Help me estimate the value of my A4

[DotNetDude]

Hi All,

I'm about to sell my A4 privately, and I'm struggling to get a feel for what a realistic price is. Can you give me your thoughts?
My car has a pretty high spec, and I've looked on Autotrader but there are very few similar cars in terms of specification or mileage, so I'm just not sure where to position it. I obviously do have thoughts on a price, (which I'll mention later as I don't want to influence anyone), but given how few similar cars, I'm just not sure what is a realistic expectation. I'm not trading it in (or using webuyanycar or any such service) as the dealer price was way too low.

Main car details are:
A4 Avant 2.0l TFSI Avant S Line
16 plate (May 2016)
35,200 miles with full service history.
Black paint, with standard S Line black part leather seats
Comfort and sound pack
(B&O sound system, keyless entry, full electric and heated seats and auto folding mirrors)
Tech Pack
(larger screen MMI, virtual cockpit, satnav, wireless phone charging)
Light and Vision pack
(matrix lights, virtual cockpit)
Extended interior LED light package.
Automatic break/ hill hold assist
Rear view camera

Car is in excellent condition, with the interior in mint condition. Exterior has some fine scratches in the clearcoat that are about to be removed, so when being sold, other than a couple of stone chips the exterior will be in excellent condition.

What are your thoughts?
Thanks

 

[MOA4B9]

Any extras that you got with your car that might have cost you a lot originally loose virtually all their value on second hand market. So you should compare your car to ones of the same age, milage and engine without those extras.

 

[pagenotfound]

Maybe in the low 20's but depends how quickly you need to sell. You say you don't want to trade in due to the low offer but look at total changeover cost instead. Don't give them two bites of the cherry, haggle them hard and if they want the sale you might get a changeover price you are happy with.

 

[DotNetDude]

Any extras that you got with your car that might have cost you a lot originally loose virtually all their value on second hand market. So you should compare your car to ones of the same age, milage and engine without those extras.

Is that really still true these days, when the enhancements often significantly alter the car? I personally prefer a well spec'd car, so even when buying second hand I would be prepared to spend more; compared with someone who isn't interested in the extra facilities or enhancements who would perhaps just stick to the base version.

 

[DotNetDude]

Maybe in the low 20's but depends how quickly you need to sell. You say you don't want to trade in due to the low offer but look at total changeover cost instead. Don't give them two bites of the cherry, haggle them hard and if they want the sale you might get a changeover price you are happy with.

I don't need to sell quickly. I don't need the sale to fund the new purchase, so there is no pressure from that perspective, but I don't really want it hanging around for too long either.
The new car deal is already a done deal, and being built as we speak so unfortunately that isn't an option to negotiate further. TBH the price I got from the dealer was, um, heavily discounted, which was why they had nothing left for the trade in and just offered me the BCA valuation for the car.

 

[pagenotfound]

Maybe see if any Audi dealers will buy off you. Maybe due to the recent drop in car sales they are looking for good stock to sell in the used car yards. You've still got warranty on your side and the spec could appeal to them.

 

[cosmicblue]

Is that really still true these days, when the enhancements often significantly alter the car? I personally prefer a well spec'd car, so even when buying second hand I would be prepared to spend more; compared with someone who isn't interested in the extra facilities or enhancements who would perhaps just stick to the base version.

Sadly this is the case. There was a time when the trade price guides used to have a separate price for cars with Satnav though as that's pretty near standard these days that's gone too. Now a car will lose the VAT content of it's purchase price and all the options value the moment it rolls out of the showroom which given the cost of an Audi is almost inevitably pretty brutal, the steep loss in value continues on a monthly basis for roughly 2.5 years and then slows...trouble is by then we are a bit bored and the cycle starts again...

WeBuyAnyCar can be beaten if you shop around and if you wait a week or two they tend to come back with increased offers.

The secret of avoiding being hit hard is to buy wisely at the 9-12 month old point and find a vehicle that's loaded with options - the RS4 in my signature below being a good example, with nearly 37% of it's list price lost in 10 months.

 

[Aldi-Sport Chap]

I'm not trading it in (or using webuyanycar or any such service) as the dealer price was way too low.

This is sadly where you'll find out how much or little your pride and joy is worth. Privately you should aim £1000-1500 higher than their best offer. The private buyer for a 2016 £20+k car is a rare & brave person. No warranty, no comeback etc. I don't know the value but don't expect much more than the dealer offers. The retail price at a dealer isn't particularly relevant as you cannot offer any sort of after-sales service and the buyer has almost no comeback.

