Car modding is a popular trend these days, be it tuning up the engine or adding spoilers or full body customization. But when it comes time to sell these custom vehicles, what effect do these modifications have on the cars value? In this article we’ll try and figure it out.
Different Types of Mods
We’re talking about many different things when we talk about car modifications, so let’s break down some of the usual types of modding that people do.
Body Mods: modifications to the actual body work of the car. Adding spoilers, changing out the front bumper, things of that nature. These are the most outwardly obvious mods.
Performance Mods: changes to the internals of the car. Tuning up the engine, trying to get more speed out of the vehicle.
Custom Rims: Changing out the stock rims of the car for something more flashy.
Custom Exhausts: we’re all familiar with this one, sticking an exhaust on the back of the car to make it much, much louder.
Do They Affect Value?
So, do mod’s affect a car’s value? The short answer is yes, almost anything you do to a car will affect its value. Whether that change in value is positive or negative is dependent on the specific modifications, but generally they’ll lean negative.
That may come as a surprise at first. But consider that a lot of the joy of mods is making your car unique. When it comes time to buy, most people aren’t looking for unique, they’re looking for normal. Some dealerships will not even accept a car that’s too heavily modified.
If you’re selling privately, and the modifications are very well done, a private collector may be willing to pay an increased price, but that’s quite a maybe.
What To Do To Negate This
There are some things you can do to lessen the impact of modifying on your car’s value. But absolute best practice is that when you modify your car, keep the original parts. When it comes time to sell again, swap over the stock parts again and you’ll have a much easier time selling.
There’s a couple of exceptions to consider as well. Generally modifications that seek to simply update the technology, like upgrading to a better stereo, or even better, improving a part of the car that’s a known design flaw can increase the value.
There’s also one specific model of car that’s absent from the modding rules. The Jeep Wrangler. Jeeps are already weirdly good at holding onto their value, but they’ve also developed a subculture around modifications. Since the Wrangler in particular is famous for coming in all shapes and sizes. As long as it isn’t super tacky, modifications to your Jeep won’t affect the value too much.
Don’t Let This Stop You
Just because modifications provably lower the value of your car, that shouldn’t stop you from doing it anyway. If you’re looking to modify the car, it’s probably not because you’re trying to sell it on, it’s just because you wan’t your car to be more you. And resale value shouldn’t impact your decisions if that’s your motivation.