Collecting cars for investment and profit is something which many people have not considered. Now the trend is too buy and break for bits.
Commonly vehicles found on eBay and other online sites are a favourite of the buy and breakers. Another common approach is buying restoring and reselling. These money making ideas can be time consuming, expensive and can require an extensive knowing about the cars which they own.
A idea which myself, friends and colleagues have been considering is storage. Buying and storing vehicles. After thinking about this for a while we thought of some of some problems. However there are many long term advantages. An idea which is profitable which does not ruin brilliant pieces of our automotive history. When I brought my VW beetle I had looked at others however they had been sold. It was no surprise to me when they where appearing on eBay weeks and months later. This would be making profit however. It would mean to me destroying these cars. To me it would leave the car without a history and personality which we learn to love with our favourite cars.
Firstly there are several things which do need to be considered; all thought this May not be practical to everyone I would like to explain our resolution to these problems.
what would you store these vehicles in. You need to consider somewhere which is dry, to prevent rust and corrosion. A storage solution which is secure to prevent theft. Also accessibility, in our minds the cars need to be running and kept that way to keep the value high and the maintenance level low. Finally an inexpensive storage solution is paramount.
Space - once you have sourced what you are going to put your treasures in you then have to consider where the chest will go. Land rental can be expensive.
Profitability - knowing if the car you are buying will go up in value and how much will you make. We are considering buying cars which are at their lowest value. Cars to consider VW Beetle, VW MK II Golf or maybe the Porsche 918 turbo. We are doing this because these cars can only go up in value. An example of this is the beetle which I brought last year (Bertie's story's part 1) this was purchased for £550. At this time it was not running but did include many extras which are listed in Bettie's restoration which is featured by PlanetAuto. Now having a value in excess of £1200. This means that I have doubled my money in around 6 months.
Sourcing - sourcing the vehicles can be a problem for some. Often it is knowing the right people. Which requires many years in the trade. One of the easiest would be to source online. However there is always the risk of what you are buying. Often finding someone who cares about the car they are selling is important. This is because they car so much about the car that they do not care how much money they get for the car. Often when buying high value cars the best thing is to get them imported. Often getting vehicles from the west coast of America. This is because of the condition of the vehicles. However this can be expensive and this only makes it practical for high value vehicles.
Transportation - once you have sourced and paid for the car which you will be storing you need to ask yourself a final question. How are you going to get the vehicles to your storage location if the vehicle is not running or has no MOT. There are many solution to this problem however they can be expensive. Because of this we have made a agreement with a friend to borrow their trailer if they are able to borrow the truck which we use to pull the trailer with.