1.3: Oh Wait, You’re Married …
Speaking of your spouse, so far I have discussed buying cars in more or less generic terms, listing reasons that the people I interviewed for The Car Collector’s Handbook gave for their own entry into car collecting. Each of the reasons I listed were more or less personal in nature and each more or less assumed you, the buyer, would be making the purchase decision on your own.
But rarely is it that simple.
Every one of the collectors interviewed for this book was married, and nearly all of the collectors admitted that their spouses were part of the purchase process. In fact, I sort of think that the two that nonchalantly said “oh, no it’s my money and so I just make the decisions about buying cars” weren’t being entirely honest, but that’s only based on my nineteen years of marriage … so I could be wrong. Everyone else I talked to stated that their significant other fell somewhere between being an active participant in the buying and ownership process and at least a passive partner when it came down to the financial aspects of the purchase.
If you’re single you may be tempted to skip the rest of this section but I would encourage you to read on: you may not stay single forever, but it’s likely that you won’t just magically stop being into cars on the day you say “I do.”
Your Spouse Should be On Board
While I suppose it would be nice to be married to someone who would sign off on a purchase as expensive as most cars tend to be without hesitation or even needing to be consulted, for most of us this isn’t really the case. At least in my experience, and trust me, I have a very understanding wife when it comes to cars, the process of figuring out how to buy, store, maintain, and enjoy a car is easier when at a minimum your spouse is on board. He or she may not necessarily want to be an active participant — lots of spouses don’t share their partner’s love of cars and are fine with that being “boy’s time” or “his crazy hobby” or something of the sort –given the entire experience of car collecting, having an open and honest conversation about what all you’re getting into in advance has the potential to save you a lot of heartache down the road.
In a way this entire challenge is part of the reason I wrote The Car Collector’s Handbook. Despite the fact that my wife, Amity, shares my passion for automobiles and considers them every bit as fun to own and drive as I do, neither of us really understood what it would mean to go from having one Porsche 911 back in our thirties to the collection we ended up with in our forties and fifties. We hadn’t considered the impact on our insurance, the need for a substantial umbrella policy, how we would store more cars than our little one-car garage in Portland, Oregon would hold, how much time we would spend ferrying cars back and forth to mechanics and how much that would result costing, and honestly, how the broader community around us (and our children) would reach when we rolled up to the house in a $350,000 USD Ferrari.
It’s a lot to consider, and again to be honest, we didn’t.
It’s not to say we didn’t make it through, we did, but again in all honesty it was dicey at times. And most of the collectors interviewed expressed the same thing — that there was some aspect of their collecting that created challenges that eventually made their way home and into the bedroom (as it were.) You may not have plans to have more than just one “fun car” in the garage that you take out on weekends and so you may be thinking “oh, I don’t need to really read all of this and discuss it with my better half,” but neither did I … until I did, and then it was too late, the ship had sailed.
Cover Your Bases First — Then Play with Cars
If I have any advice I can give you when it comes to collecting cars and staying happily married it is this: cover your bases first then have a plan for the long-term ownership of your collection. By “cover your bases” I mean, and you’re probably not going to want to hear this, make sure you are paying all of your bills and investing in your future first before you start to spend money on “fun cars.”
I know, I know, I am a super-buzz kill. I have been called worse.
But seriously, unless you’re buying investment grade cars guaranteed to turn a profit in which case you have already covered your bases because that is what smart investors do, you probably have a mortgage, credit card debt, a 401K you should be contributing to, maybe college to pay for if you have kids, etc. and all of that should come before you start spending money on collecting cars.
I know you’re going to ignore my advice, but hear me out.
Cars are depreciating assets and, as will be discussed in spurious detail throughout this book, are far more expensive than you can possibly imagine when you’re writing the initial check for their purchase. You are absolutely 100% guaranteed to lose money on any and every car you purchase if you hold it for any amount of time. Yes, you’ll have fun driving. Yes, you’ll meet cool people. Yes, you’ll enjoy the experience of owning something beautiful, rare, and amazing … but again, I guarantee you, it will come at an expense and likely one you do not fully understand before you start.
If you believe me (you won’t) you will clearly see why I am telling you to make sure your financial house is in order before you start collecting cars. Imagine the stress in your household if you have to decide between paying the mechanic for repairs on a transmission — or paying your property taxes? What if you have to choose between paying rent on a place to store your cars — or paying your mortgage? Or chose between investing in your children’s 529 plans — or paying your quarterly insurance premiums.
I’m sure these examples all seem both ridiculous and somewhat first-worldly, but trust me, there are definitely people buying that first one “fun car” before covering the basics, and there is an awful lot of anecdotal evidence that this decision eventually comes back to bite them on the ass. And by “bites them on the ass” I mean, costs them their car or worse, which again is entirely preventable. What’s more, the act of covering your bases demonstrates to your significant other that you’re a thoughtful, responsible adult who is willing to put the needs of your family ahead of your own personal need for a collection of cars.
Did I mention that you’re going to ignore me? I know I did, and I know you will, but you have been warned.
As you continue to read The Car Collector’s Handbook, assuming you haven’t been put off by the advice in this chapter, you will begin to fully understand what all is involved in owning a collection of cars. And to be a little less of a wet blanket, my admonition is less for collectors who are buying that one “fun car” which is ultimately a manageable expense and more for those of you considering (or likely to end up with) a collection of cars. The expenses when you cross over from “one” to “many” are real and have the potential to be substantial.
Again, you have been warned.
