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I'm currently looking for an Avant, apart from being fussy about colours I'm happy to consider any car.

After seriously looking for the last month I'm confused as ever about prices, I've seen the Avants advertised from £7,450 to £15,000(!)

My thinking is that 1999.5 models set the 'average' price, anything newer than this adds a little and older cars drop in value due to the facelift changes.

So on Autotrader and various sources 1999.5 models with average mileage are advertised between £8,650 and £11,995. The £11,995 model seemed like a nice one so I checked Parkers:

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Audi A4 Avant 1999/T S4 quattro 5d Mileage: 82,000

Franchised Dealer £ 8720
Independent Dealer £ 8050
Private Good £ 7310
Private Poor £ 4955

Part Exchange £ 6105
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Is Parkers really £4k out? I know something is only worth what someone is willing to pay, but a 4k difference is 1/3 of the price of the car!

I've been keeping my eyes on S4 Avants for 6 months and the higher priced ones do seem to stick around, so I wonder if the dealers are struggling to sell at these prices. (You kust KNOW they quote parkers part ex prices when taking S4's in)

Another thing I've noticed is the prices of newer S4's (B6) are getting closer to the high priced B5's, I've seen 2003 S4's Avants at £16,500, even with a mileage of 89K it represents good value against a B5 with 65K at £15K. A few nice RS4's are also dropping to sub 20K.

I know car pricing is not an exact science and I've not talked about servicing/mileage/condition etc. but would be interested to know peoples thoughts.

The trade uses glasses or cap , not parkers. As for the newer cars with big miles , they will suffer as the glasses has a milage correction guide in the back . So if a car like a s4 should have 40k on it but has done 85k it will reduce the book price by £1000's on these top end cars.

Still over 2k out with Glasses, so at least £2.5k out as Glasses gives a 'windscreen' price.

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Audi S4 Avant 2.7 quattro Estate 5d 2671cc

Year & plate: 1999 T /
Mileage: 82,000 miles
Trade in - excellent: £6,690.00
Trade in - average: £5,910.00
Trade in - below average: £5,110.00

Retail price: £9,950.00
Private sale price £7,970.00
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Confused...

All the trade i work with will have £1500-£2000 profit in a car like this , then they will have a px allowance on top of this. Or he is trying his luck..

Car is being advertised at £12k, Trade in Excellent = £6.7k, my maths works that out to be £5,300 'profit'

Not to get tied done by this car, it's just an example.

My question really is are these cars selling? How can both Glasses & Parkers be so far out?

Yeah traders use Glass's - get a free valuation here http://www.vauxhall.co.uk/vx/home.do under owners - value my car.This is what a trader would pay you part-ex and of course he has his margins.

When it comes down to it your gonna have to pay what the market dictates - as you say its no exact science.

It depends what this average mileage you quoted is. If all the cars you saw between £8,650 and £11,995 had exactly the same mileage then this is fair comparison. If there is 15K miles difference between these this may explain some of it.

When I was looking it appeared that the S4's are fair more sensitive to mileage, condition and spec than your average car. Generally your specialist dealers can be choosy and only pick the very best cars with regards previous owners, history and condition.

However, I do think they charge a very large premium for their warranties and the supposed safety of buying from a dealer.

John

Oh and I think Parkers is way out in those price estimations...
You'd be very very lucky to find a T reg S4 avant with 82K miles on it for less than £5K whatever condition it was in!

John

FYI - I was offered £3.5k as a trade in a while ago against a £40k RS6. My car is clean well maintained and has had most facelift mods - it also has all receipts.

I am currently selling the wifes BMW and we are getting between £2 and £3k less than we thought it was worth (Jetski is doing the same)....so in essence I conclude that for whatever reason, things generally are ont selling just now.,

good time to hang on and mod!

£3.5K that is absolutely crazy.

This is what happened with my Golf VR6 Highline a few years ago, they got to a price where it just wasn't worth selling them, like £4.5k for a 5 year old £26K car, so people just hang on to them and keep them as 2nd cars or give them to family etc.

However if someone *has* to sell one, I know someone who's in the market for one...

A further consideration affecting residuals is the low cost of borrowing. Most people finance cars and have a monthly amount spare say £300/500. As a result of the low cost of borrowing many buyers are buying new, entering into personal contract hire, hence the glut of secondhand 4 year + old cars. As the cost per month is often less for the new car.

Why pay £475 per month straight finance @ 6% apr for a £22,000 rs4 when you can have a new S4 avant on your drive on a pcp for £500 per month.

I think the stupid trade in prices is there polite way of saying they don't want it. In my opinion, those price guides are a waste of time for setting a private sale price, looking at what has sold on Autotrader is far better.

Dave

Interesting points.

So is it a buyers or sellers market?

tricky one that...

Sellers - in theory....but in reality you'll get well and truly shafted both ways....