Probably Selling BRZ, How Much Is It Worth?
 

It's been a great ride. I've had my BRZ since May 2012, and it's been fantastic. But life is calling for me to get a sedan these days, so I'll be parting ways with the BRZ sooner rather than later.

Here's the skinny on the car: This is one of the best treated, well-cared-for BRZs out there. I bought the car new in May 2012. I've put 26k miles on the car over the last 5 years. It's never seen snow, or cold weather at all, and I've even kept it out of the rain if at all possible. Always garage kept. I even avoided taking it to the mall to avoid door dings. Dealer maintained with records. The interior looks brand new. The car is 100% functional and needs nothing.

It does have some mods:

• RCE yellow springs with Koni shocks (~0.8 lowering) with Whiteline bushings for camber adjustment
• 17x8 Enkei PF-01 wheels with Michelin Pilot Super Sports
• Borla Header/Perrin resonated exhaust and tune by Pure Automotive Performance

Oter things that no one will particularly care about and probably even not know it's not stock:

• European OEM center console cover
• Backup camera with stock stereo
• Black painted roof
• Red tinted/painted tail lights

I'm under no illusion that the mods bring any value to the car,but I would like to sell it to someone in the enthusiast community that would appreciate it. I have all the stock parts and can de-mod it if necessary. Anyone that buys the car as-is would get all the stock parts to go with it.


How much is the car worth, private party? I've done an Autotrader search, and comps (2013-2015 BRZ Limited Manuals with < 40k miles) seem to be in the $16k- $20k range (usually from dealers). The high end of that range can't be right, can it? Here's the comps:

http://www.autotrader.com/cars-for-s...&numRecords=25


I know my meticulous care and feeding of the car won't mean a whole lot to most people, but the condition of the car has to say something, right?

Based on the comps, I was hoping to list the car for $16.5k-$17k and accept ~16k for the car. Is that far off?

Here's some pictures of the car:
https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/eI...w1348-h1011-nohttps://lh3.googleusercontent.com/bD...w3252-h2438-no
https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/uG...w3252-h2438-no


https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/4p...w1348-h1011-no

The wheels are plastidipped gold. This is how the look without the plastidip:
https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/Fm...w1348-h1011-no

Private sale you will likely be able to get 18-20k but thats about it.

Trade in could get 16k or so.

That was the offer I got for a year and a half ago with similar miles and mods.

*varies by area obviously supply demand so on.*

seems fair. good looking car, glws.

Over 9000 easy.

Edmunds.com puts it right at $17K (without regard for the mods) with your location, mileage and condition. KBB puts it at $16,659. Personally, I think I would list it for $19 to $20K, which is a little high, and be ready to negotiate down.

BTW, those estimates are pretty amazing if you think about it. Used cars usually lose about 45% of their value in the first year alone, regardless of mileage. If the BRZ had followed the normal depreciation curve for used cars, we should be seeing the early years around $10K now. But instead they're holding their value in the mid to high teens.

Yet people here whine about how much value the cars are losing. I even noticed one of the moderators complain about it recently. I'm carrying a note on mine, and I surely didn't expect to have $9K to $10K in equity in the car at this point.

On a different matter:

I realize that's your username, but my first thought when I saw that pic was, "That guy thinks that's an Impreza?"

I think $20k is realistic given the low mileage, original adult owner, and condition. 16k seems really low.

Aren't you IMPREZED?!

@Vinny Check this one out if you are seriously looking.

Definitely take that plasti-dip off, it won't add any value to the wheels and will most likely detract from them. If you sell in the community as is you can definitely get around 17-18k as most people here are saying, but if you trade in or sell on a website you should de-mod anything you can. A lot of dealerships will screw you over for mods just because they can.

You have to also consider that the 12-16's lost value when the facelift and performance package were released. All things considered, though, your car is very clean and should sell for a lot more than a typical modded car would.

Were you looking for @vinny_ ?

3.50

:suicide:

I'd prefer to sell it like it is because it's just so well set up. I know the gold wheels aren't for everyone and I'd definitely take of the dip if I go that route.

Demodding for me would be to replace the original springs and shocks, the wheels, and take it back to @Pure Automotive to get the exhaust pieces replaced and the tune replaced. The tail lights and roof will stay as they are, as I don't think many people will even realize that they aren't OEM to begin with.

Ya. I probably added the capital automatically!

Here's the lowest priced, high mileage 13, (well it's an FRS manual) I can find...and it's been on there for weeks...Savannah, Ga....68000mi car...Asking $12,500.

https://www.cargurus.com/Cars/l-Used...ting=163934848

Crap that is cheap. Must be a need to move it fast.

I'd ask $20k and work from there. I just bought a '12 with WAY more mods, and equally taken care of with 8k miles for $19.5k. KBB estimate without the mods was $19.5k.

Fair point. Well said.

only way you can know is to take your car to a place like Carmax, and have them give you an offer on the car as-is.

comparables aren't of much help if they don't actually sell for that price. I listed mine for $20k with mods and sold it for $16k stock.

If I would take it to Carmax, it would be totally demodded first. They don't like modded cars at all and will totally lowball a car with things like springs and an exhaust.

Carmax is not going to offer what it would be worth in a private sale. They're in it to make money. They don't make any money if they buy at market value and then either sell at market value or have it sit on their lot for a long time waiting for a sucker to pay more than market.

