Restoring a car is great fun and it is a way to end up with your dream car or make money from something that interests you and that you enjoy. However, it can also be the opposite from fun. You can end up losing a lot of money. It is all too easy to buy a money pit and end up with a half-restored vehicle or badly out of pocket.
The first step
The first step to restoring a car is always research. It is the only way to find the right car for you. Get that right and the rest should fall easily into place and you should be able to avoid a restoration disaster. Here are some tips to help you to narrow down your options and take you closer to buying a great car that you will enjoy restoring.
Why are you restoring the car?
Choosing the right car is strongly linked to why you are restoring a vehicle and what your long-term aims are.
If you are buying the car to keep, naturally, you want a vehicle you are going to like. In this situation, how much it costs to restore in relation to the end value of the vehicle is not so important. This is because your main aim is to own the vehicle of your dreams not to make money. It does not matter if the car ends up costing you more to restore than it is worth once you have finished.
On the other hand, if you were mainly restoring to make a profit that scenario would be a disaster. If profit is your main aim your criteria is going to be different from someone who is simply restoring for pleasure.
Your skill set and budget
Another important consideration when buying a vehicle is your skill set and budget. If you can do most of the work yourself the cost of restoration is going to be far lower than if you have to hire people to do it all for you. Although by using BookMyGarage.com you can get that cost down. This site allows you to find garages and workshops in your local area that offer the best value for money when it comes to car repairs and other services. Shopping around for labour and parts can keep your costs down and allow you to be able to afford to restore even quite rare cars.
If you have basic mechanic skills you are normally better off choosing to restore older cars because their engines are simpler and therefore far easier to work on. However, the problem is that normally the bodywork requires more work, in many cases you will need welding skills as well as coach building skills.
Availability of spares
How easy it is to find spares is another important consideration. You need to do a bit of research before buying to make sure that you can find the parts you need to complete your restoration. It is possible to buy custom-made parts, but it makes restoring a car far more expensive. If you are going to have to do this, you need to know that in advance, so that you can incorporate that additional cost into your budget.