Classic and Vintage Cars for Sale in Saudi Arabia

What collectors in Saudi Arabia hunt

Riyadh, Jeddah and Dammam collectors gravitate toward a fairly consistent shortlist right now, from vintage 1960s Mercedes to 1990s JDM cars.

Riyadh's collector calendar

The Riyadh Motor Show runs inside the Riyadh Season entertainment program at Kingdom Arena with a dedicated Classic Car Zone alongside supercars and modified cars, expected to draw more than 100,000 visitors. Every Friday morning, the Saudi Classic Car Club, founded in 2014, runs a Cars & Coffee meet near Gharnada Mall in Riyadh. Named collector Dr Nasser Al-Massari has built a documented 36-car collection worth around $6.7 million since 2014, displayed weekly at Riyadh's Granada Market, and Arab News has put total Saudi classic-car investment above SR100 million, roughly $26.7 million, across around 100 cars held in dedicated garages, 70 in Jeddah and 30 in Riyadh. Domestic platforms such as Saudi Part and Safqa Auctions run vehicle sales, including a Classic Vehicle Auction at the Riyadh Motor Show, but no international house such as Bonhams, RM Sotheby's or Gooding has a confirmed physical presence in the Kingdom.

Registering and importing a classic in Saudi Arabia

Ordinary used-vehicle imports are capped at 5 years old from manufacture, confirmed on SASO's own portal and in the US government's trade.gov country guide, with a Certificate of Conformity through the SABER platform required before customs will release the car. A widely repeated claim among shipping brokers describes a 30-year-or-older exemption at 0 percent duty for non-public-road use, citing a 'Customs Regulation Article 55' that we could not verify against any official SASO or ZATCA text. Trade.gov's own guide reads as if the 5-year limit applies uniformly, with no exception category at all.

What we do know is that classic cars clearly get onto Saudi roads and into rallies like Tuwaiq through some legal pathway: the cars exist, the dealers exist, the club exists. What we do not have is a confirmed statutory basis for that 30-year claim, so confirm the exact exemption and the paperwork it needs with ZATCA or a licensed customs broker before you ship a specific car, and treat any broker who quotes a confident number without naming the regulation behind it with some caution. Standard duty runs approximately 5 percent of CIF value under the GCC Common External Tariff, and VAT sits at 15 percent, tripled from its original 5 percent rate in July 2020. Jeddah Islamic Port on the Red Sea and King Abdulaziz Port in Dammam on the Gulf coast are the two main vehicle-import gateways, with commercial transit estimates of 16 to 22 days from the UK to Jeddah and 18 to 24 days to Dammam. Our container versus RoRo guide explains why we recommend enclosed containers for anything in this price range, and for comparison, our UAE import page walks through the Gulf's one clearly documented classic-age exemption.

Many buyers here look at cars already sitting in Dubai or Abu Dhabi first. Driving or trucking a car across from the UAE does not sidestep the rules above: the 5-year cap, SABER conformity and 15 percent VAT still apply at the border. Our page on moving a classic car from the UAE to Saudi Arabia sets out that route step by step.

Why we sell privately rather than through a dealer floor or an auction

Saudi Arabia has no confirmed international auction house running physical sales inside the Kingdom, and no dealer network comparable in scale to Dubai's. What exists instead is a tight, relationship-driven circle: the Saudi Classic Car Club, a handful of named Mercedes specialists across Jeddah, Riyadh and Dammam, and collectors like Dr Al-Massari who show cars weekly rather than sell them publicly. A private, off-market sale fits that structure better than a public listing ever would.

On a purchase, we search that circle directly rather than waiting for a car to surface on a marketplace. On a sale, we do the opposite of what a public auction does: no catalogue entry, no hammer price for anyone to screenshot, no buyer's premium stacked on top of what the buyer already agreed to pay.

• Matching numbers verified on engine, gearbox and chassis codes where they exist
• Service history collected and checked against the car in front of us
• An honest condition report, written the same way for every buyer
• No catalogue entry, no hammer price, no buyer's premium stacked on top

Selling a classic car privately in Saudi Arabia

If you are the seller, we start with a quiet valuation benchmarked against real Saudi and international comparables, not a guess based on what a similar car listed for online. Nothing about your car or your name goes anywhere public. We only bring qualified buyers, meaning buyers whose funds and intent we have already checked, to view the car, and only once you have agreed a number with us first. Our guide to selling a classic car privately walks through the full process, from first valuation to funds clearing. For where prices are trending across the models above, our 2026 investment trends guide is worth a read before you name a figure.

Selling privately in the cooler season: November to February

Updated 8 November 2026. If you are thinking of selling a classic in Riyadh, Jeddah or Dammam, the cooler months are when buyers are active: the Riyadh Motor Show's Classic Car Zone, the Friday Cars and Coffee meet near Gharnada Mall and the Tuwaiq Rally all fall in this window, and a buyer can drive the car in comfortable weather. A private sale uses that without a catalogue entry or a hammer price. We benchmark the car quietly against real Saudi and international comparables and bring only buyers whose funds and intent we have checked, once you have agreed a number with us.

To start, send on WhatsApp: the model, year and chassis number, the mileage, a photo set, the service history you hold and where the car is kept. The first reply is a valuation range and a view on whether the car sells better in the Kingdom or in the UAE, where the 30-year classic plate changes the buyer pool.