Feeler: 2000 2-door Golf... OEM++

Stumbled upon some financial woes... might have to sell my pride by the end of December. This all depends if I get a phone call with a job offer I am expecting in the first few weeks of December.

So I bought this car privately in May of this year and it has two ladies as previous owners.

2000 2-door Golf (Built in Wolfsburg, Germany)
238 000 km running on Synthetic
Black on Black Euro Interior, Very clean, Wolfsburg-style Seats
AC blows cold
Sunroof is amazing
Comes with a set of Michelin Winter tires
Tint

Work (Everything done by me):
15k Timing Belt, Rollers, Water pump
5k front axles replaced with VW re manufactured units.
10k replaced ball joints on both sides.
5k passenger wheel bearing.
15k on rear rotors and pads.
10k on Shift Rod Bearing and Seal
10k Rear Main Crank Seal
15k Air and Fuel Filter
Break, Trans, Coolant fluid replaced within 10k

Performance:
VNT-17 with approx 35k (PD150 adapter + braided oil supply line)
Bosio Sprint 764 nozzles pop tested approx 30k
Unitronic Stage 3 Tune set to 22psi
Boostvalve set to contain spikes to 24psi
Diesel Geek EGR Block off plates and EGR cooler delete
EGT probe installed ready to be connected to a Gauge
DC Stage 1 Clutch (Good for 200hp/356tq) approx 10k
G60/VR6 Lightened Flywheel 16.5 lbs
3bar MAP

Stereo:
400w Kenwood 4-channel amp hooked up to 4 competition speakers
100w JBL mono amp hooked up to 12' sub with a capacitor
Some Sony deck that came with the car.
Very clean sound... Sound is soo crisp and loud enough to make your ears bleed... some ppl would prefer more bass.

Full Disclosure:
Very Minor Scratches and Rust (Doors and Hatch mainly)
Stupid tint on front windows is peeling, if you drive me to the guy who installed it in Brampton he will fix it for free.
I rear ended a guy while driving on stop and go traffic a week ago. Just had to replace front bumper, drivers fender, drivers headlight, hood, grill, radiator with support and AC condenser. Was not going fast enough to bend or damage the frame in any way. It just cracked all the plastic and bent up the body parts. Original rebar was re-installed and was perfectly straight.

Writing all this it makes me pretty sentimental as ALLOT of work has been put in this car to make it drive AMAZING. It hasn't been even a year owning this car and fixing it up. Hopefully someone will be able to enjoy it as it is ready for crazy mileage to be put on.

I do not beat on my cars and I have never come close to hitting the rev limiter with this car as an EGT gauge has not been installed. I hooked up a temporary Boost gauge when setting up my boost valve and made sure max boost was kept in control. This car pulls hard and is deserving of an all red TDI badge.

What should the price be?

No one has any input? Should i sell for less? I am not expecting buyers to just pop up on this forum. I will be posting on Kijiji and trader shortly. I will probably mention it has a European turbo and nozzles. Should I list specifics or not really?

your car sounds gorgeous. GLWS. My feeling is you aren't going to get what you want for it.

it's tough with a car like that. The car itself is nearly 12 years old, so finding the right buyer who will appreciate the time, effort and money that you've put in the car. The accident damage will also hurt the value.

I'd say it's probably worth around 4-5k.

Lol 4-5k. Sure if it was stock and nothing was done to it. Price is very flexible. I know I will not get 7500 for it, but asking prices are always high.

I am merely stating my opinion. I wish you the best of luck with your sale.

I didn't take any offense. Just saying that I personally wish I could have found my car for 4-5g's when I was in the market to buy something. Cheers, Yatzee.

Jump.Wire said:

Lol 4-5k. Sure if it was stock and nothing was done to it. Price is very flexible. I know I will not get 7500 for it, but asking prices are always high.

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In my experience mods does not = extra value when selling. I have owned, modded and sold MANY cars. Very few mods translate into extra value when you sell. I'd value it @ 4K in my opinion.

Uberhare said:

In my experience mods does not = extra value when selling. I have owned, modded and sold MANY cars. Very few mods translate into extra value when you sell. I'd value it @ 4K in my opinion.

