Originally Posted by J-Rod

you will normally find that you make more money by putting the car back to stock and selling the mods separately. You will not recoup the cost of the mods via the sale.

Originally Posted by pottskies

well, i cant really put it back to stock, unless i buy a stock exhaust system and intake. so im just seeing what the car is worth. New motor and mods on the immaculate 40k mile body. any ideas?

Originally Posted by Nineball

As some of you have come to realize, the world of selling modified or performance cars is a rough thing to do. Many times, the owners of these cars price them as the prized possesions that they are (in the owner's mind), and not what a buyer would pay for them. Here are some simple suggestions that might make pricing more realistic for your modified or performance car. Buyers may also use these guidelines to help analyze the asking prices of vehicles they are interested in.

Step 1. Visit www.KBB.com and do a simple analysis on the used car value of your specific vehicle. Do the one for Individual Sale pricing, as well as Trade-In value pricing. Most of the time, the "normal" selling price will fall between these two, but closer to the Individual Sale price. Most people expect to pay "less than book" in order to feel comfortable about a deal. Make sure you are honest about the condition of the vehicle.

Step 2. Write out a list of all your added modifications. Make a complete list of all the aftermarket/upgraded parts on your vehicle. Next to each item, put a price that is a "normal" asking price for that item in used condition. In other words, put a price that you would feel comfortable selling that item used, as if you parted the car out and put it back to stock. Do not include any labor or installation costs for any modifications. Labor is never recoverable when selling these performance items. If you did all the work yourself, pat yourself on the back. If you paid out the wazoo for all this fancy hardware to be installed, tested, tuned, etc... then you will take a loss. For example, if you had gears installed, put the price down for a used set of gears, not how much they cost to get installed. If you have a heavy labor intensive modification, such as a welded 10-point rollcage, its really only worth about 1/3 the original cost to a buyer that wants one. Custom paint jobs are hardly ever recoverable, so the value of paint is almost negligible since the original paint is adequate for most people.

Step 3. Write out a list of known broken or removed items from your vehicle. Put pricing next to each item on what it would cost to replace or repair these known items. If you removed the entire A/C system from the car, or the interior is missing items, or if your alternator is broken, etc... that is what this list is for. If you have the removed items to give to the new owner, that is a bonus.

Step 4. Go ahead and add the used modification parts pricing list to the KBB value found in Step 1. Then subtract the repairs/removed items list from that total. This will give you an *approximate* asking price for your vehicle. Don't be surprised if you find out it is worth much less than you think it is. If it is too low for you, keep your car!

Remember, this is just a suggestion for calculating pricing, it will not always work for every type of vehicle. It does not factor in any rare or collectible vehicles, as the pricing for those vehicles is whatever someone is willing to pay for them. Keep in mind, that most newer vehicles lose their "collectibility" status if there is more than 5,000 miles on the odometer. Most true collectors won't buy a higher mileage newer car. If your car has been wrecked or had any paint work done, this will also affect your overall price negatively.

Thanks for taking the time to read this, and good luck on the sale!

Originally Posted by pottskies

well, i cant really put it back to stock, unless i buy a stock exhaust system and intake. so im just seeing what the car is worth. New motor and mods on the immaculate 40k mile body. any ideas?