Hey all, I plan on selling my IS250 AWD before the year is out. What are some tips (do's and don'ts) for me to be aware of? For instance, my car is modded and I want to be able to make the most money possible. The only performance mods are a cold air intake, invidia midpipe, and Megan EZ. The cosmetic mods include IS-F replica front and rear bumpers, molded wald replica spoiler, wald replica side skirts, S4play diffuser, roof spoiler, nigel JDM parts side mirror lights, and OEM LED strip headlights (2012).

I'm switching my wheels out for OEM gunmetal 18" ones that are from the 12+ model years I believe, in hopes of retaining some of that OEM look.

I was rear-ended one time, with no frame damage and paid for the repairs with insurance money.

The KBB value was between $10-12k but I know estimate is reserved purely for OEM vehicles. What can I expect as far as how much for a trade in value dealerships will take for my car? Or, would it be in my best interest to just sell it to someone on my own?

I've never sold a car before so I'm looking to not get cheated and make as much money as possible (I know its hard with a modded car, so I'm managing my expectations).

Thanks in advance!

 

Part out all ur mod then sell it stock. Modded vehicle actually decrease the value of the car. From ur mod list u can get at least $2000 back from ur parts. Trade it in or sell it as close to stock as possible. Even tho u sell it private party and the guy don't mind the mod being done to the car they won't pay u extra because is modded. Ur parts are pretty common parts and should sell quickly here on CL if u price it right

 

In my experience, dont bother with paying for cars.com or autotrader. If you can list it on those sites for free, do it, but dont expect much traffic. Your local craigslist is your best bet.

 

Personally, I would try and sell it as is first, some people will pay for the mods.. maybe not the full amount, but enough to offset the cost of the hassle of removing and selling everything.

In the past, I have always been able to get top dollar for my cars because of the work done and because of how clean I keep my cars.

 

So, I didnt keep any of my stock parts. Bad move on my part, I know. So a part out really isn't an option.

If I brought this car to a dealership, about how much do you guys think they would offer towards a trade in? That was going to be my primary route before trying to sell it directly to someone. I know the KBB value for my 2007 IS250 is rougly 10-12k, however with the mods I'm sure that would only lower it. But it shouldn't be THAT bad, (like for 5k lol)

I do not plan on using autotrader or cars.com or ebay.

Thanks again

 

If youre interested you could do a part out / trade for stock parts.

For example, if you wanted to part out your 2012 headlights, i would send you my stock headlights and pay you the difference.

 

Dealerships receiving modded cars with give you 50 cents on the dollar for what its worth; but can you blame them? How many people in the world want your exact car with those mods? ALWAYS keep your stock parts folks!

 

Dealership will offer you half of what you think you can get for modded cars.

 

Mods don't increase your value and usually only decrease. 250 is extremely common car and you would need to sell for less then others in order for it to be a quick and painless process. NADA.com is more accurate then KBB. Look at values below clean trade-in as your start selling price, value around rough trade-in is usually your real dealer trade-in value but most likely less. If you are getting good money from dealer, then you are most likely overpaying for you new purchase (even though most people think they are getting a deal)

I just went through purchasing a car...its funny that exactly the same car is priced $17k and $26k....when you speak to a person who's selling for 26, he thinks he is giving you a great deal because some dealership offered him 20-21 trade-in. He doesn't even understand that he is probably overpay by $6-7k on his purchase or even more....

Very little cars sell for nada.com retail price. Would have to be some special car....like my S2000 for example I would need full retail money for it even with private party sale

 

KBB and nada both "valued" my car around the 10-11k range. obviously those are super rough estimates because you cant rely on them too much. But when it came time to get it appraised at a dealer, most they could do is 7k after negotiating. Ended up just keeping car as a daily for new car. To me, id rather have a nice daily for 6k than trade it in

 

Even if I modify my car, I never sell my car modified. My last car was a honda accord and i tried to sell it modified and alot of people came to look at it but gave me LOW ball offers. a bunch of kids with no money looking for a steal or people coming to me saying "I want the car but I am gonna have to fix it" when there was clearly nothing wrong.

I put my car back to stock and i got MORE than my asking offer because I got an older more mature crowd looking for a reliable car and a few thousand more on top just selling my mods. Selling my mods took time but i got a good 2-3 grand on top of what I got for the car it self at its book value. I always keep my stock parts and sell my cars stock.

its more of a headache until you realize how much more money you can have.

 

Never sell a modified car to a dealership, find a car enthusiast that will pay a reasonable price and will appreciate the work and mods and will pay a reasonable price.

My last 2 cars were fairly modified and both got top dollar for what they were because of the mods.