WIll this custom paint kill resale value?

[TimCFJ40]

So, you’re telling me that a 15+ years old BANGED-up LC with nice coat of paint is worth $20k or more??

Oh ok..…..

Yes, a fully operational 15 year old Land cruiser 200 series with properly repaired paint and body work is likely worth $20k or more. If you don't believe me, find a functional 200 series for much less than $20k that isn't severely wrecked or somehow severely mechanically deficient...

 

[AnyMal]

So, you’re telling me that a 15+ years old BANGED-up LC with nice coat of paint is worth $20k or more??

Oh ok..…..

Agree but with bull**** like this;

Toyota Compact Cruiser EV Looks Fantastic in New Photos

Toyota has revealed more images of its small off-road electric SUV concept, first shown last December, and the boxy EV looks great in its resplendent blue-and-orange two-tone paint job.

www.caranddriver.com

It may be a new paradigm of LC thirst.

 

[linuxgod]

What's your mileage?

A custom paint job will add less resale value to your vehicle than repainting with factory colors. However I believe both will likely net more than the current vehicle value if many of the panels are in bad shape (peeling, significantly scratched, etc). In short if you're selling an '08 LC with 250k on the clock let's say you're in the $20-30k range depending on vehicle condition - probably low end if your truck is beat up and high end if it shines like new. If you paint it with a custom job that's not objectionable you'll probably get more than $20k, but nowhere near $30k.

Personally I dislike wraps. The color doesn't shine like good quality paint, and I've seen vehicles that have torn wraps because trail brush has scraped them up, and that looks much worse than some clearcoat scrapes.

 

[shelby95]

Short answer is yes if it's a $600 Maaco paint job. Probably not if it's a $10,000 high end job that includes door jambs, under hood, etc. With the mention of body damage and 15yo 200, I'm assuming it won't be the latter.

I’d like to know where you’re getting a ”high end job” for $10,000. This wouldn’t be a respray, but a new color on a large SUV. It’s not the color change that will affect value, but the quality of the job at this price point.

 

[linuxgod]

I’d like to know where you’re getting a ”high end job” for $10,000. This wouldn’t be a respray, but a new color on a large SUV. It’s not the color change that will affect value, but the quality of the job at this price point.

I'm guessing it was a ballpark number

i.e. from https://www.jdpower.com/cars/shopping-guides/how-much-does-it-cost-to-paint-a-car

So, How Much Does It Cost To Paint A Car?​

Bottom line: painting your car can cost you anywhere from a few hundred dollars to up to $10,000 or more, depending on the many factors listed above...If you want a truck painted with high-quality, manufacturer-exclusive paint and a ceramic coating, don't be surprised if the price tag reaches $5000 or higher.

 

[Jetboy]

I was curious about current rates and found a few good guides to repaint costs. And I came across a nice tip in one of the articles from an "expert." "Don't wash your car until the paint has dried." You're welcome for that great advice.

I would go with whatever color makes you happy. For me - I wouldn't care much at all what color it was for a early LC200. I would probably pay a little more for some colors. And I'd tend to favor the OEM TRD Pro ones. I think they're usually pretty decent options and being Toyota OEM colors is an advantage IMO. So Army Green, Cement, etc. I like those. Just more cost for the paint work to do a good job. Hardest part is inside the hood unless yours is white or black. Those colors don't look so odd to open the hood and see black fenders inside or base white. If the fenders and firewall are tan and the exterior is green - it's not going to look great.

Good luck.

 

[mcgaskins]

My '08 TLC is in need of a paint job (body damage on multiple panels). It's currently metallic silver/grey. I love the look of the limited edition OD green TRD 4Runner with blacked out emblems, wheels, windows, etc. I'd love to do this to my Croozah, but I don't want to kill its resale value if I ever need to offload it at some point. Common wisdom dictates that changing paint color negatively effects resale.....but what if it's a super good looking unique color like this? Would this hurt? help? overall resale value? Thanks fellas!

Thanks fellas. I think I'm gunna go for a kinda "best of both worlds". Factory paint, wrapped in OD green vinyl. Honestly I think the flat military green vinyl looks better, it'll protect the paint, and can be reversed or changed. The paint job itself will be done professional using PPG paint. Maybe not $10-15k custom show car quality, but definitely better than a $2k Maaco job.

If I remember correctly, you're rebuilding one that had a salvage title, so if that's the case the salvage/rebuilt/reconstructed title will have a much greater impact than the paint choice on resale. That said, switching paint colors even if done well not only hurts resale but reduces the number of buyers. Same with vinyl wrap - even high end wrap adds virtually no resale and often lowers it. Repainting then wrapping is a really expensive way to add basically no resale value, so if that's the objective here I would repaint in the factory silver and call it good.

