RS6 deal

[johnny11]

i`ve finally found a car that i like with the spec i want aswell, but just need some advice please. The car for sale is a 53plate black saloon RS6 with 25,000 on the clock and is at a Audi dealer, its up for £33,995 with full audi service history etc.. now i`ve got a A6 2.7t with all the toys which i will p/x if a sensible price is offered, now what is a sensible price i should really pay for this RS6? and also can the dealers wait 5 weeks for the cash? so what price should i offer them on top of my car?

any advice would be very helpful, thanks

[bogie]

seems like a good price from a dealer with that many miles on it...but to be honest, you look on Audis site at the used ones and the price range for same year/miles varies wildy form dealer to dealer

no idea on the value of your car - all you can go on is a valuation from Glass' guide etc - the dealer will know how much they have to play with in the RS6 adn how miuch they can sell yours on for....each deal is individual....im sure if you come to an agreement with them, leave a deposit then they can wait 5 weeks for the rest though

[bobjebb]

Also sounds very low to me. If it's a "good un" I'd get yourself a very good deal and quick, even though it'll be waiting for you til Jan. A dealer should gladly hold on to the car for you, but with a reasonable deposit put down though. Having said that if that car is a good example, the dealer has priced it to sell quick so I doubt he will be overly flexible. Probably wants a little pre Christmas bonus.

[SteveH]

53plate black saloon RS6 with 25,000 on the clock and is at a Audi dealer, its up for £33,995

I would say that there is room for a deal there; As with all premium cars, the heavy depreciation is in the first couple of years in particular, and your looking at a car 3 years old so you would expect the price to be a little over 50% retained value as the first rule of thumb. Secondly its below book mileage which in theory raises the value, thirdly its from a Dealer so you have the "Approved Used" protection if things get messy afterwards (check its an Audi warranty, not dealer independantly approved). Needless to say check the obvious consumables... tyres, brakes (discs should all have recently been changed at that age/mileage in my opinion) etc, but critically that at the stroke of 3 years the cam belt was done or you've instantly got a grand bill!

To put £'s in perspective, I know that I got a good deal at the time given the rest of the RS6 market place back then (but also that my car was above "average" mileage) but I bought a 53 plate black saloon with similar mileage from a Main Dealer a year and a half ago now for only a few grand more than that. So push them hard for a good PX price, I got over £4K above book value on my TT that I PX'd in the end!

Personally I would not be put off in any way by mileage on the RS6, they are more than capable of swallowing the mileage without issue; and as for "showing" its mileage, I have put my "High Miler" side by side with a considerably lower mileage car to be told by the owner in his opinion how much fresher my car appeared both inside and out (Hello Rich ). Personally I would expect more of a "road rash" on the paintwork of higher mileage cars, but when a group of us met down south earlier in the year it was intreresting that the same parts of the car had nearly identical road rash such as the rear wings above the factory fitted protection, regardless of it being a 15,000 mile car or 40,000 mile car.

My rule is, if you get it, drive it as often as you can and forget about the mileage! No point in buying an RS6 just to have it looking pretty in the garage or on the drive or pottering about on short trips to town, if you want to do that, then buy an Aston Martin!

As long as you budget for the running costs, I dont think that anyone has bought an RS6 and regretted it.

[bbigman2000]

Great post Steve, and even at that price Id go for it, assuming timing belts been done.

[johnny11]

i`m going to ring the dealer tomorrow to see what sort of deal i ca get then shoot up there next weekend and have a look, as its 250 miles away

[GaryC]

Going by the figures I was bid on my car recently, a 53 plate saloon with 25k miles would probably be worth about £26k in the trade. Add on the cost to the dealer to warranty and service the car, and I reckon their profit margin at that sticker price is at least £4k.

Gary.

[Rich_C]

Johnny11,

I bought my saloon on a 52 plate this time last year so hopefully prices are roughly consistent with what your are looking at now. My personal opinion is the price is reasonable although I do think there is a degree of room to manouvre. I bought my saloon with a few more miles on for £3k less than that although it was in desperate need of new tyres on the front plus the front disks were warped which I agreed to pay for.

Again this was all done in the 11th hour when I was ready to do the deal rather than my general enquiries before hand. From personal experience once you start negotiations to sign on the dotted line then you are likely to get more movement out of them.

I've also found that high volume retailers (the likes of Ford, Nissan, etc) are always happier to knock money off cars where as the high end manufacturers (BMW, Audi, etc) don't like to discount too much as I guess they want to support the 2nd hand values.

Is the car local to you? then if so it might be easier to pay 'near' the asking price but get extra's out of them rather than straight cash. For example it might be more conveniant to get a second years warranty out of them plus a free service and things like a boot mat, etc as these all appear on different budgets and are cheaper to Audi because they obviously only pay cost on labour etc. Either way ask to see the delivery report which Audi fill in when they receive p/x or stock cars to verify if there are any problems (DRC, tyre depth, etc).

This all might sound obvious but maybe a few points worth bearing in mind. Sometimes a good deal can be too good to be true where as other times it's just a case of being in the right place at the right time - I've experienced both and without the benefit of hindsight it's difficult to know which is which at the time.

Finally if you're thinking of modifying your car at anytime you might also want to contemplate buying one that has already been done. Tuning is an expensive hobby and most of the time owners don't see any return on all the hard earned £'s they've put in upgrading the cars performance. In some cases it can even put potential purchasers off so a deal can be had. Either way you can have fun at somebodies elses expense.

As bogie says, if you're interested then pay the deposit and agree the timescales of the purchase. If you've not seen the car then agree to pay a deposit that is refundable if you're not happy with what you see. No salesman worth his salt is going to turn down dosh especially this time of year when Xmas bonus are to be had. Even if you completed the deal in January they would most likely back date it into Decembers figures.

