Sure, lying to others is bad, but that doesn’t mean lying to yourself is, too…right? Especially when it comes to cars. And face it, we all lie a little when talking about our automotive projects.

In an article published on the media arm of Hagerty’s website (Hagerty, of course, being the official insurance partner of the SCCA®), author Kyle Smith revealed the six little lies we tell ourselves as car enthusiasts.

Ironically, every single item on his list is true.

“They can be based in all manner of good intentions – from self-preservation to simple blind optimism – but in the end, if we are honest with ourselves, we have to admit that we either don’t know the truth or would rather not face it,” Smith writes. “Think you are better than that? Well, have you told yourself any of these?”

Of the six lies, I deeply identify with: “That’ll fix itself. Or at least not get worse,” “I can skip this gas station, another one will come right up,” and (my personal favorite) “This repair should only take an hour.”

As for that last one, Smith expounds: “Just like how many of us DIY folks are bad at estimating how much we actually spend on our projects, we also grossly underestimate the time we spend with tools in hand, poking and prodding our aging automobile into covering just a few more miles before leaving for the great junkyard in the sky.”

Mark Twain wasn’t wrong when he said there are lies, damned lies, and statistics – but had Samuel Clemens been a car guy, Kyle Smith’s truths about automotive lies would have undoubtedly also made the list.

Check out the entire article on Hagerty.com/media.

Photo courtesy Hagerty/Kyle Smith