Let’s say that you have a 1985 Volvo that was in excellent condition for a 1985 model car in the first place and then you give it a new engine, blue mirror finish paint job, leather seats, booming sound system, Lo-jack, GPS Device, Rims and you have TV’s installed in the headrest. The car doesn’t look gawdy but it looks nice.
This isn’t completely hypothetical but it’s not about me… a person could do all that and the car could still be worth a few thousand dollars even though it looks better and runs better than many cars one quarter of it’s age.
What happens if you trade it in, How much $$$ will the car dealer most likely sell it for?
Why wouldn’t the blue book value sky rocket on a car that is in better condition than when it was on the showroom floor?
The problem with a lot of customizations is that they’re only appealing to the original owner, and it doesn’t matter if the car is mechanically sound or not, people aren’t necessarily going to be interested in plunking down a lot of money for a car they think is bizarre looking.
Also, without documentation that you’ve spent money on the mechanicals, people are going to think that you cut corners on that in order to spend it on your neon illuminated wheels.
General practice is to consider aftermarket modifications as depreciation–in other words, pimping will lower the resale value. The exception might be an antitheft system (LoJack).
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First off, I think you need to rethink those assumptions. Someone else can come along and post some gratuitious links to websites dedicated to Rice.
Anyway, on to the real OP. Almost anything you add to the car will indeed raise it’s value for whatever buyer agrees with your aesthetic vision. However, it certainly won’t raise its value more than what you’ve added on. So adding a $1,500 stereo system (pretty non-controversial) might make it worth $3-400 more.
So, this new Volvo will be worth more, but certainly not th price difference put into upgrading it. Also, there are a number of other systems of the car that you haven’t modified that could still crap out on you, so I’m not sure that it’s more reliable either.
Your best bet in selling the new Frankenvolvo will be to an individual seller because a dealer is going to want to have a clear idea of its value based upon market conditions and will be wary of taking on such a unique and therefore risky purchase. If you happen to find a seller that’s just about to kill for a mirror-Blue Volvo with TV’s in the steering wheel, you might do alright.
As an insurance adjuster who evaluates vehicles on a regular basis, I concur with what’s already been posted. I’ll also add that by “pimping” a car, you’ve essentially limited potential buyers to a very small section of the population. It’s only an increase in value to someone who wants exactly what customizations you’ve done.
OK so “pimping” isn’t good because only a few people may like the modifications so what if the Volvo was only restored back to it’s original condition with a few extras like GPS, Lo-Jack, CD player and leather interior.
Less is more?
Restoration is a completely different animal. However, purists will tell you that the only true restoration is to return the vehicle to it’s stock condition. The modifications that you mentioned, though, wouldn’t decrease the value of the car in my opinion. However, it also wouldn’t increase the value very much either.
Exactly. Still, unless the Volvo’s old enough to be considered a “classic” (which is 20 years, IIRC, though it might, in fact, be 30 years), restoration isn’t going to yield big bucks when you resell the car. Unless, of course, it’s a particularly rare or desirable model.
Ok I think I get it but couldn’t you see a car dealer saying “Ok, I will give you 2000 dollars for your restored Volvo” and then the next week selling the car for 10-15 grand?
Not really. Most car dealers aren’t quite that sleazy, since they know that if they do something like that, they’re liable to get sued. Dealers generally go by the NADA book value for a car, and will make you an offer that’s not too absurdly low for your trade in.
Oh, and to help make things really clear for you, allow me to provide you with this thread on a message board devoted to classic Mopars. The car being sold in the eBay auction linked to in the OP has slightly more radical pimping that what you were talking about, but the people mocking it mercilessly are Mopar fans, who would be salivating over that car if it were simply restored.
It depends on the pimping, who the pimper was, whether you have videotapes from the show where it appeared. If most of the stuff is go-fast gear, buyers will assume you have flogged the poor thing, and it’s ready to go belly-up.
If the stereo is earth-shaking, and you can’t read the car’s logo’s from the bass vibrations, and you have the necessary second alternator and extra battery so you can go boom for more than 20 miles without plugging it in, then you might find some eager buyers.
If you took a collector-grade late-60’s musclecar and made it into a hydraulic leaper with a 15-hp sound system, classic car buffs will weep in your driveway. What was worth $20K is now worth half that.
There are exceptions, but usually, when you add up the thousands of hours of loving labor and all the special parts, custom cars might recover the cost of your parts when you sell. You are buying your own pleasure. If that’s worth the expense, then it’s money well spent.
You might also consider getting a professional market appraisal on the car. This will help the owner to develop more realistic expectations as to the cars value, and it will also make settling a theft or collision claim a hell of a lot easier because the car’s exact condition and options will be documented.
A pimped out 85 Volvo? I’d probably consider it “restored” to account for the new paint, interior & engine and then hand the owner a box of tissue while I explain the fuzzy dashboard & spot-weld-smashing stereo are a matter of owner preference and do not significantly add to the car’s market appeal.
Look it up on NADA.com, take high retail, and that’s likely within 10% of the expected selling price of the car. Unless, of course, you sell it in the niche market that drools over this kind of thing.
As a follower of the collector car hobby, the words Volvo and collectible are rarely, if ever, used in the same sentence. At best there is a small group of folks that collect the P1800’s and 544’s but not much else. The latest Hemmings has listings for only 4 Volvos and 3 are project cars. And the newest one is from 1968. The only Volvo I have seen sell at a collector car auction was a 50’s ex army vehicle with a thoroughly modern Chevrolet 4x4 running gear. Other than a few selected specialty cars such as the Monte Carlo SS or Pontiac Grand Prix SJ, there are not many 1985 model cars that will be the highlight of an auto auction in the near or distant future.
Did anyone else see what “Pimp my Ride” did to Lance Armstrong’s GTO?, that was a crime against nature!.
Several years ago I was at a motorcycle club meeting and I was talking to a BMW car salesman, He had a woman come in that day with a 2 year old Maxima (or somesuch) that had been “pimped up” by the dealer (Gold plated trim, silly wheels and a huge distortion generator). This dealer had wrapped up the pimping into the contract and sold her the car on a 7 year deal and she was trying to trade it in on a new BMW, she was so far “upside down” on the car that the BMW dealer couldn’t “do the deal”.