 

[rasA4]

Don’t know about you I certainly won’t be parting with £20k on a private sale.
I take it you have 1year left on your warranty which might help the sale

 

[DotNetDude]

This is sadly where you'll find out how much or little your pride and joy is worth. Privately you should aim £1000-1500 higher than their best offer. The private buyer for a 2016 £20+k car is a rare & brave person. No warranty, no comeback etc. I don't know the value but don't expect much more than the dealer offers. The retail price at a dealer isn't particularly relevant as you cannot offer any sort of after-sales service and the buyer has almost no comeback.

I've not been in this position before, so I also don't know what the buyer is like, who has 20k+ to spend. I certainly don't have that amount of cash, but there is clearly a market for it, I'm guessing people who don't like finance and buy their cars outright, hence they look for 2-3 year old cars that have already depreciated.

I'm not sure I would use the technique of adding 1500 on top of their best offer, because their best offer was very low, and I can see it is way below market price from what is advertised on Autotrader. Perhaps an alternative strategy would be to work the other way round, find a forecourt price and reduce it in some way. But once again, which such a wide spread on the different cars, it doesn't get me a much more accurate base price; the difficulty being that there simply are no cars around that match my spec, or age/mileage. I see two dissimilar models one for 25K and the other for 20K and I don't know where I fit. Somewhere in-between is my natural thought, and I guess this is the normal problem for someone selling their car...

 

[DotNetDude]

Don’t know about you I certainly won’t be parting with £20k on a private sale.
I take it you have 1year left on your warranty which might help the sale

I don't have a year, but it is a shade under 7 months. Hopefully that makes the difference and gives confidence to the buyer.

 

[cptjay]

£18k

 

[cptjay]

Is that really still true these days, when the enhancements often significantly alter the car? I personally prefer a well spec'd car, so even when buying second hand I would be prepared to spend more; compared with someone who isn't interested in the extra facilities or enhancements who would perhaps just stick to the base version.

Yes, still true in the main.

Options might increase the desirability and so it may well sell quicker... but they don't change the valuation by much at all.

Finance companies write down the full cost of options over the term on leases, for exactly this reason.

 

[AdrianWh]

I've not been in this position before, so I also don't know what the buyer is like, who has 20k+ to spend. I certainly don't have that amount of cash, but there is clearly a market for it, I'm guessing people who don't like finance and buy their cars outright, hence they look for 2-3 year old cars that have already depreciated.

I'm not sure I would use the technique of adding 1500 on top of their best offer, because their best offer was very low, and I can see it is way below market price from what is advertised on Autotrader. Perhaps an alternative strategy would be to work the other way round, find a forecourt price and reduce it in some way. But once again, which such a wide spread on the different cars, it doesn't get me a much more accurate base price; the difficulty being that there simply are no cars around that match my spec, or age/mileage. I see two dissimilar models one for 25K and the other for 20K and I don't know where I fit. Somewhere in-between is my natural thought, and I guess this is the normal problem for someone selling their car...

I’m afraid it’s always worth much less to sell than you think and the webuyanycar price +1500 is good advice. The car is only worth what someone is willing to pay and it’s always a bitter pill to swallow but that’s capitalism for you. It may seem like a low offer but in my experience of owning several cars, it’s a hit you have to take in the car buying/selling game and why so many people go down the pcp & leasing route.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[Aldi-Sport Chap]

I'm not sure I would use the technique of adding 1500 on top of their best offer, because their best offer was very low, and I can see it is way below market price from what is advertised on Autotrader. Perhaps an alternative strategy would be to work the other way round, find a forecourt price and reduce it in some way.

The £1500 might have seemed a bit random but at £20k ish I imagine the stealers will be adding 15-20% so £3-4000 for their risk, profit, costs etc. You then are able to split the difference with a risk taking privateer.

If your offer seems low from WBAC and your dealer, then shop around. You'll soon see if it was low or not. It hurts but you cannot beat the game.

Moreover, you say you are not in a hurry to sell. It is getting older every month and losing value. It is eating into that valuable Audi warranty. The longer you leave it the less it is going to fetch. Harsh facts, but facts.

 

[tickedon]

There’s an 18 plate TFSI with some extra options for £26700 as an approved used Audi, and I’d expect to haggle money off.

There’s a 16 plate with VC but diesel and 24k miles for £21900.

If I was you, I’d think I was lucky to get £20k, and would expect much less. Options don’t hold their values and you’d need to wait to find someone who wants your particular combinations and has all the cash at hand. And all the time, you have a depreciating asset with a shortening manufacturer warranty...

