KIT COST V CAR VALUE
Discussion
I hope opinions are that a profit can be made from building your own car.
Even if you can't factor in your labour time and make a gain.
I was wondering what sort of cost the COMPLETE project is compared to the re sale value of various types of kits.
Cobra's seem to demand high values obviously depending on the quality/contents. Is this because the real thing is so expensive thus helping the residual values of kit versions?
The best value 7 could be considered as being the cheapest, or is it the dearest/best 7 that represents the best value for money when it comes to sale time.
How much do you lose/gain having built say a Westfield compared to a scratch built Locost.
Compared to other hobbies I would like to think our chosen weekend activity is good value even if you lose a little when you sell to fund your next kit.
Hopefully you had your value from it measured in fun not cash.
Consider golf. Clubs, clothes, membership/green fees. At some clubs the rates charged make the idea of a Haynes Roadster look like exceptional value to me.
And you can make yourself scream in a Locost, that doesn't happen on the fairway very often, not that I have ever been, I'm guessing.
Can't remember making a profit very often when I have sold a tin top, but kit cars are a potential earner, what do you think?
Even if you can't factor in your labour time and make a gain.
I was wondering what sort of cost the COMPLETE project is compared to the re sale value of various types of kits.
Cobra's seem to demand high values obviously depending on the quality/contents. Is this because the real thing is so expensive thus helping the residual values of kit versions?
The best value 7 could be considered as being the cheapest, or is it the dearest/best 7 that represents the best value for money when it comes to sale time.
How much do you lose/gain having built say a Westfield compared to a scratch built Locost.
Compared to other hobbies I would like to think our chosen weekend activity is good value even if you lose a little when you sell to fund your next kit.
Hopefully you had your value from it measured in fun not cash.
Consider golf. Clubs, clothes, membership/green fees. At some clubs the rates charged make the idea of a Haynes Roadster look like exceptional value to me.
And you can make yourself scream in a Locost, that doesn't happen on the fairway very often, not that I have ever been, I'm guessing.
Can't remember making a profit very often when I have sold a tin top, but kit cars are a potential earner, what do you think?
As far as profit goes i think its a little irrelevant to be honest as after all, it is a hobby. My brother spends all of his spare money on photography equipment, although he is now a commercial photographer he still sees it as a hobby and i would think he would still spend all of his extra money on camera gear wether it was his chosen profession or not. My dad spends all of his spare cash on hifi, he is never going to get a fraction of what he has spent back, but he knows it and he gets joy out of listening to it. Likewise, it should be the same for our hobby. If money is lost on a personal and individual level then so be it, but at least it is what we enjoy and want. Obviously if you want to run things as a business then you have to make money to keep it going. Personally i have two main hobbies. Cycling and my kit car. Most of my spare money and time goes to bits and bobs for the car, but some goes into biking equipment and parts. As a student living away from home things that i want to do for either have to be a goal and work up to them over a long time. As far as value for money is concerned I think it is fantastic. You can literally spend tens of thousands building up a really nice hi fi system and you will only see a few grand back after a few years. Personally, unless running a business, I would never build a kit car to then sell at a profit. They are so individual and have so much character that the owner is actually part of the car itself. The fact that you will see most of what you have spent building it back when you come to sell it is just an added bonus as far as i'm concerned. But i would never buy a kit car with the intention to sell at a profit.
But it is an interesting idea and i would love to see what other peoples views are too.
Niall
But it is an interesting idea and i would love to see what other peoples views are too.
Niall
The Black Flash said:
I thought that the general consensus is that you will never, ever, get back what they cost to build come sale time, even without considering your labour.
I think it rather depends on the demand and rarity. On most kit cars i would have assumed this to be true. But if we take stiggys rocket, you could build one for about £6k and i think you would be able to find a buyer willing to give £7.5k who just doesn't want the hassle of stripping out the donor and the build up. Another example is this pembelton on ebay at the moment. It probably cost no more than 4-5k to build and yet it is up for sale at £6850.It really depends on what you build. I would say most cars sell for less than the cost of the parts.
A Hawk Stratos sells for more than the sum of it's parts. Add labour and I would say you still struggle to break even.
I expect the only time a reasonable profit could be made if it was built to order.
A Hawk Stratos sells for more than the sum of it's parts. Add labour and I would say you still struggle to break even.
I expect the only time a reasonable profit could be made if it was built to order.
The Black Flash said:
I thought that the general consensus is that you will never, ever, get back what they cost to build come sale time, even without considering your labour.
