Investing in Collector Cars: What Holds Value and How to Buy Well

Updated 17 September 2026

Classic cars led Knight Frank's Luxury Investment Index over the five years to the end of 2025, though not in 2025 itself: the HAGI Top 50 index fell 3.7 per cent that year, after a gain of 1.2 per cent in 2024, but rose 17.4 per cent over five years and 31.3 per cent over ten. Rarity, meaning, originality and a complete history separate one car from its sister. In May 2022 RM Sotheby's sold a Mercedes-Benz 300 SLR Uhlenhaut Coupé for €135 million, then a record at auction.

What has the collector-car market done recently?

Classic cars, measured by the Historic Automobile Group International (HAGI) Top 50 index, fell 3.7 per cent in 2025, reversing a modest gain of 1.2 per cent in 2024, according to The Wealth Report 2026 by Knight Frank. In the same report cars are up 17.4 per cent over five years, the highest five-year figure of any asset in the index, and 31.3 per cent over ten, against minus 0.4, plus 2.2 and plus 38.6 per cent for the index as a whole over one, five and ten years. Our article Investing in Luxury Goods has the figures for every asset.

The fall was uneven. Flagship “halo” models proved resilient, according to Knight Frank, and performance cars from the late 1980s to the early 2000s are entering collectible territory. At the top, 2026 started strongly: a 1962 Ferrari 250 GTO sold for US$38.5 million at Mecum in Kissimmee, Florida, on 17 January 2026, Knight Frank reports. In August 2026 RM Sotheby's reported a record US$380 million in sales at its Monterey auction and said the results showed that collectors continue to reward rarity, provenance and significance.

What makes one car worth more than its sister?

Collectors weigh the marque, the age of the car, the number built and its appeal over time, but above all a car needs rarity and meaning to hold its value. As the first version of this article put it, if 100 examples of a car were built and 1,000 collectors want one, the price tends to rise over time. Ferrari makes the same point from the maker's side: its annual report for 2025, filed with the US Securities and Exchange Commission, warns that an increase in the number of cars it produces relative to the number of collectors and secondary-market buyers may adversely affect the value of its cars.

The 1955 Mercedes-Benz 300 SLR Uhlenhaut Coupé is one of just two prototypes built by the Mercedes-Benz racing department. RM Sotheby's sold it for €135 million on 5 May 2022 and described it as the most valuable car ever sold. Its sister stayed in the company's ownership, on display at the Mercedes-Benz Museum in Stuttgart.

Meaning also comes from a car's place in history, as the first or the last of its kind. The Porsche 356 “No. 1” Roadster received its general operating permit on 8 June 1948, a date generally considered the birth date of the Porsche brand. At the other end, when a manufacturer stops building an engine, for instance replacing a naturally aspirated V12 with a turbocharged V8, the last of its kind becomes significant to the market because it marks the end of an era. Ferrari's annual report touches on a related shift: the move to hybrid and electric models may affect the residual value of its cars if they are resold at higher discounts than its combustion-engined models historically were.

Originality and condition come next. A car that was crashed decades ago, left in a barn and recently restored with modern parts is worth less than the same model that was well preserved, properly stored and kept original. Knight Frank singles out an unrestored 1956 Mercedes-Benz 300 SL Gullwing that fetched US$5 million at Artcurial in Paris in January 2026. Provenance counts as well: a 1935 Duesenberg Model JN Convertible Coupe built for Clark Gable sold for US$9,080,000 at RM Sotheby's in Monterey in August 2026.

How do you check a car's history before buying?

Before a car of real value changes hands, two things need to be established: that it has complete documentation and a clean history, and that any accident damage was repaired properly with the manufacturer's original parts. The file should include previous registration documents, service invoices and restoration records, with the chassis, engine and gearbox numbers checked against them. The track record of anyone advising on the purchase deserves the same scrutiny as the car.

The manufacturers' own records carry the most weight. Porsche and Lamborghini, for example, issue documents that confirm different things:

Ferrari says in its annual report that it supports the perception of its cars as collectibles through its Ferrari Classiche services. An independent inspection by a specialist in the marque completes the picture.

How do buy-and-hold and short-term trading differ?

Collectors tend to take one of two approaches. Buying and holding demands storage and maintenance, and every expense, present and future, has to be set against what the car may be worth later. Buying and selling again within a short period is speculative: it depends on timing, on access to the right cars and buyers, and on transaction costs such as the buyer's premium at auction, which a short holding period has little time to absorb. The period matters: the HAGI Top 50 rose in 2024 and fell in 2025, while its figures over five and ten years are clearly positive, and for anyone who buys to hold, the longer periods are the relevant ones.

What does holding a collector car involve?

Holding a collector car is a running commitment: dry and secure storage, regular use, servicing by specialists in the marque and insurance on a value the paperwork supports. Parts belong in the calculation too: Lamborghini says its original spare parts for classic models, from the 350 GT to the Diablo, cover more than 65 per cent of the fleet.

Import rules and taxes differ by country. In Switzerland, where Veltracon Lifestyle AG is based, the import duties on a car include an automobile tax of 4 per cent of the vehicle's value and VAT of 8.1 per cent, calculated on a basis that includes the automobile tax. Someone moving to Switzerland can bring in, duty-free as household effects, a car they have used abroad for at least six months and will keep using, according to a customs factsheet. For registration, the customs office issues an inspection report, form 13.20 A, as proof of customs clearance for the cantonal vehicle licensing office, according to the Federal Office for Customs and Border Security.

A car first registered more than 30 years ago can then qualify as a veteran vehicle. Under the directive of the Federal Roads Office dated 10 July 2026, in force since 1 August 2026, it must also be used only for private purposes, cover no more than 3,000 km (or 60 operating hours) a year on average and be in technically flawless condition. The canton decides at an inspection, and inspection intervals can then be extended to up to six years. The canton of Zug notes that the revised rules no longer demand absolute originality or a flawless appearance, and it allows up to 11 veteran vehicles on one interchangeable plate.

In the United Kingdom, a car in its original state that is at least 30 years old or no longer in production, and that also meets further tests such as scarcity value and a high value, can qualify for a reduced valuation that brings the effective rate of import VAT down to 5 per cent. HM Revenue & Customs requires proof of these criteria and advises asking its Tariff Classification Service before buying a car to import.

What matters beyond the numbers?

There is one factor no index measures, and that is passion. For someone who loves cars, the money spent on them is easier to justify. Not every car will make a profit, but even when one does not perform as planned, it is still better to drive your asset into the sunset than to stare at the numbers of your portfolio on a flickering computer screen. Passion is also what fills the car shows: we took part in the second edition of the Geneva Supercar Show in July 2024, as our report describes; the fifth edition is announced for 10 to 13 June 2027.

Most of the cars our clients ask for are not listed anywhere: they sit in private collections, in manufacturer allocations, or with a dealer who is waiting for the right buyer rather than the fastest one. Our automobile service covers sourcing, discreet sale and VIP access for collectors of classic cars, supercars and hypercars. Client cars are placed through collectors, manufacturers and dealers directly, without a public listing that tells the market what you own.

First published on 20 January 2019.