 

[BadReligion]

I'm guessing it was a ballpark number

i.e. from https://www.jdpower.com/cars/shopping-guides/how-much-does-it-cost-to-paint-a-car

Yes. More like "starting" at $10k. A lot of it has to do with how much prep work is involved.

If you drop off your truck covered in mud, rust, and with mangled body panels and tell the shop to "make it look new" and that is more like a $20k paint job. But if you pull trim and glass, have straight body panels and/or take care of minor body work on your own, $10k is going to get you a nice result.

 

[Supra Turbo]

So, you’re telling me that a 15+ years old BANGED-up LC with nice coat of paint is worth $20k or more??

Oh ok..…..

When I was shopping for an LC summer of '21, even banged up LCs without a nice coat of paint were going for $30-35k with high miles (150k+) and all of them were 08-09's

 

[ekolpack]

So, you’re telling me that a 15+ years old BANGED-up LC with nice coat of paint is worth $20k or more??

Oh ok..…..

Yeah, I don't know if you've been looking at prices recently, but good luck finding a 200 series TLC with under 200k miles for less than $25k. Mine has 120k miles and other than the dinged up body panels (which will be resolved professionally) it's in great shape and has always been dealer maintained. It'll have a ton of upgrades when I'm done with it also (dual batts, high-end $10k Morel/Focal audio system, large Android head unit w/ 360 birds eye surround cams, TRD wheels, etc.) We'll see how it goes, I may or may not do the OD green vinyl. I think it'd look great, and it'd be a nice way to protect the expensive PPG paint job....but we'll see. I appreciate all the input!

 

[ekolpack]

Tell all the folks that had average condition 80 series 15 years ago that resale doesn’t matter….
While I don’t plan to sell my 08 anytime soon, a poorly considered bad paint job or bedliner job could easily make a $20k truck with pretty decent resale possibilities a $10k rig to most buyers.

Yep, agreed! Honestly, these being the last (maybe??) Cruisers offered in the US, and almost certainly the last offered anywhere with an NA engine, I think they are going to be classics and go up in value.....IF properly cared for, like you point out. This is going to be a very high-end job, cutting zero corners, skipping zero steps, using the best products, and high-end PPG paint. The end result (hopefully) will look like a brand new OEM finish with a high-end cut, buff, polish, ceramic job. Which is all the more reason to add the vinyl wrap (keep that paint safe).

 

[ekolpack]

I love the color you have in mind. If you spend top dollar on the paint, and plan to resell, you'll probably never get your money back. If you spend very little, you'll also probably never get the money back on resale. Long story short, custom paint doesn't add to resale value 9 out of 10 times.
If you really want to do it right, you may want to learn to paint yourself, because it's about 90% labor, 10 % materials. Learning to paint autobody/motorcycles has been one of the most rewarding hobbies that I've undertaken. It's a lot of work, but worth it if you plan to keep the vehicle...also if you plan to sell it Painting a LC200 is probably not a great first job, however: it's a beast of a job.


Definitely get the Aztec...

Yep, I'm doing it myself. Been spending literally YEARS to get it just right, watching tons of videos, consulting all the forums, buying only the best materials, taking it slow, checking, double checking, and triple checking all my work. I have some other smaller jobs to do this spring/summer before I get to the Cruiser, so I'll have a decent amount of experience under my belt by the time I get to it. But I'm very confident. I even built out a custom Speedaire air compressor with multiple stages of air drying and conditioning, self-draining aftercooler radiator, German Bekomat automatic tank drain, etc.

It is absolutely rewarding to see a body panel come back into perfect shape. I can only imagine what the final product will look like. Can't wait! Pics and video forthcoming!

 

[ekolpack]

What's your mileage?

A custom paint job will add less resale value to your vehicle than repainting with factory colors. However I believe both will likely net more than the current vehicle value if many of the panels are in bad shape (peeling, significantly scratched, etc). In short if you're selling an '08 LC with 250k on the clock let's say you're in the $20-30k range depending on vehicle condition - probably low end if your truck is beat up and high end if it shines like new. If you paint it with a custom job that's not objectionable you'll probably get more than $20k, but nowhere near $30k.

Personally I dislike wraps. The color doesn't shine like good quality paint, and I've seen vehicles that have torn wraps because trail brush has scraped them up, and that looks much worse than some clearcoat scrapes.

120k on the clock....and will probably move very slowly for many years. I have other daily drivers, Toyota 4x4 Crawler, large towing vehicle. This one will be mostly garaged and brought out for special occasions and an occasional road trip or camping where the old Hilux just won't cut it.

 

[Madtiger]

I don’t know…ever so often i check resale value (trade in) on KBB off my 2019 LC. Yeah the depreciation may be better than pre-pandemic, but still depreciating.

