Is my car worth anything?

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bantam1

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I was going to post the usual 'what's my car worth' but thought the above title might be more appropriate :)

So what could i perhaps expect privately or trade in for the following;

2000 X reg APY pre-facelift S3 in black
149K miles (mainly motorway mileage as i do 23k or so a year)
Mods - Bilstein and H & R, neuspeed ARBs, Custom Code remap, Brembo GT Big Brake Kit, Performance Haldex Controller, 18 inch BBS RC (kerbed)
Mechanically this has been fastidiously maintained (oil change every 5K, service every 10K - mainly specialist history).
Just had new clutch, flywheel and refurbed gearbox.
Bad points - by no stretch of the imagination is this a minter. Car has been used as a daily driver and bodywork / paintwork reflects this (mechanically sound but not a looker or showcar!!).

So question is would it be possible to get anything for this or should i just keep it and run it for another 12-18 months? I love this car and have kept it longer (by 4 years) than anything else i've had but it might be time for a change.

Opinions much appreciated guys.

Cheers,

B.
 
Is your car the one that's always parked in Moseley in Birmingham?

If you still have the original wheels, I would try and sell the BBS rims seperately, and the performance Haldex would be worth a few quid if you have the standard one lying about.
 
jojo said:
Is your car the one that's always parked in Moseley in Birmingham?

If you still have the original wheels, I would try and sell the BBS rims seperately, and the performance Haldex would be worth a few quid if you have the standard one lying about.
Click to expand...

I've been spotted. Yep that's the one - frequent the pool hall there and park up. Although make the trip in a Lupo Gti now (which we recently got for my better half, but can't resist driving myself). Unforunately i have neither the original wheels or controller but had considered swapping some components with someone who wanted to upgrade for cash if i were to do this and trade it in for instance (e.g. rims, controller, brake set up).
 
yep the big brakes.....suspension...... and bits above mentioned.....all worth far more swapped than with the car
 
Like the title, tough question to answer with the mileage. As per previous comments trade down and take off the extras if you can as they add little value to the car.

According to some people on this site S3 prices are rising fast.......

And if it's really,really shiny with heated seats then you can add £2500 to it's value.

Back in the real world, if I owned your car I would expect to advertise at high 3's and take £3500.

You seem in a very similar situation to me and I have decided to keep my car for a while longer as I only expect my car to lose around £500 a year in depreciation, that's on a V reg. S3,88K that I value at £3800.

If you trust the car then keep it. On a side note with that kind of annual mileage a nicely remapped diesel would prob. save you £1500 a year.
 
eh? £3800.... are you valuing via CAP/dealer Glasses???...not being funny but an S3 at that price is a bargain.... yes i know the true trade costs involved but what i dont agree with is that some people on this site are overvaluing...if you knew anything about valuing vehicles then you would know that cars were devalued too much in 2009, case in point is the Mini which has actually increased its value in all valuation guides over recent months (unheard of )..... the S3 has probably had a few occurances where a few have gone extremely cheaply, this should not be used as a gauge, if you put your S3 up for £3800 i can virtually guarantee a trader of some sort will purchase it or attempt to...

and dont forget, purchasing another car will prob cost you £1500 to change, so the benefit would be lost until year 2...then you've got all that luxury to look forward too...well actually you most likely wont if you take the £1500 cost to change

and lets not forget....facelift vs pre facelift offers quite a premium

it's people like you casper who simply cannot value (but think they can) that pull prices down
 
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1animal1 said:
eh? £3800.... are you valuing via CAP/dealer Glasses???...not being funny but an S3 at that price is a bargain.... yes i know the true trade costs involved but what i dont agree with is that some people on this site are overvaluing...if you knew anything about valuing vehicles then you would know that cars were devalued too much in 2009, case in point is the Mini which has actually increased its value in all valuation guides over recent months (unheard of )..... the S3 has probably had a few occurances where a few have gone extremely cheaply, this should not be used as a gauge, if you put your S3 up for £3800 i can virtually guarantee a trader of some sort will purchase it or attempt to...

and dont forget, purchasing another car will prob cost you £1500 to change, so the benefit would be lost until year 2...then you've got all that luxury to look forward too...well actually you most likely wont if you take the £1500 cost to change

and lets not forget....facelift vs pre facelift offers quite a premium

it's people like you casper who simply cannot value (but think they can) that pull prices down
Click to expand...

Second that.......I put my S3 up for silly high money and I was getting really good offers but wanted to wait to see if my PX deal went though, and it did. £3800 for any S3 regaurding the Mileage/Age is a Bargain! People like you ruin the S3 market.
 