 

[Evil Derboy]

Is that really still true these days, when the enhancements often significantly alter the car? I personally prefer a well spec'd car, so even when buying second hand I would be prepared to spend more; compared with someone who isn't interested in the extra facilities or enhancements who would perhaps just stick to the base version.

Just like a house that's been nicely decorated, it'll help to attract buyers and some may be prepared to pay a bit more to get ti but it won't change the actual value.

 

[DotNetDude]

You guys all paint a very pessimistic picture, but since you all say the same thing, my expectations are clearly overly optimistic. I do have time on my side, but like you say, it is a depreciating asset. I'll probably chance my luck and advertise it at an initial higher price, and see if I get any takers. If I get nothing I can always drop the price and if still nothing, accept the webuyanycar/equivilent value .

 

[pagenotfound]

I thought a lot of the comments were fairly realistic. You said you'd say after a few comments what price you were thinking - what were you originally hoping to sell for?

Remember WBAC aren't the only ones out there so you may get a better price elsewhere.

 

[SMI77]

The secret of avoiding being hit hard is to buy wisely at the 9-12 month old point and find a vehicle that's loaded with options - the RS4 in my signature below being a good example, with nearly 37% of it's list price lost in 10 months.

Absolutely correct.

 

[DotNetDude]

I thought a lot of the comments were fairly realistic. You said you'd say after a few comments what price you were thinking - what were you originally hoping to sell for?

So I had looked at Autotrader. there are only 6 that match the base details of A4 Avant, 2016, 2.0l, Petrol, Auto. Of these 6, they range from 22K to 27K. Some are S Line some are sport, a couple have the 250PS Quattro variant, mileages are all different as are the specs. Given the spec of mine, compared with these 6 cars (mine was better than all of them), I had in my mind to advertise at around 24K. I justified that as, given the spec, mine would be at the top of the 22K-27K range, however I clearly couldn't look at the same as a dealer price, so I knocked off 3K from the top end. Now I know there are newer cars available for less, but as a buyer, I personally would be looking for a slightly older model, but with a higher spec, rather than a year newer base model with low mileage. So that is also the type of buyer I am targeting.

However, given what you've all said, I may have to seriously revise that approach and expectation...

 

[pagenotfound]

You never know, the right buyer on the right day may be willing to pay 24k but if not you need to appeal to the widest market possible. I personally think 22k with expectations of haggling, others have suggested under 20k. Were you offered somewhere in the region of 16-17k as BCA value?

 

[Aldi-Sport Chap]

So I had looked at Autotrader. there are only 6 that match the base details of A4 Avant, 2016, 2.0l, Petrol, Auto. Of these 6, they range from 22K to 27K. Some are S Line some are sport, a couple have the 250PS Quattro variant, mileages are all different as are the specs. Given the spec of mine, compared with these 6 cars (mine was better than all of them), I had in my mind to advertise at around 24K. I justified that as, given the spec, mine would be at the top of the 22K-27K range, however I clearly couldn't look at the same as a dealer price, so I knocked off 3K from the top end. Now I know there are newer cars available for less, but as a buyer, I personally would be looking for a slightly older model, but with a higher spec, rather than a year newer base model with low mileage. So that is also the type of buyer I am targeting.

However, given what you've all said, I may have to seriously revise that approach and expectation...

I just looked and at £21950 is a NEWER Private sale 252 Quattro with 28000 FEWER miles than yours. There are 4 S-Lines under £22500 all with fewer miles. You asked, you don't like the answers. Consistent answers, I must say. But as you say you are prepared to drop. All the best but I would imagine most buyers who chance the £20k+ private market are probably quite well researched.

 

[TDubYa]

The two big issues you have are the fact you’re a private seller and the miles on the clock.

35,000 is a lot of miles for a car that age. Regardless of how much better built cars are these days, any buyer will be thinking about potential upcoming charges based on wear and tear at that point. There’s a reason auto trader list them on the search index!

And £24,000 is a lot to hand over for a private sale. Even with half those miles.

If you look at competing private seller,
This similar spec, quatro with only 6,000 miles on it at £22,000. And you would expect to knock that down some too (maybe around £20,500?).
https://www.autotrader.co.uk/classified/advert/201810251816481
That’s just a more appealing offer.

And there’s a trade seller with a similar car albeit lesser trim for less than £20k with only 19k miles.
There are compromises for the buyer. But it’s £4K cheaper. That’s a lot of scratch. And the buyer has the opportunity to have problems addressed if an issue comes up.

So realistically, you are looking at some incredibly stiff competition.

