How to go about selling an extensively modded F80?

[G82 Jesse]

Hi all,

I absolutely adore my F80 M3, but I've recently been thinking about what the process of selling a vehicle like mine is like. Practically half of the entire power plant is comprised of aftermarket components: Every bolt-on you can possibly think of, exhaust, turbos, injectors, high pressure fuel pumps, custom tune, etc. This car has been a labor of love and a thrilling journey to keep pushing the packet. It's now making roughly 700whp and smokes 99% of anything I run into on the street or at the strip.

I believe I'm about $24,000 deep into performance mods - all parts & labor ordered and installed through a very adept performance shop, and I have all invoices and service history.

However I plan on making a change in about 12 months, and I'd love to hear some past experience about people who have sold vehicles similar to mine. What are my options? Am I confined to CL/FB marketplace, or is there a specialized type of website where these types of cars are sold? I certainly cannot use it for trade-in at a dealer, for example lol! Many thanks to anyone who can offer some guidance

[Blocke]

Perhaps Bring a Trailer? It’s going to be a very niche market, as I’m sure you are aware.
I sold a very highly modified Mk5 GTI years ago, and it was to another enthusiast. I had it listed on autotrader, but ultimately it sold to a member on VWVortex.
I’d imagine you’d have to go a similar route, or put it back closer to stock and sell it to the “normal” market.
Best of luck!

[Suds]

^, BaT.

[Humdizzle]

Forums and autotrader. Can try m3list on insta too. But yeah its a very niche market. Youll be lucky to recover half what you invested.

Be sure to have paperwork and pics of the install. Dyno sheets. Etc. People are gonna wanna know who built and tuned it.

[MMMM3]

Maybe to those suggestions but the way most do it is to return the car to factory and sell the parts....

PIA but it should pay for itself... and then some

[nickl630]

Originally Posted by Suds

^, BaT.

I feel like BaT beats up cars harder for being modified no? They seem to prefer all stock/low mileage examples only. Maybe im wrong.

[WordOnRoad]

Originally Posted by nickl630

I feel like BaT beats up cars harder for being modified no? They seem to prefer all stock/low mileage examples only. Maybe im wrong.

This. It's a purist market on BaT. Any potential buyer there is probably only interested in making sure the CH has been done.

[b5gt28rs]

If you're in a hurry to sell, be prepared to take a 100% loss on all the modifications. You're going to be looking for 1 in 100,000 buyers that wants exactly the car that you've built. It's going to be hard to find that needle in the haystack. If you're not in a hurry, post it on as many free to sell sites as possible, and just wait. You'll still need to take a hit on modification costs, and labor does not count towards the sale price. A lot of people fall into the trap that because it's a car they designed/built they think the sum is worth more than the parts.. it's the exact opposite. Life isn't a TV show.

Just spit ball'n prices here but 2017 Comp with ~40k miles lets call it $55K, Modifications (Turbo 5.5K, Exhaust 3.5K, Fueling 2k) $10K

You'd probably get some interest in the low 60's.

[G82 Jesse]

I appreciate all the responses here, thank you! I did indeed expect to lose most every dollar I ever put into the car when modifying it.

By swapping the turbos back and flashing a stock tune, I'd effectively be back to a vehicle that drives mostly indifferent to stock. The nostrum hpfp and M5 injectors would just all be working significantly undertime and my flex fuel sensor would be moot. - But it would be difficult to have a notable difference to a stock F80 at that point and a sale could certainly be easier.

[Theruleslawyer]

Id try cars and bid and maybe look into live auctions. Youll sit on it forever on normal sites. BAT will want it stock. Ads on forums might work if you are willing to sit on it. Also join all the f8x and ///M Facebook groups and pump it there. Huge audience there and I see 'special' cars for sale all the time.

[E92Roni]

Get aftermarket parts insurance. Keep the car for another couple months so it's not suspicious, then wrap it around tree and file a claim. Finally cash out the check.

[SYT_Shadow]

Basically, pretty much every dollar spent on mods is a dollar not only you will not get back, but that will also detract from the value of the car. It's a double whammy

Cars are worth more completely stock, or with light mods

Take it to stock or get ready to take a massive loss. What you've done is a labor of love, but it's your love. Do not expect others to appreciate it. Do not expect others to accept your explanation of 'looking for something else' at face value and instead accept that every single person will think your car is about to explode and that is why you are offloading it.

