This week we're pulling back the lens on the market itself, because right now it's telling a more interesting story than any single listing could.

The Gap at the Top

Hagerty's two headline indexes have been drifting apart for months. The Blue Chip Index — which tracks the most coveted, documented collectibles — is holding firm. The broader Hagerty Hundred, which tracks the everyday classics that make up most of the market, has slipped to some of its softest readings in years. That's not a contradiction. It's the whole story.

This is a two-speed market. The best of the best keeps finding strong money. Everything else is asking sellers to be patient.

What's Actually Selling

You don't have to squint to see the split. Barrett-Jackson just wrapped its first-ever Columbus sale at the Ohio Expo Center, and a 2015 Porsche 918 Spyder took top-sale honors at $2,695,000. Porsche has been the dominant force across nearly every platform this summer — a 2023 911 Sport Classic brought $687,000, a 2019 911 Speedster hammered at $496,806, and even a brand-new 2026 911 Carrera T Club Coupe cleared $293,000. On the muscle side, a record-setting Boss 429 pulled real money in the same week ordinary examples of ordinary cars sat unsold.

The throughline: documented, low-mileage, limited-production cars are still getting chased hard. Everything in the middle is up to the buyer's schedule, not the seller's.

The Generational Handoff

The other force reshaping this market isn't about money — it's about who's bidding. A new wave of buyers is chasing the cars they grew up wanting, not the cars their parents did. Skylines, C6 Z06 Corvettes, '90s BMW M cars, and clean air-cooled and early water-cooled Porsches are all pulling real attention as '80s and '90s metal graduates from "used car" to "collector car" in real time. If you've been sitting on something from that era wondering if it's "worth anything yet" — this is the window.

What's Next

The real test of summer demand is still ahead. Tegernsee, Harrisburg, and then Monterey stack up over the next six weeks, and those results will tell us whether the top of the market keeps holding or whether the softness in the middle starts creeping upward. We'll be watching, and taking note.

What This Means If You're Buying or Selling

If you're buying: the middle of the market is a buyer's market right now. Clean, honest cars without a marquee name attached are sitting longer and selling for less than they would have two years ago — which means patience and a little research go a long way.

If you're selling: documentation and condition matter more than ever. The cars pulling strong bids are the ones that check every box — clean titles, real history, honest mileage. A well-documented car in a hot segment (see: anything '80s/'90s Japanese or German performance) is worth cataloging properly before you list it.

Either way, that's exactly what BIDR is built for — real cataloging, real photos, real information, and the industry's lowest buyer's premium so the numbers make sense on both sides of the gavel.

Our next lineup goes live August 4th. In the meantime, register to bid or get your car in front of the right buyers — listing is free.

Auction Better.

— The BIDR Auctions Team