Consider Resale Value
Are you one of those people who loves to customize their ride? In that case, there’s a few things you need to avoid if you plan to put it on the used car market at some point in the future. Some upgrades can actually hurt your chances!
Oversized Aftermarket Spoilers
If you added a huge spoiler onto your car during your “Fast & Furious” phase, a quick heads up: it will actually reduce your car’s value! It can damage the trunk lid, create drag that slows your car down and dealers may reduce offers due to removal costs.
Loud or Illegal Exhaust Systems
The growl of a V8 can be music to a drivers’ ears, while an aftermarket roar that sends neighborhood children running away screaming is overkill (and sometimes, illegal). You’ll instantly narrow your buyer pool and dealers will reduce prices to reinstall a stock exhaust.
Underglow Neon Lights
Back in the 2000s you weren’t cool unless your car looked like a glow stick at a rave party. Underglow neon lights were everywhere, but since some were made illegal (blue and red colors in particular) they’ve been relegated to “boy racer” territory, reducing buyer interest.
Overly Dark DIY Window Tints
An elegant dark window tint is fine; one that obscures vision and makes your vehicle look like the batmobile is not. Not only does it exceed visible light transmission (VLT) limits, it’s a safety risk in bad weather and a hard pass from buyers.
Non-Professional Paint Jobs or Vinyl Wraps
Whether your car’s covered with an amateur paint job or a cheap vinyl wrap, it serves to cover up potential damage. From a shopper’s point of view, who knows what’s hiding under there; it could be rust, crash damage or worse, and torpedoes resale value.
Removed or Debadged Emblems
Although badges can be status symbols, some people actually remove them to get a clean, euro-tuner look. Even if you discount the potential for scratching and damage during the process, people like clarity; a badge removal is confusing and might even be seen as shady.
DIY Lowering
Professional car lowering can enhance performance when it’s done right, but DIY jobs usually involve cutting coil springs and hoping the vehicle doesn’t turn into a four-wheeled pogo stick. The result? A bouncy ride, dangerous suspension and increased tire wear, plus resale is a long shot.
Oversized Rims With Low-Profile Tires
They might be a flex at the grocery store parking lot, but oversized rims tank resale value and interest. Your ride comfort is destroyed, fuel economy goes out the window, and every pothole will feel like your arch nemesis.
Custom Interior Upholstery
Clean interiors are a big seller, while colors and patterns that make your eyes bleed are a big buyer turn-off. Bright, bold and themed interiors clash with mainstream tastes and some may even replace safety features such as airbags, sending your resale value plummeting.
Dashboard-Mounted Gadgets
Does your dashboard look like a garage sale? Then chances are your vehicle will get budget prices… if you can sell it at all! It’s even worse if you’ve glued gadgets such as GPS, phone holders and radar detectors; that’s gonna leave a mark.
Steering Wheel Swaps
You might get away with a professional wheel swap. If it’s a DIY installation it can eliminate airbags, invite electronics gremlins into your steering column and make your vehicle look like Mario Kart. That’s not a look buyers want!
Engine Swaps Without Paperwork
Most drivers won’t turn their nose up at extra horsepower, so dropping a new engine into your bay might sound like a great idea. However, if it’s done without the proper paperwork it just raises suspicion on the mileage, origin and even legality of your vehicle.
Aftermarket Body Kits
We’re not talking about high-end, pro-installed body kits here; we mean the ones you install yourself with bolts, duct tape and hope. They look like a child’s soapbox racer and cause more harm than good; both buyers and dealers will show you the exit.
Home-Installed Entertainment Systems
Aftermarket radios and entertainment systems are super popular, though that usually doesn’t include the kind that have been installed by an amateur with exposed spaghetti wires. If your system looks like Operation: the robot edition, shorts and battery drain might follow and it’ll shock potential buyers.
Huge Subwoofers
No one wants to be woken up by a sick bass beat at 3am, so if you’ve DIY-installed a system you won’t have much luck reselling. Arguably the worst offender is the lack of trunk space; people want to haul luggage, not weaponized sound systems.
Stick-On Hood Scoops or Vents
Decorative hood scoops and vents are designed to make your car look fast, but they don’t actually function! If anything, they make your vehicle less aerodynamic - and therefore slower - plus buyers can tell they’re fake. They’ll give your car a wide berth.
DIY Headlight or Taillight Tinting
Tinted head or taillights can add a touch of elegance to a vehicle if they’re done right. When they’re not, they cause visibility issues and create easily avoidable safety concerns that could be a ticket magnet. Buyers don’t want all that fuss.
