I'm curious to find out if any of you have traded in or sold a "modded" WRX or STi, and how you think those mods affected the sale/trade-in price. My instincts say that a modded WRX would have terrible trade-in value, because the fact that it is modded 1) implies that it was driven harder than usual and 2) requires a salesman to explain the mods to potential buyers, a complex job at best. Anyone have direct experience of this, and can compare the numbers to bluebook?

 

A modded car, depending on how extensive, doesn't necessarily lose value, but it rarely gains value. If you're going to mod your car, your best bet is to keep your stock parts (or be prepared to buy stock parts back later) and part out your mods prior to selling or trading in your car. This will get you the greatest amount of your money back in most cases.

 

^^
Ditto, mods make the buyer think twice on paying for the car because of possible abuse.

 

Depends on whos looking to buy the car. Most of the people that i see checking out my ride are into the mods and would most likely want it with. I would imagine alot has to do with the general condition of the car as well. I mean all in all if it looks and runs like a drag car and is undrivable then there ya go...... i find that most people that are going for theses cars are aware of the potential. I think that the nitch that is developing around theses cars is only going to grow and the desire with it...

 

So in your opinion the best-case scenario would be to sell the car to a private buyer who is also "into" modded cars; that's probably the route I would take. But I still want to know what a dealer would do with a trade-in WRX that has substantial mods. Also, would taking a modded car "back to stock" before selling it constitute fraud of any kind, if the car wasn't stock for much of its life?

 

i know my dealer strips the car of all moddifications before reselling it because they do offer some warrenty protection, in case of a lease that is. If your going to trade it in as is, assuming you own the car, they are only obligated to give you blue book value.... thats why, in my oppinion, your better off selling to an enthusiest. There are plenty out there in the market for healthy unbeaten modded cars like ours that are willing to maybe pay a little xtra for not having to do it themselves. I did it with motorcycles for a long time. Taking a car back to stock is a HUGE pain in the ***..... take my word for it.