rsnikulin

So I bought a 2005 Audi S4 Cabriolet a month or so ago. When buying it the car was sitting in the back of the lot all dusty and undetailed. The dealer claimed they bought the car at auction recently and haven't had time to get it detailed with recent rains and heavy winds. The car according to carfax is a one owner car maintained at the same dealership for most of its life up to 82xxx. I bought the car at 84000(just under) and the carfax stops in august of 2013. Does this mean that this car has been sitting on the lot for nearly 3 years and did i just buy a lemon??? So far there has been little things wrong such as the window reg, some carbon trim is deformed from the sun, the blower resistor had to be replaced due to low freon i believe its called and i have to get a new headlight bulb.

mgmarsh39

Can't change the past, but you should always have a PPI done when buying a car, such as a S4.

Who is servicing the car? If it's the dealer you purchased from, I'd recommend taking it to another dealer, or find an independent shop to look the car over thoroughly. Get their recommendation on repairs etc. If there are significant enough repairs needed, perhaps you could take this to the dealer you purchased from and try and negotiate a buy-back.

If you bought the car as-is, it really depends on your state regarding buy-backs and returns...

jminchoi

It's probably best to assume that all dealers are liars, they'll tell you anything to move inventory and clear the lot space. Perhaps the car was used by the dealership for the past 3 years for ~2000 miles or perhaps it's been moved around the auction block. Does the car have a clean title and did you inspect the body to see that the frame was straight and that there were no obvious signs of a severe accident? I hope that the car is mechanically sound and you got it at a price point that you are happy with. Unless you had some clause where you could return the car for buyers remorse, it's time to stop thinking about if you got taken and start focusing on bringing the car up to snuff and enjoying the car. I'd probably start off by doing all of the fluids on the vehicle to give it a proper baseline.

rsnikulin

I have the carfax on it and there is no accidents shown. The car is very straight the paint is all perfectly matching on all panels and the white interior has no cracks and very few wrinkles. The only damage is a quarter size dent from someone hitting it with their door in the parking lot. The carfax says it was maintained about every 3000-5000 miles at the same audi dealer the original owner bought it from, then it was sold at auction to the small dealer i bought it from. The motor runs smooth and it shifts smooth as well, i have taken it to high speed and it very sound. I was thinking the owner used it a little because he slipped up saying he took it to vegas once. I am just concerned with the three year gap between its sale at auction and to when i bought it. i got it for $12,300 out the door

rsnikulin

*owner of the small dealership used it*

plat27265

As mgmarsh39 mentioned in his post, in the future have the car inspected by a qualified mechanic for previous body repairs and mechanical issues. Furthermore, do not rely on CarFax too much. CarFax provides you with information that is in the 'system'. However, repairs done by the Owner outside of insurance, for example, using his own dime won't be in seen and reported by CarFax. This is where the qualified mechanic comes in.

Concerning why there is a history gap between August 2013 and the time you purchased it, it just means either (1) dealer used it for company or personal purposes) and/or (2) it just sat in the dealer (Audi or that small car dealer) lot unsold (probably the reason why it went to auction).

jminchoi

I don't think that you've bought a lemon, but keep in mind that you have bought an 11 year old German luxury car that was barely used over the past 3 years. Cars don't like to sit stationary and if left sitting too long will cause a lot of other issues. So far most of the things you have listed seem to be minor inconveniences that could happen on any 10+ year old car. I'd make sure to do a proper baseline such as doing all of the basic fluids, fuel filter, brakes, spark plugs since you don't have any history of the maintenance. One thing about German cars is that they need a lot of love, which means that the preventative maintenance needs to be done on time. Keep on top of it and the car will return many trouble free miles in return. If you overlook scheduled maintenance or let little things linger too long this is where things can get truly expensive. I think the little problems should sort themselves out once you do the maintenance and start using the car regularly. I wouldn't lose too much sleep on what you can't change at this point.

One of my mechanic friends' summed up German cars best. German cars are like German people, a bit ****. German cars are built extremely well to tight tolerances, but are **** about maintenance being done properly and on time. The owners are usually willing to put up with the trouble because they are machined well. He also said that the mechanical engineering is superb but the electronics can be dodgy. Doing the basic maintenance on the A4 I can see where he's coming from.