Car Restoration - Plan The Restoration Of Your Car

I've been doing some studying in the past couple on months, and I have learned a fact about restoration that I really don't like, this is a recent development in the industry, and it's due to the fact that people aren't planning the restoration of their car before they do it.

I've learned that with in the past couple of years a lot of shops have had a trend develop during the restoration of a lot of the cars that come to their shops, and that trend is, the car is changing hands four times before the restoration is finished.

This is directly related to the fact that people aren't planning the restoration before they start the work, this is not a good thing, it leaves a bad taste in the mouth of the car owner, and a owner of the shop doing the work, who usually has problems getting paid.

If you just sit down, and take a month or so to plan the restoration of your car you'll get your car finished, and it will be just what you dreamed of when it's done, let me explain a bit what I mean by planning the restoration of your car.

If your going to have a restoration shop do the work on your car, go out and talk to a few shops, or go to their web sites and get a phone number so you can ask questions about the work before you deliver your car to a shop.

Obviously you need to ask questions like what is your shop labor rate, how lone have you been in business, and can I get some references form some of your past customers, after you have done this, check out the shop through the BBB, if you don't turn up any bad info there, your good to go.

Now you need to think about how much you are willing to spend on the car, this is where the wires usually get crossed on a restoration project, if your only willing to spend a couple of grand, don't even bother to call a shop, nobody can restore a car for even ten grand, so plan.

Usually my shop will bid a car that is in good condition for around 600 hours, and my shop labor rate is $75.00 PHR per person working on the car, you'll be $45, 000 just in labor, let me explain what good condition is in my shop, it's a car with very little rust to repair, it may need moderate electrical work.

It will need a paint job, and more then likely the interior will have to be redone, and fixing leaks in the engine, brakes, and all of the common places that leaks will happen, or possibly full engine rebuild, and you have got to think that this is all before your parts list, you can add that to the job.

I have quite possibly missed a few things here, but this should give you an idea of what you need to do to plan the restoration of your car, a restoration shop is not Macco Auto Body Repair shop, so don't go in expecting the we do any restoration for $300 or less, it won't happen.

If you just spend the time to plan, and to put the cash together to do the job, you won't have any problems getting your car done just the way you want it, of course you can save the labor cost by doing the work yourself, and just having a shop do the things that you can't, or don't have the tools to do.