Discussion
Just now I saw an ad for a car show where you get to turn up, park your car in a field and er look at other people's cars.
The entry price was over £20pp. Now I could ask the organiser wtf you get for £20 but does anyone have any idea?
I'd do the opposite and let cars in FOC then take commissions for food, traders etc. After all, the cars are the reason people go to such events. Maybe I've got this all arse about face?
The entry price was over £20pp. Now I could ask the organiser wtf you get for £20 but does anyone have any idea?
I'd do the opposite and let cars in FOC then take commissions for food, traders etc. After all, the cars are the reason people go to such events. Maybe I've got this all arse about face?
Charging for a car meet is nothing new, the organisers will need to pay for the venue, PLI, plus others however £20 for a static show does seem high.
I once arranged a meet for my old clubs 10th anniversary at the motor museum at Gaydon & that was over £600 for the venue
I once arranged a meet for my old clubs 10th anniversary at the motor museum at Gaydon & that was over £600 for the venue
Edited by zsdom on Saturday 17th February 15:17
zsdom said:
Chatging for a car meet is nothing new, the organisers will need to pay for the venue, PLI, plus others however £20 for a staric show does seem high.
I once arranged a meet for my old clubs 10th anniversary at the motor museum at Gaydon & that was over £600 for the venue
Sure, I get that they need to make money but I don't see, as a punter, what I'm getting for the money. The ad didn't mention any entertainment or celebs to fawn over or anything of interest apart from knowing that you will probably be parked next to a mk4 Golf with a pops and bangs remap.I once arranged a meet for my old clubs 10th anniversary at the motor museum at Gaydon & that was over £600 for the venue
FWIW I'll be attending a few Brooklands events this year and whilst it's also over £20 entry, you get access to both the car museum and the bus museum plus can see the aircraft up close.
I really do feel it’s time Car Shows had a total rethink. I live just down the road from a venue that hosts several per year, (Tatton Park) and for a while I went to all of them. However, the costs to get in and the ‘attractions’ seem to be getting more and more disproportionate.
Seeing (usually) the same cars with (usually) the same retired couple sat in folding chairs behind each car, waiting for someone to come and mention that ‘my dad had one of those’ doesn’t seem worth the entry fee.
Seeing (usually) the same cars with (usually) the same retired couple sat in folding chairs behind each car, waiting for someone to come and mention that ‘my dad had one of those’ doesn’t seem worth the entry fee.
Depends on the scale of it.
Local car meets are often at a pub, free use of the carpark on a weekday in exchange for buying and drink and or food. One near us used a local veterans biker place and charged £1 to go to charity. Same for the Austin H12 centenary with over 100 cars, held a members educational farm venture.
Larger shows, as you say, tend to be funded by the food outlets and other traders, cars get in free. Steam traction engines often get a small appearance fee to cover their coal/transport costs.
I've yet to be charged £20 to attend such an event.
Local car meets are often at a pub, free use of the carpark on a weekday in exchange for buying and drink and or food. One near us used a local veterans biker place and charged £1 to go to charity. Same for the Austin H12 centenary with over 100 cars, held a members educational farm venture.
Larger shows, as you say, tend to be funded by the food outlets and other traders, cars get in free. Steam traction engines often get a small appearance fee to cover their coal/transport costs.
I've yet to be charged £20 to attend such an event.
FlyingPanda said:
I really do feel it’s time Car Shows had a total rethink. I live just down the road from a venue that hosts several per year, (Tatton Park) and for a while I went to all of them. However, the costs to get in and the ‘attractions’ seem to be getting more and more disproportionate.
Seeing (usually) the same cars with (usually) the same retired couple sat in folding chairs behind each car, waiting for someone to come and mention that ‘my dad had one of those’ doesn’t seem worth the entry fee.
Seeing (usually) the same cars with (usually) the same retired couple sat in folding chairs behind each car, waiting for someone to come and mention that ‘my dad had one of those’ doesn’t seem worth the entry fee.
