At a glance, 2025 might look like a market catching its breath, but the numbers tell a more interesting story. More cars traded hands than ever before, more money moved through the system, and the mix of buyers, sellers, and venues continued to evolve in real time. Online auctions pushed growth and volume, live auctions still owned the very top end, and shifting generational tastes reshaped which cars are getting the most attention. Underneath it all, buyers are better informed, sellers are getting sharper, and the market is broader and more complex than it has ever been. This report breaks down where the activity really happened, how different price tiers behaved, and what those patterns suggest as we head into 2026.
More cars are being listed, and more cars are being sold.
More cars changed hands in 2025 than in any year. That does not look like a sleepy market, even if it feels different than the adrenaline rush of 2022. The easy narratives say the boom is over, but the data says something else. Buyers are still buying, sellers are still selling, and the market is doing real work, just with a little more thought and a lot more selectivity.
Dollar Volume is higher than ever.
More dollars moved through the market in 2025 than ever before, yes, even more than during the pandemic surge of 2022. Pair that with the record number of cars sold and the picture gets clearer. Volume is doing the heavy lifting, not runaway prices. Average prices actually came down a bit, which might sound ominous if you stop there. The trick is not stopping there. This is not a shrinking market, it is a broader one, and the interesting part lives in the details we unpack later in this report.
Online auctions continue to drive growth.
Online auctions are no longer the new kid at the table, they are running a big part of the conversation. What started as a handful of experimental platforms back in 2019 has matured into a serious sales channel by 2025. The pandemic did not just give them a temporary boost, it rewired buyer behavior. Online sales continue to grow at a pace live auctions simply do not match, while live events remain steady and predictable. Different lanes, different roles, and at this point, no going back.
| Year | Online | Live | Total Sold Listings |
| 2019 | 8,215 | 21,631 | 29,846 |
| 2020 | 14,485 | 16,395 | 30,880 |
| 2021 | 29,407 | 21,356 | 50,763 |
| 2022 | 39,044 | 24,766 | 63,810 |
| 2023 | 41,827 | 24,664 | 66,491 |
| 2024 | 46,250 | 24,643 | 70,893 |
| 2025 | 49,603 | 25,222 | 74,825 |
Online auctions crossed the $2B mark this year, a milestone that took the live auction world until 2022 to reach. That is not a fluke, and it is not a phase. Between inflation and the sheer number of cars moving through the system, this corner of the market keeps expanding. The more interesting question is not whether the dollars are flowing, but where they are landing. The answer depends a lot on price tier and venue, and that is where the story gets more nuanced as you read on.
| Year | Online | Live | Total Dollar Volume |
| 2019 | $256,512,293 | $1,507,430,480 | $1,763,942,773 |
| 2020 | $536,961,002 | $1,104,926,007 | $1,641,887,009 |
| 2021 | $1,343,510,500 | $1,597,027,906 | $2,940,538,406 |
| 2022 | $1,887,618,968 | $2,438,908,145 | $4,326,527,113 |
| 2023 | $1,876,972,246 | $2,310,774,332 | $4,187,746,578 |
| 2024 | $1,954,710,330 | $2,186,628,655 | $4,141,338,985 |
| 2025 | $2,187,591,073 | $2,406,307,854 | $4,593,898,927 |
Live auctions still dominate the leaderboard.
Online auctions are doing the heavy lifting on growth, but when you zoom in on the very top of the market, live auctions still set the pace. Nine of the ten biggest sales of the year ran through RM Sotheby’s, with Gooding Christie’s taking the lone spot outside that orbit. Online did make a statement, though. The priciest internet sale of the year came via Bring a Trailer, where a 2014 Ferrari LaFerrari nearly touched $4.5M. Growth is one thing, but when the stakes get truly high, the established live venues still tend to hold the gavel.
Dig into the details of the Top Sales of 2025 >
Collectors, and their cars, are getting younger.
The definition of a collector keeps stretching, and the garage does too. As long-held collections change hands, the center of gravity is moving to Gen X and Millennial buyers who are buying the cars they remember wanting, not the ones they grew up seeing under ropes. That shift shows up clearly in the data. Interest keeps building around cars from the 80s and 90s, while some earlier eras are starting to feel a little less urgent. It is not nostalgia fading, it is a new one taking its place.
Comparing Activity Across Value Tiers
Once you slice the market by price, the picture gets a lot clearer. Different tiers behave very differently, with their own pace, pressure points, and personality. Some are picking up speed, some are catching their breath, and others are just quietly doing their thing. Looking at each tier on its own is where the noise drops away and the real story starts to come into focus.
Under $50K
Late-analog cars from the ’60s through the ’90s offer character, usable performance, and manageable ownership. For Gen-X and Millennial collectors, they land right in the nostalgia zone while still being cars you can actually drive and enjoy without needing a seven-figure budget.
Between $50K-100K
This value tier is about scarcity you can actually use. The cars doing well tend to be road-legal, personality-driven models that were easy to ignore until recently. These markets do not trade often, so it only takes one confident sale to move pricing. And they land right where Gen-X and early Millennial buyers are shopping: interesting without being overplayed, analog without feeling ancient, and still comfortably under six figures.
Between $100K-500K
In the $100K to $500K range, the market is steady on the surface but very reactive underneath. Buyers are gravitating toward cars with a clear point of view, especially standouts from the ’60s, ’90s, and 2000s, while ultra-new cars and Pre-war models are losing momentum. The pattern is consistent: distinctive, drivable cars with real usability keep finding buyers, while complexity, excess, and hype tend to slow things down.
Between $500K-1M
This is one of those price brackets where things get quiet, then suddenly very loud. The cars are special enough to be rare, but not so precious that they live under dust covers forever. People actually drive these, which means owners are picky and sellers are patient. The twist is how thin the market really is. When a car only trades once or twice in half a year, it does not take a frenzy to move the needle. One well bought, well sold example can reset expectations for the whole group, and everyone else recalibrates over coffee.
Over $1M
This is the thin air at the top of the market, where most people are happy just to look and a few are quietly doing their homework. These cars do not trade on impulse. Buyers wait, sometimes for years, and sellers only step in when the conditions feel right. Venue matters, timing matters, and yes, the badge on the nose matters a lot, especially when it says Ferrari. When all of that lines up, the results tend to make headlines, and both sides walk away knowing they played the long game correctly.
What’s next for 2026?
While we don’t claim to have a crystal ball, a few patterns are getting hard to ignore.
- Buyers are walking in smarter than ever.
Between pricing data, AI tools, and years of sales history at their fingertips, the information gap has narrowed fast. The days of buying on vibes alone are fading. Transparency is no longer a bonus, it is the baseline, and informed buyers are perfectly happy to wait for the right car with the right story.
- That shift puts pressure on sellers to raise their game.
Strong presentation and clean documentation matter more than ever, especially as more cars change hands without an in person inspection. The sellers who win are the ones who disclose flaws as confidently as they highlight features. Trust is becoming part of the value equation, not just condition and mileage.
- The process itself is only getting more complex.
Auction or dealer? Online or live? Which venue, which platform, which strategy? There are more paths than ever, and no single right answer for every car. The best move is staying informed, and that’s what CLASSIC.COM is here for.
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