Jerry Duvall

I've been looking for an Audi A8 lately around my area and other states and I noticed that a few Audi's been on the lot for more than 40 days and at times 60+ days. Seems like there is a niche market for these high end luxury cars, is it because of the potential repair costs that makes people not want to purchase these?

Iseecars is a great tool btw for negotiating and knowing how long cars been on the lot or price drops/increase. A car I'm looking at the dealer raised the price by $1000 a day before I walked on the lot.

MP4.2+6.0

Probably classic frozen/mismatched market. Most any Audi D4 aficionado knows the D5 is now announced in Europe and due here by Spring. Then as leases expire, people probably aren't doing another D4. More supply comes in from those lease returns meantime--half of all luxobarge sales typically. Then Audi dealers also know to stay very light on inventory to avoid getting burned. Meantime, sellers can't suck up they need to take a bath and move product. They tend to think in terms of historical cost (what they paid wholesale), rather than value in the market right now.

May take better part of a year for the new post D5 intro depressed pricing to settle in on used D4's and sellers to suck it up. It's a buyer's market big picture, especially if flexible on colors and exact options, so hang in there.

the_duke

I think it's pretty typical for these to sit for a while before being sold. When I was shopping for mine last year it was pretty common to see cars that had been sitting for 60+ days.

Twglasgow

I bought a 2014 A8L 3.0T. The inventory doesn't move very quickly. I got tired of waiting for a price drop. BTW how current are my maps and MMI:

BigBoy11

By a large margin, the slowest selling vehicles in today's market is full size sedans and among those, the absolute slowest is luxury full size sedans which of course, fits the A8/S8 to a tee. Hottest vehicles in the market place are SUV's and pick'emuptrucks. You don't buy an A8 to retain value so just find what you like, drive it and enjoy it. Will not even consider letting loose of my '13 A8L! Awesome vehicle, bought it for half of wholesale when it came off lease (insider deal - don't ask) and there simply have not been enough significant changes since then to motivate me. Now in another year or two, the D5 is sure calling my name!

Jerry Duvall

Thanks for the comments, I can see these cars sit on the lot for a long time which can be good for us buyers. I was just surprised to see them sitting for 60+ days when it appears there are no issues with the cars. I just figured these Luxury German cars cater to a certain market which is why they take so long to sell. I'm looking at one now actually that has literally everything (B&O, Driver, Comfort, LED, Night, Rear screens) $31K and 50K miles on the 2012 model... The car was on the lot for 70 days though.

MP4.2+6.0

Honestly I have looked at both Mini JCW's and Golf R's that have sat that long or longer. Specialty market in all cases, though very different for the specific vehicles involved relative to a D4. Frankly if anything I use long sitting cycle as making it more likely they will move on price (or that they are really inflexible. Tactically I stay pretty cool and distant--like e mail only for "internet pricing"--until I get what seems like a reasonable price.

Return For Deposit

These cars can be very slow movers. Very limited market for Luxo Sedans. Funny thing though - my local dealer has moved 3 D4 S8s in the last 2 months. All were well over market price as well. They just came in one day and were gone seemingly the next.

frybear

awful resale value. I have a 2013 and it's virtually worthless. well, obviously it's not worthless, but Audis depreciate, in my experience, much quick than my BMWs ever did. And yes, I know someone is going to post some article or graph that shows they don't. I can only tell you that I've never been underwater on a car as much as my Audi. That having been said, I love my car, but I have to ditch it next year since I always trade in my cars after about 3 years. I will owe more on it than it's worth by a lot more than my previous BMWs. It is what it is...

slpat

I don't have any graphs to back up depreciation but just my shopping experience when I bought my 2014 A8L 4.0 in May 2017. I looked at both BMW 750IL's, Audi A8L's, Mercedes S550 and Porsche Panamera's all 2014 models.


The BMW and Audi were the worst for depreciation based on my search in the Houston TX market. Looking at cars with $102,000 to $105,000 MSRP's with 25,000 to 30,000 miles could be bought CPO'd for $45,000 to $49,000 all day long. Both were about 60% down in 3 years. Mercedes with $110,000 MSRP's were selling for the mid to high $60's so they dropped about 45%. Porsche was the best at retaining value with $90,000 MSRP selling in the low to mid $50's or about 40%.


While not scientific that was the market when I got my car. Buying one of these cars new is a big depreciation hit but they are all great cars.