The way I see it is that if they let that couple in FOC with their car club friends, you get a load of people trapped in a field and can then sell them stuff. Sure, many of them will bring a picnic, so maybe charge them £5, not £20.
Going by the price mentioned above (£600), all you need is 120 punters to break even. Take commission from a burger van, a bbq stall, a stall selling drinks, a merch stall (selling "I attended a car show and didn't pay £25 to get in!" t-shirts, obvs), and you're on to a winner, AmIRoight?
dhutch said:
Depends on the scale of it.
Local car meets are often at a pub, free use of the carpark on a weekday in exchange for buying and drink and or food. One near us used a local veterans biker place and charged £1 to go to charity. Same for the Austin H12 centenary with over 100 cars, held a members educational farm venture.
Larger shows, as you say, tend to be funded by the food outlets and other traders, cars get in free. Steam traction engines often get a small appearance fee to cover their coal/transport costs.
I've yet to be charged £20 to attend such an event.
Right - they seem more reasonable, and I've attended such things. I was just surprised to see a £20 entry fee PER PERSON (not car).Local car meets are often at a pub, free use of the carpark on a weekday in exchange for buying and drink and or food. One near us used a local veterans biker place and charged £1 to go to charity. Same for the Austin H12 centenary with over 100 cars, held a members educational farm venture.
Larger shows, as you say, tend to be funded by the food outlets and other traders, cars get in free. Steam traction engines often get a small appearance fee to cover their coal/transport costs.
I've yet to be charged £20 to attend such an event.
I like the pub one. I've even had lunch/dinner/drinks with me and SWMBO so that's a £40+ spend, and I don't feel like I've been ripped off.
mgtony said:
Was that price definitely for show cars and their occupants and not the public price? Normally if show cars are charged, then it's a reduced price for driver an passenger or per car. Can't see a classic with 4 people turning up spending £80 to get in.
Good question. It's half price for kids. I don't want to link to the event so I can avoid any issues with N&S rules.My limit is £20 per car for a really good or unusual show but I'm happy with £15 if we can get an entire day out of it. Just cars in a field is boring but if there's decent food, bootsale traders/proper stalls and some sort of crappy band to laugh at it's a decent day out with a bit of sun and some exercise. Definitely better than following a golf ball around a field.
s p a c e m a n said:
My limit is £20 per car for a really good or unusual show but I'm happy with £15 if we can get an entire day out of it. Just cars in a field is boring but if there's decent food, bootsale traders/proper stalls and some sort of crappy band to laugh at it's a decent day out with a bit of sun and some exercise. Definitely better than following a golf ball around a field.
How do you know that before you've paid, parked and wandered around?FlyingPanda said:
I really do feel it’s time Car Shows had a total rethink. I live just down the road from a venue that hosts several per year, (Tatton Park) and for a while I went to all of them. However, the costs to get in and the ‘attractions’ seem to be getting more and more disproportionate.
Seeing (usually) the same cars with (usually) the same retired couple sat in folding chairs behind each car, waiting for someone to come and mention that ‘my dad had one of those’ doesn’t seem worth the entry fee.
I think one of the problems is the previously, people bought a lot of stuff from the traders, good stuff, good traders, good money. The traders paid to be there, and the covered a lot of the costs. Seeing (usually) the same cars with (usually) the same retired couple sat in folding chairs behind each car, waiting for someone to come and mention that ‘my dad had one of those’ doesn’t seem worth the entry fee.
Now with the internet a huge number of people just mail order their specialist car stuff. Consumables, tools, niche spares, it's all at the click of a button and you don't have the carry it all afternoon. So the quality of traders reduces and the fees they pay crumble.
You can back fill some of that with gourmet food outlets, but not all of it!
