I know a lot of WRX owners are into modding their cars...so I've got a question for you:

From your experiences either buying or selling, is it harder to sell a modified WRX than a stock WRX?

My WRX has been pretty much stock for about a year, and I'm not sure if I should modify it at all if I'm expecting to buy/sell a new one in 5 years or so.

Thanks.

 

a lot of people mod it for the time that they plan on keeping the car. Then de-modding it once they made their mind to sell it and selling the mods and the car itself seperately.

 

the sum of parts tend to be more then the whole. so getting rid of all the mods then a stock ride, tends to make the owner more $$$

 

selling it in five years or so?!!

mod it! damn, that's five years of missed mod-tastic fun!

 

I bought my car modified, and I kinda wish I didn't. You don't know the quality of the installs (as many of mine were ghetto installed) and I had to spend money reinstalling them correctly. Also, with a non-modded car people can choose their own mod path. Though, for 5 years a lot of that won't matter.

 

+1 plus with an unmodded stock car you know most of the mechanicals have not been pushed beyond their limits.

 

Okay 5 years might be a bit longer than I expect to keep it, probably closer to 3 years.

From what I've heard, I guess I'm just going to get a cobb accessport and some rims...better to stop the addiction before it starts.

 

There's "unmodified" and "stock." A car that has never been modded is the easiest to sell, followed by a lightly modded one, then one that has been returned to stock after modding, then a heavily modified car. Aside from the reliability issues, people who leave their mods on their car when they sell it don't usually get as much money for it as they think they should. Selling a car with no mods on it is easier to negotiate, because of use car pricing guides being accepted pretty much by everyone. Mods throw that out the window though. Also, if you have a lot of mods, potential buyers will be put off with ones they wouldn't have done, or would have chosen a different part. If all your mods aren't really nice high end stuff, then you'll have a lot of trouble becuase of that.

My advice to you is to do purely bolt-on mods, ones that improve the car in your opinion, and save every single one of your stock parts. Come time to sell it or trade it in, you have an uninstall-fest and probably get a good piece of change for your next car or next mods.

 

OH so very true... you MUST do that. Don't sell them to get a few bucks from them... I still have every single stock part that came off my car

 

Really? Even the stock wheels? Those are the only stock items I have considered selling

 

Not necessarily stock, but you'll definitely want to have a cheap set of wheels on hand when it's time to sell.

 

save them for winter tires.

 

yes, i concur with the last 4 posts. just pull the parts. i just sold my vw, most of it was stock, but i felt i should have gotten more, espically since i got under blue book with suspension and exhaust still on the car. but even still, i pulled around 3 grand off the car prior to selling it. i had been asking about 2-3 grand over blue book about 6 months prior to FINALLY selling it.

yay subaru!!!

 

ohh yeah, almost forgot, there is a smaller market out there looking for a modified wrx because of reliabilty issues and what not, so consider that too.

 

Those are the only stock part I didn't keep, well... actually I kinda did. I traded my wheels for '00 RS wheels which are slightly wider. I use those for daily driver tires M+S and then I have other wheels for auto-x and stuff.