Collecting classic cars becomes a promising investment in Europe

Collecting classic cars, with a long history in Europe, has become an investment trend in recent years, especially after the financial crisis from 2008 to 2012.

"If you look at the market, the market is very strong, very continuously growing market", said Jan Christiaen, classic car store owner, in a recent interview with Xinhua.

Christiaen had a strong belief in the potential of classic cars as a "promising" investment. "You don't lose your money, you can use the cars, you can enjoy driving the cars, which is a lot of fun," he said.

With a Medical Doctor's degree, Christiaen has been running a successful business in the Belgian health care sector for decades, but now he prefers to spend more time in the classic car store that he established several years ago.

Located in the province of Antwerp in Belgium, the store opened in 2007 as a concept store that sells classic cars and provides maintenance service.

After the financial crisis in 2008, European people are more cautious about investment and many are looking for new options other than buying stocks and bonds. For some, investing in classic cars seems like the best alternative.

Under this background, Christiaen decided to build up his own collection, something which was "tangible", something as a little child he was dreaming about.

In 2000, Christiaen started to build up his collection by purchasing his first Rolls-Royce after studying this new market. He now owns around 30 collectible cars of different brands, including Ferrari, Jaguar and Porsche.

"Most of the vintage cars in the European market are priced in the range of tens of thousands of euros, but for some rare models the price could go up to 25 to 30 million euros," he said.

Nonetheless, "if you look at classic cars and start to invest in it, there are a lot of basic rules you need to know," he warned.

According to him, investors need to study, "start studying on the number of cars that have been made, start studying on the success stories of the cars that have been made, start studying on the specific stories of the cars that have been made, start studying on the value it used to have, and so on."

So far Christiaen's store has sold over 20 classic cars. His customers are not limited to Belgium, there are Swiss, French and English people. "A lot of Germans are starting to collect, and also Middle East people," he indicated.

Christiaen now eyes China as the next big market for classic car collection.

"We hope we'll be able to expand to China, to expand our influence, or our possibility to sell to China very soon," he added.