At this juncture in my life, alas, I do not have a one-of-kind car to worry about transporting anywhere. There was a time when I was rabidly protective of my car - the 1975 Pontiac Trans Am, the 1976 Silver Anniversary Corvette, the luxurious Lincoln Mark VIII's I tooled around in for a few years. The only car of which I've been even remotely possessive of late was my 2007 Saab 9.3 Turbo, which I had to give up when the stupid dealer wouldn't entertain my off-lease purchase offer. Stupid Saab - and they were on the verge of bankruptcy at the time.
Anyway, unfortunately now I'm in "old lady" car mode. I drive a 2010 Ford Fusion, which is a nice car of its kind, but is just so amazingly common its pitiful. I never intended to drive a common car. It was not in my life plan, back in my salad days when Dream #2 was becoming a race car driver (this was long before Danica Patrick's time).
But at least I own my Fusion, after almost two decades of leasing cars. I'm done with that...I like owning my car, because I can get rid of it when I want to, not when some arbitrary lease agreement tells me I can. Of course, the only problem with owning a car is that you feel a certain sense of responsibility to take care of it, to make sure it's properly maintained and repaired. With lease cars, it's not that much of an issue - how much can go wrong in two years? and do you really care because you'll just be giving it back anyway?
When you own a car, it's more important to find a good automotive repair shop - like a trusted family practitioner, one who knows the basics about the internal workings of your particular model, but can refer you on to a specialist if needed.
Luckily I haven't yet needed this service. My Fusion is still a veritable infant in terms of car life.
But I hope if/when the time comes that I do, I'll find a mechanic who isn't related to Omar.