{"id":92362,"date":"2025-07-25T21:14:14","date_gmt":"2025-07-25T21:14:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/92362\/"},"modified":"2025-07-25T21:14:14","modified_gmt":"2025-07-25T21:14:14","slug":"mid-year-check-in-what-industry-pros-say-about-the-current-collector-car-market","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/92362\/","title":{"rendered":"Mid-Year Check-In: What Industry Pros Say About the Current Collector-Car Market"},"content":{"rendered":"

Data and dollars are a big part of what we do on the pages of Hagerty Insider. Data helps make sense of the market (or, markets<\/a>), determine what cars are worth, and measure trends across many thousands of transactions. At the end of the day, though, this is an emotional hobby, and the industries built up around the classics we love are made up of people who all share the same passion. That\u2019s why we regularly talk to the folks who don\u2019t just watch the collector car market, but work in it, live it, and keep it moving.<\/p>\n

After a very eventful first half of the year, we reached out to industry pros and experts to get their take on the current state of the market.<\/p>\n

Healthy, Balanced, Nuanced<\/p>\n

At the end of last year<\/a>, market observers noted a general softness throughout much of 2024 and mediocre results at the Monterey auctions, but some renewed activity in the months following them, particularly the last two months of the year. As for where things stand in 2025, from our own, data-driven side of things, the Hagerty Market Rating<\/a> has continued to gradually decline in 2025, and the latest release of the Hagerty Price Guide<\/a> in July saw minimal movement in either direction. But those numbers don\u2019t tell the whole story, and the pros and experts we talked to added some nuance and context.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019ve rarely seen a market that\u2019s been searching for direction as long as this market has been,\u201d says Dave Kinney, founder of US Appraisal and publisher of the Hagerty Price Guide. With factors varying from parts costs to interest rates and general economic uncertainty, \u201cpeople are just being a little more cautious with their money,\u201d he notes.<\/p>\n

Other experts have mixed observations. \u201cA lot of people are struggling to find inventory, and there are a bunch of factors resulting in fewer buyers,\u201d according to Derek Tam-Scott, co-founder of OTS<\/a>, a collector car dealer in Berkeley, California. \u201cThere\u2019s just some number of people who can\u2019t participate [in the market] right now because of interest rates or economic uncertainty and they just don\u2019t feel comfortable buying.\u201d The top end of the market, he notes, \u201cis ripping right along,\u201d and overall feels that there is more balance between buyers and sellers across the market. \u201cIt\u2019s in a more healthy, sustainable position, certainly.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"\"Broad Arrow<\/p>\n

Harald de Bruijn runs Fourwheel Trader<\/a>, a YouTube channel that specializes in depreciation analysis of sports and supercars that range from new to about 20 years old. For the cars he tracks, \u201cthe market strengthened slightly compared to the end of 2024. The year-over-year price change is less negative than before. This is in line with the long-term trend; peak value loss occurred in the second half of 2022. Since then, price changes have been increasingly less negative.\u201d<\/p>\n

The past six months were a bit of a \u201crough ride\u201d for Jose Romero of DriverSource<\/a>, a collector car dealer in Houston. But a large part of that was getting rid of old inventory\u2014\u201dstuff that corrected, and we had to swallow those losses and move on.\u201d More recently, however, inventory has been moving better, and \u201cI think the market\u2019s healthy overall, with a lot of activity.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cHealthy,\u201d along with \u201cresilient,\u201d are also words that Adolfo Massari uses to describe the market at the moment. Massari co-founded LBI Limited and recently co-founded another dealer, Animoya Garage<\/a>, in Pontiac, Michigan. He notes the \u201ctariff roller coaster ride that ushered in a new era of uncertainty\u201d (more on that below), but also adds that navigating all of that has been manageable, and that \u201cthe consistent sentiment we have here is one of optimism, and many of our colleagues and clients share that same outlook.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"Collection Mecum<\/p>\n

On the auction scene, \u201cprices are down, but prices were pretty enthusiastic a while ago, and so coming down just means that they\u2019ve returned to a more reasonable level,\u201d says Rick Carey<\/a>, who has been covering the auction market since the early 1990s. \u201cPeople are not paying what the presale estimates on the cars suggest they should, but I think this is a case of the auction companies pandering to clients by taking cars with modest reserves and setting excessive estimates in hopes of getting someone to spend that much money.\u201d<\/p>\n

Barney Ruprecht, VP of Auctions at Broad Arrow<\/a>, also notes the \u201cuncertainty\u201d felt in the world generally, but contends that \u201cit seems as if there is less uncertainty in the collector car market right now\u201d compared to the end of 2024. \u201cOverall collector sentiment remains positive.\u201d<\/p>\n

