Trick out a Really Bad Car

Have a junky car? Want to ride in style? Follow these steps.

Steps

Clean it. In fact, detail it. Remove all stains, marks, food, and sticky residue from the interior and exterior of the car. Once clean, apply tire shine to the tires and have a professional clay bar the paint if it is in good enough condition. This is the cheapest way to make you hunk of junk look better.
Fix it. Replace broken parts with quality parts unless the sum of the parts is greater than half the value of the car. The value of your vehicle can be found at www.kbb.com
Realize what you are driving. Mini vans are not cool, they are functional.
If appropriate for the type of vehicle you are driving; consider buying tasteful wheels and good tires. eBay is a great place to buy these. Other after-market items can be purchased but do your homework and plan to do the install your self unless you have to money to pay a professional. If you buy quality products and spend a lot of time making sure the install is clean, you will be happy with the results. Televisions and sub-woofers are typically an easy install. Most performance parts take more tools and time to install.
Keep the car and take reasonable care of it until it dies or you have enough money to buy a better one.

2. After-market parts do not increase the value of your car. In fact they just make it harder to sell and worth less if you trade it in to a dealership.
3. Unless you prefer to keep a car until it dies, consider a lease. Most people lease cars and don't even realize it. Example: You finance a car for 60 months at $500 month(i.e about $25,000 borrowed) Three years after you bought the car you decide to trade it in for a new one.(That's basically a lease, you made payments and turned the car back in) In many cases you will owe more money than the car is worth because the car depreciates faster than you pay it off i.e. (you're upside down) To avoid this situation a 3 year lease would have been a better solution. You will have lower payments and not be upside down.
1. Do not waste your money on cheap after-market parts. If you are going to buy something, do your research, spend the money, and buy quality parts.
4. Make a close and personal friend with someone who works at a dealership.