If you’ve spent any time doom-scrolling reports about what happened to the values of special cars in 2025, you’d be forgiven for thinking the party’s over. Values are, by and large, down. Auctions are softer. Even some once-untouchable, blue-chip cars are slipping back into the realms of the vaguely attainable. In a nutshell, the collector car market, in the UK and across the world, cooled in 2025.

But before anyone starts pencilling in obituaries for classic and modern-classic cars – take a breath. Because for people who love driving rather than just punching data into valuation graphs, this might be the best news car enthusiasts could have hoped for. As seemingly everything around us feels the effects of inflation, the cars we know and love are becoming more obtainable. Well, a bit…

Gravity has returned, and that’s healthy

Throughout 2025, the global collector car market broadly did one thing: it took a breather. According to analysis from The Classic Valuer, global values fell by about 10 per cent compared with 2024, with every major market – the US, UK and Europe – recording price declines and 71 per cent of cars tracked falling in value last year.

In the UK specifically, values dipped nearly 10 per cent while supply was up around 15 per cent, underscoring how a higher volume of cars coming to market contributed to pushing prices down.

Meanwhile, data from Hagerty’s UK Price Guide ­– tracking more than 3000 models – shows that nearly 80 per cent of values either dropped or stayed static in 2025, a clear shift from the post-Covid boom era. Classic British marques in particular were among the biggest fallers, with Jaguar values declining around 21 per cent for the year, driven in part by a high-profile XKSS lot that failed to sell. Over in the US, Millenials and Gen Z buyers are falling away, and Boomers are on the rise, says Hagerty US.

This isn’t a crash. It’s a correction. And corrections are where car enthusiasts thrive.

Bargaining is back

One of the most refreshing developments of the past year has been the return of negotiation. Remember that? Actual conversations. Offers below asking. Sellers returning your call – and even chasing you.

For years, “hard bargain” meant paying full price and being grateful. Today, it means doing your homework, knowing the market, and having the confidence to walk away. Cars are sitting longer. Vendors are realistic – or becoming so. And if you’re prepared, patient and decisive, there are genuinely strong buys to be had.

Some segments defied the downward trend ­– the hot hatch crowd, for example, saw a resurgence in sentiment, with certain classics like the Ford Escort RS Turbo Mk III up 23 per cent year-on-year and Renault 5 GT Turbo climbing too – but these are outliers in a broader market that’s taking a breather.

This is not the moment to panic-sell. But it is the moment to buy well.

Investment? Or experience?

Here’s the uncomfortable truth: if your primary motivation for buying a classic car is return on investment, in the present climate there are easier, less stressful ways to grow your money – most of which don’t require oil changes or trickle chargers.

Cars are a terrible thing to obsess over financially and a wonderful thing to obsess over emotionally. Worrying about residuals, which corner of the market is still firing on all cylinders and whether your chosen spec will outperform the market is a fast track to premature ageing. You’ll spend more time fretting than driving, more time tracking classifieds and auctions than exploring the endless road trips you could be enjoying. And before you know it, another year has passed without that road trip, that sunrise start, that moment where everything clicks at 8000 rpm on an empty stretch of Alpine road.

Life is short. Shorter than most of us like to admit. And nobody, at the end of it all, wishes they’d driven less.

2026: The year of the horse

When we say it’s the year of the horse, we aren’t saying it’s time to buy your first Ferrari. From the 17 February, it’s the Year of the Horse in the Chinese Zodiac, and that means we should all be out there getting stuck in to our personal bucket lists like Frankie Dettori galloping to another win.

There’s something deliciously rebellious about buying a car in a soft market and then actually using it. Putting miles on it. Taking it abroad. Getting caught in the snow. Parking it on the high street and walking away without palpitations.

This is the year to stop treating cars like museum pieces and start treating them for what they can be: dopamine delivery systems.

That dream car you’ve been hovering over for years? The one you keep half-heartedly tracking “just in case”? It might be closer than you think. And more importantly, it might never feel more justifiable than it does right now.

Because buying at the top is stressful. Buying in a correction is liberating. You’re no longer chasing the market – you’re stepping into it.

Storage isn’t about hiding things away

At Racing Green Car Storage, we see this mindset shift daily. Cars coming out more often. Owners less obsessed with perfection, more interested in experience. Storage not as a vault, but as a basecamp – a place your car rests between adventures, not where it’s entombed.

The healthiest collector car culture isn’t built on auctions and charts. It’s built on early starts, late finishes, and stories that begin with “I wasn’t sure it would make it, but…”

A stable market full of driven cars is infinitely more interesting than a booming one full of garage queens.

So, what’s the play?

Simple. Buy what you love. Buy the best you can afford. Buy with your head – but lead with your heart. And once you’ve bought it… use it. 2025 may have been the year the market paused. Let 2026 be the year you stopped waiting.

The bargains are out there. The roads are still brilliant (you just have to time it right…). And the memories you’ll make behind the wheel will always outperform any index.

After all, nobody ever looked back and smiled at a spreadsheet. They smiled at the drive.

If you would like to know more about Racing Green’s services, or arrange for your car to be placed in our care, please speak with a member of the team, on 03330 909722, or email us at enquiries@racinggreencarstorage.co.uk