A seminar at the Royal Academy of Art in London has been told today that cars are an art form.
The seminar, sponsored by tax and advisory firm Blick Rothenberg, is part of Concours on Savile Row, a unique event that has seen more than 35 cars worth over £100,000,000 displayed in the famous tailoring street for the last two days.
Nearly 200 people were present to hear experts on art, finance and car collection speak. The experts argued that cars are art due to the human stories behind their creation and ownership.
John Mayhead UK head of valuations for Haggarty said: “It is beauty that makes cars valuable. Cars are not inherently art, art is narrative and beauty. But the narrative of the car being driven, of people trying to control natural forces like wind and ground resistance, and the story of how the car is developed allows cars to become art.”
This leads to important legal questions of the inheritance of these valuable artworks.
Susan Spash, personal tax and inheritance partner at leading tax and advisory firm Blick Rothenberg said: “If you give the car away, before you die, and live 7 more years it is exempt from inheritance tax, but you can no longer drive it. If you drive it you will have reserved a benefit and the gift will not be effective for IHT. However, if you still want to use the car after you have given it away, then you can rent if for the time that you want to drive and enjoy the car and the cost of the rental is likely to be more affordable than the IHT bill. For this arrangement to work, you have to pay market value, you need to speak to an expert or specialist car valuations firm to find out what the market rate is.”
“We refer to cars as being wasting assets and so outside the scope of CGT, however we know that cars can have a useful life of more than 50 years – experts are including valuations for cars from as far back as 1907. The reason for the exemption from CGT is because they are mechanical, like watches, and so are then treated as being in the same category as wasting assets. The question arises as to whether HMRC will alter the rules to seek to tax gains. If they do then losses should equally be relievable. On balance I think that HMRC are unlikely to want to accept the losses made on the vast majority of ordinary cars and some classic cars, so the rules will remain.”
As well as this special first-time seminar, the Concours on Savile Row is the first car concours to be entirely carbon offset, even down to the red carpets the cars are displayed on.
Geoff Love, managing director of Hothouse Media, which runs the Concours on Savile Row said: “The emissions have been offset by high-quality carbon credits, everything has been offset from the hotels to the servers for the website.
The highlight of the event has been the celebration of bespoke collaborations between tailors and cars, as well as the success of the event. And the art seminar, which is the first time we’ve done this at Concours on Savile Row.”
