Hagerty UK Price Guide Editor John Mayhead looks back at the 2024 classic and enthusiast car market
Bicester Heritage: 19th December 2024
Correction, realignment, adjustment… whatever way you package it, 2024 has been a time of great change in the classic car world. Here are Hagerty’s headlines based on annual changes in the UK Hagerty Price Guide, quote data and auction results.
Throughout this article, the values quoted are condition 2 ‘excellent’ values from the UK Hagerty Price Guide in pounds sterling (GBP £) unless otherwise stated. All values are published online and updated quarterly in the Hagerty Valuation Tool. Where there’s a list of models, duplicate submodels have been removed and the highest mover retained. The values referenced are noted. All prices correct at time of writing.
Owners remained the same…
Overall, very little changed happened in the total percentages of people who were quoted by Hagerty in 2024. Those born before 1965 (Baby Boomers and older) reduced a little, as we’d expect, but interestingly, so did Gen X and Millennials. Gen Z rose, up from 9.2 percent to 10.7, although that could be the result of Hagerty policies expanding to cover younger people.
- Data information here.
…but prices fell
You can’t avoid the fact that nearly half – 46 percent – of all the models covered in the UK Hagerty Price Guide have dropped since December 2023, and 46.3 percent remained static. This won’t surprise many enthusiasts, who have probably heard anecdotal evidence of prices slipping, but they may be unaware that almost every area of the market, from top to bottom, experienced price corrections this year.
When analysed per decade, the ubiquity of price drops can be seen. The mean UK Hagerty Price Guide values for just one decade – cars first built in the 2000s – increased this year. The biggest fallers were cars from the 1960s and three decades stayed flat. Two of those – the 1900s and 1910s – have very small numbers of models covered in the Price Guide and sales are rare. The 1970s also remained flat.
The difference between the 1960s and 1970s is stark. The 1960s includes a large number of very expensive Ferraris that are what Hagerty calls ‘Global’ cars, ones so special that a prospective buyer will look to purchase worldwide and are valued roughly the same all around the world.
These are very expensive cars, and a small downward adjustment in their individual values has a big effect on the total. Similarly, the 1970s has fewer very expensive (£1M+) cars but one major riser: the Lamborghini Miura. All versions of this car rose in value in 2024, but none more so than the P400 SV, up by 29 percent to £3.1M, and it was the Price Guide’s second-highest riser this year.
Plus, Lamborghini were the manufacturer showing the biggest mean percentage rise in value in 2024, up 10 percent showing gains not just with the Miura but also Countach and Diablo models.
- Data information here.
2000 Models Up
The decade that showed an upward trend in value is one that is currently on fire: the 2000s. So many of the cars first built in this decade are the cars to have at the moment, combining power and excitement with an analogue drivability that is sometimes lost in more modern cars. Various iterations of the Porsche 911 were still forging ahead in value terms, especially performance models of the 996 and 997 series. The Maserati MC12 rose most, gaining £900,000, up 53 percent year-on-year.
- Data information here.
Index Changes
Hagerty’s indices also show how widespread the corrections were. These track the values of groups of cars indicative of different areas of the market, from the most expensive cars of the Gold Index to our driveway favourites of the Festival of the Unexceptional (FOTU) Index. Five of the six main indices fell and the only riser- the RADwood Index, tracking turbo-era cars of the 1980s and ‘90s, rose by just 2 percent.
- Data information here.
Hot Hatches
Although the Hot Hatch Index fell by 2 percent overall, eight cars in this category rose in value, with the Peugeot 205 GTI topping the list. Hagerty is still seeing demand for these cars rocket.
- Data information here.
Older British Classics Struggled
The Best of British Index fell the most – down 16 points since December 2023 and now sitting at 98 percent of the Index’s value in February 2018 when it was created. That’s not altogether unexpected when you look at a chart of how average values per manufacturer changed over the year. The list of those brands that fell the most is almost a who’s who of old British car manufacturers, most of which no longer have a regular presence on our roads: Jensen, Sunbeam, Talbot, Triumph, Healey, Gordon-Keeble and Allard, to name just a few. These are cars that Hagerty knows have higher average ownership ages.
