Alex Milenkovic

Heya folks,

I just thought I'd let you know what I'm seeing out there as I attempt to sell my S4. First, my price of $36,000 was a fantasy. I'll be lucky to get $34,000 for it, considering I owe about that much. Again, a 2000 6-speed, nogaro/blue alcantara, convenience, 6 disc changer, heated seats, 11.5k mi - immaculate. I have had a whopping 0 responses from the advertisement I put in Auto Trader - granted, the price was $36,000 there, but no one called to say "Yeah, looks nice, but umm kinda expensive."

I had the car priced at carmax, and they offered me $31,000. I asked the guy from Rockville how much he'd pay, and he said $30,000. Carmax initially had a nogaro with same milage (same everything) as mine for $36,9000. I now see they've lowered the price to $35,900.

Apparently the rockville salaes mgr told me they really go for $30,000 at auctions in mint condition, so there's no reason he'd pay me more. If this is true, our resale is pretty damn crappy - why has the S4 plummeted so much so quick? I figured with the fact that they aren't made any more, it'd be in high demand, not the way it is now.

Also, I have a fear that the S4 isn't a car a lot of people feel comfortable buying from a private seller - that they look for the "security" of a dealer name behind it when plopping down $32,000+.

All in all I'm very nervous, and very sad to see that I will be lucky to get out of my S4 without losing my shirt. Anyone have any ideas why this is happening?

Alex.

Lehigh

Cars always depreciate more in its first year

Tigole Bitties

Bad turbos this
F-hose that
blah blah blah

wolfwagon

They offered me $4K for a 93 318is that averaged $7,900 at that time. I wound up selling it for $7,700. If you have the time, list it all over the internet and in the local papers at a reasonable price. But don't let Carmax be one of your top options. Also, put a "For Sale" sign in the window w/ only your contact telephone number on it. That way, potential buyers will have to talk you to discuss price and features of the car. That's your chance to put the proper spin on why it costs what it costs...

Ted K

First, people generally have a hard time spending that much on a used car from a private sale. Therefore, compared to other less expensive cars, the volume of responses will be less. Also, fyi. When I sold my last two cars privately, I got ZERO response from auto magazines (in NY, I posted in the Buy Lines) and a ton of responses from the local papers. Suprised, but in both instances, local paper worked. This time around, I won't even spend the $$ to advertise in the Auto papers. Advertise on Friday through Sunday, and depending on where you live, make sure you get the add in a paper in a major city in your area. Also, try not to oversell the car in the add. If your asking top dollar, don't put it in.

Alex Milenkovic

Yeah but 25% in one year? Isn't that a bit much?

dkirk

Cars tend to depreciate much faster for the first 1-2 years and then the rate slows down. I've had my 2000 S4 for just over a year and that is about when I would take the worst depreciation hit if I tried to sell it.

Cars are not investments, the stock market is not investments either (right now at least).

Doug

dkirk

Nope.....when you drive it off the lot it drops about 10% or more.

doctorno

Just thank all the Nancies on here paranoid about their build quality :-)

George @ BostonAudi

I was happy enough with that. I think you may have unreasonable expectations about resale value. Its too easy right now to get a new S4 for below $40k, you're not going to get that much for one that has two less years of warranty.

If anything I think the change in warranty length hurt the '00's resale value more than anything else. Its an easy choice. New S4 w/ 4 years of warranty for $40k, or used S4 w/2 more years for $36k? No f'in way.

Your exterior and interior color choices are definitely hurting you as well. Fact is most S4's are not sold to car enthusiasts, and non-enthusiasts just aren't going to want a two-tone interior and funky Nogaro or Imola external colors.

If you get $34k, take it in a heart beat. You won't get any more than that, and I'd probably figure on $31k or $32k. I only got $34k because I traded for a car on the lot of a dealer with 21 other S4's...