Total with your about the old couple who hide behind the car with a picnic, talking to nobody, and after leave at half three too...
dhutch said:
FlyingPanda said:
I really do feel it’s time Car Shows had a total rethink. I live just down the road from a venue that hosts several per year, (Tatton Park) and for a while I went to all of them. However, the costs to get in and the ‘attractions’ seem to be getting more and more disproportionate.
Seeing (usually) the same cars with (usually) the same retired couple sat in folding chairs behind each car, waiting for someone to come and mention that ‘my dad had one of those’ doesn’t seem worth the entry fee.
I think one of the problems is the previously, people bought a lot of stuff from the traders, good stuff, good traders, good money. The traders paid to be there, and the covered a lot of the costs. Seeing (usually) the same cars with (usually) the same retired couple sat in folding chairs behind each car, waiting for someone to come and mention that ‘my dad had one of those’ doesn’t seem worth the entry fee.
Now with the internet a huge number of people just mail order their specialist car stuff. Consumables, tools, niche spares, it's all at the click of a button and you don't have the carry it all afternoon. So the quality of traders reduces and the fees they pay crumble.
You can back fill some of that with gourmet food outlets, but not all of it!
Total with your about the old couple who hide behind the car with a picnic, talking to nobody, and after leave at half three too...
The way I see it, if there's some kind of event, I'll bring along my fun car not to show it off but because someone will appreciate it, so that's me helping out. (And at a recent event where I parked in a public car park, people did stop to watch as I fired it up and drove off.) Same goes for any other participants, rather than turning up in their family wagon, bring the Ferrari or whatever so people like me can admire it.
It reminds me of the video that AdamC (YouTube) did just wondering around the Goodwood Festival of Speed public car park, checking out what was in the field.
I would only go to a show such as a steam rally or the like where there is a lot of stuff not just cars, a lot of car types fall into very specfic categories.
the chair and chat type, the group type who spend all day in their group parking area talking to each other, the show off who stands there waiting for people to talk to him usually with car that is hugely unexceptional but has some chrome bits on it, the new car idiots who thins an Abarth 500 is somehow worthy of being in a classic car show, and finally the genuine fella who has had a thing for decades and will chat happily while you share stories.
None of these people are bad, but they all seem to exist in car shows hence why I very rarely bother anymore.
the chair and chat type, the group type who spend all day in their group parking area talking to each other, the show off who stands there waiting for people to talk to him usually with car that is hugely unexceptional but has some chrome bits on it, the new car idiots who thins an Abarth 500 is somehow worthy of being in a classic car show, and finally the genuine fella who has had a thing for decades and will chat happily while you share stories.
None of these people are bad, but they all seem to exist in car shows hence why I very rarely bother anymore.
Riley Blue said:
s p a c e m a n said:
My limit is £20 per car for a really good or unusual show but I'm happy with £15 if we can get an entire day out of it. Just cars in a field is boring but if there's decent food, bootsale traders/proper stalls and some sort of crappy band to laugh at it's a decent day out with a bit of sun and some exercise. Definitely better than following a golf ball around a field.
How do you know that before you've paid, parked and wandered around?
Eg a Random ohsoretro video someone did last year. Haven't watched it but you can see the types of car there, probably walks around all of the stalls and you get a general feeling for the show..
https://youtu.be/yPyyyASfl5k?si=w2BDy5aa8qSaxhBX
I’ve really cut back on the shows I go to. It’s not that I want to but more of the feeling of getting mugged off by them. Shrinkflation is not just for produce, for me it’s the same for car events/shows. Paying more for less takes the mickey. I’m really struggling to think of any show/event that is the same or has got better. Very few now offer reduced entry if you are displaying your pride and joy. Traders are few and far between and the ‘show offers’, well you can usually get it cheaper from the internet.
I get that overheads, public liability, insurance etc have increased but I also think the piss taking has. I find it all quite sad but I guess nothing is like it used to be.
I get that overheads, public liability, insurance etc have increased but I also think the piss taking has. I find it all quite sad but I guess nothing is like it used to be.
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