V8 performance upgrade - difficult to sell afterwards?

[sc11eng]

Hi All,

I am thinking of some sort of performance upgrade for my V8; probably Bamford Rose exhaust kit etc.

But will it be difficult to sell my car when the time comes?

Are dealers reluctant to part X a modified car? Are Aston dealers allowed to sell modified cars even?

Will the modifications actually de-value the part exchange value of the car?

I am just thinking that I wouldn't like to be in a position to have to spend time and money to 'standardise' the car prior to selling.

Apologise for so many questions

[Bravo73]

Most people in that position return the car as close to 'stock' as possible and then sell the performance parts elsewhere.

The money recovered from selling the secondhand parts will more than cover the cost of removing them.

[moveover]

So many of us here are familiar with Bamford Rose's superb quality work, I suspect if you sold it through PH there'd be plenty of interest in the upgrades.

[Bravo73]

moveover said:

So many of us here are familiar with Bamford Rose's superb quality work, I suspect if you sold it through PH there'd be plenty of interest in the upgrades.

I'm not sure if that's actually the case, I'm afraid.

A 'BR'd' V8V appeared for sale over the summer. I don't know if it ever sold in the end, or for what price, but it was definitely still for sale several weeks after I posted this thread:

http://www.pistonheads.com/gassing/topic.asp?t=132...

Saying that though, there is a very ready market for secondhand BR bits. I, for one, would be interested in manifolds and cats, if they came on the market.

[Quinny]

Personally, if I were looking at 2 similar cars, one with engine tuning and one without, all things being equal, paintwork overall condition etc..... I'd buy the standard car..

[Laser Sag]

Bravo73 said:

I'm not sure if that's actually the case, I'm afraid.

A 'BR'd' V8V appeared for sale over the summer. I don't know if it ever sold in the end, or for what price, but it was definitely still for sale several weeks after I posted this thread:

http://www.pistonheads.com/gassing/topic.asp?t=132...

Saying that though, there is a very ready market for secondhand BR bits. I, for one, would be interested in manifolds and cats, if they came on the market.

With so many buyers of these cars being obsessed with low mileage examples I think the mileage on that one was always going to be more of an issue than the BR parts fitted.

[Speculatore]

Main dealers love professionally modified cars. They give you the standard 'Glass Guide' price for it and then market it as a 'Professionally Modified Car' at a considerable mark up.

[Ikebaddog]

Quinny said:

Personally, if I were looking at 2 similar cars, one with engine tuning and one without, all things being equal, paintwork overall condition etc..... I'd buy the standard car..

Same here.

[David W.]

Ikebaddog said:

Quinny said:

Personally, if I were looking at 2 similar cars, one with engine tuning and one without, all things being equal, paintwork overall condition etc..... I'd buy the standard car..

Same here.

+2

[snuffy]

I'd say you are limiting your market as the majority of potential owners want a standard car, as it left the factory. Of course, other people will like the idea of upgrades. But I'd say you'd alienate more buyers than you would attract buyers because of the mods.

Also, you never get anywhere near the up upgrade cost when selling.

And I'm not convinced about swapping the old parts back either, it's a bit impracticable in reality. Say you buy the BR exhaust and manifold, if you want to keep the AM parts, where are you going to stick that lot ? I'd have no where to store it.

[Bravo73]

snuffy said:

Say you buy the BR exhaust and manifold, if you want to keep the AM parts, where are you going to stick that lot ? I'd have no where to store it.

Erm, in a garage, loft, shed, barn, storage unit etc etc??? Anywhere that you might use for, er, storage?

[snuffy]

Bravo73 said:

snuffy said:

Say you buy the BR exhaust and manifold, if you want to keep the AM parts, where are you going to stick that lot ? I'd have no where to store it.

Erm, in a garage, loft, shed, barn, storage unit etc etc??? Anywhere that you might use for, er, storage?

Depends on how big your house is. My garage just has my car in it, there's little space for anything else. An end of end full exhaust is not small, in fact, it's as long as the car ! You must have a bloody big shed if you can get a full exhaust system in it. And I don't have a barn, or stables come to that. My thing is a can't be doing with cluttering crap.

Either way, you ain't going to get your money back on upgrades and you'll reduce your potential market. I'm not saying I've not upgraded previous cars (because I have), but when it comes to sell they were not worth 1p more than a standard one would have been.

