Big Money in Collectible Cars

By Dian Vujovich

Jay Leno loves cars—all types of them I’ve heard. A friend of mine in South Dakota loves cars, too. He’s got one of those really fancy Italian jobbies of which there are only a few of and had his garage outfitted specifically for it. You know, marble floors, temperature control and all. One day he decided this sweet ride would be better off kept in sunny California, rather than snowy South Dakota, and in one of those exotic car hotels. It takes a lot of money to keep a collectible vehicle and its owner happy.

Then again, a love affair with a four-wheel exoticar offers its owners more than a joyful hey-look-at-me ride. Purchase the right vehicle at the right time for the right price and who knows, you might actually be sitting behind the wheel of a very profitable investment.

According to a recent story in WealthManager.com: “In the last three years, the collector car market has outpaced both the stock market and fine art market. Values are stratospheric. At the annual Ferrari Leggenda e Passione auction held last May by RM Auctions in Maranello, Italy, a 1957 Ferrari 250 TR chassis with pontoon fenders, one of only 22 such cars manufactured, sold for a record-breaking $12.2 million….”

Buy and sell in the private market and the prices are said to be even higher. All of which gives new meaning to “Zoom Zoom.”

What it takes for a vintage car to be a collectible is money, knowledge, taste—Boomers are said to be into the “muscle cars” of the ’60s and ’70s—and an attention to detail. These oldies (the cars and not the Boomers) have a tendency to be as persnickety as a grumpy grandma or nasty in-law who is always in need of something..

“The room’s too hot, the room’s too cold, get me something to drink, and I need a hip replacement. Find me a good doctor!”

You’ve heard it all before and that same kind of talk is true for the collectible car affectionado who needs to keep his vehicle in an temperature controlled environment, find parts for it, a mechanic that’s both reliable and trustworthy and then there’s the insurance deal.

Antique car plates are one thing, finding quality coverage from an insurance company that understands the risks and knows the collectible car world is quite another.

Then again, it could all be worth it. Forgetting about payday, that’s the day when you sell your little baby, there’s nothing quite like a fine ride. Nothing. Ever.

More at: http://tinyurl.com/y8xmrot .

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