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I don't know about $4k, thats pretty low. I am selling one of the same year, asking $3500 and don't expect to get it but its certainly not the car he has, hopefully he finds a younger person to sell it to. His is fairly low on the km spectrum at 238k, mine has 367k.

Damn I started a thread about the value of modding. LOL

You should've seen the other mod'ed car that was up for sale earlier this year... yowsers!

Seller got his asking price though.

Yup, I sure did. , but it was 4-5 years newer too.

maby some pictures would help, I would pay in the 5500 range for your car.

If I racked up 50-80k on the parts I just put in a couple of months ago then 5500$ would be a fair price. Considering all the performance parts are practically just broken in...

If you're looking to get back money on the performance parts you put in, maybe it is best to remove them and replace to stock, then sell those parts separately?

ik0n said:

If you're looking to get back money on the performance parts you put in, maybe it is best to remove them and replace to stock, then sell those parts separately?

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Exactly what I was thinking. I'm a motorcycle guy, and this is the only way to recoup any of the money you sink into a vehicle with aftermarket or performance parts. An unmolested car (read, OEM) will retain a certain value, most performance parts won't significantly improve the resale value.

I may be open to buying/trading some of your performance parts later in the month and including my stock parts, if you'd at all be interested? Of course, this is is the car doesn't go in the meantime.

Cheers!

Put yourself in the buyers shoes! Would you buy a modded car that was "babied"? Let's be realistic! We all want to start with a stock one so we can mod it the way we want to.
Also, as sad as it is, even just a fender bender, devalues the car. A LOT!
Your best bet, to get the most money for that car is to return it back to stock performance wise).
But as all said, 7500 is HIGH.
To put it in perspective, I just but a 2003, Golf Silver, on 15 alloy rims, new tires, new front brakes, sun roof, heated seats, AC, ESP, the whole thing, with 197000KMs for 6200$. Now, it was not safetied and it was registered as unfit, but 45$ and a front wheel bearing later it's on the road.

Doc_Oc said:

Put yourself in the buyers shoes! Would you buy a modded car that was "babied"? Let's be realistic! We all want to start with a stock one so we can mod it the way we want to.
Also, as sad as it is, even just a fender bender, devalues the car. A LOT!
Your best bet, to get the most money for that car is to return it back to stock performance wise).
But as all said, 7500 is HIGH.
To put it in perspective, I just but a 2003, Golf Silver, on 15 alloy rims, new tires, new front brakes, sun roof, heated seats, AC, ESP, the whole thing, with 197000KMs for 6200$. Now, it was not safetied and it was registered as unfit, but 45$ and a front wheel bearing later it's on the road.

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ditto. $7500+hst...you are talking $8500 for a 12 yr old car with almost 1/4 million kms on it. I cant stop LMAO. I sold VWs in 2000...what was that car new? 21K maybe.....so 14k depreciation in 12 yrs....1200 per year or 100 bucks per month ?? uh....huh.....no offense but better re-assess or find a guy who has a love for your banged up, slightly rusty, lots of mods(worthless to many people ....most I would say).... car is worth 4500 bucks. i wish you the very best of luck....

Nothing agains the original poster, so please don't take it personally, but I think ALL the used TDI's on the market are overpriced by 25%. Yes they do get better fuel mileage and they last double the kms, but how much more expensive is the meintenance? And the engine lasts double a gasser, but the rest of the car doesnt. Same rust, squicks, electrical issues happen on a 12 year old diesel as on a gasser.
Same goes for an ALH engine. 3k for a used engine? Are you on crack? You get a 1.8T for 6-800 with turbo, harnes and ecu.
This is just my rant. You get a moded GTI from 2003 for 3-4k$ and for the same TDI you pay double.
I paid 13000$ for my 2000 in 2005 with 145k km. And that was MINT. I paid 6200 for a 2003 in 2011with 195k kms. I would not pay more than this.
Jump.wire, it sucks for you as you had to pay sales tax and safety/emissions for it too. But you cant recoup that.
I'm sorry, I know it looks like we all jump on you like this. Post it (kijiji, autotrader) and see what interest you get. But I still think returning it back to stock is better. Although costly.
Good luck with the sale.

