For those that have sold a modded car, what has been your experience in selling it? I am thinking of modding my '01 coupe with a supercharger. I probably will keep the car for another few years after modding. I am curious how this will affect resale value.

I can't tell much from the "for sale section" because prices seem all over the map. Assuming I add 8k of mods, how will this affect resale value? What % of mod investment should I expect to get above an unmodded car? Is it ~50%? Will this make the car more difficult to sell? Just curious.

 

IMHO - the answer is, "it depends" - is the person an informed/educated buyer or not, and what does that person plan to do with the vette (go to the track and leverage the mods, or simply make it a fair weather daily driver).

Documentation is key! Parts & labor receipts and maintenance paperwork. The more recognized names in the performance industry that perform the mods and services, along with the quality of parts installed often have a higher re-sale value.

The seller needs to market their modded car to a buyer community that is familiar and wants a modded vette (saving them dollars, etc.) vs. buyers that say, "What do you mean no warranties? Why doesn't it run like stock?"

Bottom line: Do the mods for YOU and enjoy them to the max, realizing you're probably not going to recoup half the investment made. If you maintain that perspective, you'll be happy as owner and seller.

 

I specifically asked this question of a reputable recognized supporting dealing of this and other Corvette sites. The answer was, "It depends". If you can find a buyer yourself that understands, appreciates, and WANTS the mods you made, you can ask for more than an unmodded vehicle and recoupe part of your investment. But if you just take it to any dealer, they are not going to want to pay you more for it, because chances are they will either have a MORE difficult time reselling the car or have to invest their own money to put things back closer to stock to make it more appealing to the average buyer. If your goal is to recoupe your investment, you need to try and find your own buyer. If you haven't got that much invested in mods, then enjoy them and don't worry about it - just take what you can get from a trade-in. Another option is to remove the mods yourself when it comes time to sell. Even if it costs you a few dollars to have someone else remove an expensive supercharger, the VALUE of it is well worth it, AND it could be on you next vehicle. Hope this helps.

 

I stay away from modded cars. They are usually tracked or beat down. I'd rather have a stock car. But to each his own.

 

It's kind of similar to selling a house with a swimming pool. If you find a buyer who wants one, you can get 50% of it. If your buyer is indifferent about it, it adds nothing. If your buyer doesn't want one, you will take a total loss and then some. Even if you find a buyer who wants one, he will likely act as though he doesn't, and then again, he might not like your brand or style.

 

I read somewhere, don't know where because I am a total car nut and read lots of magazines, web sites, etc., that the sale price of a car with mods will be reduced from that of a "stock" car by an amount equal to the total cost of the mods.

Prolly true, UNLESS the seller can find an educated buyer. And it's amazing how uneducated a buyer becomes when negotiating a price.

 

This gentleman certainly represent 95% of the buying public and those folks want stock vettes.

I have modded SIGNIFICANTLY 4 different C5s (over the last 7 years) and can tell you that the rule of thumb is you can expect to get 0 to 25% back on your mod money, and the car is 95% more difficult to sell as most vette guys are purists like the gentleman above, and they think all modded vettes have been beat on, etc., etc.

Here is da rule. You mod for you and yourself only, realizinig that you will get 0 to 25% of your mod $ back if and when you sell and selling to the PUBLIC if VERY TUFF (just look at the C5 for sale section)!

Now, for a guy who wants a high performance professionally modded C5 (like myself if i was in the market and did not have one already) and that is small percentage of the buying public, buying one already modded is a great way to go for that buyer b/c of the reasons stated above!

 

When I was shopping for my C5 I stayed away from any modded cars. An unmolested car is a clean slate and its much easier to tell what you are getting into.

My honest opinion is that you should expect to get none of your mod money back and you will have an exponentially more difficult time selling your car. I have seen many many people sell all their mods and return their car to as close to OE as possible before selling.

 

Here is another classic examply of why I posted the way i did in post # 7 above. To the poster of this thread, if you mod with a supercharger that is a great way to go, b/c if you sell the car you will want to de-mod it back to stock to sell, and then sell your performance parts seperately, and just slapping on a supercharger and then taking it off is the best way to go to do this (and you wil get your best return on your $ and car will not be so hard to sell when you trade it back in to a dealer on a new Z06)!

 

 

this is the reason a modded car is harder to sell than an un modded car. My car has 65000+ miles on it, has never been tracked, and I'll put it up angainst any non-tailer queen as far as contition, but the mods still will cause a buyer to think its been "beat down". However, I've got a list of 7 people , in cluding my GM mechanic, who know the car and want a shot at buyinf it if I decide to sell.

 

is that a vette?

 

I bought my 2000 used....And I wanted one with no mods.....I also bought it from florida were it was its whole life.....No worries about it being in any bad weather.

 

There is a clean 2001 C5 in The Dallas Morning News Classified section.. It is a Lingenfelter modded supercharged car w 67k miles. $23,000. It has not moved in over a week.. Here in Dallas, the C5s go real quick.. Just an example

 

Forget trade-ins too. Dealers wont take modded cars.

Some cases not even as little as after market mufflers / exhaust.

Modding your car is for YOU. Not for an investment or resale.

So go ahead have fun and mod away.

If you plan to sell the vette down the road, keep the stock parts to put back on and sell your moded parts on flee-bay

 

650k miles, is that a typo? Did you mean 65k miles?

 

sorry one "0" too many. 65k is correct

 

I sell peoples cars on ebay, and I have a friend who sells peoples cars and also buys cars and sells them there too. We have been doing this for many years and can say this for modded cars. Just to sum up what was said here as there were a lot of good and true points made.

It is VERY RARE that you will see any kid of benefit in the price by modifying the car. In many cases the car will even sell for LESS than the identical car would unmodded. There is always exceptions to the rule, sometimes people just "gotta have it" and end up paying more. But if you mod the car, mod it for you, because whatever money you spend is gone out the window.

THE ONLY time that modded cars see extra money is when its a serious custom job, documented and built at a pro shop, and even then they usually take a bath on what it cost to build the car. It may sell for more than an equivalent unmodded one, but nowhere near what went into it.

The best pieces of advice in this thread (aside from just expecting to lose the money) is to save the stock parts and return the car to stock when you plan on selling. Don't drill holes or cut things or anything that can't be repaired to stock or stock looking. Then sell the mods here or on ebay.

 

A car is only worth what the seller is willing to sell it for and/or the buyer is willing to pay for it (no matter how much money has been put into it).
If a buyer likes exactly what the seller did to a car, it might be the perfect deal...but it's highly unlikely.
I've built and sold modified frame off tri five Chevy cars and never made more money than what I put into them. I never made anything for my labor, either.
When I was looking for my first Corvette, I specifically avoided any cars that were modified. For one thing, it usually means that the car may have been abused (by my definition, which is all that matters to me).
I also wanted to make any changes to the car myself, not stuck with what someone else thought was appropriate.
And finally, I've read to many stories about an owner attempting to perform DIY changes to their car, only to have something go horribly wrong...stripped bolts, broken bolts, broken parts, poor performance results from mismatched/poor planned projects, etc. I didn't want to be stuck with their problems.

 

10000%. This sums it up perfectly!