Quote:
Originally Posted by vbb
I know this is just one story, but this is exactly my theory. The used car market is primarily driven by model year, mileage and condition. Many of the expensive factory options tend to not see a big return, and aftermarket modifications often see no return at all or even a loss. The PPF installers routinely sell their customers on the notion that cars with PPF will get more money than cars without when it comes time to sell, but I don't know how true that is.
In your case, I would imagine the price of that 2018 M2 with 8kms would have been the exact same if it had no PPF but the paint was still in great shape with minor defects. Of course if a car looks like it has been sandblasted with rock chips and scratches then yes, that's going to be less... but I think a car that had a previous owner that took care of the car, but had a small chip here or small scratch there would essentially have been the same price. So that approximately $5K-$6K PPF job would have done nothing on the resale market. I think this is even more pronounced when it comes to trade value. A dealership isn't likely to give you anything extra, so your best hope is to sell private party to an owner that really appreciates it, or who was going to do that install himself and even then you'd be lucky to recoup 25% of the install value over what the car would have sold for anyway.
I think the PPF installers are fantastic marketers.
|
Yes, think of the dealers end of taking a trade in.
Say Person A brings in a car in perfect condition (due to PPF), and the offered trade-in is $50K. You paid $5000 for that PPF shortly after you got it.
Person B brings in an identical make/model/mileage car with moderate rock chipping, enough to need either a front end re-spray or extensive chip filling and blending. Say the dealer cost will be $1K for this. A dealer may work your value down to $48K "due to paint condition" (they will want to make $1K profit on this repair).
Person B comes out $3k ahead on condition vs upgrade costs. THey only way Person A can break even with Person B is if they can get a dealer to give them an extra $3k for that PPF. It's unlikely they will get that much, the PPF itself will be "used" at that point (depreciated and have it's own damage).
I think PPF is for people that want to keep their cars a long time, or exotics where original paint may increase future value. Or people that have extra money and hate wear/tear on a car, but those tend to trade early anyway.
PPF does a good job, but I question the financial value.