Audi S4/RS4 Conversion - Worth the money?

[Tfsi gone]

Was browsing today when saw a classified on the above. The car looks absolutely fantastic in white but would you take the punt in buying?...

Currently advertised for £25995

http://www.drivelinesportsandperfor...tronic-quattro-5dr-birmingham-201502120891170

 

[Fctaff]

Lots of extras on it, I would have it checked over though. Always makes me suspicious when cars have been changed, did it have a bump and the put the rs4 front end on it. I would not pay to much extra for it over a normal one, you never really get back the money you spend modifying cars. He also says it's on 18" then later says 20". I may be an old sceptic but something feels odd about it.

 

[Tfsi gone]

I wasn't interested in purchasing however just read it's mentioned as Cat D repaired. Also 2013 (09) plate, hmmm...

 

[Fctaff]

There we go my feelings were spot on, call me the car whisperer lol

 

[Tfsi gone]

Beats me why some specialists repair and sell on really.
I prefer all my cars to be standard when purchasing. Still a stunning motor though. Some clown will unfortunately buy it...

 

[chucky1]

Category D? Does this mean minor or major damage? Rather weird advertisement. 18-20" wheels and a full leather or Alcantara interior, your choice. Wouldn't get much air time here.

 

[Tfsi gone]

Category D? Does this mean minor or major damage? Rather weird advertisement. 18-20" wheels and a full leather or Alcantara interior, your choice. Wouldn't get much air time here.

Normally a Cat D is written off by the insurer as its uneconomical to repair. They then own the car to sell the car on..
So a 2009 S4 must have had quite substantial damage for it to be written off! Least it's advertised as Cat D. If it was a private sale I have no doubt that it may have been omitted!
HPI checks all the way nowadays. Maybe that's why the number plate is also obscured...

 

[chucky1]

Interesting. Thanks Mike. I've not seen anything like this advertised before. Seems like a leap of faith to me to buy a written off car thats been converted to look like another vehicle. At a not insubstantial sum of money.

 

[Fctaff]

Trouble is you have no idea of the skills of the person that fixed it, cat D will always effect it's resale value and with a cars as fast as an S4, would you ever fully trust it!

You know how diferant you car feels after tracking, now think of a car bent just a few mm out of alignment..

 

[TahirS]

I think I kniw this car. The previous owner sold it around a year ago for 21k. The dealer who has it now is going to make a fortune

 

[GeoffDunk]

Damaged or not, why would you buy such a vehicle, buy the S or the RS or convert yourself, you never know what's under the skin.

 

[Scott.T]

I stumbled over this dealer when I was looking for a Cupra R last year. A lot of his stock appear to be cheap but when you read on are CAT 'x'.
A lot of the photos I have seen are at the same location so I would imagine he deals from home (or someone within the team does), as it's not the greatest venue for a photo shoot.

 

[razza1]

They've obviously just copied and pasted a std spec from an S4 and then listed what it actually has, hence the conflicting details. I wouldn't pay that much for a cat d, although looks lovely

 

[chucky1]

Geoff says it. Why would you. Thats a big risk.

 

[Fctaff]

You never recover the money spent, as a rule it far cheaper to buy on pre done then do it yourself.

 

[Garth_S3]

The most important point here is one that hasn't been mentioned. Insurance companies will not pay out on a car that has been written off previously for whatever reason. So let's say you buy this car for £26k and you either crash it or it gets stolen, which is likely (My B8 S4 Avant was stolen last year), your insurance co either refuses to pay out, or pays out a vastly reduced amount. Bye bye £26k!

 

[Locoblade]

The most important point here is one that hasn't been mentioned. Insurance companies will not pay out on a car that has been written off previously for whatever reason. So let's say you buy this car for £26k and you either crash it or it gets stolen, which is likely (My B8 S4 Avant was stolen last year), your insurance co either refuses to pay out, or pays out a vastly reduced amount. Bye bye £26k!

That seems to be a bit of an urban myth, it's almost certainly harder/more expensive to insure a previously written off car as some insurers load the premium and others specifically exclude them so shouldn't offer cover to start with as long as you're honest. If you've made a potential insurer aware of the status though they can't offer cover then refuse to pay out on that basis alone, although they might well refuse to pay out if you didnt declare it as a CatD when buying the policy and they subsequently found out.

