Everybody knows that it is expensive to buy and own an antique car. The car itself can be quite expensive to buy, and restoring it costs quite a bit of money. This much is understood when you are considering buying one. The problem is that there are a lot of costs that you may not know about.
When you are trying to budget and save for when you can finally make your dream of owning a classic car a reality, you need to know what those costs are. If you end up with a surprise expense, then it will set you back with your goal and may end up eating away at your savings without a car to show for it. In this article, we will go over some of the hidden costs when you buy a vintage car.
1. Getting it home
Unless you are lucky enough to have a classic car for sale in your neighborhood and don’t have to worry about getting it to your house, then you are going to be faced with some big expenses that you need to know about.
Very often the car that you find will be located in some other part of the country. You’ll have to either fly out there to see it in person before making an offer or drive quite a distance. On the one hand, you could be faced with a plane ticket. On the other, you have gas, tolls, and possibly a hotel to pay for.
Then when you get there, if you decide to buy it, you won’t be able to drive it home. You are looking at shipping the car. Although the prices are reasonable to ship a car, as you can see by reading these Easy Auto ship reviews, it is still an expense that you need to account for early on.
2. Getting parts
Another expense that is partly expected and partly unexpected is getting the parts for the restoration. It’s expected that getting an original part from the same make and model will be expensive. After all, even the parts are antique.
However, there are times when there is no available part for sale no matter how hard you look. This means that you will have to have a specific part machined for you. It isn’t simply a matter of using a part from whatever car you can get. This car needs some very unique parts and the cost of making them is quite high. Without doing this, it will be impossible to restore the car.
3. Paperwork
Getting your car permitted and road legal is also an expense that many people don’t account for. Every car that gets on the road needs to be inspected and an antique car is no different. The problem is that you need to have a specific type of inspection for classic cars that costs far more than an ordinary car.
Even the registration is going to cost more than an ordinary one.
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