Most of the times I purchase a car, I try to keep everything really simple and to the point. I am a realistic guy, and I usually have practical needs in a car. I look at a car buyers manual and look at what I need. How much room do I need? Which car can last the longest? Which is probably the most likely to keep it’s value? Which one will get the best gas mileage? And then I make a decision.
When I got into antique car sales, nevertheless, everything got a whole lot more complicated. I have never been much of a collector. I am too sensible in my thinking. It is tough for me to get my head around the idea that something could be worth more because it is old. With most used cars, the opposite is true. Most used cars become significantly less valuable as they grow older, because used cars naturally become less dependable as they grow old.
My best friend, however, is an antique car dealer in California. He has invariably loved old classic cars, and also has been involved in the family business venture of buying and selling them since he was very young. As he proposed me a job in classic car sales, I could not really refuse. I was down on my fortune, and I required the money desperately. I did not really think about the fact that I would need to learn a new way of thinking about value.
As hard as it can be to promote used cars in general, making a classic car sale is that much harder. As you can see, to sell antique cars, you need to realise the minds of enthusiasts. Collectors are much more patient than most consumers. They may wait, many times for years, to find the perfect antique car sales to complete their collections. These people don’t want you to sell the car, they want to know that you appreciate it like they do. They will already know what to look for. My responsibility, as an antique car dealer, is to bond with them over precisely how beautiful these old classics happen to be. The cars will sell themselves.
It took me a while to really understand this fact. For the fist few months, I made far fewer antique car sales than I wanted to. My best friend was patient with me, however, and before long, I was thinking like a car collector. After that, the sales started racking up. Soon I was doing so much business which I could not remember what was difficult about it in the first place. I’ve even started to collect classic cars myself!