As to the payout amount, you'd almost certainly be onto a big loser with that particular car as it's way over what it would otherwise be worth as a regular CatD S4, but something with a lot of modifications such as the above it might be better going to a specialist insurer and asking for an agreed value policy whereby you effectively pay x amount for a guaranteed payout should it be written off / stolen, regardless of market value.

The other downer that shouldn't be ignored is how difficult it will be to sell on, so unless it's a life keeper then be prepared to be selling to a very small market and taking a hiding on resale.

 

[Locoblade]

Also has anyone worked out if it's actually a 2013 or 2009 car yet? If the former then its about the same price as a regular S4 of similar age/mileage so you'd need to weigh up the "value" of looking like an RS4 against the negative of being a CatD. If it's a 2009 though (and if the CO2 emissions number is correct then it's certainly not a 2013 car) then you're paying the best part of £12-14k for the privilege of the RS4 look given that a "vanilla" CatD 2009 S4 would probably struggle to sell for more than half the advertised price above.

 

[Garth_S3]

Not an urban myth I'm afraid, fact in my experience. A number of years ago I bought a car with a dodgy history and when it was destroyed, direct line informed me that they would not pay out as the car had already been the subject of a total loss claim (write off).

 

[Locoblade]

Did you inform them it was a write-off when you insured it?

 

[Garth_S3]

They already knew. That didn't matter though as it was stated in their policy that cars that had already been subject to a total loss claim would not be paid out for again. I haven't read small printbin a long time, so I'm not sure if its still explicitly listed

 

[Locoblade]

They already knew. That didn't matter though as it was stated in their policy that cars that had already been subject to a total loss claim would not be paid out for again. I haven't read small printbin a long time, so I'm not sure if its still explicitly listed

I still say that if you're up front when getting quotes about it being a Cat D and the insurer agrees cover and accepts your money on that basis that they can't outright refuse a subsequent payout for that reason alone as that's plain and simple fraud.

Sounds like yours is a rather different situation, reading between the lines I'm guessing you never mentioned the Cat D status when the insurance was taken out either because you didn't know or didn't think you needed to tell them? I can see your argument that Direct Line should have refused cover anyway knowing they'd already paid out on it but given the onus is on us to provide the correct information and the exclusion is in their small print, I can see where they had room to decline the claim.

 

[xpoweruk]

As far as I aware you can still get agreed value insurance so the price on being written off should be OK.

Having said that,a conversion like that as pretty as it i (although the rear bumper looks off colour in some shots) I would have to have had done myself for peace of mind

 

[Tfsi gone]

Strange no one has mentioned the engine yet. Maybe I should have test driven it to see if it's fast... and yes I have driven all the fast Audi's before anyone asks.
485bhp.. Bet it doesn't feel like an RS6 tho! Still scare the wife...

 

[Locoblade]

You can get that MRC stage 2 upgrade for about £1400 I think so shouldn't be adding an awful lot to the sale price. If it's just the performance you're after then you'd be much better off getting an unmolested facelift S4 for similar money and getting that MRC'd yourself

 

[Tfsi gone]

I'm happy with my fixed TFSI thanks mate. I knowingly posted this thread and advertisement to see what people think..
If I wanted a fast car I would get a Nissan GTR. They are seriously quick...

 

[chucky1]

Strikes me as being a bit odd to be honest. Buying a previously written off S4 that has been reborn as an RS4 but is still an S4 none the less. It's all a bit fake.

 

[TahirS]

I've never drove the b8 rs4, if it's like the rs5, if rather have an s4 but the body on the rs4 is so much nicer to look at and on that note this conversion makes sense, it's probably a better car to run than an rs4. Badges kill it though

 

[Pork]

Not wanting to cast aspersions but when I see cars like this I always think of the poor souls RS4 that unwittingly and/or unwillingly donated all the body parts for a conversion like this.
When will car manufacturers start implanting RFID tags in all major panels? It would wipe out 75% of taken-to-order thefts overnight.

 

[Garth_S3]

They won't because it will cost them a fortune that they won't really get a benefit from. Theft costs the individuals and insurance companies, not the manufacturer. In some ways, the thefts actually benefit the manufacturers by replacing the stolen (and often destroyed) cars.
You can buy these parts new from the dealers or second hand as damaged parts to repair or even as good used parts from a written off car. Not all parts are stolen.