- Data information here.
Aston Martin Struggled
A very much alive and kicking brand was the biggest faller of the year, though: Aston Martin. Although the modern company has had its challenges in 2024, it was the older models that lost most value this year, with four models – the DB2/4, DB4, DB5 and DB6 all represented in the list of top ten price fallers in percentage terms. In addition, the Aston Martin DB4 GT Zagato lost £1.1M this year, down from £8M to £6.9M. Floods of lower-quality Aston Martins have dented the auction market in recent years, but even high-quality cars haven’t achieved the same result as would have been expected a few years ago.
- Data information here.
Auctions – consolidations and change
2024 was a year of consolidation in the auction world. Gooding & Company was taken over by Christie’s and Broad Arrow Group partnered with BMW to host the prestigious Villa d’Este auction from 2025.
This year, Hagerty tracked live and online auction results from all over the world, including over 20,000 from the UK and Europe. Nearly 17,000 of these were from the UK with 12,807 sales completed (77 percent) showing that the UK’s network of smaller, live auctions and booming online sales are still very active. This year, the average EU/UK sale value was higher for online auctions (£25,340) than live auctions (£20,081).
Globally, the slowdown was evident in the auction market with a total of £575M compared with £661M in 2023, and with the ratio of successful sale prices compared to pre-sale low estimates falling. Hagerty uses this as an indicator of how buyers’ willingness to spend (sale prices) compare with sellers’ expectations (low estimate). Although average sale prices in 2024 were still 11.1 percent over the average low pre-sale estimate, that figure was down from 14.1 percent in 2023.
- Data information here.
US Remains dominant
But the US remained the dominant market, worldwide. Seven of the ten top global sales worldwide were recorded there, the only exceptions being a 1960 Ferrari 250 GT SWB Competizione, sold in Paris in February, a 1979 Ferrari 312 T4 sold in Monaco in May, and a 2014 Pagani Zonda LM, sold in December. No British auction results featured on the list, although two no-sales would have featured had they reached their reserves: a 1957 Jaguar XKSS estimated at £9M to £11M that failed to sell in London in November, and a 1960 Ferrari GT SWB estimated at £5M to £6M offered at Cliveden in June, both by RM Sotheby’s. Of the 20 global auction results that were highest compared with pre-sale estimate, 10 were at the Monterey sales in August, showing this to remain the powerhouse in live auctions.
Online sales
Online, the story was the same with eight of the ten top sales in America and just two, a 2015 Porsche 918 Spyder and a 2012 Bugatti Veyron Grand Sport, sold in Europe, both by Collecting Cars. This year, PCARMARKET took the top online sale with a 2014 Ferrari LaFerrari that sold for $4.155M (£3.24M) but numerically, Bring a Trailer continued its dominance taking six of the top ten slots and Car & Classic remained the biggest volume seller in the UK.
It is noticeable that seven of the ten top global online sales were for modern performance cars built since 2012. In comparison, the top ten live auction results worldwide didn’t feature any cars newer than 1997. In fact, of the 20 most valuable cars that failed to sell in the UK/EU this year at live auction, 12 were built since the year 2002.
- Data information here.
Summary and Forecast
Almost every area of the classic & collector car market saw values reduce in real terms in 2024. In many cases, prices were correcting and moving back to sustainable levels after the post-Covid boom of 2021 to early 2023. Demographic change, with more younger people entering the classic car market, wasn’t as obvious in 2024 as it has been previously.
However, in general, the market seems to remain healthy. Value drops have, in general, not been dramatic and events, restoration and sales companies report strong demand remaining for their services. Despite values softening, five of Hagerty’s six UKL indices remain at a level higher than they were in March 2022. It is likely that many prices will stabilise in 2025 with the potential for the enthusiast (sub-£50,000) market receiving a boost as buyers spot the potential for bargains. More modern ICE sports cars may also receive a boost from the continued electrification of manufacturers’ contemporary fleets.