That is my experience too. It might be possible to turn a profit if you a) choose the right car, and b) are really good (quick) at it and have c) carefully sourced the right parts but in the vast majority of cases the loss has to be written to the fun/experience account.When I built my Fury in 2003, it cost me £10k in parts. But over 400 hours to build. Fishers could build one like mine in 150 hours apparently.... When finished at the time I probobly could have sold it for £12k as BECs back then were very rare, in the dozens not hundreds. Fishers then were charging about £15k for a similar Factory build, factor in maybe £2k they made from me from the kit parts, then they maybe made £7k per turnkey car. About £45 per hour for a 150 hour build? Not a huge amount. And they were the GOOD times! Forget making any money in today's climate, just enjoy the build experience and if you do sell you may hopefully get most of your kit outlay back.
If you want to see deprecation of your hobby, try boating.
As the late PM, Edward Heath, a keen sailor, once said, "sailing is akin to standing under a cold shower tearing up five pound notes."
Admittedly that was a few years ago, and would now be "twenty pound notes"
Nah, this kit car malarky is dead cheap. But none of us should expect to make any money on it. I bought my brand new never been on the road completed kit car, nine years after the original builder started it for less than he paid for the original kit of bits. Factor in the cost of the donor ca, his time and expertise and of course what the intital investment was really worth and I got a real bargain.
As the late PM, Edward Heath, a keen sailor, once said, "sailing is akin to standing under a cold shower tearing up five pound notes."
Admittedly that was a few years ago, and would now be "twenty pound notes"
Nah, this kit car malarky is dead cheap. But none of us should expect to make any money on it. I bought my brand new never been on the road completed kit car, nine years after the original builder started it for less than he paid for the original kit of bits. Factor in the cost of the donor ca, his time and expertise and of course what the intital investment was really worth and I got a real bargain.
ColinM50 said:
If you want to see deprecation of your hobby, try boating.
As the late PM, Edward Heath, a keen sailor, once said, "sailing is akin to standing under a cold shower tearing up five pound notes."
Admittedly that was a few years ago, and would now be "twenty pound notes"
Yeah, my mate does sailing and has just splashed out (As the late PM, Edward Heath, a keen sailor, once said, "sailing is akin to standing under a cold shower tearing up five pound notes."
Admittedly that was a few years ago, and would now be "twenty pound notes"
) nearly £10k on a flying moth aquaplaning sailing boat. it can only seat one person and theres only about 6 places where he can place his feet without going through the carbon fibre hull. I think it depends on how good you are at sourcing parts. Westfields are over priced IMO and not worth the cash, they hold their money well because of the cost of parts from Westfield.
If you buy a good kit, shop around for parts and source a good donor or find a sensibly priced engine I think you should break even in most respects.
If you buy a good kit, shop around for parts and source a good donor or find a sensibly priced engine I think you should break even in most respects.
http://www.westfield-sportscars.co.uk/features/wes...
To clarify: am I right in thinking that these kits would be worth less completed than they would cost to buy from the manufacuter?
To clarify: am I right in thinking that these kits would be worth less completed than they would cost to buy from the manufacuter?
BMWChris said:
To clarify: am I right in thinking that these kits would be worth less completed than they would cost to buy from the manufacturer?
Yes.You might be able to make a reasonable profit on a Westfield Eleven, if you don't take into account labour costs, but it's generally rare to find a kit that will fetch more that the cost of building it.
stig mills said:
Can't remember making a profit very often when I have sold a tin top, but kit cars are a potential earner, what do you think?
Not a chance! Most kit cars are not worth the cost of the constituent parts once completed, never mind the time and effort put into it. I paid £14,500 in parts and ended up with a car worth £12,500 at best. Don't know what value I put on my time but it wasn't ever going to cost in.The only reason for doing it was to end up with a bespoke car to my exact spec with supercar performance. If it's just about money, buy a second hand Lotus Elise or something similar and save yourself a load of time and money up front. The low maintenance costs and insurance costs of my Fury R1 are nice but don't justify the initial outlay either.
Rob
rdodger said:
It really depends on what you build. I would say most cars sell for less than the cost of the parts.
A Hawk Stratos sells for more than the sum of it's parts. Add labour and I would say you still struggle to break even.
I expect the only time a reasonable profit could be made if it was built to order.
My Corse cost the builder 24K in parts, and is now worth maybe 20K. The economics of a Hawk HF are the same.A Hawk Stratos sells for more than the sum of it's parts. Add labour and I would say you still struggle to break even.
I expect the only time a reasonable profit could be made if it was built to order.
You might be able to get a second hand part built kit with donor engine and a bunch of parts for less than the cost of a basic kit new form Hawk, but even saving a few thousand that way you might not break even on the deal at the end. You would, however, have a damned nice car
That is assuming you sell the finished car in this country, in Italy a Hawk or Corse might turn up on Ebay asking price 30K. Don't know if they actually get the asking price for them though.
Hmm, if you could sell a Corse for 60K Euros then I think that would count as a profit.
http://www.subito.it/lancia-statos-replica-vicenza...
http://www.subito.it/lancia-statos-replica-vicenza...
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