So you’ve bought the classic car of your dreams, but it needs a lot of work. Should you take your classic car to a restoration shop?
It depends. A lot of classic car owners, like to take their cars to classic car restoration shops. That’s because many classic car owners do not have the time to complete the job. Others prefer to buy one of those repair manuals for classic cars and do the work themselves.
Whatever you choose to do, it doesn’t hurt to take a look at the shops for classic cars near you. To help you decide whether a shop is right for you, we’ve come up with a list of some of the top things you should consider.
Read the list below to see if a restoration shop is right for you.
Plan Of Action
Before hiring a shop to fix your classic car, you want to outline some objectives. Take a minute to answer these questions:
- What is your budget?
- What do you want the car to look like when it is finished?
- What is your timeframe?
- How much work do you plan to do yourself?
Having a budget is the most important question to ask. If you don’t set spending limits, your budget can grow very fast. To help set a budget, think about the finished product.
Are you looking to do a complete overhaul of the engine, exterior, interior? Or are you looking to focus on one or two portions of the car?
Once you answer these questions, you’ll need to figure out your timeframe. Knowing your timeframe will help a lot when talking to mechanics and different car restoration shops.
Finally, be sure to think about how much work you plan to do yourself. Do you plan to buy a classic car restoration manual and do some of the work yourself? This will help cut down on costs at the restoration shop.
Research
Once you have a plan of action in place, it’s time to find the right car restoration shop. You can find out a lot about the car restoration shops near you by:
- Visiting websites of local car restoration shops and looking at pictures of their work.
- Going to local car shows and cruise nights and seeing what restoration shops people used.
- Check the Better Business Bureau ratings of the local shops near you.
- Talk with family and friends to see if they have any recommendations.
After you have identified several good shops, call the shops to discuss your restoration project. Be sure to cover your, budget, timeframe and how much of the work you plan to do yourself.
When you visit the shop be sure to ask for customer references. This is a very important step.
When talking to customer references, be sure to ask the following questions:
- What restoration work did you have done?
- How much did the work cost?
- How long did the work take?
- How satisfied were you with the work?
When asking these questions, think about how the answers fit with the plan of action you created.
Choosing The Right Shop
Now that you’ve got your plan of action and the research done, you’re ready to select a restoration shop. It is not uncommon to select more than one shop for restoration work.
You may select one shop for engine repair, another for body work and maybe even another for the interior. It all depends on your plan of action.
After you have identified several good shops, call the shops to discuss your restoration project. Be sure to cover your, budget, timeframe and how much of the work you plan to do yourself.
When you visit the shop be sure to ask for customer references. This is a very important step.
When talking to customer references, be sure to ask the following questions:
- What restoration work did you have done?
- How much did the work cost?
- How long did the work take?
- How satisfied were you with the work?
When asking these questions, think about how the answers fit with the plan of action you created.
Choosing The Right Shop
Now that you’ve got your plan of action and the research done, you’re ready to select a restoration shop. It is not uncommon to select more than one shop for restoration work.
You may select one shop for engine repair, another for body work and maybe even another for the interior. It all depends on your plan of action.