CasperS3 said:
Like the title, tough question to answer with the mileage. As per previous comments trade down and take off the extras if you can as they add little value to the car.

According to some people on this site S3 prices are rising fast.......

And if it's really,really shiny with heated seats then you can add £2500 to it's value.

Back in the real world, if I owned your car I would expect to advertise at high 3's and take £3500.

You seem in a very similar situation to me and I have decided to keep my car for a while longer as I only expect my car to lose around £500 a year in depreciation, that's on a V reg. S3,88K that I value at £3800.

If you trust the car then keep it. On a side note with that kind of annual mileage a nicely remapped diesel would prob. save you £1500 a year.
Click to expand...
Ha ha your having a giraffe son
 
i think the poor kids been on a car sales site, the ones with a 'valuer' that quote lower than what they actually fetch so they end up with yet another successful sale on their site.... reminds me of when i was selling and idiots used to come in spouting on about 'what Parkers says' ..... my reaction was, your Parkers guide costs £2.50, our valuation guides cost over £1000 a year to subscribe to, did you buy your book because of the price it told you?...the look was priceless IF they didnt end up walking off in disgust - dreamers
 
1animal1 said:
i think the poor kids been on a car sales site, the ones with a 'valuer' that quote lower than what they actually fetch so they end up with yet another successful sale on their site.... reminds me of when i was selling and idiots used to come in spouting on about 'what Parkers says' ..... my reaction was, your Parkers guide costs £2.50, our valuation guides cost over £1000 a year to subscribe to, did you buy your book because of the price it told you?...the look was priceless IF they didnt end up walking off in disgust - dreamers
Click to expand...

Tim, My parkers guide says that your S3 is worth £72.59p. Think you should sell up :)
 
Very flattering that people think I have the power to move the S3 second hand value market I am sure. No offence intendend.. I use Glass's guide for trade value and then use a tried and tested formula to adjust for the indivual car including private sale,bodywork,history,MOT etc. My car is far from mint, similar to the guy who started the thread.
Not so easy to price a plus 10 year old car but my spare time hobby is visiting auctions and buying and selling vehicles for friends and family. Love the thrill of auctions. My car came from BCA Peterborough, I also buy from fleet contacts (mainly BT and the environment agency). Also buy from BCA Nottingham super sales and an auction near Norwich.
Sell mainly on Autotrader and Exchange and Mart,free sites not much use, only had successes on lower value stuff, always allow four weeks, up to eight for the rarer stuff.
My value is only for my car, in it's condition and usually my initial value guess is within £200 of what I get and obviously I would try for much higher to start with. I have been to about 120 auctions and sold 22 cars over the years.
Prices do firm short term, although not year on year...you are right the Mini I think holds the record for the least year on year % drop for everyday stuff.
Certainly I advise people if they can to look mid-November as for years now prices firm at auction between then and Feb. with the Xmas effect.
S3's very rarely come up over 3 years old at auction, but you really don't want to know how much they go for. Also worth checking out Ebay completed listing, quite a fluid market now, but don't use it.
Good luck to anyone selling, be patient and you will get what the market supports for your car.
 
Didn't want to start an argument - just get opinions on the value of my car :)
 
Realistically Bantam, if it's mechanically sound, you'd be better of keeping it, despite the amount of fuel it's going to cost you to run it. I doubt you would lose much if anything on the value of the car for the next 12 months with almost 150k miles(You've probably passed that by now), and you have your suspension sorted, so no need to worry about that part, so the car doesn't really owe you much really does it. But to change to another car, I'm presuming a diesel with the mileage you are doing, you face further depreciation on your newer motor etc. it will add up basically.

I guess it depends heavily on how much you want/need a new/fresh car, as sometimes you just fancy a change, and that in itself makes the decision for you. And of course, you can salvage some of the monies by off loading your performance parts seperately. ;)
 
Got any Pics? Well if i was going to buy your s3 and i was being honest, id offer you around 6.5-7.5k? 8k max? but it sounds like a good, well kept car mate! Good luck selling!
 
Casper we both know a lot of this market is a matter of opinion so sorry if i came across aggressive, i think we were talking cross purposes in that you are talking more about a price to move the vehicle so that it doesnt become standing stock and i was aiming more at what they seem to be going for IF you are able to wait for a buyer..... id guess the reason the auction cars go so cheaply is the potential cost to rectify any anomolies....... although i do still maintain that an S3 going for the £3k mark will be snapped up extremely quickly.... unless it is an absolute dog
 
Not entirely related to the rest of this thread and it's direction, but to go with the original post, I recently had to face a similar decision.