Painted Brake Calipers
On a performance car a tastefully done painted brake caliper can look the business. A DIY one colored neon because it looks faster won’t win over practical buyers who can see through the paint job to the wishful thinking beneath.
Engine Bay Dress-Up Kits
Engine bay displays are great for car shows, though when it comes to the secondhand market people will turn the other way. Cleaner bays sell while busy ones suggest other things have been done under the hood and hidden like a crime scene.
Fake Carbon Fiber Trim
The 2000s were a fake carbon fiber fever dream, and those days are better left in the past. Real carbon fiber improves performance, while the fake stuff adds nothing but cheap-looking pieces that will make savvy buyers question what else you’ve done.
Bullet Hole or Fake Rust Decals
Owners see bullet holes and rust decals as a joke; potential buyers see both an expensive removal (assuming the dealer accepts the vehicle) or a red flag that could indicate other questionable decisions going on under the hood. They age badly and conservative shoppers will shoot down offers.
Roof Racks or Light Bars for Non-4WD Cars
Putting off-road gear onto a car that doesn’t have 4WD is a questionable decision; you’re adding topheavy, impractical additions that slow down your vehicle. It’s even worse if they’ve not been installed properly; they’ll rattle and shake, just to make buyers even more confused.
Home-Installed Remote Starters or Alarms
Pro-installed remote starters or alarms? Great! Home-installed ones tend to miss the mark. YouTube tutorials don’t make you a mechanic, so spliced wires and electrical gremlin hauntings are common. No one wants to play electric Russian roulette every time they start the car!
Deleted or Disabled Airbags
Removing airbags and other safety devices to “reduce weight” is a track car move, not a daily driver one; it’s also illegal in many regions! You’re basically trying to palm an unsafe vehicle onto a stranger while you wait for the lawsuit. Most dealers won’t even touch them!
Removed Rear Seats for "race Mode"
Removing seats for extra horsepower is another racetrack trick that doesn’t belong on the blacktop. And yet some people still try it. It makes your car look half-finished, reduces comfort and limits passengers - you’re basically tossing out value.
Plasti-Dipped Wheels or Emblems
What begins as an affordable way to black out chromes and style rims turns into a chipping and peeling dirt magnet that can damage surfaces when removed. Even for buyers who like the look, it sends out a “cut corners” vibe that raises questions.
Badly Installed Body Panels
When it comes to misaligned body panels, aftermarket hoods, bumpers and fenders are the worst offenders, creating a crooked painting look you just can’t unsee. It makes buyers (and dealers) question if it’s a coverup for accident damage, plus it’s an eyesore.
Swapped Instrument Clusters
Without the proper paperwork, most dealers see swapped instrument clusters as potential odometer tampering and won’t entertain taking the vehicle off your hands. It can cause a host of horror car surprises including incorrect mileage readings and dashboard lights that flicker as if they’re cursed.
LED or HID Lights in Halogen Housings
Throwing high-output bulbs into the wrong housings is like lighting a campfire with a flamethrower. Not only does it melt or distort the original housing, it can cause dangerous glare! It’s also illegal in some regions, so needless to say it sours value.
DIY Wrap Jobs on Interior Trim
Using self-adhesive vinyl wraps on your interior trim might look great for online photos, but in person you can’t hide or edit out the bad bits! Wrinkles, bubbles and peeling edges are common problems and the wraps age like fruit. Buyers just aren’t interested in your interior design.
Roll Cages in Daily Drivers
If you’re adding a roll cage onto a commuter car, you’re heavily invested in the daydream of being a race driver! They’re actually quite dangerous without the proper headgear and installation can mess with safety equipment. Save it for the track.
Repainted Calipers With Logos (e. G. , Fake Brembos)
Painted Calipers is bad enough, but adding on fake brand logos is a novel way to make buyers run away in horror. Informed buyers can tell the difference, and will see it as tacky, while uninformed ones will consider it misrepresentation. Goodbye, credibility!
Custom License Plate Frames With Offensive Slogans
Being salty in your head is one thing, but plastering it over your car is another! Sure, it might just be your sense of humor, but certain jokes - particularly speeding, violence or alcohol - are off-putting to motorists.
Homemade Convertible Conversions
If you’ve ever had the misfortune to see DIY convertible conversion, it will probably still haunt your nightmares. They’re horrific and involve chopping off the top of your car - the vehicle equivalent of mutilation - and it makes them practically unsellable.
Modified Bumpers for Aggressive Aesthetics
Turning the front of your car into a “Fast & Furious” vehicle on steroids doesn’t really work if the rest of your vehicle screams “commuter.” They often don’t match body lines, and DIY installs are even worse!
