I wouldn't buy a car with engine or suspension mods

usually means they were racing the car, ergo more wear on the car then the mileage indicates.
More possibility of something going wrong (from experience)

 

I think it's clear from the variety of answers that most people don't want a car someone else has modified. Even the ones enthusiastic about the idea are limiting their approval to mods done by a shop they would use themselves. Now list twenty shops you find on the internet and ask those modding enthusiasts which ones they would use. Two? Maybe five of those you listed? Ten? Very unlikely.

My point? A car being offered for sale with mods is not going to be of interest at all to a significant fraction of potential Porsche buyers. Someone mentioned tinted glass, LoJack, short shifter, and something I've forgotten. I might tolerate a short shift kit after trying it, but only if the car was under warranty and the warranty covered the kit also. We compelled a dealer to remove the tinted glass from an NSX as part of the deal, and the only time we accepted a LoJack it was a pain in the neck for the whole ten years we owned that car. Another person thinks it's obvious that a significant power upgrade is a selling point, but actually most people won't touch a car modified at all in the engine bay. I won't.

All this is a matter of taste of course. They're our cars and we can do whatever the local department of motor vehicles will let us get away with and be damned to critics. Let them buy their own.

But when you are the one buying, don't hesitate to treat any mods like a mustache painted on the Mona Lisa. The seller will have encountered that attitude often enough to be unsurprised. Only a damn fool enters a negotiation by saying "Oh, I'm so glad you painted this house purple! It's so hard to find one this color."

In other words, mods lower the market value of a car because they reduce the market demand. So don't for a minute agree with a seller who tries to tell you how valuable the car is because he already went to the trouble of removing stock seats, stock wheels, stock exhaust, and added a raccoon tail and pin stripes. If he shows you the stock parts and offers to include them in the sale, offer to only take off fifteen percent from the price you'd offer for a stock car. "Well, you have to remember I can't predict how much it's going to cost me to restore this car to stock. Everytime a fitting is missing and it has to sit for a week while it's shipped in, the shop will charge me for taking up their bay. Besides, work done in spurts and fits is never as organized and I'm not sure I'll ever trust the suspension again. On second thought, let's just skip it..." and turn around to walk away. If he doesn't stop you... well, keep walking.

The only mods I would accept are those on a successful track car that has been whupping my own car all season and the owner is moving up to another class so he doesn't need his winning car anymore. But buying race cars is another whole category of purchase.

A street car is worth less in the market place when it has been modified. Period. That's part of the cost of doing a mod. Nothing wrong with doing mods, but it doesn't help to pretend they don't cost what they cost.

Gary

 

bolt on"s wouldnt be an issue but i wouldnt buy a car with stroked engine or upgraded turbos unless i know the full history of it!!

 

These are very intriguing responses and leaves me a bit worried should I ever wish to sell. From some of the responses I'm worried because I've changed the windshield wipers, let alone tint, short shifter, lowering springs, sway bars, exhaust, GIAC engine flash, tires, wheels, air intake. Oh, and I do Porsche DE's a couple of times per year. I absolutely do not abuse my car but geez, is my car radioactive?

This is kind of depressing.

Let me introduce a philosophical point. There is absolutely no reason that I could not reverse any of my above mods. Given the responses by many of you someone reading this might be swayed to do such and simply not offer that it was modded. Sh!tty? Yes, Unethical? Yes. But when it comes to money I don't doubt that this is considered if not encouraged. I suppose buyer beware regardless.

My other perspective. I've been on 6S for a while as well as many other forums for years. Virtually EVERY member has mods but actually boasts vigorously about them. So are some you being hypocritical, idealists, or both.

If you search for a used GT-R on Autotrader the defacto selling point is now "...never launched...."

Maybe this is why I buy new.

 

I think that there are a few unreasonable people on this forum, and that they are over reacting when it comes comments like these.

I would suggest that you try and sell it as, if you want to leave it as is. The mods you have done are tasteful and will not be huge eye openers IMO... except for the windshield wipers!

 

Agree with Comet. Engine and suspension modifications suggest hard driving or track, or at least such intentions. I'm not keen on mods anyhow. That said, it is neither hypocritical nor idealistic for a buyer to want a clean car that has not been tracked, regardless of what they intend to do with it themselves (lots of girlfriend analogies suggest themselves but I won't go there).

 

Yes, you're right. Most super-models are not virgins

 

I think a more realistic approach would be to ask who are you buying the car for - you or a future buyer. If it's for a future buyer, don't mod - you certainly won't recover the cost and the car may need a special buyer. If the mods are for your enjoyment, why not. Folks forget that these cars are depreciating assets. I'm 65 and have bought a lot of cars in my life and I can say that I've never made a profit on selling a car.

 

Actually, seriously I see your point however it does seem idealistic.

Is there any other car that is specifically designed for track use and a daily driver, as well as a 911?

I guess the market would dictate how well a "driven" car would fare versus a garage queen. No offense, I would probably seek the same thing in a preowned car.

 

There's probably a market for any car - for example, are there modded cars that are unsellable? Some extreme examples, maybe...but in general probably not.

Whether or not the mods hurt the resale value is something else. Some buyers look for a cherry car and will pay more, others maybe not. The very most picky buy new and pay the most dearly for it and can be as ideal as they like.

I'd reckon anyone's reservations would be over the quality of the work, maintainability, and possibly the necessity of it.

 

A Dme and ppi as well as a discussion with the shop technicians where the car was serviced along with the owner could clear up most questions . I'm not sure if I'd worry more about a seasoned driver using a car on rare occasions on a track vs a novice who grinds his gears to the shopping mall . Neither sound ideal and even if the driver is impeccable he still probably sneezed at least once on that steering wheel.

 

You just have to assume the worst

a bad driver going around the track hitting every cone and wall while grinding every gear sneezing on everything and going #2 in the driver's seat, and after, somehow, doing it in the back seat with his disease infested gf...

so after you pick it up, you sterilize the whole thing after forcing the dealer to change the clutch and do a full check up

 

An "assumption" can be made of any used car .
That's why with any car .. (whether stock or modified , tracked or garage queen or daily driver ) the buyer must stick to the specific facts of that car .

 

no dealership on the face of this planet will tell you "yeah, the guy who owned the car was an imbecile who had it in the body shop every week.. hell he crashed it on his way to the body shop!"

you'll never get the real facts on a car.. and there are tons of ways of hiding it from carfax
carfax won't tell you if he blew 4 injectors
carfax won't tell you that he sacrificed chickens in the backseat

 

What does this have to do with modifications ?
How does a simple exhaust or aftermarket wheels indicate that a used car wasn't well maintained by its owner ?
Do you "assume " everyone with a modified car has a "crashed" car ?
Aside from these sweeping generalizations I don't see anything factual .

It's up to the buyer to do all his homework on a used car and that means finding the technicians, paint meter, body shop pros to go over the car .