And don’t forget, that age of car is exactly when lease cars are coming into the second hand market. So if you widen your search - be it by engine, model or brand, you suddenly find a glut of very appealing options for a buyer.

You’re main asset (aside from bells and whistles, which may or may not attract a buyer) will be the remaining warranty. But for that to work, i would say you really need to shift it with 6 months left.

At the end of the day while brand new cars offer an amazing experience, 18-24 month old cars offer incredible value to the buyer.

To me, £19,950 seems a good starting price. You can always drop by £500 increments if you’re not getting interest. And if you are still using it as your daily driver, maybe charge a little less to shift quickly, because those miles are only going to go up. And if you get much closer to 40k, it will Affect the selling price further

Just an opinion though!

 

[Maco]

Problem you’ve got is people just don’t want to part with cash anymore, especially with finance be it PCP/HP or leasing being so cheap. A friend of mine has just sold his 2010 Mitsubishi L200 warrior, after searching eBay/autotrader & local garages the equivalent truck was selling for £7500 ish. He had it on eBay for nearly 2 month at £6000 before eventually taking £5000. A lot less than what it was worth but no one wanted to take the risk with no warranty when they could go to a garage & take finance for less than £200 a month.

£20,000+ is a hell of a lot of money to part with when you haven’t got much warranty, 6/7 month down the line it goes bang it’s going to cost you thousands.

Your also looking for someone with a good amount of cash in the bank that can just transfer over £24,000 & not really miss it. Most people would certainly miss that amount of money, but not a few hundred a month on finance from the garage.

I feel your pain as I’ve only had my A4 just over a month & now I want to sell it, thinking of going down the private route myself but I can’t really see much chance of anyone pulling out £16,000 for it.

 

[DotNetDude]

I just looked and at £21950 is a NEWER Private sale 252 Quattro with 28000 FEWER miles than yours. There are 4 S-Lines under £22500 all with fewer miles. You asked, you don't like the answers. Consistent answers, I must say. But as you say you are prepared to drop. All the best but I would imagine most buyers who chance the £20k+ private market are probably quite well researched.

That's a bit unfair. It's not that I don't like the answers. I asked the original question, genuinely trying to gain a better feel for what the value might be. I've already said that I realise from the comments that my original opinion may have been overly optimistic. So, it isn't that I don't like the answers, more that I'm disappointed that the consensus is that the value is lower that what I had first thought.

However something else you've mentioned has made me realise, there really is no proper answer to my question. From the posts that have been made, clearly no one here has 20K+ cash to spend on a car (including me), so it is hard to know what that type of buyer is looking for. But more importantly, different people have their own view of what they look for in a car and what offers good value. For example mileage for me was of no concern when I viewed a modern second hand car. Before I started buying new cars, I would purposely seek out high mileage cars, so I could get a better spec for the same (or lower) money. One of the best cars I bought back in 2012 was a 3 year old Mondeo with 89K on the clock. Fantastic car that I got at a bargain because, in my opinion, most people overate mileage.

I spoke with my neighbour this evening about the same point as he recently sold his RS6. He kept it very simple and said, put it up at 25K and see what happens. Just keep dropping the price until you start getting calls, then you know you've hit the right price.

 

[TDubYa]

I may not of had £20k but I did pay £15k in cash. And I can tell you I did one hell of a lot of research before I parted with my money and I didn’t look twice at a private seller. That’s why I thought you’d appreciate my thoughts on the matter and took the time to respond.

As for the extra miles for a better specs - there’s a car as good as yours with only 6,000 miles on the clock for £3k less. When you add the extra 21,000 miles your car has, tyts why most people have been suggesting it will be below £20k. Probably a few thousand less.

All someone has to do is check auto trader, which as we all know literally tells the consumer if the price is fair or not, and they’ll see your car is overpriced at £25k too.

You say you don’t mind the answers the community is giving. But you don’t seem to be listening them. 10+ people have all said pretty much same thing. But you have chosen to listen to one person because you prefer their answer.

It’s your car, you do you. But at least remember, each day your car is unsold while you try to find the value of it, it will be worth less.

 

[Paul Golding]

I couldn't see in the thread what you were offered by the dealer initially, nor what WBAC have offered. I'd say the "value" is whatever WBAC (and similar) offer. From my experience, the dealer (after I'd negotiated my discount on the new car), offered me £1,500 for my 10 year old B7 Avant, the WBAC website offered £3,500 and when I took it in to them, this jumped to £3,900 and they openly admitted to being able to go a bit further.

Once at that point, you know what the car is actually worth and can then decide if advertising and waiting is worth your time and effort to try and get more.

