Do little things up the value?

Aftermarket parts usually detract from resale value.

I do want to do some things but I don't want to detract the value.

I was actually considering having a sun roof installed because I live in Dallas and its nice to have one to let the heat out when first getting in the car.

Do you have experience owning other cars with sunroofs and liked them in the past? If you have never had a sunroof, I think you might learn to hate the fact that you spent money to get it installed. I've owned at least ...five cars (had to count 'em up) which had sunroofs, and the only reason I got a sunroof is that they were on the cars when I bought them. (used). Only one of these leaked slightly , and it was an aftermarket, I think. The others (including the one I have now in an Avalon) I seldom open, and when I do, I regret it, because at speed, the wind buffeting is uncomfortable and noisy, the radio has to be turned up, etc etc. If you want to save a bundle, cool off the car quickly by lowering the windows until the hot air blows out. Forget the sunroof.

>

I equate this to improvements in your home. When you add things that are specific to you, you are adding them for your benefit and enjoyment, but they may or may not be to another person's taste. This is even moreso for stuff like drapes, other than basic paint color, anything out of the ordinary. You might stumble upon the rare person whose taste matches up, but you can't count on it. Major upgrades, like adding a room or paving the driveway, certainly increase the value.

Now, let's apply this to your proposed improvements, the racing pedals for style, lighting, superficial additions, etc. These are taste changes. Improvements that would bring back value would be a better engine, suspension or a kick butt radio setup (

I seldom open my sunroof. As "Go Mavs" mentioned, I open it when first getting in the car on warm/hot days, to help let the heat out. But like you, I don't like the noise it creates on the open road when opened. However, I *do* like the extra light it provides for the car's interior. (Keeping the glass closed, but the shade open.) So, although I seldom use it as intended, I don't regret paying for it.

Cathy

If anything, they reduce the value.

Any used car salesman will tell you: when you're buying a car new, buy any extra goodies only because you want them, not because they have any intrinsic value. When he's trying to sell the same car used a few years later, he's getting customers who are looking for the basics--a 4 door auto trans, or a 2 door small car, or whatever. They don't come to his lot looking for "the 02 Lexus ES with Package B and the ugpraded Mark Levinson stereo". Those things don't have nearly the value at trade-in time that you'd think.

Of course, that same used car salesman will talk out of the other side of his mouth to the used car buyer, telling him that of course the car costs that much, look at how it's equipped, geez, no, I can't drop the price any more, not when it has that Mark Levinson stereo in it...

Go to Edmunds.com, kbb.com, cars.com, etc. and look up which accessories add value to your car. If the accessory you are thinking about installing is not an "add" item, then it will not add monetary value.

That said, if you like a particular item like racing pedals and will get some enjoyment out if it while you own the car, then it may be worth it to you.

I saw in one of your posts that you were thinking of adding a sunroof. Aftermarket sunroofs are generally pretty pricey, and they are rarely the same quality as the factory installed ones. Common complaints with aftermarket sunroofs are wind noise and leaks. The biggest name brand in aftermarket sunroofs is ASC, and they are probably one of the better aftermarket sunroofs.

Nope.

Did the car come with a radio? It better have a radio in it. Stock or replacement, doesn't matter. But stock is better.

Did it come with lights? Then it better have them. If it has aftermarket lights, they better look good.

Does it have wheels? Good. I don't care if they're stock or Ray's Engineering, they better be there.

Mood lighting? No thanks. Pull the bulbs and replace them with the plain old regular bulbs.

I used to sell used cars. If anything, as far as trade in value, and esp on a Toyota, anything aftermarket that did not come from Toyota or TRD will detract from the value of the car. And, if I open the hood and see a K&N or an Iceman, I'll bet you ran the wheels off the car and will take just that much extra care checking it out.

Now, if you're selling it yourself and 'bling' it out, yeah, some teenager might be taken with something you've done with the car, but a dealer doesn't want to deal with it (no pun intended...)

And as far as the specifics you mentioned, most people don't want them...

Well, these do add to the value. Anything that's not bone stock is taken into account.

But it doesn't add that much. And people looking for used cars aren't looking for a Mark Levinson stereo system!

(who's Mark Levinson?)

. . . . . . . . . . . . . Just kidding. Levinson set up shop in CT in the 80's. A co-worker who was an audiophile brought in a magazine. One of the audio magazines took a ML

500 watt stereo and set it up...to WELD with it. And it DID IT! It was crude by welding standards, but it did make a bead!

Man, when the sun is out and it's above 65 degrees, you bet the roof is open! And that's on my Scion and when I had the LHS. With the Supra, the roof is OFF!

Got a new amp, just the head, Behringer BX4500.

Going 'into the studio' Friday, record some originals a guitar player I'm starting a band with wrote, kind of rockabilly type stuff, but a lot of it is really fun! This should be interesting; I never recorded in a real studio before.

And I also got an Ibanez SD305 5-string. $165, and it's GREAT! What a bargain.

It is always better to keep your car as original as possible.

If you are to sell your car then try spending sometime to vacum the interior and kill the ordor the car may have. Don't forget to applying car wax to the exterior.

Always remember, your likings may not be others cup of tea.

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Clues from a Professional Pianist friend of mine who's Been There and Wrecked That: If you just nailed the absolute perfect take, wait

5 seconds after the final fade before you start whooping it up. You can ruin the whole thing by chopping off the fadeout cheering into an open mike... The cheering stops real fast when the engineer hits the IFB and asks "Do you want that on the final CD?"

Have the set list and solos all decided on ahead of time, decide what mikes you want to use and where, and make sure either you or the studio has them - if not, call around for rentals NOW while there is time to ship and test them.

Have all the strings changed, fresh reeds, new picks, and the instruments tuned and voiced before the session begins, and plenty of spares of all the above consumables on hand just in case. Bring spare guitars so a gear person can replace the string out in the hall. Rehearse a few times between now and Friday.

Get it clear where the load-in and setup time stops and the session time begins - and if the studio is providing any instruments like a piano they have to be properly tuned and operating before the session starts. You have to make that arrangement BEFORE you get there.

Same friend paid for 3 hours of studio time to record his first solo piano album, and they started the clock the moment he got there - their piano was a wreck and they didn't have a proper stereo pair of good mikes on it, just one old (IIRC Shure 55) stuck under the lid...

After he did a full tuning and got it miked right an hour was gone, no refunds... So most of the songs that ended up on that album were 'first takes' where he just went through the sides in order with 30 second pauses to shake out his arms - good thing that's his normal style of playing live, the guy has arms like tree trunks...

There was only time to go back and re-take the cuts with the worst flubs, and if you know the arrangements you can hear a few minor fluffs in the finished product. Believe me, he hears every one of them, every time that album is played, 35 years later...

(I'll get you a Vinyl -> Laser Turntable -> CD copy of the album and you can find them for yourself.)

Get someone with a good ear and who knows the music cold sitting in the booth concentrating and taking notes - they'll spot the little fluffs long before the recording engineer will, since the studio people don't know your music. And you're too busy playing to notice little things. That way you know which songs need a second or third take and can retake only what is needed - overtime in a studio is expensive, and if you push them past an 8 hour day or start eating into the next band's session time it gets /really/ expensive.

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Have fun!

If you can, find a place where we can download and listen.

That's the one and only reason I still own a Wrangler.

Other than top / side / door less travel, Wranglers don't have all that much going for them on pavement, and the Tacoma is better off the pavement.

A former, ultra-high end stereo manufacturer, home of the $50,000 preamp.

They were located in my home town. JBL bought them out a few years ago and eventually killed it off.

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