[jonby]

sOld privately to someone on this forum, a BR modded car will sell well and appeal

Within the dealer network, unless BR becomes a household name, it is unlikely to help being modded

To a private buyer not on here, whether looking at the car in a showroom or in a private ad, any performance mod on any car will normally be a negative - conjures up images of the car being driven aggressively, more track days, etc. Not necessarily true, but I believe it's likely to be the standard reaction.

When I upgraded the exhaust on my last car, I kept the standard one, swapped it back before resale, got good money on the used performance backbox. Did the same when I upgraded my V12VR so if I do ever sell the car, can swap backboxes back before resale

But backboxes are an awful lot easier to swap back than complete manifold systems which involve bigger time costs, more storage space and costs in getting the OEM stuff shipped about (you can't put the manifolds in your boot on fitting, re-fitting, etc) - that's where it's a harder call. If it were not for the fact that I suspect there isn't a huge market for used OEM manifolds, I'd say you are better off selling the OEM hardware that comes off when you get the BR set-up fitted, to contribute to the overall financial equation

Bottom line, it will be several years before there is sufficient evidence of BR cars on the used market to fully tell what the effects are. If BR become more of a household name, could be a different story

Edited by jonby on Monday 23 December 13:34

[whoami]

Speculatore said:

Main dealers love professionally modified cars. They give you the standard 'Glass Guide' price for it and then market it as a 'Professionally Modified Car' at a considerable mark up.

Can't say that I've ever seen that.

[Quinny]

whoami said:

Speculatore said:

Main dealers love professionally modified cars. They give you the standard 'Glass Guide' price for it and then market it as a 'Professionally Modified Car' at a considerable mark up.

Can't say that I've ever seen that.

Same here..... I suspect most dealers would use the opportunity to kick you in the balls harder than usual

[jonby]

whoami said:

Speculatore said:

Main dealers love professionally modified cars. They give you the standard 'Glass Guide' price for it and then market it as a 'Professionally Modified Car' at a considerable mark up.

Can't say that I've ever seen that.

what, you've never come across a dealer that tells you any spec/extras you mention as a +ve (when you're selling) adds no value to the car, only for them to then use those very same features as an excuse for the buyer to pay more ?

[snuffy]

jonby said:

what, you've never come across a dealer that tells you any spec/extras you mention as a +ve (when you're selling) adds no value to the car, only for them to then use those very same features as an excuse for the buyer to pay more ?

Someone I know bought something or other a few years ago and the dealer told him the wheels on the car made it much more desirable. He bought the car in the end but did not like it, so he went back to the same dealer a few months later and was told "Those wheels, you see, not very popular, makes it difficult to sell". He almost ttted him !

[whoami]

jonby said:

whoami said:

Speculatore said:

Main dealers love professionally modified cars. They give you the standard 'Glass Guide' price for it and then market it as a 'Professionally Modified Car' at a considerable mark up.

Can't say that I've ever seen that.

what, you've never come across a dealer that tells you any spec/extras you mention as a +ve (when you're selling) adds no value to the car, only for them to then use those very same features as an excuse for the buyer to pay more ?

Yes, I've had the unique insight into the mind of a car salesman one many, many occasions.

However, I've never noticed main dealers being particularly enamoured by "professionally modified cars" (rather than options that you are referring to).

Different thing altogether.

[michael gould]

Quinny said:

Personally, if I were looking at 2 similar cars, one with engine tuning and one without, all things being equal, paintwork overall condition etc..... I'd buy the standard car..

so would I......modified cars say to me that this car has been driven hard and probably tracked.

[jonby]

whoami said:

jonby said:

whoami said:

Speculatore said:

Main dealers love professionally modified cars. They give you the standard 'Glass Guide' price for it and then market it as a 'Professionally Modified Car' at a considerable mark up.

Can't say that I've ever seen that.

what, you've never come across a dealer that tells you any spec/extras you mention as a +ve (when you're selling) adds no value to the car, only for them to then use those very same features as an excuse for the buyer to pay more ?

Yes, I've had the unique insight into the mind of a car salesman one many, many occasions.

However, I've never noticed main dealers being particularly enamoured by "professionally modified cars" (rather than options that you are referring to).

Different thing altogether.

Yep, I can see where you're coming from. I thought you're first comment was that you hadn't seen the absence of a premium offered for performance mods, not that it actually devalues car. I'm sure dealers concern is the same as the point I made earlier, from both their point of view for getting the car ship shape for sale and the potential buyers of the car - performance mods often worry people that the car has been driven more aggressively - the stereotypical 'one lady owner' car description is not likely to fit a car with performance mods.......