Economic Jitters, and the T-word<\/p>\n

We heard \u201chealthy\u201d and \u201cpositive\u201d quite a bit, then, but you might have noticed \u201cuncertainty\u201d a few times up there, too. Tam-Scott pointed to \u201cpeople who are sitting it out right now because they\u2019re uncertain or concerned, which is understandable given how much things are changing right now.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019ve seen prices of supplies and parts go up and down in the last six months so much, it\u2019s been hilarious,\u201d says Kinney. \u201cWall Street\u2019s learned to kind of adjust to things with the tariffs and not take it too seriously, but on the micro-level it seems like everybody\u2019s being cautious.\u201d<\/p>\n

John Temerian, founder of the Miami supercar dealer Curated<\/a>, also pointed to uncertainty, but mainly to point out that it hasn\u2019t much disrupted the 1990s-2000s analog supercars he typically deals in. \u201cThis niche market appears immune to broader economic jitters\u201d since it\u2019s \u201cdriven by passion and scarcity rather than short-term speculation.\u201d While he admits that broader economic pressures have \u201ccertainly added a layer of complexity and stress\u201d and that \u201csome collectors have become more cautious, many are doubling down on \u2018forever\u2019 cars that are truly irreplaceable.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"PortUnsplash\/Ali Mkumbwa<\/p>\n

Of course, a big element of the uncertainty and economic jitters are the evolving nature of U.S. tariffs since the first major announcements in the spring. Collector cars trade across borders all the time, so buyers and sellers were paying attention. And it wasn\u2019t exactly clear what they should do. <\/p>\n

\u201cWhen the whole tariff thing came up, initially there was kind of a shock and awe where we didn\u2019t know what was going on,\u201d says Romero. \u201cI had some clients that had cars abroad that paid a stupid amount of money to fly their cars back over the next day.\u201d They didn\u2019t want to get stuck with a surprise tariff, which, on a multi-million dollar car, could have been huge.<\/p>\n

Massari also notes that clients rushed to air-freight cars back to the U.S. after tariffs were announced to get them in before the deadline, when the normal 2.5% tariff would see an extra 25% added on top of it. His own business acquired a Porsche in Germany, and he wound up keeping the car at the port until it was later announced that the 25% tariff hike would not apply to cars 25 years or older.<\/p>\n

\"1992Evan Klein<\/p>\n

Tam-Scott has a similar story with a Ferrari: \u201cWe had an F40<\/a> that was out of the country that we needed to get in, but they were finishing work on it and it couldn\u2019t leave yet. The tariffs were supposed to go into effect on April 2, so we were running around like mad trying to get the thing into the U.S. before then. But then all of a sudden they announced that cars over 25 years old would be accepted [without the new 25% rate]. So we went through all that trouble for nothing.\u201d<\/p>\n

Our market observers had different observations on the tariffs. Temerian called them a \u201croller coaster ride for both the collector car and modern supercar market,\u201d and Massari notes that \u201ctariffs have certainly changed the way cars are being traded \u2026 our clients are now a bit more wary and cautious about acquiring cars overseas.\u201d Ruprecht also made the important distinction on tariffs between classic (25 years or older) and newer collector cars, as the newer ones are subject to higher tariffs: \u201cThose looking to buy new cars from retail dealers are hitting pause before automatically taking the latest and greatest \u2018instant collectible\u2019 supercar offerings \u2026 I predict the new car market will slow down.\u201d<\/p>\n

For Romero, meanwhile, \u201cthe dust has kind of settled\u201d on tariffs. \u201cI don\u2019t really hear many concerns about them,\u201d he says, adding that DriverSource has had healthy business recently from clients in Canada, Mexico, and Brazil.<\/p>\n

As for cars trading between the U.S. and Europe, \u201cthere was a point in time in the fall of last year where the euro was almost on par with the dollar,\u201d says Massari. \u201cThe favorable exchange rate brought an influx of imports into the U.S., but now, the dynamic has reversed, and we are seeing more of our cars go overseas due to the strong euro.\u201d Tam-Scott has a similar view on the exchange rates: \u201cThere\u2019s a lot of cool stuff that we\u2019d like to import, but the numbers no longer make sense. The weakness of the U.S. dollar right now is really a bummer.\u201d And so does Romero: \u201cWe get offered cars all the time from Europe, and I\u2019m not actively buying them unless it\u2019s a super-special, rare car that makes sense for us to buy.\u201d<\/p>\n

The fewer opportunities between the U.S. and Europe may also be down to something Temerian observes: \u201cThere used to be a delta between the European supercar market and the U.S. market,\u201d but now \u201cmost great supercars are the same value on either side of the Atlantic.\u201d<\/p>\n

