The First Thing to Know About Car Restoration:
Let’s just get this out of the way: No major restoration is going to cheap or easy. That one thing I’m not going to promise you that this project will be inexpensive and quick – even the best-planned projects incur unexpected costs and may take extra time to complete. But with some good planning, it’s possible to eliminate a number of surprises early.
Once I’ve Restored My Car, Can it Increase in Value?
The short answer is: Yes it can, but it probably won’t.
After a major renovation, unless you have an extremely rare, high-value car (or something owned by someone famous) it’s highly unlikely that you will recoup the costs of the overall restoration. This makes it all the more important that you’re restoring the car for your enjoyment, not to pad your investment portfolio down the line.
Look at the top price for your car once it’s perfectly restored, and you’ll probably find that just the paint job or the engine rebuild is more than the overall value. Remember that there are lots of things that have value that aren’t just monetary: the satisfaction of seeing a classic car brought back to life and knowing that you’re keeping a piece of history alive for years to come, for example. Can’t put a price tag on that.
That said, if you really want to target a vehicle in the hopes of finding something that might return a few bucks, our Hagerty Collectors Indices will show you what types of cars are currently trending up or down in terms of value.