Hey fellas...

Got a lil something on my brain. I was thinkin about goin with bags, maybe as my christmas present to myself but then i started thinkin. Is all this really worth it. I mean to me...yea i like what i like and thats just the way it is. And i already know i'm proably not gonna get not nearly any return on investment on any of these mods. So here's my question. To anyone that has bags, coliovers cut fenders, new interior or any LS, GS or ES for that fact thats heavily modded ever sold there car, or traded it in? And if so what'd the stealership offer? I mean personally i love my car but i'm not gonna keep it forever. One (sad) day i'll sell it or trade it in and i just dont want some idiot to say well hey its a nice car "but".....we cant give you not nearly what you want for it.

Know what i mean??

 

I always have the same thoughts in the back of my head . I never own a car more than 3-4 years so I always trade them in for something newer . I try to do mods that are reverseable , just keep all your oem parts that way when it comes time to put it back to normal you can do so. I kept everything down to the stock bulbs

 

^^ said it right there.. my LS is still for sale and everything i did is reversible.. alarm is off exhaust coming off this week subs and tints is waiting on buyer because those are easy take off's

 

Yea i guess you guy are right but then you can never really have the car you want you know. But lets say "racinstyle" for example. His LS is !! What can he hope for as far as trade in value or return on investment?

 

There is no trade in for that car. Cars like that go with you to the grave

You do the mods for the "love" of the hobby, so don't expect any return in monetary value

Like mine, most of the mods are reversible and whatever isn't, it's a freebie for the next owner

 

this is my 6th lightly to moderately modded car (gs400). i have usually spent between 2k to 12k on each car thus far and i have never gotten anything more than an extra 1k when trying to sell any of these cars, and that is to a private party. i just took my gs400 to the stealerships last month looking to trade it in on a 05 UL LS430 and was offered like 6-7k when i still owe 11k. they (stealerships) will tell you to take off any mod that you actually want to keep because they could care less.

at least i could take my 6k lowenhart rims off of my last car (nissan gloria -- in japan) before i sold it for nothing and put the rims on my gs. stereos (head units, subs, & amps) can usually be taken off fairly easily and put into newer vehicles. mods like this (rims, stereos) are the first ones i always do cuz at least if the next buyer doesn't like them you can take them with you.

body kits, tint, suspension upgrades, grills, hid kits/ lights, big brake kits, & performance upgrades are usually the ones that will just be a bonus for the next buyer like gs3tek mentioned above^^. these can often set your car apart when a private party is trying to decide between a stock version or a modded version, but lately the market is so flooded with used vehicles i can't figure out how to actually sell mines without taking a huge hit.

 

This is always tough

 

I guess this sums it all up huh.

 

1st of all, I used to be a heavy modder, so I have nothing against modding, I loved it. With that being said:

Not only mods don't worth anything extra, on top of that, modded cars in general is harder to sell, and to the general public, it worth less then a stock car because it is not what they want. Mods are extremely specific, you are the only one who appreciate it, that is why stock car are so boring and generic, because Lexus have to make them to fit most people's taste.

The only way a modded car worth more then a stock one is you found someone that love what you did to your car, share the same taste with you, but the chance of finding that guy is very slim.

The heavier the mods, the worse it is, cars like racinstyle is like what GS3Tek said, you take it to the grave because there are probably 2 people in this world would buy it, and the chance of finding those 2 guys is like winning the lottary.

A few examples I came across recently, there is a brand new 07' LS460 sitting in front of my local Lexus dealer for more then 1 year, no body want it, why? Because the dealer modded it pretty hard, it got 22s on it, a big body kit and lowered, a year or 2 go by, no body wanted it. Who ever came up with the idea of modding it is probably fired, since they are gonna take a major hit on it, losing $30k~$40k on it easily, if they ever get lucky to be able to get rid of it.

I knew a guy was trying to sell his 04' E320, it got some cheap chrome 20s on it, I told him the 1st day he put it on sale, nobody is gonna buy it with those 20s, he said I am stupid because dubs are cool, his car worth so much because of it. One year later, he had to put the stock wheels back on in order to get it sold.

Modding is for your own enjoyment, expect nothing from it.

 

Exactly what he said... couldnt have said it any better.

I would never look at modding as a form of investment, because its quite the opposite. I usually do reversible mods that i can usually part out and sell, and return the car to stock form.

 

For all my previous cars that wasn't a trade in, I was lucky to have buyers buy my cars because of the mods. I usually don't go to the extreme and try to do very clean mods.

I had a 15-1/2 year old girl begging their parent to buy my Honda S2000 (which they did) because of the specific mods I've done to the car. Same goes with my Mercedes SL with custom built sub in the jump seat. I advertised with the mods shown and have sold every time.

 

+1 on what BNR34 said.

I still mod my car for myself, enjoy the process, and didn't expect much for return when I try to sell it.

I just sold my SC with over 10000 in mods for cheap, well, the day you starting modding the car, expect the money you put in is GONE.

 

Really mild and clean mods, that people actually can use and appreciate, is an exception to what I said.

Huge wheels with rubber band tires, chassis sitting on the ground, people love to see it at a show, but don't want it as their daily driver. I love the look of 20s on LS430 and the slammed look too, but after considering all the pros and cons, I much rather stay with the stock 18s and lowered slightly.

Is all personal preference at the end.

 

Mods only have "value" the person who installs them, or if they're lucky, another buyer that sees values in them. To the unbeknownst... a dropped LS might look like a vehicle with bad suspensions because it's riding so low. Even when you tell them you dropped it and it's better, in the back of their mind they're thinking "ah, this guy is BS'ing me..."

Rule of thumb, don't expect anything for mods if you sell private to a regular joe. Just not gonna happen...