What\u2019s Hot, and What\u2019s Not<\/p>\n

\u201cThere are segments that are doing well and there are segments that are doing less than well right now,\u201d says Kinney. \u201cBut that\u2019s just the way markets work.\u201d Specifically, he sees continued strength in the JDM and \u201cJDM-adjacent\u201d market, referring to LHD, U.S.-market versions of \u201990s Japanese favorites like the FD-generation RX-7<\/a> or Mk IV Toyota Supra<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Nearly all of our market observers pointed to strength in the Porsche market. \u201cAir-cooled Porsches and early water-cooled generations continue to be extremely desirable,\u201d says Massari. \u201c997.1 and .2 GT3 RS and RS 4.0L, and GT2 RS have skyrocketed.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"\"Broad Arrow<\/p>\n

It\u2019s not just factory Porsches that are hot, as several pointed out surprising prices for cars built by RUF, the famous German manufacturer and Porsche tuner. \u201cRUF is really something that has seemingly grown overnight,\u201d says Ruprecht, noting two high-profile auction results for early RUF \u201cYellowbird\u201d models earlier this year. \u201cLooking back to what the previous CTR 1 Yellowbirds sold for and their market value today is remarkable.\u201d Massari thinks this has implications for other genres of cars as well: \u201cThe interest in RUF Porsches and Singers is still very high, which has opened the door for other companies looking to restomod or \u2018reimagine\u2019 other marques. Cars that are tasteful, high-caliber builds are doing exceptionally well.\u201d<\/p>\n

Like others, de Bruijn also sees that \u201cmost sports cars from Porsche are doing extremely well value-wise.\u201d Other newer cars he watches that have surprised him with prices either staying flat or going up include third-generation GT500 Mustangs, Alfa Romeo 4Cs, Ferrari F12s and Superfasts, and the current-gen 3.0L Toyota Supra. \u201cThe Supra has been mostly flat during the last year. This is remarkable given the age of the car. It is too early to call it a bottom but definitely worth monitoring.\u201d He also notes that despite significant updates and mostly positive reviews in the press, the latest crop of Aston Martins still depreciates like, well, Aston Martins. \u201cPrices still fall quicker than for most peers.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"LamborghiniLamborghini<\/p>\n

Speaking of Astons, Massari notes that \u201cBritish sports cars from the \u201950s and \u201960s were a bit flat the last time we spoke, but we see the tide turning a bit on some of the more iconic models like the E-Type<\/a>, Aston Martin DB5<\/a>, and a couple of others. MGs and Healeys, not so much.\u201d<\/p>\n

Most of the experts noted strong prices for almost every modern analog supercar, and both Temerian and Tam-Scott also mentioned huge demand for Lamborghini Diablos<\/a>, particularly rare variants like the SE30 and the Diablo GT. But one general trend across market segments is something that we\u2019ve touched on in several of these market roundtables: Condition matters more than ever, and so do options and colors.<\/p>\n

Picky Buyers, New Buyers, and Changing Tastes<\/p>\n

\u201cEvery dealer that I talk to, without exception, says that if it\u2019s not a perfect or damn-near-perfect car, it\u2019s having a hard time selling at any price,\u201d according to Kinney. One dealer even told him that \u201cI\u2019ve had buyers reject old British cars because they had a leak!\u201d<\/p>\n

The dealers we talked to expressed similar sentiments, with several pointing out that fewer people are attempting projects. For Romero, it sounds like the magic of \u201cbarn finds\u201d has certainly worn off: \u201cIt used to be we could buy a barn find\/garage find type of car, and if we bought it right we knew a few guys we could sell it to as-is for a quick flip and be done, or we could prep and service and clean it, get the books and tools and all that stuff, and then really hit a home run with it. But now you can\u2019t sell those kinds of cars in the current state they\u2019re in anymore. Those buyers are gone.\u201d<\/p>\n

Romero also notes that many older, more seasoned collectors who had been resistant to late-model cars like Ferrari 360 Challenges<\/a> or 550 Maranellos<\/a> are now coming around to them, while Temerian points out that \u201cwhile core collectors remain active, we\u2019re seeing a younger and more global audience stepping in\u2014especially savvy buyers from the Middle East, Europe and parts of Asia who are less phased by economic headwinds.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"\"Porsche<\/p>\n

Regardless of where they come from, though, buyers are willing to pay up for the rarest specs. \u201cAcross the board, there\u2019s heightened discernment to spec and rarity, and nowhere is that more evident than color \u2026 this year, the premium has reached unprecedented levels. A truly unique PTS [paint-to-sample] Porsche or out-of-range Ferrari spec can now bring 50-100% more than something standard,\u201d says Temerian.<\/p>\n