I've been thinking about changing my car for a while now, but I've realised it's simply not worth it.

having spent loads of money on it, it's now brilliant, if a little tatty with collosal mileage. The way I see it now, for every month I keep the car, it's cost me less per month of ownership. It owes my the best part of 8k over the past 4 years, but the truth is that it's worth just 2k at a push. in the current market with it's 196 000 miles.

it's depreciated so much now, that it's not going to get MUCH worse, and whilst it's still working well I may as well continue to use it until such day that it dies. in a years time it'll only be worth a grand or so perhaps, but I'll have gotten that much more use from my initial investment.

Also, when looking at Loan options to fund a new car, say i need 8 grand and mines worth 2k, I take a 6k loan. In a years time mine will be worth 1k, so I take a 7k loan, the difference in pay back rates is less than what I gain in cost/Month of ownership by keeping it for another year, if that makes sense. Seems silly to me now not to keep it
 
I think the cheapest S3 i've ever seen for sale was £3800, and that was stolen/recovered (damaged/repaired) with VERY shady history and high mileage.

Mine was expensive, I knew it was expensive when I bought it. It was, however, about the same price as a 1.6, 2wd MINI of the same age at the same dealer... Just saying, I know which i'd rather have.

If you do want to sell then, as others have said, sell your mods first!
The Brembos, suspension (unless really old), Haldex controller & BBS are all very sellable!
Either that or sell it to someone on here who knows what they're getting. Sounds like it's well looked after dispite the mileage.
 
An estate agent when valuing a house will look at a number of factors - However, the main factor is how much are simular properties in the area going for.

The same with cars, do your research, look at simular cars with simular spec and mileage and then use the middle ground to get your price. That said, what something is up for and what something sells for are 2 different things.

Furthermore, what something is worth and what people will pay is also two different things.

You don't sound like you really want to get rid of it, so why not try your luck and place a free add on Piston heads for £1500 more than you actually want, afterall u never know!
 
theres wanting to sell and theres actually selling...... you've nothing to lose though other than half an hour of your time.....

although im sure simular is spelt similar ;) or is that me being pedantic
 
Thanks guys - very constructive input. It may be that i do keep this for a while longer then as to buy something i'd be equally happy with would cost me a lot of moolah and as prawn notes i'm saving myself money from my investment that way.

I'm confident the car is sound and not got going to cost me masses more now the clutch and gearbox are sorted, just needs some bushes renewing.

Should i come to sell i'll look to put back to standard and sell off my bits!! Unless someone comes in with an irresistable offer in the meantime i think that's the way to go.
 
no probs mate..... i'm not the worlds best 'speller' myself and when ya in a rush :)
 
JS1500 said:
I think the cheapest S3 i've ever seen for sale was £3800, and that was stolen/recovered (damaged/repaired) with VERY shady history and high mileage.

Mine was expensive, I knew it was expensive when I bought it. It was, however, about the same price as a 1.6, 2wd MINI of the same age at the same dealer... Just saying, I know which i'd rather have.

If you do want to sell then, as others have said, sell your mods first!
The Brembos, suspension (unless really old), Haldex controller & BBS are all very sellable!
Either that or sell it to someone on here who knows what they're getting. Sounds like it's well looked after dispite the mileage.
Click to expand...

There are trader's advertising S3's from £3195 ONO on Autotrader at the moment (going to be suspect at that money agreed).
 
So is the message coming out of this thread saying, if your selling your S3 you will be better of selling the performance parts seperately and you will actually get more money (overall) for an unmodded car taking into consideraton the second hand performacne parts !
 
most likely yes unless you find a buyer who is willing to pay the premium, this type of buyer though is largely in the minority.....
 
thegoal007 said:
So is the message coming out of this thread saying, if your selling your S3 you will be better of selling the performance parts seperately and you will actually get more money (overall) for an unmodded car taking into consideraton the second hand performacne parts !
Click to expand...

Isn't that the same with every car? I've got £13k of performance bits sitting on the floor of my Garage for the skyline, im fairly sure it won't be going up by £13k in value once i fit them lol
 
apologies for bumpage of old thread.

Should anyone be in the market for a cheap S3 i would now be willing to part with the car described in the opening post. Car is now on 151K. Not advertised at the moment. Thought i'd ask as going to sell some of the bits off otherwise before saying a tearful farewell.

So just on the off chance that someone is in the market for a slightly shabby but otherwise sound and well maintained S3 fire me a PM.
 
ALPINE said:
take some anyway mate. helps to get rid of it dont it! :icon_thumright:
Click to expand...

perhaps - black S3, avec chrome mirrors and BBS RCs - much like other black S3s.

As i say if anyone wants a cheap (you might be surprised) high miler S3 PM me.
 
Looks like this one.

SNC01011.jpg
 
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