koksik

iTrader: (6)

Really?? Any pics?

MrPhung

Spent $6500 in one month,gonna spend another $2000 in the coming months.So,only spent $6500 so far,only got the car this year.

NorCalIS

iTrader: (5)

After dropping well over 4 grand on my Tahoe, and somewhere around there on my Subaru, I am proud to say only $200 on is250, than again I've only had it about a month .

MBTC

Question for modders - do you recoup any of these costs upon reselling the car? Seems like modding would actually devalue the car itself, plus you'll never get close to what you paid for the mod parts.

Just curious how all this works, obviously I'm not a modder so its an honest question.

Brian@Vossen

Over the years.....don't get me started lol

kingster

Uh, let's just put it this way;

I invest 8k on my wife's brand new silicone implants, (there is mod)
then 10k on a face lift (there a major mod) a little while later invest 4k on liposuction in all the fluffy areas. To complete the modes, I invest 2K on teeth restoration and zoom whitening, hair extensions and coloring, send her to the saloon for touch ups here and there. Now, I have invested well over 24k on my wife's mods. Am I happy? Hell yeah! Kind of artificial but I will definitely enjoy her for at least 10 years, before I have to re-do some of those mods again.

I will never see my money again. Life insurance will pay only a million not more not less. Did I enjoyed her for at least ten years? Was my moneys worth? Were the mods exactly what I had in mind? Was my wife better looking over my neighbores, friends and other dudes? Hell yeah to all!

That's the feeling I had when I invested 15K in my car. I did not care how much. I just cared how cool my ride will look. Comptetition played a big role here. Maybe some adiction too. All I wanted was to have the best, coolest ride on the boulevard or car show. All i cared about was the enjoyment and great feeling produced by riding on a really cool ride. My ride turned heads here and there. I enjoyed these feelings for at least 5 years. I never worried about trade-in or selling the car. I don't thing people who invest that much money ever think or worry about these things.

Now, let's say my wife left me for sombody else. Did I ever worried she will leave me? NO! Some of us do learn from our past experiences. Therefore, I wil not invest that much money with the next wife to come. So, my first cool ride got stolen and I learned not to spend that much money on my rides ever again.

Kind of dum anology some might say, but I could not think of any other way to explain it to you.

Others might have other experiences or opinions. This one was mine.

Good luck

MBTC

I think what you're saying my best "bang for the buck" would be to date divorcees that have already had all their work done and drive used cars that someone else already modded? Fair enough

But yeah I understand we all have hobbies and those hobbies cost money -- and if someone has 15-20k to throw out the window and its what they like to do, then fine. I worry about those who put all of this on a credit card so they can make payments on it, and what those sort of habits have done to our economy overall but that's a different story.

But I really was interested to know if folks tear down the mods and try to restore the car to factory as best they can, and sell the mods for parts when possible, or if they just call the whole thing a wash and a lesson learned like you said?

Sffd103

iTrader: (16)

Well...I've spent the 22K on my wife....who now is my EX!! I've had cars modded and sold....NEVER recoup the money spent!! Do I care ****** it!! You only live once and I'm not taking ANY $$$$$ to my grave!!

kingster

Since my ride got stolen in the 80's, I really did not have a chance to do either. Since nobody rally thinks about the future, at least I don't, we sell almost all OEM parts at franction of the dollar and when it comes to re-sell or trade-in our cars, we just got to take the loss. Imagine, taking off all the mods will require replacing them with the OEM parts and if you no longer have them, you will have to buy used/or new ones that at the end will cost you about the same thing. Why get stressed and waste valuable time! Some people do keep some of their parts in storage. Then, you will see on ebay, craigslist or other sites where people are selling their mods. Some others just sells them to friends. Have you seen the trade or sell market on this site. You can have an idea what people do with mods they no longer want or for some reason or other they must sell for much less than retail price.

Well, the economy is not bad because of people like us, in the contrary, we are helping the economy by consuming. We, consumers keep the economy going. If you do not spend/consume regardless on what you purchase, the economy goes down. Just imagine all the people that in one way or the other provide some kind of service for a single product bught either over the counter or by the www.beb. We are crating jobs. We keep those people employed. They bring the check home to provide for their families just like you and I. You probably at some point in your life have bought a pair of shoes, pants or a household item that never used/need. Does that mean if two thousand people did the same thing, the economy will go down. We, Lexus enthusiasts are the very, very small % buying products for our vehicles just for looks or satisfaction. We are free of blame for what's going on with the economy. Blame the rich for not paying taxes or not enough. Millions of unemployed people not spending. Now, who is hurting the economy.
Thanks to whom.

This economy topic is too complex. I will leave it alone. Enjoy your Lexus is a nice car.

Thanks for the discussion.

MBTC

Yeah I didn't really want to go too far down that road either, but just to clarify let me say I was not implying modders or folks who choose to pour expendable income into their car are bad for the economy. I'm talking about people who live beyond their means, charge everything to credit cards then default on loans, undermining the banking system.

I say as long as you can afford it, we all have our vices / hobbies / occasionally frivolous spending habits. I also think a key to happy life overall is minimizing my regrets, and I've also learned that what makes me happy today is not necessarily the same thing that will make me happy in the future, so its nice to have an ace in the hole so to speak.