Value of our cars

[WANTSOM]

Cuss Cuss wrote:

should have bought a corvette

Funny you should say that, an 86/88 'vette is one day definitely going to be parked in my garage. Awesome bit of kit!!! :beer

A very good mate of mine had one a few years ago and it was a frikkin missile and handled well too.

[INP51]

In my case, I would never spend money on my starion thinking I'm going to get it back when I sell, but honestly, not many people make money on cars, my neighbour's mate was selling a red SS commodore, sure it had the 5.7 lt chevy in it and it was supercharged, and intercooled, brembo brakes, LSD, black ENKEI 18" , 365kw atw... he wanted 40k ono after spending close to 80k.... my starion is my daily driver so it won't get modded much, but I'll keep it as original as which is bloody hard with parts becoming more and more rare.....

thats not adrian's car is it ??? with a big v8 supercar wing on it ???

[Chryzla]

Its simple. cars are not an investment.
They will always depreciate. Cars are what is refered to as an expense.

you will never get money back on a car you personally own. for every 4000 expect a max of 1000 back.

[TD05]

Its simple. cars are not an investment.
They will always depreciate. Cars are what is refered to as an expense.

you will never get money back on a car you personally own. for every 4000 expect a max of 1000 back.

unless it's Elvis ex-cadillac!!!! :D

[NXTIME]

I tried selling my car complete after spending thousands upon thousands each year for over 11 years on it. I couldn't even get a small fraction of the money I spent on it selling it whole, so I decided to sell it in parts. I got more money this way than selling it whole. This is quite common with modified cars , and the Starion is definitely not an exception.

PS, I still have a rolling shell for sale for under 1K with retrimmed interior in the buy/sell forum. Will separate in parts. :D

[AXELR8]

yeah. It sucks..

But we do it for love..... right?

[Junkers]

*Checks wallet for 10k* ..damn. Starionpwr's staz is well worth the money in my opinion but it's also matter of having that money to spend at the right time.

I'm 18 and have spent around $10,000 on starions, you learn very quickly that cars (especially old ones) are more of a liability than a asset.

[avandulls_gal]

how the hell have you managed to have that much money to spend on cars at 18?

I'm 23 and still a poor assed uni student that had to sell my old subie becasue I couldn't afford upkeep/petrol/rego etc etc.

[Sargeant_Khan]

piece of mind, My starion is MINE, im doing all the work, she is my baby and i wouldnt trade her for the world. Me and the starion are one now, i have bled on it enough to know that. When it comes time for a new car it will be unregistered in my garage or one of my many younger brothers will be keeping Starion on the road. I know a 80thousand dollar engine in a staz is only worth 10k in it but i couldnt give a rats arse, if you have the money for more than one project you shouldnt really care how much your selling it for.

[WANTSOM]

I agree with what you guys are saying and you're right - you will never get back what you spend but my original point is to get some thought going about a particular aspect -

And that is this - say a base car stockish is going to cost you $3-5K. You then start to improve it say with a set of wheels, improved suspension and (maybe) MPI and aftermarket ECU. These things above all else are becoming necessary due to lack of original parts in good condition. To do the above will cost you say another $5-6K. Thats a $8 - 11K Starion and its all yours. Now someone has done the work and its all there and are asking 6 to 8s for it but there are very few takers for their car. Why?

That is what I dont get. I'm not suggesting you get your money back but am suggesting there seems a lack of appreciation for the value in these cars.

I know people dont have the money at the time and all that and have other projects on the go but the value in some of these cars is understated in my opinion.

[CussCuss]

a couple of contributers
1) save up 12k or buy car when you have 2k available, most people pick the latter and go from there.
2) once your into it, you have allready spent xxx on blah blah blah so its not as easy as selling your stocker and then buying that car with the work already done to it, you are already at the 1/2 way point so its kinda hard to ditch the effort you have put into YOUR car.

the value is well understated but its definately not a unique case, theres a few extreme examples that i can think of off hand like
eddie tassones 1500rwhp commo going for ~40k
9s street/strip/show rotor going for ~30k
dynosteves street maching winnig lj torry for ~50k
gtrd (4wd, big snails, stroker kit etc etc etc) vl for 50k
all would have had 2-3x the money invested if not more and they have to sell em for a fraction of the cost it would be to build.

your answer : its the nature of the game

ps 86 or 88? thats a very weird year
i will have a vette in the next 5 years, its my next toy, i think its the only thing that could make me sell the starion.

[Chryzla]

im 19, earn more then most 19 year olds... and i still cant afford to spend 10k on modding a car...

how do you do it?

i guess you still live at home eh?

things change for the worst when you move out!!!

[SpidersWeb]

how the hell have you managed to have that much money to spend on cars at 18?

I'm 23 and still a poor assed uni student that had to sell my old subie becasue I couldn't afford upkeep/petrol/rego etc etc.

Just reminded me. When I was living out of home and on a lower income than I am now, I spent at least 8K on my silver Starion (which goes to Pick a Part next-week). I did so using loans, and cash I'd saved up. Car wasnt modified, but lots of things broke.

Now I'm on about 36K but I live with my parents for $50/wk hehe, downside is I can't have every Starion I see, the upside is that it leaves me with about 500$/wk for the cars I do have. So far I've spent $3,500 on the black one, and it goes for a 2-3K paintjob next week, plus the $1500 or so pile of goodies I have stored behind me, and the $300 DASH head I've organised (not the one on trademe btw)

When I add it all up I'd say I've spent about $20,000 over the years with my Starion hobby, including everything from tools to mechanic bills. I'd say the resale value on my cars has never exceeded $2,000.

[SpidersWeb]

Oh and I think I just bought another Starion for $3,500

[AXELR8]

:x ...... I hate you.