Now we all know you never get back what you spend on mods. But got into a debate about resale value of modified cars.

How much would a car line mine actually fetch on the open market?

I was guessing around 12k. What do you think?

March 2009 registered Fabia VRS mkI. Probably the last ever registered mkI Fabia.

Jabbasport Stage 3 conversion,

KW3 Coilovers,

Brembo front brakes and bigger rears,

All fully rebushed and twin anti roll bars,

Paddle clutch,

etc....

Sitting at 22k miles on the clock.

Santa Pod quarter mile time of 13.6 seconds and 0-60 of around 5 seconds.

On top of being a low miles last of the mkI VRS SE it's also had over 12k spent on it.

It's done two track days and 10 runs at Santa Pod. But it's been properly built to last. All work done this year.

Selling up?

Nah no chance....

Just slightly more than a standard se as its 2 years younger

Id say £9999 would be realistic

Nah no chance....

Just slightly more than a standard se as its 2 years younger

Id say £9999 would be realistic

More realistic, but its always harder selling a modified car. Wouldn't personally put me off, but we are all different! You would have to be prepared to wait a while for the right person, or be flexible on price.

One thing I think the Mk1 has got going for it though is the fuel economy, even when highly tuned. The main reason I won't be selling mine, is that I can have as much fun as I want without having to worry about visiting the pumps. Real world performance keeps more expensive cars in check too which always raises a smile!

Selling up?

Doubt it.

I've just got an itch to scratch. Nissan GTR. 98 reasons not to even think about it... but... maybe 1 or 2 that are positive if I really, really try to convince myself.

Pipe dream at the moment.

I put a deposit on a TT-RS but cancelled that as the GTR was what I always really wanted as a dream car.

TT-RS was just a compromise. But I know once I had it, it'd still not be scatching the itch.

My Fabia is 90% of the fun at 30% of the cost. It's a lot more sensible in just about every way.

It's worth whatever someone is willing to pay for it.

One of the most modified Fabias on the site is currently sat at £5,500 in the classifieds.

I sold my Fabia vRS in 2005 for £11k, that had a hybrid, koni suspension, Brembos, comps, milltek etc and was only 18 months old.

If you were selling, and happy to wait long enough I'm sure you could get near your estimate. But I reckon it'd take a very long time. To just sell in a reasonable amount of time, prob nearer £10k as jase said id guess. Difficult to tell tbh, more guess work than anything.

I can't imagine anyone paying £12k for any Mk1 vRS to be honest, especially if they know it's been tracked

WarwickHunts car is a similar spec to yours and is currently up for £9900 iirc, that's with 18k on the clock and it's never seen a track before.

yeah as people have mentioned before, i doubt you would get 12k for it. Really nice well spec'd car but not 12k worth i dont think. i recon you could hold out for 10k

My old golf tdi had 18k spent on it.... I sold it for 4k

My old fabia vrs had 5-6k spent on it and it recently changed hands for 4k

Id try a px with a skyline owner?

WarwickHunts car is a similar spec to yours and is currently up for £9900 iirc, that's with 18k on the clock and it's never seen a track before.

Yes similar. With cheaper suspension and brakes. And it's not an SE. It's older. Milage not that different.

But I agree, broadly similar.

Hence my question.

Doubt I'd want to let it go though anyway.

Id try a px with a skyline owner?

Doubtful as I don't want a Skyline. GT-R aka R35. 2009 onwards. Hence the cost and a hell of a lot of reasons to just get the idea out of my head. :wonder:

Good ones are now coming up about 2 years old with the improved 2010 spec. Not as good as the 2011 spec, but a lot cheaper.

In all the time I've been on here I've never seen a modified car command a premium over an unmodified one of the same age and condition. They have all sold for less.

I think your car might be an exception because of the exceptionally late registration date and that it's a blue run-out model but other than it's a modified Fabia vRS that's been "used" (thrashed is much less polite).

22,000 miles in 2 years is average-ish.

I think the value of keeping a special car standard is probably emphasised by the guy selling the Ford Escort RS1600i with no tax or MOT for £27,000 because it had only done 1500 miles and it was trailered to and from shows so it was concours.

You've modded the car to enjoy it. I think if you wanted it to be an investment, you should have parked it up. If you want to recover maximum value, strip the mods off, replace with standard parts and sell it as standard, plus sell the parts.

I would value that car about £7500 - tops.

Your probably best off going back to standard if you can and selling the bits.

If there was your car for £8000 and one the same but standard for £8500 I would buy the standard one and I can bet 95% of people would do the same.

