The Top Ten movie cars and their values, The Car Oscars are here, well, the best of them !

As the annual Oscar winners are announced in Hollywood on Sunday 26 February, automotive experts, hpi has revealed its list of the most iconic cars to star on the silver screen and what they could be worth today.  

Following a poll amongst its team of motoring editors, hpi has identified the top 10 most iconic movie cars:

10) 1977/2009 Chevrolet Camaro - Bumblebee from Transformers

9) 1970 Dodge Charger - Vin Diesel's car in The Fast & the Furious

8) 1968 Ford Mustang GT 390 Fastback - as seen in Bullitt

7) 1980 Lamborghini Countach LP 4005 - as seen in Cannonball Run

6) 1966 Alfa Romeo 1600 Spider Duetto - as seen in The Graduate

5) 1968 Austin Mk I Mini Cooper S - as seen in The Italian Job

4) 1961 Ferrari 250 GT California Spyder - Ferris Bueller's Day Off

3) 1963 Aston Martin DB5 - as seen in various James Bond movies

2) 1963  Model 117 VW Type 1 Beetle - as seen in Walt Disney’s Herbie movies

1) 1981 DeLorean DMC-12 - as seen in the Back to the Future trilogy

As a collection, the cars would have been worth a total of £30,362.00 based on RRP in their year of manufacture with the Ferrari from Ferris Bueller’s Day Off valued at £6,326.00 in 1961. James Bond’s Aston Martin DB5 was worth £4,175.00 in 1963, and featured in Goldfinger and Thunderball in 1964 and 1965 respectively as well as later Bond’s Goldeneye, Tomorrow Never Dies, Casino Royale, Skyfall and Spectre. 

At today’s estimated retail values the Ferrari 250 GT California Spyder would fetch approx. £1.75m and the Aston Martin DB5, a cool £1m. The 1980 Lamborghini Countach LP 4005 would be worth £275k. In total, at today’s retail average estimated value the entire collection would pull in £3,002,500.00 – fetching a massive 99 times return on the original investment of £30,362.00.*

Philip Nothard, consumer and retail editor at hpi said: “We thought it would be fun to come up with a definitive list of the most iconic cars to feature in the movies from the past fifty years and look at their values then and what they’d be worth now.  Some of the cars featured are bona fide classics and worth a significant amount now – warranting pride of place amongst any car collection. The DeLorean from Back to the Future was deemed as the most iconic and interestingly it was one of the most expensive at the time retailing at just over £10k. It would fetch around £35k at current market values, considerably more if fitted with a Flux Capacitor!”

hpi recently launched a vehicle valuations service giving consumers the ability to buy and sell cars with utmost confidence, offering them the inside view on the total cost of ownership of a vehicle during its lifespan along with precise depreciation figures.

The hpi valuations tool www.hpivaluations.com is aimed at consumers buying and selling cars in the used car market and minimises the risks that can see consumers paying over the odds or not getting the best-asking price.

* some of the vehicle values were based on currency conversions, due to some vehicles not being available in the UK.  The value today is not for the actual car featured in the films but based on the general model

Automotive experts, HPI has revealed the Top 13 list of eerily named vehicles following a poll amongst its team of motoring editors.

Automotive experts, HPI has revealed the Top 13 list of eerily named vehicles following a poll amongst its team of motoring editors.

Tim Bearder at HPI said: “With Halloween just around the corner we thought it would be fun to look at some of the scary names car manufacturers give to their models.  Getting the name of a car right is really important for manufacturers so that it appeals to consumers and sells well.  

Maybe with some of the models we came up with the manufacturers were hoping to scare up a bit of business by giving their cars a menacing but memorable name.

“The HPI team has compiled some outlandish and wonderfully terrifying named vehicles over the years ranging from obscure concept cars, supercars and high value models to more mainstream cars.”

The Top 13 list of eerily named cars polled by HPI is:

1) Rolls-Royce Phantom  

2) AMC Gremlin

3) Pontiac Banshee

4) Hillman Imp

5) Lamborghini Diablo

6) Alfa Romeo Spider

7) Plymouth Prowler

8) Ford Probe

9) Spectre R42

10) Dodge Challenger SRT Hellcat

11) Rolls-Royce Wraith

12) DF Goblin

13) Lamborghini Murcielago (Murcielago is Spanish for ‘bat’)

Added Tim Bearder: “Whether born of attempts to sound genuinely scary or to simply stand out from the crowd, car manufactures have a long history of concocting car names that sound dark and scary. There also a tendency to name cars after animals and these are generally based on predatory beasts.”

HPI calls for car dealers to be ready for DVLA changes

As of 1 October 2014, the Driving Vehicle and Licensing Agency (DVLA) will make the widely publicised move from paper tax discs to online. Vehicle information provider, HPI, is warning dealers to ensure they don’t get caught out with fines for a car they no longer have on their forecourts.

After the paper tax disc is abolished, dealers will no longer be able to purchase vehicles with a tax disc in force; tax discs will not be transferable when a vehicle is sold. Dealers can either use trade plates, provided that the vehicle is used within the conditions for use of trade plates, or obtain new vehicle tax, if the vehicle needs to be registered in a dealership’s name.

Dealers and vehicle testers still need to apply and pay for a new trade licence once it needs renewing, but there will no longer be a paper trade licence to display with the trade plate. The new rules no longer require a trade licence holder to display a trade licence, however the rules for trade plates will not change in October.

The new rules also put the onus on used car sellers to inform the DVLA, when they sell their vehicle.  Importantly, under the new rules, used car sellers, including motor dealers are responsible for notifying the DVLA and then they will receive a refund for any months left on the vehicle tax. Dealers who fail to inform the DVLA, could be fined and they will still be liable for vehicle tax on a car they don’t even own anymore.

Car owners still need to have vehicle tax to drive or keep a vehicle on the road, but now the DVLA is taking payments online, including Direct Debit payment options or motorists can visit their local Post Office branch. Instead of using paper tax discs to spot tax evaders, police cameras will automatically check a car’s number plate.

Phil Peace, Commercial Operations Director for HPI comments, “We remind motor traders to always send the V5C to the DVLA, rather than relying on the buyer to do it. And always apply for a Certificate of Destruction (CoD) from an authorised treatment facility (ATF) for vehicles that are scrapped. We’re hoping that the new DVLA initiatives will make it harder for drivers to head out on the road untaxed. It’s easy to check if a vehicle is taxed by heading online at the Vehicle Enquiry Service, making this the first step for dealers and consumers alike who want to avoid the risk of fines.”