What do you do if the kids don’t want your collector car(s)?

It’s a tale as old as time: Parents want to pass along to their child or children something they learned (a career) or treasured (possessions) in their lifetime. Equally as true is the rebellious nature of said children, wanting to swing the pendulum of taste/culture/preference far off the other way.

Generational (Non)Sense

That’s one reason we can reasonably quantify people into generations; not only for similar life experiences — such as we’ve only been alive during the Internet era, or were “X” years old when 9/11 happened, or the moon landing, or when one of the world wars started, etc. — but for the general swing in attitudes away from one’s parents’ sensibilities. It’s not a reason entirely true throughout but accurate enough for our purposes to paint with a broad brush.

So, what does that have to do with your car and your kids? 

Maybe you’ve said all the right words and convinced them that this is one of mankind’s greatest mechanical creations, and they’ll happily care for it when it’s passed down to them. Problem solved, well until that estate tax comes due, but you can plan for that ahead of time or let the heir(s) deal with it afterwards.

Or maybe they don’t want it. What happens then? 

Nothing, perhaps. They can deal with it after you’re dead and gone. Plenty of collections go to auction after the primary collector has moved on. 

You could go on ahead a sell it as everybody else does every day. Hell, there seems to be a new, online sales platform popping up every couple of months!

If it’s a project, we have some advice on how to deal with that here, How to Sell a Project Car.

A Different Thought Process

You could be more proactive about it. Selling it triggers one of America’s favorite boogeymen: taxes. Maybe you can deal with that as a stable and rational adult, or your CPA can, and it’s not a huge deal. It happens all the time. It’s what we call the collector-car market — just commerce as usual.

What about a different approach? 

There are throngs of people wanting to get into collecting cars. But barriers keep them out. What if you went looking for one of them to sell your car to, even rather cheaply? There are Facebook groups and car clubs and online forums among the places to find a worthy heir to be the car’s next caretaker. 

You could determine the worthiness, after all no one is making you do a damn thing right now about it. Does this person have enough storage space? Are they a fan of the badge on the hood? Do they have any history with the make or model?

Call it altruistic, but I think there are folks out there who might believe in an idea like this. 

In fact, there is a group out there on the website Permies.com. It’s a sustainable-living, permaculture site that wouldn’t have much crossover with the automotive world. They have come up with a program called SKIP: Skills to Inherit Property. This helps people looking to move their land on to someone with the skills and interest to carry it on in similar fashion and philosophy. Primary benefits listed out on their site are: Possibility to inherit land that they otherwise would not have inherited; develop skills; develop a sense of accomplishment; a path out of the rat race, or a path to avoid the rat race.

I’m not trying to get anyone out into living off the land or to sign up for possibly inheriting a farm, but I consider it a proof of concept.

Plus, I’m not suggesting anyone should sell an Enzo-era V12 Ferrari for $5k — if you are call me first. But imagine how fun all of this car stuff might be without having to worry about investment and ROI as a significant part of the equation. Remember how fun things were when money wasn’t the primary motivator? 

But that was so many earnings calls ago, you might think. It was, and, if you’re having these considerations, you’ve probably done well enough to worry about inheritance taxes and possibly having multiple cars to distribute. There are worse fates.

Maybe someone somewhere can come up with a reality TV show where wannabe owners somehow prove their worthiness for being car’s the next owner or something along those lines. I don’t know, I’m not in television and I don’t want to be, but I’ve seen far worse ideas on car-themed channels.

There are a thousand and one ways to handle a situation like this, and not many of them are wrong. It’s just a matter of choosing what you’d like to do with your possessions while you still have a say.