I would value that car about £7500 - tops.

Your probably best off going back to standard if you can and selling the bits.

If there was your car for £8000 and one the same but standard for £8500 I would buy the standard one and I can bet 95% of people would do the same.

Clearly you're not in the target market then.

Then again most people wouldn't be, it's a bit of a small/specialised target market.

I'm not letting it go anyway, it's just too much fun compared to ongoing costs now most things are done.

But interesting to see peoples opinions. We all know modified cars are not sound investments.

Then again most people wouldn't be, it's a bit of a small/specialised target market.

I think you've hit the nail on the head and I hope when you do come to sell you get some decent value out of the buyer.

It will be interesting to see what these modified cars sell for. I remember a silver one that was very well specced and properly modified and it didn't shift. Then the person who bought it couldn't shift it.

There was a gorgeous white SEAT Bocanegra for sale a while back. It was beautifully modified with all the right bits and it struggled to sell.

Even what is surely the best documented vRS build ever - the vRS estate - hasn't sold.

Modified cars don't sell well at all.

I don't think buying a modified car is necessarily a bad thing, providing that you know it's been built properly.

I think half of the problem is down to the fact that most of the fun comes from doing it yourself, it certainly does for me anyway. Saying that - you can save an absolute fortune in buying something that is already complete.

Yes but what % of people actually want a modified car?? 5%? wheras a standard car will appeal to 100% of buyers

Things that put me off cars

Poor advert with numerous spelling mistakes / txt speak

Lexus lights

Big bore exhausts

And tacky wheels

Big no no for me

There is a bit of a market for modified cars IMO. I bought the Awesome modified car for a bit more than a standard one would have cost (I paid maybe a £750ish premium), thinking that because it was basically an all-Awesome build it would be very reliable. But the mapping wasn't great, it was very smoky, and when the clutch was changed the original flywheel got left in (not even a new DMF, the one from the factory). So the flywheel is now dying due to the aggressive map, for the sake of a £300 part on a build which totalled £9k+ in invoices. What I thought was a car which was completely finished and I couldn't do much more if I tried has turned out to need a £400 remap to keep the engine healthier and save what life is left in the DMF, and ultimately an SMF conversion at £1k-ish.

But then again, if we assume that it's now cost me standard car prices + £2k, even that's still a fraction of what it would cost me if I bought a standard car and did it to the same spec myself, so it wouldn't necessarily put me off buying another pre-modified car, I'd just be a lot more careful about what questions I ask rather than assuming because it's been built by Awesome/Jabba/Unit18/whoever, it's automatically a spot-on car.

Just my 2 pence, as one of those people who did buy a highly modifed vRS.

edit - it did help that I don't tend to have too much interest in doing stuff myself. I'll do the odd little bit, but I wouldn't attempt my own turbo swap for example. Or pull my gearbox off and send it off to get a diff fitted, or fit it myself. I know my limitations as a ham-fisted idiot and I need a car that works, so the big stuff I would have got done by a garage anyway. So Sam raises a good point but for every person like him who likes to do things himself there's one like me who generally can't be bothered with the hassle

Edited 9 October, 201114 yr by gavinchappell

i thought i had priced mine very conservatively at £9995 considering it stands me bout 21k and is prob one of the best condition mk1 vrs in the country.

had lots of interest but still unsold.

imo would still be worth 7k standard so 12k of mods for 3k.

Edited 9 October, 201114 yr by warwick hunt

I would value that car about £7500 - tops.

Your probably best off going back to standard if you can and selling the bits.

If there was your car for £8000 and one the same but standard for £8500 I would buy the standard one and I can bet 95% of people would do the same.

Not sure what "stage 3" is but im assuming its a hybrid turbo, FMIC injectors and the likes, along with the uprated clutch and KW coilovers and brembo breaks this car is built to handle the power.. IMO should b someone willing to part 10k on it considering 07`s were makin 10k 2 years ago a 09 should fetch 10k now with these mods no problem. But its like anything else, its worth what someone is willing to pay for it

I got offered £9k via PM the other day

and someone wanted to straight swap their E46 M3

Everyone knows that modding a car doesn't just add value to your cars price upon selling. Yes this has been done very nicely indeed and still stands to be my favourite Fabia on the forum lol! But you'd make more money (IMO) if you broke it and put the standard parts back on...

Hope your not selling up though!

Hope your not selling up though!

Nah, I really like the performance/stealth mix of this car.

Nah, I really like the performance/stealth mix of this car.

If you ever want to give it away on the other hand... You know how to pm me haha :p