diff --git a/src/serializers/mod.rs b/src/serializers/mod.rs
index 8fc1a4230..ed524e09b 100644
--- a/src/serializers/mod.rs
+++ b/src/serializers/mod.rs
@@ -1,5 +1,6 @@
 use std::fmt::Debug;
 use std::sync::atomic::{AtomicUsize, Ordering};
+use std::sync::Arc;
 
 use pyo3::prelude::*;
 use pyo3::types::{PyBytes, PyDict, PyTuple, PyType};
@@ -24,6 +25,7 @@ mod fields;
 mod filter;
 mod infer;
 mod ob_type;
+mod prebuilt;
 pub mod ser;
 mod shared;
 mod type_serializers;
@@ -37,7 +39,7 @@ pub enum WarningsArg {
 #[pyclass(module = "pydantic_core._pydantic_core", frozen)]
 #[derive(Debug)]
 pub struct SchemaSerializer {
-    serializer: CombinedSerializer,
+    serializer: Arc<CombinedSerializer>,
     definitions: Definitions<CombinedSerializer>,
     expected_json_size: AtomicUsize,
     config: SerializationConfig,
@@ -92,7 +94,7 @@ impl SchemaSerializer {
         let mut definitions_builder = DefinitionsBuilder::new();
         let serializer = CombinedSerializer::build(schema.downcast()?, config, &mut definitions_builder)?;
         Ok(Self {
-            serializer,
+            serializer: Arc::new(serializer),
             definitions: definitions_builder.finish()?,
             expected_json_size: AtomicUsize::new(1024),
             config: SerializationConfig::from_config(config)?,
diff --git a/src/serializers/prebuilt.rs b/src/serializers/prebuilt.rs
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..5b81985e0
--- /dev/null
+++ b/src/serializers/prebuilt.rs
@@ -0,0 +1,93 @@
+use std::borrow::Cow;
+use std::sync::Arc;
+
+use pyo3::exceptions::PyValueError;
+use pyo3::intern;
+use pyo3::prelude::*;
+use pyo3::types::{PyBool, PyDict, PyType};
+
+use crate::definitions::DefinitionsBuilder;
+use crate::tools::SchemaDict;
+use crate::SchemaSerializer;
+
+use super::extra::Extra;
+use super::shared::{BuildSerializer, CombinedSerializer, TypeSerializer};
+
+#[derive(Debug)]
+pub struct PrebuiltSerializer {
+    serializer: Arc<CombinedSerializer>,
+}
+
+impl BuildSerializer for PrebuiltSerializer {
+    const EXPECTED_TYPE: &'static str = "prebuilt";
+
+    fn build(
+        schema: &Bound<'_, PyDict>,
+        _config: Option<&Bound<'_, PyDict>>,
+        _definitions: &mut DefinitionsBuilder<CombinedSerializer>,
+    ) -> PyResult<CombinedSerializer> {
+        let py = schema.py();
+        let class: Bound<'_, PyType> = schema.get_as_req(intern!(py, "cls"))?;
+
+        // note: we NEED to use the __dict__ here (and perform get_item calls rather than getattr)
+        // because we don't want to fetch prebuilt serializers from parent classes
+        let class_dict: Bound<'_, PyDict> = class.getattr(intern!(py, "__dict__"))?.extract()?;
+
+        // Ensure the class has completed its Pydantic setup
+        let is_complete: bool = class_dict
+            .get_as_req::<Bound<'_, PyBool>>(intern!(py, "__pydantic_complete__"))
+            .is_ok_and(|b| b.extract().unwrap_or(false));
+
+        if !is_complete {
+            return Err(PyValueError::new_err("Prebuilt serializer not found."));
+        }
+
+        // Retrieve the prebuilt validator if available
+        let prebuilt_serializer: Bound<'_, PyAny> = class_dict.get_as_req(intern!(py, "__pydantic_serializer__"))?;
+        let schema_serializer: PyRef<SchemaSerializer> = prebuilt_serializer.extract()?;
+        let combined_serializer: Arc<CombinedSerializer> = schema_serializer.serializer.clone();
+
+        Ok(Self {
+            serializer: combined_serializer,
+        }
+        .into())
+    }
+}
+
+impl_py_gc_traverse!(PrebuiltSerializer { serializer });
+
+impl TypeSerializer for PrebuiltSerializer {
+    fn to_python(
+        &self,
+        value: &Bound<'_, PyAny>,
+        include: Option<&Bound<'_, PyAny>>,
+        exclude: Option<&Bound<'_, PyAny>>,
+        extra: &Extra,
+    ) -> PyResult<PyObject> {
+        self.serializer.to_python(value, include, exclude, extra)
+    }
+
+    fn json_key<'a>(&self, key: &'a Bound<'_, PyAny>, extra: &Extra) -> PyResult<Cow<'a, str>> {
+        self.serializer.json_key(key, extra)
+    }
+
+    fn serde_serialize<S: serde::ser::Serializer>(
+        &self,
+        value: &Bound<'_, PyAny>,
+        serializer: S,
+        include: Option<&Bound<'_, PyAny>>,
+        exclude: Option<&Bound<'_, PyAny>>,
+        extra: &Extra,
+    ) -> Result<S::Ok, S::Error> {
+        self.serializer
+            .serde_serialize(value, serializer, include, exclude, extra)
+    }
+
+    fn get_name(&self) -> &str {
+        self.serializer.get_name()
+    }
+
+    fn retry_with_lax_check(&self) -> bool {
+        self.serializer.retry_with_lax_check()
+    }
+}
diff --git a/src/serializers/shared.rs b/src/serializers/shared.rs
index f37810657..741ce19c2 100644
--- a/src/serializers/shared.rs
+++ b/src/serializers/shared.rs
@@ -84,6 +84,8 @@ combined_serializer! {
         Function: super::type_serializers::function::FunctionPlainSerializer;
         FunctionWrap: super::type_serializers::function::FunctionWrapSerializer;
         Fields: super::fields::GeneralFieldsSerializer;
+        // prebuilt serializers are manually constructed, and thus manually added to the `CombinedSerializer` enum
+        Prebuilt: super::prebuilt::PrebuiltSerializer;
     }
     // `find_only` is for type_serializers which are built directly via the `type` key and `find_serializer`
     // but aren't actually used for serialization, e.g. their `build` method must return another serializer
@@ -195,7 +197,16 @@ impl CombinedSerializer {
         }
 
