New vehicle sales depend upon repeat customers and their reasons for another purchase.
The bygone era of new vehicles depended upon regular style changes that made last year’s models as outdated as Fred Flintstone’s car.
Jim Sutherland
Consequently, a new car buyer wanted to stay ahead of the curve and avoid any embarrassment associated with owning a vehicle with a stale style. Even if the car’s design was brand-new last year.
These days new vehicles tend to hold their basic style for many years and avoid an endless loop of annual cosmetic alterations to entice buyers into their showrooms. Instead, carmakers upgrade the engineering and computerized technology behind their new products to sell them to buyers.
The net result is a buyer who will own his or her vehicle until the warranty is used up and they end up in an automotive crapshoot where the owners hope their rides will not develop mechanical or electronic issues.
The basic math for owners with a newish vehicle past its warranty is the nickel-and-dime cost quagmire that includes paying the full freight on repairs to their depreciating asset with an expanding list of wear and tear issues.
Nickle-and-dime misadventures force an owner to start kicking tires at a car dealership and buy the dependability of a new vehicle purchase, complete with a brand-new warranty.
The exception to the rule can be found in vintage vehicles because their owners completely ignore the iron-clad new car nickel-and-dime rule. Instead, they ignore the growing mountain of repair costs and forge ahead putting bandages on mechanical wounds-and even lipstick on rusty pigs in some cases.
Car guys are well aware of the fact that parts wear out, and rust never sleeps, but they forge ahead to repair the unrepairable and restore the unrestorable for personal reasons. Maybe the venerable old war pony had been in the family longer than the current owner or maybe the current owner wants to drive his vintage ride right back to his misspent youth, mainly because old cars are also time machines for them.
Whatever the reason, they are willing to spend serious dough to keep their beloved old car on the road and ignore the rigid math behind the nickel-and-dime formula. It’s not like the owners have fallen in love with shelling out big bucks for repairs on their old rigs because of expensively rare and outdated parts where the sellers do not have to move an inch on their price.
No, it’s not like that at all. However, most car guys will be happy to pay every nickel and dime to keep their beloved mechanical dinosaurs on the road and in their lives, even if the investment creates a war zone in their relationships with others.
The stakes are very high in the nickel-and-dime world of the vintage vehicle hobby because most old vehicles have already done their time, will require plenty of dough to re-enter the world, and will likely break down once they are back on the road.
The nickel-and-dime costs may higher for old car owners, but they are willing to ignore the steep price tag for sentimental reasons.
Jim Sutherland
BY: Jim Sutherland
Jim Sutherland is a veteran automotive writer whose work has been published by many major print and online publications. The list includes Calgary Herald, The Truth About Cars, Red Deer Advocate, RPM Magazine, Edmonton Journal, Montreal Gazette, Windsor Star, Vancouver Province, and Post Media Wheels Section.
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