Yup best bet is to sell modded parts in exchange for there stock parts. It will help out slightly in the end.

I got 6000$ for my last car which was a stock Jetta that had 300 000 km.

The slight mods I put into my car were pretty much stock European replacement parts. The car was not tuned aggressively at all. I guess i should take off the timing belt, turbo and everything else if i listened to some people. The car is very clean for being 12 years old. Everything I did to the car was to replace aging parts and give this car some life. Compression on the motor has been tested. The tune is actually a clutch saver tune meaning it isn't meant to push the motor or transmissions limits. Hardly any smoke comes out under WOT. The clutch was replaced since it was just worn out from the previous drivers and sometimes didn't want to disengage 2nd gear. I could have put RACE520's and a Hybrid turbo but I knew that the car was being built for reliability as opposed to performance. I know that I might as well put brand new OEM replacement parts into the car, but who on TDIclub does?

Like I said I do not expect to get anywhere close to 7500$ out of this car.
I am looking for a specific buyer for this car who will appreciate the car for what it is.
The buyer will not have to worry about the mechanical condition of this car and can focus on adding other things such as suspension, exhaust or whatever else to their own liking. We all know the cost of maintaining a TDI is a bit more expensive. In buying a maintained TDI such as this one allot of the worry and hardship has been taken care of.

As to the issue of it being in an accident I would be willing and happy to take it to a mechanic to get it checked out. The damage did not affect the frame or drive train of the car. The impact went into the radiator and composite rad support. Parts were replaced with ones from a much a newer car with allot less mileage.

I guess you have to see the car to appreciate it.
Thank you everyone for your creative criticism.

I will admit that I thought it was a little high when I first saw this thread. But certainly not an out to lunch price. The standard first offer on a used car is 10% off the asking price. Nobody wants to pay full asking price on a used vehicle. So if you factor at least a 10% drop in price, the buyer walks away happy that he dropped the price and the seller is happy he gets close to his bottom line price. Whenever I sell a used car, I figure what I think its worth and add 10% so that I have that much room to drop the price during the negotiations. With a $7500 asking price, the serious offers (there will always be lowballers hoping to get lucky) will be in the $6500-$6700 range. With good negotiations, a realistic amount he can expect to get is around $6900. But it won't be a quick sell at that price point.

The only problem with selling the car modded is that you have eliminated a large percentage of the market that couldn't care less about the mods. So you have fewer people that will offer you anything close to your asking price. But if you are patient, I see no problem getting $7k for this car. The fact it is a 2 door makes it more rare also, which increases the value a little bit. But also eliminates more potential buyers (anyone with kids for a start).

Considering all the work that was done (regular maintenence as well as mods), I can see him getting $6500 easily for this car. But as stated, it might take a bit of extra time to find the right buyer. If you are in a hurry to sell, perhaps consider lowering your asking price to $6900 and settle on no less than $6500? But if you can be patent, IMHO, anything under the $7k mark is about right for this car.

I'm sure you'll find a buyer. It may take some time, so be patient. I see some value in your mods, and I wouldn't consider them to be a lost cause.

Thanks guys I am not here to make a killing off my car. I just want a fare price so that I can pay my dues. I was doing some math and looking at other cars on Kijiji, i think 6500$ would be a fair selling price.

Make sure you post it on the Vortex too. Its a younger crowd over there, so more in line with your target market. I can see someone picking it up and throwing a GTI body kit on it or something like that.

I sold a 2000 beetle last year with around 260 on the clock.. new timing belt etc. Car ran like a top and was in fantastic condition. I took a hit and sold it for 3500 bucks.. unfortunately you are not going to get what you put into it unless you find a passionate TDI guy.. but that person is more likely to do what you did and buy a good stocker and mod it themselves.

Stay patient or take a hit. 6500$ is high. When I hear words like scratches, rust and accidents, I get nervous. Then add 12 years old! Plus a 2 door? Most guys who want a high mileage car also want it to be practical. As a capitalist, i want you to get as much money as you can, I just dont think December is the best month for it.