         let type_: Bound<'_, PyString> = schema.get_as_req(type_key)?;
-        Self::find_serializer(type_.to_str()?, schema, config, definitions)
+        let type_ = type_.to_str()?;
+
+        // if we have a SchemaValidator on the type already, use it
+        if matches!(type_, "model" | "dataclass" | "typed-dict") {
+            if let Ok(prebuilt_serializer) = super::prebuilt::PrebuiltSerializer::build(schema, config, definitions) {
+                return Ok(prebuilt_serializer);
+            }
+        }
+
+        Self::find_serializer(type_, schema, config, definitions)
     }
 }
 
@@ -219,6 +230,7 @@ impl PyGcTraverse for CombinedSerializer {
             CombinedSerializer::Function(inner) => inner.py_gc_traverse(visit),
             CombinedSerializer::FunctionWrap(inner) => inner.py_gc_traverse(visit),
             CombinedSerializer::Fields(inner) => inner.py_gc_traverse(visit),
+            CombinedSerializer::Prebuilt(inner) => inner.py_gc_traverse(visit),
             CombinedSerializer::None(inner) => inner.py_gc_traverse(visit),
             CombinedSerializer::Nullable(inner) => inner.py_gc_traverse(visit),
             CombinedSerializer::Int(inner) => inner.py_gc_traverse(visit),