 

[DotNetDude]

I may not of had £20k but I did pay £15k in cash. And I can tell you I did one hell of a lot of research before I parted with my money and I didn’t look twice at a private seller. That’s why I thought you’d appreciate my thoughts on the matter and took the time to respond.

Thanks for taking the time to post, I'm very interested to get all your views.

As for the extra miles for a better specs - there’s a car as good as yours with only 6,000 miles on the clock for £3k less. When you add the extra 21,000 miles your car has, tyts why most people have been suggesting it will be below £20k. Probably a few thousand less.

All someone has to do is check auto trader, which as we all know literally tells the consumer if the price is fair or not, and they’ll see your car is overpriced at £25k too.

I'm not saying my car is worth 25K. What I said was, originally, that's roughly what I thought it might be worth, but now I realise that isn't the case.

You say you don’t mind the answers the community is giving. But you don’t seem to be listening them. 10+ people have all said pretty much same thing. But you have chosen to listen to one person because you prefer their answer.

Why do you think I'm not listening? I've already said that I realise I was overly optimistic with my original valuation, and that was the whole point of me starting the thread, to find out where to position the car given that lack of identical spec'd cars.
The previous post about advertising it for 25K was simply the suggestion from my neighbour who said I've got nothing to lose by putting it higher for a couple of weeks. The car isn't going to lose any value in that space of time.

It’s your car, you do you. But at least remember, each day your car is unsold while you try to find the value of it, it will be worth less.

You are absolutely right, it is on my mind that the longer I have the car, the more it will lose. I guess I'm making the assumption that the value isn't going to materially change much within the next month or so.

 

[DotNetDude]

On the subject of people who have 20K+ cash to buy cars, I spoke to a colleague this morning about this. He said he now always buys cars that are 2-3 years old. He said that he finds them a bargain since they have lost a huge amount from their original value (as we know), but are new enough to have no problems. He looks for cars with a minimum of 3 months manufacturers warranty, and having done this 3 times, so far not one has had any major problem. However for funding, he doesn't have the cash either, he simply gets a bank loan. He said the financing from the bank is much cheaper than dealer financing, the bank loan is typically around 3%-5%, which is apparently way less than dealer financing for second hand cars which is sometimes 10%-12%. The bank loan is unsecured, so when he is ready to change the car, he arranges his loan, and then is effectively a cash buyer.

 

[TDubYa]

Why do you think I'm not listening? I've already said that I realise I was overly optimistic with my original valuation, and that was the whole point of me starting the thread, to find out where to position the car given that lack of identical spec'd cars.

That's a fair point. I perhaps didn't word things in the best way.

It also needs to be noted that it's a lot easier to give armchair opinions than it is to put ideas into action. Even more so when it involves large amounts of money.

I would agree - you certainly have a month to find what the market is ready to pay.

Ultimately, we're all wishing you the best of luck.

 

[Maco]

You are absolutely right, it is on my mind that the longer I have the car, the more it will lose. I guess I'm making the assumption that the value isn't going to materially change much within the next month or so.

You’d be surprised how much cars depreciate month to month. A friend of mine owns quite a large garage in Newcastle & I always try to pass trade his way. When my mam had her Ford kuga I got him to value it. Can’t remember the exact figures but she couldn’t make her mind up for 3 month. It worked out the car had lost something like £225 a month in value over the 3 month.
Now I always take my cars to him at the start of the month so that I have a few weeks to make my mind up without losing more money.

Without asking, it’s impossible to know if your car will be losing a large chunk a month or a smaller figure but either way it will be losing.

A quick note on what you said about your work colleague, I do exactly the same. My previous E class was 2 year old & had lost around £20,000 in value. Same with my A4, it’s 3 year old & lost around the same from its new price. I expect to lose between £2000/3000 a year in value on it. The E class lost £3500 a year but was slightly newer.

 

[Aldi-Sport Chap]

Hi DNDude, I didn't want to appear unfair I was trying to help with the swift and realistic disposal of your pride and joy. Facts are facts though, and we all find out our pride and joy is worth less than we hoped at selling time. I've been through a fair few over the past 40 years, and more with mates and we are, to a man ALL disappointed with our offers/final price.

Trouble is, you know the car, it has the spec you like, you know it's faults (or not), it's worth more to you than anyone else. A buyer is taking a risk unless he knows the car, i.e. a mate. I used to buy used and the first thing I did was put the reg of the car I was interested in to WBAC to see where the land lies. It's easy, quick and free. As TDubYa says we do a lot of research when risking £20k. Inputting details into WBAC is just the start.

Best of luck, it's the worst part of car ownership bar an insurance claim.