Personally i don’t look at eBay listing. Because if they are still on there then it is not selling. You can ask for any ridiculous price on eBay.

EDIT: just looked it up this morning...trade-in: $71,500. Private party: $73,500.

While this is good for me because I bought it for $77k in 2019 and I have about 49k miles...but given the MSRP, lack of supply, Toyota no longer making, and apparent today's overpriced market, the KBB value is kinda underwhelming.

 

[Boston Mangler]

Loaded Question With Many Different Answers...

You're asking in a group of LC Enthusiasts, most of which are purists, and shun non factory bits and pieces.

Same folks that completely lose their marbles when an FJ40 grille is upside down and not authentic, but the truck has a CHEVY motor stuff in it... So yeah...

Then there's some folks on the opposite side of the spectrum, that couldn't care less about the history and nostalgia, and just want a cool truck that looks the part

Will changing color to non oem effect the value HERE, in a group of actual enthusiasts, likely yes
Will changing color to non oem effect the value elsewhere where someone just wants a cool looking truck? Not even a little, might even add value

Lets be real, there is probably more psuedolanders that never see dirt, but want the look, than there are actual enthusiasts.

At the end of the day, do what makes YOU happy during YOUR ownership, dont cater to the next person

My unsolicited .02

 

[Supra Turbo]

I don’t know…ever so often i check resale value (trade in) on KBB off my 2019 LC. Yeah the depreciation may be better than pre-pandemic, but still depreciating.

Personally i don’t look at eBay listing. Because if they are still on there then it is not selling. You can ask for any ridiculous price on eBay.

EDIT: just looked it up this morning...trade-in: $71,500. Private party: $73,500.

While this is good for me because I bought it for $77k in 2019 and I have about 49k miles...but given the MSRP, lack of supply, Toyota no longer making, and apparent today's overpriced market, the KBB value is kinda underwhelming.

Percentage wise, newer vehicles almost always get affected more than those that are older on the depreciation curve. And this curve did shift with the pandemic for 200's particularly impacting earlier LCs, again percentage wise.

 

[Madtiger]

Percentage wise, newer vehicles almost always get affected more than those that are older on the depreciation curve. And this curve did shift with the pandemic for 200's particularly impacting earlier LCs, again percentage wise.

For me, i cannot imaging a 2008, 200k+ miles on odometer, body damaged LC is worth over 1/3 price of my pristine 2019 LC. The 2008 is 11 years older, over 4x mileage, and some cosmetic damage….is worth over 1/3 price of my LC??!! Call me pessimistic…but I don‘t see it.

 

[Madtiger]

Just looked up KBB: 2008 LC, 205,000 miles, non-salvage title, white color (premium), and FAIR condition.

KBB Trade in: $14,200. Private: $15,700.

And this is FAIR condition with premium paint. You add in more mileage and/or more bodily damage and/or salvage title…that resale value is even lower or just worthless (if salvage title).

So this bring me back to the original post by me. At $14k (assuming the best LC with above criteria), what can you get at this price point in today’s car market? NOTHING. Not even a Civic. Heck, not even a basement Kia!

Thus, I stand by my original post. Resale value is the least of OP’s worries. Paint whatever he wants. Enjoy it. His car, even in today’s market, is not worth trading in…unless he wants a Yugo, Aztec, or those fancy electric bicycle.

 

[Madtiger]

120k on the clock....and will probably move very slowly for many years. I have other daily drivers, Toyota 4x4 Crawler, large towing vehicle. This one will be mostly garaged and brought out for special occasions and an occasional road trip or camping where the old Hilux just won't cut it.

Oh, it has 120k miles?

Ok…according to KBB: 2008 LC, silver color, 120k miles, FAIR condition.

Trade-in: $19,900.
Private party: $21,400.

This assuming FAIR condition and non-salvage title.

You can get a base model Civic for your LC?

Same argument as above. Your car is not worth selling. Enjoy and do whatever you want.

Prices on LC are NOT going up…maybe going down more gracefully than in past? For some of us enthusiasts, we value LC differently than what average population and what dealers value.

Personally, IF i was shopping for 2019 LC, then i would NOT pay more than what KBB value my LC. Our LC is not Lexus LFA.

 

[lx200inAR]

What’s the point in putting all that effort into paining it and then covering that up so no one can see it? It sounds like you are planning to do the paint “for fun” so that takes the $10k cost out of the equation (I don’t think there’s any chance you’d recoup $10k if you were spending that). But if you are capable of doing a factory+ paint job, then do that and if you need to redo it down the road then do that. If you want it to be a collectors item.. I think you’ve already missed the boat on that. Any non factory paint and having over 100k miles pretty much rules that out. It will never be more than a classic driver.