones that are most interested in owning them are younger people.’

Owners of historic vehicles are spending nearly a third more on their vehicles than they were just three years ago. In its National Cost of Ownership Survey, the Federation of British Historic Vehicle Clubs (FBHVC) said that direct spending on vehicles – including running, maintaining and storing them – is now at an estimated £1.85bn per year, up from £1.4bn in 2016.

Paul Chasney, the FBHVC’s director of research, said: ‘ We think that we’ve gained an enormous body of knowledge that will be useful over the coming years to argue our case for historic vehicle owners. When you ask if the industry’s going to survive, clearly in the medium term it is, as these there is a clear demand for restoration and maintenance.’

The FBHVC’s research also shows that the number of historic vehicles – whether licensed or on SORN – has gone up by 19 per cent from 1,03,950 three years ago to 1,241,863 in 2019. The figures in both the latest and 2016 surveys refer to vehicles more than 30 years old, rather than the 40-year rolling rule used by the Department for Transport for both tax and MoT exemption. The average annual spend per historic vehicle owner has risen from £3400 three years ago to £4913, and expenditure per vehicle has gone from £1368 per year to £1489.

The research also showed that awareness of historic vehicles has increased, with 19 per cent of the UK population having an interest in them, that event attendance has increased, and that the two youngest age groups want to buy a classic in future (see sidebar, right).

The findings highlighted a sympathetic outlook to how classics are treated by the Government and local authorities, with an estimated 19.5 million people believing historic vehicles should be maintained in their original state and that 11.3 million would support exemptions for classics from emissions zones.

Jon Downer of JDA Research, which carried out the survey, said: ‘The general level of interest is up, which is good news for everybody. Visibility is up, and more people are seeing these vehicles on the road and knowing people that own them. More revealingly, the ones that are most interested in owning them are younger people.’