Modified Cars. Yay or nay ?
Discussion
I've just been browsing the classifieds and noticed there are some marques of car where the owners are advertising their cars at above the price of standard cars due to modifications.
The norm appears to be a re-map, "upgraded" suspension and wheels.
An example would be a number of Focus ST's. Re-map to 275 BHP, bigger intercooler, Eibach (or similar) springs, etc. etc. Mountune do a Ford Approved upgrade with slightly less BHP and these cars don't attract much of a premium.
The question is
A) Would you see these modifications as a bonus and be willing to pay for them ?
B) Would this de-value the car ?
C) Would it put you off buying altogether ?
The norm appears to be a re-map, "upgraded" suspension and wheels.
An example would be a number of Focus ST's. Re-map to 275 BHP, bigger intercooler, Eibach (or similar) springs, etc. etc. Mountune do a Ford Approved upgrade with slightly less BHP and these cars don't attract much of a premium.
The question is
A) Would you see these modifications as a bonus and be willing to pay for them ?
B) Would this de-value the car ?
C) Would it put you off buying altogether ?
My Focus is modified, if I were to sell it, it would be returned back to standard. I can get alot more money for the bits by themselves, rather than trying to add their worth onto the sale price of the car. Some people think that because they add £5k of mods, it's worth book price + 5k, ummmm nope.
I drive a modified mk2 golf. although I did buy mine with mod's I did so because it cost less than just building the engine to the same standard. let alone the other thing's.
A remap, s
tty lowering springs with ill matched dampers and a sticker. Is asking for trouble, all this tells you is its been ragged.
Buy a decent one.
VR
Edit: and not modified to cope with that abuse.
A remap, s
tty lowering springs with ill matched dampers and a sticker. Is asking for trouble, all this tells you is its been ragged.Buy a decent one.
VR
Edit: and not modified to cope with that abuse.
Same as what the King said, I have a Focus ST and when it comes to selling i'll put it back to standard (still have all the original parts) and sell the mod's on - plenty of people in the owners club will bite your hand off.
It's no super car granted but a shopping trolley??!
From what I understand other owners find it hard to sell their car's with the mod's on.
It's no super car granted but a shopping trolley??!
From what I understand other owners find it hard to sell their car's with the mod's on.
thinfourth2 said:
Snowboy said:
I see mods like optional extras.
They shouldn't really change the price of the car in the second hand market, they’ll just make it more desirable.
I wouldn't go near 90% of modified carsThey shouldn't really change the price of the car in the second hand market, they’ll just make it more desirable.
They shouldn't really change the price of the car in the second hand market, they’ll just make it more OR A LOT LESS desirable.
There are some decent/sensible mods around on certain cars.
Adjustable coilovers fitted on an 8 year old S2000 or MX5 for example.
A new ecu fitted by a specialist garage.
Cosmetic changes like carbon fibre pretties or new recaros.
On an older car a lot of this stuff could just be consider a maintenance upgrade.
If the standard shocks are knackered and need replacing it make sense to upgrade/mod rather than buy OEM.
All that said – I wouldn't buy a vinyl wrapped Golf with a DIY supercharger, Lidl Lowering springs and a 2ft base bin in the boot.
Depends what the car is and what the mods are. If you want something like a Skyline R33, you will probably not find one unmodified, so if you are set on such a car you need to find out what the "standard" mods are, what is on the car and if any work done has been done to a high standard.
I have modified my cars in the past and will continue to do so in the future. When it comes to selling, I'd remove any modifications and sell those separately, because I always keep the original part. I will be putting a Blitz Nur Spec exhaust on my Civic Type R next year. When it eventually comes to time to sell the car, I would remove it and sell it on it's own, or leave it on if the buyer wants to pay another £250.
The only time I would leave modified parts on a car was if I thought it would really enhance the potential to secure a sale on the car, and even then I would include the original parts in the sale so the owner could return the car to standard.
I have modified my cars in the past and will continue to do so in the future. When it comes to selling, I'd remove any modifications and sell those separately, because I always keep the original part. I will be putting a Blitz Nur Spec exhaust on my Civic Type R next year. When it eventually comes to time to sell the car, I would remove it and sell it on it's own, or leave it on if the buyer wants to pay another £250.
