Learn me: buying a modified car

So, I'm seeing a lot of cars that have been modified by their owners. Generally, I've run away from these cars if they have more than a luggage rack, and maybe a head unit.

When considering a street car, heck, a daily driver, would you consider such a car? Are there certain changes you'd trust, and others you wouldn't?

In short: NO

They seem to fall into two categories:

First is the cheap car modified by some kid. I've bought some in the past, and it's always been a terrible experience. Especially if the electrical system has been touched. Expect a E36 M3 load of hacked stuff. Even the simple mechanical stuff will be bad (cross-threaded bolts, lack of lubrification on certain things, stuff that's been damaged by bad working methods, etc...)

Or it's a car that's been modified well, but because the owner paid through the nose to have the work done by people that know their stuff, they want a crazy price. I can usually duplicate those cars for much cheaper then their asking price.

A car nicely modified by an enthusiastic and knowledgeable owner for a good price seems to be very hard to find. You won't find one on CL, that's for sure.

Depends on what I'm looking at buying. It is just a used car afterall. So all the defered maintenance I expect.

So no I wouldn't run away screaming in horror but I'd be wary based on what I am already looking at that isn't stock.

if the guy selling it wants $5k more than book value for his riced out Civic because that's how much the "mods" cost him, then don't buy it for what he wants- especially if the "mods" aren't done the way you like. if he gets pissed off at you because you don't think that the added stuff makes the car worth more, then don't buy it.

Look at what was modified and plan to redo anything that was modded...

It really depends on the car and the level of mods. Newer car still in it's warranty period? Definitely not. If I'm going to void my warranty, I'd at least want to be certain that it was done right. Older car? Some mods can be seen as maintenance items since the original parts would have been well worn by now anyway. To me the upkeep of the car is more important then the level of mods. You need to be careful when buying a popularly modded car regardless. Many people return their cars to stock when selling, and sell the parts separately. Not only do they often show less care when returning it to stock, but you could end up with a car that led a rough life without the parts to show for it. Then you have the cars with common problems and factory weaknesses. I see having those areas addressed as a plus.

As a DD, maybe not. But it's usually way cheaper to buy someone else's project than it would be to replicate it on your own. I bought an already-built ESP Camaro because I figured out it was $6-7k cheaper than I could have built it myself.

Will wrote: As a DD, maybe not. But it's usually way cheaper to buy someone else's project than it would be to replicate it on your own. I bought an already-built ESP Camaro because I figured out it was $6-7k cheaper than I could have built it myself.

In rare instances like this it is worth it. But in terms of modded street cars it's mostly been a nightmare for me/my friends.

You can normally tell if it's a good buy by talking to the owner for about 5 minutes.

The guy who got my z28 for 3k could not duplicate it for that. A stock lt1 z28 would cost him that, plus mine had a viper specced t56 (2k), new suspension build with konis, bmr springs and St/1le bars (close to 2k), new paint, new interior (1k), wheel and tires, plus all the engine work. He got a well sorted car for the same price as a stock one.

The only thing I shy from is internal mods since I can't see them, and any type of reman/replaced engine in a performance application.

Craigslist is just asking for trouble 98% of the time when it comes to modified cars. However I did find my Miata on the racingjunk site and while I paid a bit for it, it was modified mostly to my liking. Only needed to make small adjustments to get it sorted.

In the end I still ended up with a car that had been repainted and had $20k+ of mods thrown at it but never had the manual transmission or diff fluid changed in 160k miles. : /

Only reason I found that out is the assume no maintance was ever done and do it to be on the safe side theory I use whenever getting a used car.

Finding older cars that most here would be interested in are almost impossible to find without mods. Usually what's unmodded is things enthusiasts don't care about... and even then they might be modded.

Depends entirely on your skill level, and familiarity with the model and mods. A riced out civic for my little sister, no way. A turboed big block Camaro for my dad, hell yes. I own half a dozen TR8s. Only one is stock and its my least favorite of the bunch. My MGB and my 2002 are also heavily modified. My diesel F350 isn't. Thats because I'm not a diesel guy ... until something breaks.

I've always been afraid of modded cars and never bought one. But I especially like the.guys on CL who say stuff like "Kbb is 10,000, mine has 3000 worth of mods so asking 13,000."