Several of the market observers pointed to social media fueling the popularity of cars like Diablos and paint-to-sample Porsches, but Tam-Scott has observed that \u201cthe baseline level of knowledge people have about the cars seems to be a little lower. You get less savvy buyers, you have to explain things to them a little bit more \u2026 now there seems to be a little bit of clout chasing with people saying \u2018oh, I heard these are cool and my friends have these,\u2019 or they\u2019re not buying it because they know the history of the company or they really like the philosophy or even the experience. There\u2019s more of a sort of casual interest that gets exercised in the form of buying something out of curiosity.\u201d He notes that this kind of feeling is particularly strong among Porsches, \u201cbut for obscure stuff, like Lotus Sevens<\/a> or anything British with carbs and wire wheels, that\u2019s not really playing out that much. It depends on what the car is.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"broadBroad Arrow<\/p>\n

Millennial buyers becoming a larger force in the market is a constant trend that has continued into 2025, and has naturally pushed the strength in prices for 1980s and newer collector cars. And while these buyers increasingly pay up for the best options, colors, and condition, and more easily move past lesser examples, Tam-Scott has noticed one area where younger buyers aren\u2019t so picky: \u201cPeriodically I\u2019ll see a variant of a car that\u2019s an automatic that I would never want with an auto, like a Tiptronic 964<\/a> or 993<\/a>, and it will sell for a stupidly high number. I think that\u2019s a reflection of a demographic shift. There are just enough people out there who don\u2019t know how to drive a stick but still want an air-cooled 911\u2014If there are enough people like that, it makes the values of those cars go up, which is baffling to me, but maybe it makes sense given the way things are shifting.\u201d<\/p>\n

Looking Ahead<\/p>\n

The next big heat check for the market, particularly the higher end of it, is at the Monterey auctions in a few weeks. And there is some optimism there, even after the soft results in Monterey last year. \u201cI expect that it should be a good auction in August,\u201d Kinney contends. \u201cMy assumption is that the auction companies have adjusted their pricing structure so that they\u2019re taking more cars with no reserve and more cars with very realistic reserves.\u201d Carey feels similar: \u201cWith less than a month from Monterey, I think things look pretty good on balance.\u201d<\/p>\n

Massari, meanwhile, will be watching Monterey to see what happens with Enzo-era Ferraris. \u201cThey were a little flat when we last spoke, but a few recent sales give some indications that they may be poised for appreciation \u2026 With the upcoming Monterey auctions, each auction house is chock-full of them so it will be interesting to see what comes of their values.\u201d<\/p>\n

Romero points out, though, that these \u201cheat checks\u201d of the market aren\u2019t as important as they used to be: \u201cIt used to be we have the Scottsdale auctions in January, Amelia Island in March, and our Super Bowl in August at Pebble Beach. Those were the three times a year you really got a sense of the market. But it\u2019s year-round now. It\u2019s in the palm of your hands with all these auctions going online. You\u2019re always getting comps.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"CPR-Cadillac-Parts-Restoration-PoughkeepsieEric Weiner<\/p>\n

Looking past Monterey and beyond, we come back to one of the challenges facing the industry, and it\u2019s related to the shift in buyer preferences we\u2019ve outlined above and in past roundtables. Restoring and servicing cars is becoming harder and more expensive. \u201cNot only is the cost for restoration higher because of the parts, but also the talent is quickly disappearing,\u201d says Kinney. \u201cSadly, it probably means more cars are going to enter the market as parts cars or become parts cars, even though they\u2019re potentially restorable.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cWe have some customers who aren\u2019t in a major city, and they\u2019ll say \u2018I don\u2019t have anybody around me that can work on this thing, and there aren\u2019t any shops around me,\u201d says Romero. \u201cEven here in Houston, if I have some oddball car, there\u2019s nobody to work on it. And then some of the shop prices that some of these guys are charging \u2026 it\u2019s gotten so ridiculous that I think people are shying away from that.\u201d He adds that DriverSource has an ad out for mechanics year-round, and they just hired an additional four.<\/p>\n

\u201cPart of it is cultural, but people aren\u2019t attempting projects,\u201d adds Kinney. There\u2019s the cost of all the supplies, including chrome, paint, and everything else, but the father-son or father-daughter restoration team, they\u2019re just not out there anymore.\u201d<\/p>\n

That said, the overall outlook on the market going forward among observers was positive, and several noted that there are deals there are far more opportunities to find deals today than there were just two or three years ago. It\u2019s more of a buyer\u2019s market today, and regardless of what the market is doing, the best advice in this hobby is always to buy what you love.<\/p>\n

\"1966-Ford-Mustang-Road-of-the-YearJames Lipman<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Data and dollars are a big part of what we do on the pages of Hagerty Insider. Data…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":92363,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[13],"tags":[64,135,67,132,68],"class_list":{"0":"post-92362","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-markets","8":"tag-business","9":"tag-markets","10":"tag-united-states","11":"tag-unitedstates","12":"tag-us"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/114915945105709287","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/92362","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=92362"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/92362\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/92363"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=92362"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=92362"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=92362"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}