Here’s What Our Experts Predict for the 2025 Collector Car Market

Although we inform our yearly market predictions with a trove of data, our 2024 predictions turned out to be mostly wrong, which was partly due to a cooling overall market. Will our 2025 predictions be any better? Read on to see what we think will happen in the collector car market over the next 12 months.

1. Live auctions will retake the lead in sales compared to online auctions. While online auctions have held the lead on volume the past couple of years, it was only in 2024 that they surpassed live auctions on value transacted. We don’t expect that lead to last in 2025, however, unless private auctions (which don’t have published sale prices) grow beyond their current approximate 10 percent share of the live auction market. —John Wiley, director of valuation analytics

2. The Enzo-era Ferrari market will bounce back. After a mediocre showing at its traditional home auction of Monterey, expect a better sell-through rate as well as more offerings this year. The private market (not the private auction market) had signs of encouraging activity post-Monterey, and the rebound is likely to appear at auctions in 2025. —John Wiley

3. The top sale of the year will not be a Ferrari. Ferraris took the top two highest auction sales in both 2024 and 2023. Before then, though, you would have to go back to 2018 to see a Ferrari claim the top sale. In 2025, we will see the top sale come from a marque other than Ferrari. —Adam Wilcox, senior information analyst

4. A modern F1 car will see a $10M+ sale. Specifically, a Michael Schumacher-era or newer F1 car will sell for over $10 million. Only two have sold for that much, but the last sale was in 2023. Another big sale in 2025 seems likely. —John Wiley

5. The bottom end of the market will drop, and more young buyers will enter when prices are low. Mainstream vehicles, such as those found in Hagerty Hundred (the 100 most insured vehicles at Hagerty), will continue to fall in value. The Hagerty Hundred is currently at an inflation-adjusted all-time low, and as values continue to fall, it will be easier for younger buyers to enter the market. Gen-Z currently accounts for eight percent of insurance quotes, but by the end of next year, they will submit over 10 percent. —Adam Wilcox

6. A stock first-generation (1990-97) Mazda Miata will sell for more than $50K. One sold for $42,525 last June, so $50K for an NA Miata in excellent condition should be feasible. A sale at this level is more likely as Gen-Z enters the market in greater numbers. —John Wiley

7. JDM Imports will drop for the first year ever. Classic car imports from Japan (for vintage vehicles at least 25 years old at the time of import) to the U.S. have increased yearly since 2010. This has been fueled primarily by the 25-year import rule, as imports spike annually when more and more interesting JDM cars are newly legal for U.S. roads. However, with fewer highly anticipated cars left to become legal in the next few years, we will start to see a downturn in the number of JDM cars shipped to the U.S. Further, the majority of imports that most excite our team in 2025 are from Europe. —Adam Wilcox

8. Hot hatches will be hot in the market again. Even though the U.S. will have to wait another year for the Renault Clio V6, other hot hatches, such as those from Volkswagen, Lancia, and Mini, et al., will have a good year. —Richard Salmons, valuation information analyst

9.  British makes will not do well in the Hagerty Price Guide. With Jaguar in the midst of a reboot, and the James Bond franchise on holiday, expect the clouds around those makes to diminish their appeal temporarily. However, the Adrian Newey connection could revitalize Aston Martin. —Richard Salmons

Will our 2025 predictions be any more accurate than those from last year? We'll have to wait another 12 months to find out.