Selling the car on the forum won't help much. The forum is full of people looking for bro prices while it is also full of sellers who 'know what they've got', it's practically a waste of time to even list it here.


For example, I want a 8 car garage in my home. If I ever want to move, this 8 car garage will not add a penny to the value of this house, if anything it will detract because no one is interested in a smallish house with a giant garage. This won't stop me from trying to get it built, but we should be realistic when we're sinking tons of money into our 'labors of love'

[2sporty]

Originally Posted by E92Roni

Get aftermarket parts insurance. Keep the car for another couple months so it's not suspicious, then wrap it around tree and file a claim. Finally cash out the check.

Your insurance fraud proposal is makes normal honest insurance payers like everyone else here pay more. Get out of here you dirty thug. And don't come back and pretend like you were "only kidding".

[E92Roni]

Originally Posted by 2sporty

Your insurance fraud proposal is makes normal honest insurance payers like everyone else here pay more. Get out of here you dirty thug. And don't come back and pretend like you were "only kidding".

Lol relax buddy. Read that again with a grain of salt. These cars insurance values aren't worth the fraud.

[Taco_Bueno]

Originally Posted by MMMM3

Maybe to those suggestions but the way most do it is to return the car to factory and sell the parts....

PIA but it should pay for itself... and then some

This

[G82 Jesse]

Originally Posted by SYT_Shadow

Basically, pretty much every dollar spent on mods is a dollar not only you will not get back, but that will also detract from the value of the car. It's a double whammy

Cars are worth more completely stock, or with light mods

Take it to stock or get ready to take a massive loss. What you've done is a labor of love, but it's your love. Do not expect others to appreciate it. Do not expect others to accept your explanation of 'looking for something else' at face value and instead accept that every single person will think your car is about to explode and that is why you are offloading it.

Selling the car on the forum won't help much. The forum is full of people looking for bro prices while it is also full of sellers who 'know what they've got', it's practically a waste of time to even list it here.


For example, I want a 8 car garage in my home. If I ever want to move, this 8 car garage will not add a penny to the value of this house, if anything it will detract because no one is interested in a smallish house with a giant garage. This won't stop me from trying to get it built, but we should be realistic when we're sinking tons of money into our 'labors of love'

Probably the most realistic outlook and an very fair analogy. I appreciate your insight, and I'm quite inclined to agree. Many thanks!

[TR930]

I think if it can pass emissions as is or not plays a role too. Alot of highly modified cars cannot as is. Not sure how big of a role, but I'm betting the CA guys might look at it differently knowing they don't have to change anything and it's compliant.

[2sporty]

Originally Posted by E92Roni

Lol relax buddy. Read that again with a grain of salt. These cars insurance values aren't worth the fraud.

yeah, just as predicted, crawl back and say to everyone that you're joking in your shame.

[SMGCFP]

Originally Posted by SYT_Shadow

Basically, pretty much every dollar spent on mods is a dollar not only you will not get back, but that will also detract from the value of the car. It's a double whammy

Cars are worth more completely stock, or with light mods

Take it to stock or get ready to take a massive loss. What you've done is a labor of love, but it's your love. Do not expect others to appreciate it. Do not expect others to accept your explanation of 'looking for something else' at face value and instead accept that every single person will think your car is about to explode and that is why you are offloading it.

Selling the car on the forum won't help much. The forum is full of people looking for bro prices while it is also full of sellers who 'know what they've got', it's practically a waste of time to even list it here.


For example, I want a 8 car garage in my home. If I ever want to move, this 8 car garage will not add a penny to the value of this house, if anything it will detract because no one is interested in a smallish house with a giant garage. This won't stop me from trying to get it built, but we should be realistic when we're sinking tons of money into our 'labors of love'

Move to Helena MT. All we have are regular size house and giant garages out here!

[M3nmotion18]

Originally Posted by MMMM3

Maybe to those suggestions but the way most do it is to return the car to factory and sell the parts....

PIA but it should pay for itself... and then some

Agree