The only time I would leave modified parts on a car was if I thought it would really enhance the potential to secure a sale on the car, and even then I would include the original parts in the sale so the owner could return the car to standard.
Indeed it depends, on numerous things (many of which have already been mentioned).....
Boils down to ... are these the mods you would do ?, who did them (remaps etc) ? Rolling road printout to prove power ? Forum Member ? if so then you can track back their posts or build thread if they have one and go through it in great detail. Many people forget that build threads on any forums are open to anyone even if you do need to create an account.
Boils down to ... are these the mods you would do ?, who did them (remaps etc) ? Rolling road printout to prove power ? Forum Member ? if so then you can track back their posts or build thread if they have one and go through it in great detail. Many people forget that build threads on any forums are open to anyone even if you do need to create an account.
A car is not worth the sum of it's parts. Something people that try to sell a 20 year old hatchback for 8 grand don't seem to understand. As it's a newish car you are after, I'd go after a standard one and if you want to modify it go ahead, at least you will know it was done properly.
Older cars it's different though.
Older cars it's different though.
I suppose there's no real answer, one car could be modified by the best tuners in the world but if it's not your "style" then you're not going to like it. Most cars are modified to one particular owners preference, I have nothing against modifying but I think it's best to start standard and do it yourself or pay someone to do it for you. If it ends up looking ste you've only got yourself to blame. 
te you've only got yourself to blame. DannyScene said:
As others have said it depends on the car and what mods it has. What I don't understand is people who add up what they paid for the mods and add it to the price of the car, surely you lower the price of the mods as they are now 'used'?
Agreed.My view is that if something needs replacing, I replace it with something better. At the point of sale, the car is worth the same, but the mods may differentiate it from others.
For example, when I sold my Chimaera it had benefitted from a top end rebuild and new cam by V8D, and had adjustable suspension installed and setup by Joolz. In the TVR world, these are known quantities. The car sold via word of mouth before the PH ad made it live.
I recently got rid of my e46 M3.
It had over £2000 worth of AP Racing brakes on it, Good quality stiffer anti-roll bars, coilover suspension, ipod adapter etc. So really you can say around £3500 worth of 'good' modifications.
The problem is, it would only be worth ANY extra money to someone who intended to perform those mods anyway, AND trusted that I had them fitted to a high standard.
In reality, I knew I would actually get a bigger return on my investment by returning the car to standard and selling off the aftermarket parts individually (even taking into account the garage labour cost of refitting the original parts).
Very few people want to buy modified cars, sometime even those who intend to modify it themselves anyway.
It had over £2000 worth of AP Racing brakes on it, Good quality stiffer anti-roll bars, coilover suspension, ipod adapter etc. So really you can say around £3500 worth of 'good' modifications.
The problem is, it would only be worth ANY extra money to someone who intended to perform those mods anyway, AND trusted that I had them fitted to a high standard.
In reality, I knew I would actually get a bigger return on my investment by returning the car to standard and selling off the aftermarket parts individually (even taking into account the garage labour cost of refitting the original parts).
Very few people want to buy modified cars, sometime even those who intend to modify it themselves anyway.
Red 4 said:
A) Would you see these modifications as a bonus and be willing to pay for them?
No. Red 4 said:
C) Would it put you off buying altogether?
That particular example, yes. Red 4 said:
B) Would this de-value the car ?
To me as one potential buyer, yes. However if the majority of the buyers of such a car prefer them with certain mods, then no and it might potentially be worth more - to those buyers. But mostly people want something for nothing, so I wouldn't expect inherent value to be increased over a standard example.
thinfourth2 said:
Depends entirely on the car and the modfications
Shopping trolley modified to go faster then wouldn't touch with a barge pole
Proper performance car modified to be better on track i would be intrested
The focus i put in shopping trollel class
What a load of ****. A "proper" performance car that is modified so long as it gets used on a track but modifying any other car (presumably you mean any road car?) is bad?Shopping trolley modified to go faster then wouldn't touch with a barge pole
Proper performance car modified to be better on track i would be intrested
The focus i put in shopping trollel class
So to clarify using the Focus example, standard focus ST = GOOD, Mountune/Pumaspeed/other tuning companies = BAD, any modifications done by anyone else = BAD.
I'm also getting rather bored of the over use of shopping trolley to describe a significant majority of cars available.
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