It's amazing to me to look in the classified section and see parts for sale that are either NEW, or used for like 3 or 6 months and then sold for far less than what they paid for them. Turbo kits, wheels, body kits, built motors, big brake kits etc. etc.

None of this makes sense. People invest sometimes $20-$30,000 in parts and labor only to sell it after a few months of use. Are people really that wealthy here they can take a financial hit like that?

It's my opinion the people who do this can't afford to mod in the first place, do it, and then realize they can't pay the rent and sell the parts.

I modded my car with the intention of keeping it. I couldn't throw that money away like that. What a waste! It would also kill me to see someone driving my car around for far less than I paid and far less agrevation than it took me to create it.

Are people putting themselves into the poor house to have a set of wheels or a turbo kit only to sell it 6 moths later? What the hell are they thinking?

JET

 

Flip-floppers?

 

Its either mad money or poor planning. Consider posts that read like this:

I have to sell my Z. Had it for 12 months but can no longer afford it.

For sale: SuperX1000 cat-back exhaust. 1,000 miles. I want something that sounds more exotic.

Anyone have any good used tires for sale? Just put a $5,000 body kit on the car and can not afford new tires.

 

I know when I supercharged my prelude I ended up parting it out about 6 months later after I kept having different problems with it. I decided it was better to just buy a car with more power. A lot of people (including myself) go into Turbo/Supercharging there car and then find out its not as realiable as they thought it would and bail on the project...

Other people like you metion get over there head financially.. They get caught up with the excitment of moding there car and charge $10k-$15k on there credit cards and then a month later when the bill comes in they find themselves in trouble...

Then you got those people who are continuosuly modding there car and so they are constantly changing parts.... They usally have a decent job so they can afford to do so...

 

It's just unbelievable how much stuff their is for sale in the classifieds.

JET

 

I'd be carefull with people you don't know tho, lots of scams out there.. Although im sure most of the stuff is legit..

 

Yeah, but its their loss and out win

 

I passed on a few motors when I was looking at for my engine build because they came from mystery cars.... they couldn't tell me what cars they came from. I wanted to see matching VIN's from the engine to the car. A few of the sellers couldn't do it. They had just happened to come upon a Z motor out of thin air.

JET

 

It is amazing, but many buy something and then realize they don't like it.

 

That's somewhat of an assumption. I dropped over 20k into the Z as you mention and I'm parting it out myself. It wasnt a issue of me being able to handle payments or whatever. All mods and the car have been paid in full for over a year. I've had the majority of my my mods for nearly 3 years, before everyone else started going crazy so I feel i got my moneys worth. Simply put the car will not sell nearly as easy with the mods then selling it in stock condition. Not to mention from what I have seen you will make more money parting out because there are things that a potential buyer just wont care for hence won't jusitfy them on the buying price. There is no question you lose your *** on mods when you resell them. Doing so after 3 months is dumb, I agree but to each his own. A lot of people bought off more than they could chew. I'm sure you all can recall how many people have traded in or sold their Z's after very short amounts of time due to not being able to afford them. If anything look at it in a positive light. You can get barely used parts for drastically lower than the market value and who would ever know? Personally I'm taking it apart because I'm going to buy a BMW 335 and will have no use for this car. After all the time and money I've put into it, it's not easy getting rid of it let alone stripping it apart but that's life. I never bought the car assuming i was going to keep it for 10 years. It was just the "next car". Just my 2 cents on the other side of the spectrum.

 

From my perspective I wanted to build a car with supercar performance for a whole lot less than say a Viper, or a Z06. I have done that. What else will I trade up to. The only supercar I would get would be a Gallardo or F430. Both are out of my price range right now, and both have slightly less performance. So where to go from here? No where to go until I find that Gallardo. But then I still wouldn't sell the Z. A lot of thought and effort, and money and problem solving has gone into my Z to make it work. Suspension, engine, body, wheels etc.

JET

 

All i have to say is THANK GOD for the "for sale" threads. With out that, i wouldn't have a TT kit, fuel upgrades, UTEC, bumper, wheels, brakes, suspension, etc. etc. etc. for under $8k EASY. Some stuff i bought because the deal was just sooo good, i knew i could turn it for a profit later on down the road when another "WTB" thread pops up. Like my complete nitrous kit i bought for $85 or my Kinetix intake manifold for $300 shipped. Simply AMAZING. Take a look at my iTrader rating and my join date. These deals are just too good to pass up!

 

sometimes parts dont work together...

 

I think its more of people wanting to get rid of their Z's. Most people mod their Z's and when they want to sell the Z they put back on the stock parts and sell the aftermarket parts. You get more money that way most of the time.

 

some mods you wont know how it sounds, feels, etc until u try it. its also a hobby to part out and part it together agian

 

i just listed my Z for sale, after just over a year of ownership and a good AUD $17K spent on it

i toyed with the idea of parting it out, but really cbf taking days off work, organising parts to be dropped off at mechanics, getting suspension/camber re-aligned, so ive decided to just advertise the car as is, with a premium price

if that doesnt work, then id consider parting it out

when i first started modding, i thought id have the car for 2-3 years at the least, but find myseld wanting something bigger and better already, and have to bite the bitter pill that was cash wasted. But you only live once, and learn from your mistakes

next car wont be so heavily modded ..........yeah right ive already got shipping prices on an Active Autowerke exhaust and Bilstein PSS9 coilovers

 

For me, the building is the fun part, not the driving. Once I get a car built up how I want it, I usually sell it to someone who wants a car like that but doesn't have the skills to build one or I part it out and find a new project. It's an expensive hobby, but I love it.

I recently sold my '01 Tiburon with only 21K miles on it. I bought it brand new and started modding it right away. I achieved my goal of making 200 crank HP N.A. and then got bored (stock, it was 137HP). I sold it to some kid who wanted to have a little fun surprising Hondas for $6500. I had more than $6500 just in the engine.

For me, cars aren't investments, they're toys.

EDIT: I also traded in my '97 WS6 towards the Hyundai. When I went to trade it in with all of my parts installed, the dealer offered me $9500 for it. I then went home and removed a bunch of parts. I sold the parts to members of my car club for $6K. I then traded the car in. The trade in value without the aftermarket parts was only $500 less. So, instead of getting $9500 for the car, I got $15K after parting it out.

 

May be they just stopped being a pathetic loser and started making millions. Or their daddy bought them a new Porsche (which they pronounce as "porch") so they're selling the Z to buy an aftermarket turbonator for the 911.

 

Hey Jet, you know alot of people mod there cars not really knowing how much time and money are involved. When they finally get to were they wanna be they say damn this stuff it is alot more than I thought it would be. That is just on the body kit area, not including the 10k plus for motors.
I did not mod my car with out havinf the intentions of keeping it.

 

In the end, stock rules. *duck*