I just bought a 2013 mustang with some mods. While most were cosmetic, it had lowering springs, a H-pipe and axel back exhaust. It had a tuner to turn off the check engine lights when running without cats. I didn't find out until after I bought it that the tune could void the warrantee. My plan was to put the cats back on and return to a stock tune but I guess that a dealership could tell it had a tune in the past.

When I worked at a Subaru dealer and the STI first came out, we had a ricer king come in and kindly offer to swap, with no cash transfer, his "JDM built STI" for a new STI. He had all of his receipts, if I remember he had $10,000 more in his car than MSRP of the new car. He couldn't figure out why we, or any other Subaru dealer in the area, just didn't leap at the opportunity to buy his poorly assembled stash of questionable parts.

The thing about buying a modified car is that you've got to know that make model pretty well yourself. You need to know what the common mods are, why they are down, which are the reputable companies, etc.

If you have that knowledge, then you're going to be able to go in and look at a car and figure out if it has been done well with good parts. You're also going to be able to talk to the owner and see if he/she is a dedicated, thoughtful enthusiast, or a world-class dipE36 M3.

When buying a modified car you really need to know the car model and it's quirks.

You need to be mechanically inclined enough to tell if the work was done correctly and with quality parts.

You need to know what the cost of the mods are and the retail value of those USED parts.

I say retail value of the USED parts because that is the MAXIMUM value added to the price of the car.

You also need to know that the combination of parts is complementary and leans in the direction you want.

Often modified cars are actually worth less than a clean original car. Often parts are changed for bling/posuer value. Mis-matched or poorly chosen parts can actually reduce performance. Often modified cars have been abused to excess. Do not accept "that is easy to fix" that is a deduction, if it was easy why isn't it done?

Be very afraid of cars with body work, body kits, or repaints.

So know what you want, how you will use it, what you can sell unwanted mods for, and what it would cost for you to mod a stocker.

When I was shopping S197s I purposely avoided modded cars as there were plenty of original cars available. But still, they could have been modded and returned to stock form. I did however speak w/ a few owners w/ mods, it's pretty easy to figure out how they drove it. Some can't resist themselves especially talking power, one younger owner actually giggled like a school girl about the 1/4 mile times... uh, no thank you.

Rusnak_322 wrote: I just bought a 2013 mustang with some mods. While most were cosmetic, it had lowering springs, a H-pipe and axel back exhaust. It had a tuner to turn off the check engine lights when running without cats. I didn't find out until after I bought it that the tune could void the warrantee. My plan was to put the cats back on and return to a stock tune but I guess that a dealership could tell it had a tune in the past.

Remember the words "Magnuson-Moss Warranty Act." An aftermarket part can only void your warranty if it actually causes the problem in question.

I'll seek out modified cars for the right price. Makes for a good safety net if it all goes wrong and you have to part it out.

It CAN work out. I sold my 02 Spec V for almost exactly what an unmodified example is worth because I knew, when the car didn't sell on an enthusiast board, the parts list didn't really add much to the value of the car for the "craiglist" crowd. For the same price as an "unmolested" example, the new owner got lightweight Nismo wheels, rear sway, lower tie bar and exhaust. He also got an AEM intake. Hawk HPS pads all around, etc., etc. There were a few other parts like the header, midpipe, shift busings, etc. that weren't "name brand", but were good quality and well researched before they were installed.

If I were more industrious, I could have disassembled the car, returned it to stock and gotten a lot more money from the part out. Since I didn't want to deal with "how much to ship the exhaust to Guam", the new owner basically got the benefit of my laziness/hassle avoidance.

EDIT: Not really contradicting the conventional wisdom here. As a general rule, I'd put a premodified car and a cheap Porsche in the same hassle/financial ruin risk category. Just saying there may be exceptions to the general rule.

Find a stock RS EvoVIII for sale anywhere.

I've done it. Sometimes you can pick up some nice after market components for the price the parts would cost, with a free car thrown in.

I would not, however, assume the mods were well executed.

Classics are different. I will never be able to afford a numbers matching vintage collectible. But I am perfectly fine with a original V6 car swapped to a V8, added after market A/C, stereo, suspension, MSD, etc.

Custom wheels are a bad sign.

Big questions for me:

Why it was modified, why those parts were chosen, who installed the parts, and what tools they used. Without any sort of paperwork or purpose, the modifications are of no significance to me. More importantly, I check maintenance. If there's any unknowns, I walk away.

SVreX wrote: Custom wheels are a bad sign.

Ha! Yeah, if the only mods are custom wheels, window tint, and stereo equipment you should probably look for another car.