About the best Carmax is going to give you is a lower limit for use in negotiating a trade in value with a dealer.

KBB and Edmunds are sometimes off, but they're usually about the best estimate you're going to get. They're not going off prices listed in CL ads. They're tracking actual sales prices as reported through a variety of sources, including used car dealers, auctions, lenders and sales tax records. When they're really wrong is in the case of very unique cars that don't generate a lot of sales data to calculate reliable averages. Our cars aren't Camrys, but there are enough of them sold to get reasonably good data.

If it helps, I just bought my 13 limited with the Enkei wheels, bilstein struts, and invidia hi-flow catted front pipe, the stock wheels with new tires, and stock front pipe for 15995. 26800 miles when I got it. Guy had it up for sale for about a month or so, and I was the first one to be serious enough to come look at it.

I know, I'm just stating this as a basis for knowing what your lower limit is for what the car is worth if attempting to sell it.

We can stare at Craigslist or forum postings all day, but unless final sale price is posted like what realtors do with houses, there's no way to know what the actual price is, only best guesses.

I never took my car to Carmax because I had a target sell price that I wanted (and got), but for anyone asking a general "what is my car worth", a trip to Carmax provides the bottom end of the estimation. And if you solicit prices and people give you a range of estimation that's similar to what Carmax is offering, I may very well be inclined to take that offer as opposed to dealing with the hassle of a private party sale.

-alex

that car is mint. Probably talked down from 20k of course, but not much. That car rocks. It looks a little better than new. Nice polishing!!!!

That's pretty much what I meant. A regular buyer won't know or care about the roof and tail lights unless they are a purist. But yea, try to sell within the community first, and at least go by the dealership and ask for a quote before you de-mod.

Hypothetically, if I was not currently an owner of a BRZ I would probably be very interested in yours.

I'd sell 20k+ to private.


My FRS:

-2014
-37J
-Fog lights, TRD exhaust/intake, interior black pieces, diffuser
-33k miles
-9/10 exterior, 10/10 interior
-All else stock.

Dealer wants to buy it for 9-12k. 831 area code, and 10-15k in 408 area code. I've gone to 4 dealers, 3 Toyota, 1 Nissan.

Here's one 12k http://losangeles.craigslist.org/lgb...973598913.html

Personally, id save it, put it in storage non op. $20/month or so for a few years. Maybe with extra tariffs, they will gain value? [doubt it, but I can hope]


p.s. Subaru BRZ is like $1-3k more than the FRS

ive actually been looking for one that already has a turbo as i have the budget to do so

And possibly (probably?) inherit somebody's problem that they are trying to unload? Better to start with something unmolested and get your own work done.

The mods WILL make the price go down, regardless of what people here say (and unless they are the ones giving you cash for it, ignore).


For what it's worth, I just picked up my 2013 Sport Tech (Limited) a couple weeks ago. Bone stock (I passed on many because they were modded. And they were modded by young kids who thought it was a racecar and beat the hell out of. THAT's why the price decreases, whether you did or not, will be in the buyers mind).


33000km (20K miles?), 1 or 2 door dings (dealer took care of those), $18K Canadian to give you an idea. I don't think the exchange rate is a fair comparison since that would put it at a 13.5k USD Car, but I DEFINITELY wouldn't not pay $18K USD.

I'm looking at $15-16k with mods private sale. I don't want what trade in to a dealer would look like. But it's probably $13.5k-$14k or something in that range. So I'm thinking your estimates are about right. Dealer would probably try to sell it $16k-$18k final price. I'm really just guessing based on comparing list prices though.

I hate to see you let it go. Hopefully someone in the community picks it up.

The mods will make the price go down if selling to a dealer. Not necessarily if a private sale. You are not going to get the full value of the mods back but in the right market you can get at least a little bit more for the car. Remember that those same young kids you spoke of may be the buyer. There are loads of buyers out there that don't think the same way you or I do so we can't make sweeping comments that nobody would pay that.

No you can't apply the exchange rate against value. That only works if using US funds to pay.

That is true if he can find the right buyer.


2 that come to mind that I was looking at are:
I was looking at a car (10 series) and it turns out it had exhaust "delete" (hah), and the badges wired to light all the time (The opposite of what I would want), different wheels, etc "I've had it up to 200 a bunch of times!"..... "Pass"


And I encountered a whole bunch of poor schmucks on Kijiji that I felt bad for who had 100000+km on it, and were trying to sell it for $28000 to pay it off. I suppose a byproduct of the great 96 month finance deals.

Thanks everyone for your help. I listed the car in the classifieds and we'll see how it goes. Anyone have any comments about my ad?

http://www.ft86club.com/forums/showthread.php?t=115464

I just wanted to finish this thread out in case anyone was curious. I ended up getting a somewhat cold-call from a dealership I was looking for cars at and asked. I told her about the overall condition of the car and she came back with a trade-in offer of $16,700. With the sales-tax advantage in my state, that's basically an offer of $17,700. I spend the next day taking off all of the bolt-ons (and replacing with stock parts) and I'm in the process of selling the aftermarket parts (which would have gone to the next owner if I sold it private party).

Trading the car in has been a net-positive for me, financially. I miss the car, though.