Hagerty Acquires Amelia Island Concours d’Elegance

In yet another move to own the major classic and vintage auto events in the USA, Hagerty announced today that it has acquired the Amelia Island Concours d’Elegance, one of the country’s premiere automotive events. The classic car insurance company is taking over the event from Bill Warner, who founded the concours in 1996.

This after Hagerty announced on March 22 of this year that it had acquired the Concours d’Elegance of America, held at Meadow Brook Hall starting in 1979 and now held at the Inn at St. John’s in Plymouth, MI.  (This year’s event will be from July 23-25, with the show day being the 25th.)

Hagerty has also recently acquired two other premiere events around the country; the California Mille and the Greenwich Concours d’Elegance.

In all, Hagerty takes part in more than 2,500 car events annually.

Hagerty said at the time the Concours d’Elegance of America acquisition, and re-iterated again today, the move was part of its mission to build a community of car lovers centered around driving and car culture. 

Hagerty has invested considerable resources in brand recognition with the creation of its daily publication “Hagerty News” (a subsidiary of its Drivers Club). It has further moved to create dedicated vehicle storage and gathering facilities in major markets as well as offering a means where their customers can rent out their automobiles. (Although we wonder about the logic in the latter.) It is also rumoured that they will be introducing an on-line auction portal in the coming months.

Hagerty currently supports the Hagerty Drivers Foundation, which aims to preserve automotive culture and education. So far they have taken 28 historically relevant, classic cars in American history, and registered them with the National Historic Register — an entity in the Library of Congress.

It would appear that they are taking an “Amazon/Google” approach to dominating the classic and vintage car market with these latest expansions. There’s no question they have become a formidable entity for any other company looking to compete.

As Hagerty strives to build its business and expand their services, we hope their focus remains community minded — offering their products (insurance, event admissions, etc…) at affordable prices — remembering that it was their loyal car insurance customers that enabled them to accomplish what they have to date.