Most expensive in-app purchase ever: Apple Pay used to buy $1 million Aston Martin

In what is claimed to be the largest-ever transaction made with Apple Pay, a customer used their fingerprint to authorize the purchase of a 1964 Aston Martin DB5 priced at over $1 million.

British automobile auction house Coys of Kensington announced this week that the classic car was bought via Apple Pay for £ 825,000, or over $1 million U.S. The historic automobile specialist says the transaction is the largest known in-app purchase ever made.

Coys also claims the 1964 DB5 — like the one featured in the James Bond film "Skyfall" — was the first-ever classic car sold via social media. The Apple Pay transaction was completed on the platform Vero.

Upping the value of the Aston Martin was the fact that it was a right-hand-drive silver birch model with red leather trim. The previous owner gave it a full restoration, including a rebuild of the engine, and overhauls of the suspension and gearbox.

Prior to it being restored and sold, the DB5 was in dry storage for 20 years, where it was not used.

The anonymous buyer got to see the Aston Martin in person at the Mondial de L'Automobile Paris Motor Show, then placed the "buy now" order with Apple Pay through the Coys profile on Vero.

"He was overjoyed to see the car of his dreams and didn't want to lose it," said Coys Chief Executive Chris Routledge. "He was keen to quickly get in front of the queue, so a few days later he hit the 'Buy Now' button on Vero to guarantee the purchase, leaving two other collectors disappointed in his wake."

Other historic cars remain available on the Coys Vero account, though none of them are as pricey as the DB5 nabbed via Apple Pay. They include a Ferrari Daytona valued at £ 800,000, and a Ferrari Dino 246 previously owned by Led Zeppelin manager Peter Grant priced at £ 400,000.

Apple Pay launched two years ago with to key components — point-of-sale tap-to-pay functionality, and in-app purchase authorization. Both components require special hardware in the form of Apple's Touch ID fingerprint sensor and secure enclave for storing payment information.

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24 Comments

slprescott 759 comments · 10 Years

About 8 years ago

That's one heck of a high limit on his credit card!

zimmie 651 comments · 9 Years

slprescott said:

That's one heck of a high limit on his credit card!

Almost certainly an AmEx or similar charge card. Cards used for high-value purchases like this have no preset limit, but carry no revolving balance. You have to pay them in full. The idea is to give you the convenience of paying up front like a credit card, instead of having to wait a week while investments are sold and funds shuffle around. I have accounts at a few investment banks, and they typically take two or three business days to complete transfers. Some make the funds available ahead of their actual clearing, but that's a little like a check. It can fail very badly if the stock you're trying to sell tanks overnight.

redraider11 186 comments · 9 Years

zimmie said:

slprescott said:

That's one heck of a high limit on his credit card!

Almost certainly an AmEx or similar charge card. Cards used for high-value purchases like this have no preset limit, but carry no revolving balance. You have to pay them in full. The idea is to give you the convenience of paying up front like a credit card, instead of having to wait a week while investments are sold and funds shuffle around. I have accounts at a few investment banks, and they typically take two or three business days to complete transfers. Some make the funds available ahead of their actual clearing, but that's a little like a check. It can fail very badly if the stock you're trying to sell tanks overnight.

The AmEx black card for sure. No limit, but I think you are required to spend at least $200,000 a year on it to have it. First person to get one was Jerry Seinfeld.

Soli 9981 comments · 9 Years

redraider11 said:

zimmie said:

slprescott said:

That's one heck of a high limit on his credit card!

Almost certainly an AmEx or similar charge card. Cards used for high-value purchases like this have no preset limit, but carry no revolving balance. You have to pay them in full. The idea is to give you the convenience of paying up front like a credit card, instead of having to wait a week while investments are sold and funds shuffle around. I have accounts at a few investment banks, and they typically take two or three business days to complete transfers. Some make the funds available ahead of their actual clearing, but that's a little like a check. It can fail very badly if the stock you're trying to sell tanks overnight.

The AmEx black card for sure. No limit, but I think you are required to spend at least $200,000 a year on it to have it. First person to get one was Jerry Seinfeld.

The largest purchase with a Centurion card is $170M to purchase this NSFW painting.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Centurion_Card