Rich.

Personally I would not be put off in any way by mileage on the RS6, they are more than capable of swallowing the mileage without issue; and as for "showing" its mileage, I have put my "High Miler" side by side with a considerably lower mileage car to be told by the owner in his opinion how much fresher my car appeared both inside and out (Hello Rich ).

Yes I can vouch for that ... after Dave (aka JITB) had waved his magic wand over your car it was in exemplary condition ... and by no means do I mean that as a derogatory remark against my own as can by testified by other members of the board who have seen it in the flesh. To a certain degree this has prompted my purchase of a PorterCable and similar polish products to what Dave used on your (Steve's) car so with a thick slice of Dave's advice and admittedly with only a sprinkling of experience I hope to get a similar result doing it myself.

In general the pearlescant paintwork on the RS6 is a very good finish and keeps it's lustre well. If you see one that is looking tired inside or out then I'd be tempted to walk away. Most RS6's have been bought by enthusiasts and treated with reflective amounts of attention in their maintenance. When you see a good one they really do gleam and look mint. Similarly the interior remains fresh looking with minimal attention.

In many ways this is what prompted me to put the private plate on not for any vanity reasons but purely to hide the age ... Joe Public would never guess it was 4 years old to see it in the flesh.

Personally I would expect more of a "road rash" on the paintwork of higher mileage cars, but when a group of us met down south earlier in the year it was intreresting that the same parts of the car had nearly identical road rash such as the rear wings above the factory fitted protection, regardless of it being a 15,000 mile car or 40,000 mile car.

Road rash on the front and rear wheel arches is common. I've also got a few scuff marks on the door sills from shoes being dragged across them. Heard an interesting theory about the cause of this road rash over the weekend.

My rule is, if you get it, drive it as often as you can and forget about the mileage! No point in buying an RS6 just to have it looking pretty in the garage or on the drive or pottering about on short trips to town, if you want to do that, then buy an Aston Martin!

As long as you budget for the running costs, I dont think that anyone has bought an RS6 and regretted it.

Again agree with your sentiments Steve ... use the car for what it was designed and enjoy the experience. Regardless of mileage of I always felt as if I've been right royally shafted each and every time I've come to part exchange or sell a car. I see mileage as a tool for making the car more saleable. In fact when I bought my car I deliberately looked for a car over the 40k miles mark to ensure someone else had picked up the bill for the cam belt change.

Anyway, enough rambling for the time being.

Rich.

[SteveH]

.. after Dave (aka JITB) had waved his magic wand over your car it was in exemplary condition ... and by no means do I mean that as a derogatory remark against my own as can by testified by other members of the board who have seen it in the flesh

Sorry Rich, I didnt really explain that one very well did I, did'nt wish to make any derogatory remarks about your car, certainly not the first time I've put my foot in it! Just trying to express that with a bit of TLC the high quality materials Audi used in the RS6 such as the grade of leather means that its relatively easy to maintain tip-top condition regardless of mileage.

Albeit that I had cheated at the time with a combination of education and extravagence in Dave working his genius on my car. I'm continuing the basics but am not brave enough to start using electric polishing kit. Knowing me I'd end up using the wrong pad or something and working my way through to the metal . A few years ago I hired a floor sander to sand our bedroom floor, it was as loud as a boeing 747 (and equally as powerfull), I used a belt that was way too savage for what I needed and I nearly ended up going through the floor to the our lounge below!!!

[Rich_C]

Steve no offence was taken and I didn't for a second think you were being deragatory ... honestly didn't even cross my mind!!!

The sentence was more my attempt to say that I thought my car was in superb condition ... that was until I saw yours at the RR day. The wet finish on the paintwork was excellent even with a layer of road grime on top of it. So all I was trying to point out was I thought mine was good but yours was the next level up as can be judged by the photo's yourself, bobjebb et al have posted in the past. Up until that point I had been happy with the Halford level products (turtle wax, auto glym) I'd been using in the past oblivious to the professional products that were available. I know that there are many such products available (Zymol, Meguiars, Mothers, etc) but after seeing both your saloon and MugelloR's avant finished with Swissol Best of Show I am giving serious consideration to getting a pot to finish my car with (once I've finished off my current garage surplus plus once I've got used to the PC and we have a reasonable stretch of weather). I would never ever thinking of spending that kind of dosh on a little pot of wax in the past but the end is worthy finish is worthy of the cost although I'm sure Dave would point out that it's the preparation before hand that makes the finish.

I am in total agreement regarding the other points you make. The materials used for the RS6 are top draw and with a modicum of care can be kept looking tip-top.

Sorry for digressing from the point of the post.

Rich.

[SteveH]

lol... well off topic now... In the spirit of shared knowledge though; I bought a tub of Swissol wax towards the end of summer, as you say, although its expensive, it was a no-brainer to go for "best of show" as you get about 25 waxes out of a tub so its only about £3 a go (thats the RS6 itis symptom again of justifying expense).

However, when I spoke with Dr Swissol (aka Dave), he advised that Swissol have revised the product range, and basically the "Saphir" is practically the previous Best of Show blend but for a slightly cheaper price, sod it I thought, I'll still go for Best of Show with its even better formula. However, Dave's guidance was that the improvements had made it much more difficult to apply. You needed to be experienced to get a consistent result (e.g. they reckon its a proper applied by the palm of your hand process). All sounded a bit to complicated for me (refer to sand paper experience above! ) so I bought the Saphir, still bloody expensive mind, but easy to use and achieve brilliant results. I got so much stick from my peers when the tub of wax was delivered direct from Swissol in a silk purse to my office at work, that was until the week after I used it and a few of the lads were asking for tips for their cars... A few have even bought Virosol and clay bars now