id love to get everyone’s opinion here!

I bought my 05 Q45 in June of 2018, and I’m trying to figure out if I could profit from stripping it down and selling the parts on eBay and other online used car parts websites. I owe about $8000 (love the car but I definitely payed a few thousand more for it than I should have), it’s currently got about 93,000 on the odometer, and is in great condition. No lights on or problems at all!

If I sell the parts for even half the market value, I’d still profit a pretty descent return. I spent some time on eBay looking at all the past sold pre owened Q45 parts (2002-2006), and with the prices the parts were going for I’d be sitting about $5300 gross profit. Even better, that’s with just the few parts that have been sold on the site, leaving me with a heck of a lot more I was able to sell most of it off.

My only concern is the relatively small market, considering INFINITI actually only sold about 12,000 total Q’s from 2002-2006, and then considering the percentage of those 12,000 cars that are even on the road today.

High risk, high return?

Is it too risky, or is there enough demand out there to make it worth it?

Too risky in my opinion.

You'll sell some parts (the headlights for example) rather quickly but you'll face the demand problem. Those who want/need Q45 parts will pay good money for them; but those who need Q45 parts are few and far in between. So, you might not get any attention for the other parts left.

Secondly, time. You could sell off 4 parts in a month, but even if you were to completely sell everything you accounted for in the $5,300 gross, it could take a really long time to realize all the sales. If you have time and space, no biggie.

I would consider selling the whole car. Depending on what features you have, the 05/06 are quite desirable.
Even if you take a hit, it's quick. So you're not stuck with a physically compromised depreciating asset that you still have to make payments on. Payments bigger than the income from selling parts.

If I may ask, what led to this parting out consideration?

KBB is a ways off from the $8000 I owe on it, but I appreciate your advice!

As to my reasoning for wanting to get rid of it, the simple answer is that I don't. I love this car, but I've noticed that most Q45s within the 05-06 range are much lower than the $9700 I paid for it just a few months ago. I figured if I were able to strip it and make something around that $5,300, I could actually just buy another one, using the money to buy another Q45 cash.

It had 81,000 on the odometer when I bought it, and i haven't been able to find a single generation 3 Q45 with less miles so it was somewhat justified, however, I'm on track to put 36,000 miles on it my first year of owning it, so its going to depreciate pretty fast, so I was hoping to be able to make some money off of it quick before I run it into the ground and its worth nothing!

If you have a loan where the vehicle is the asset, then the financial institute holds the title and owns it. Breaking a car you do not own is a s*** thing to do. What happens when you sell a bunch of parts, that renders the vehicle unusable, but can't sell the rest? Going to fix it back up, let it sit and pay it off, or let the institute repossess it? If you can't afford it, sell it. Sell it for less than you owe? Take the loss and put it up to a lesson learned.

I love this thread, because it sounds like something I'd think of!

I think you have a couple of issues here, most of which have already been mentioned. Be sure to factor in eBay fees, and PayPal fees. Shipping costs will also add up.

I did this math on parting out out old G35 at a buyback of something like $700, and couldn't make the numbers work comfortably... At least for parts I could pull and ship easily. I can't imagine covering $8000 with interest and monthly payments.

If you like the car, I'd drive it.