Waltreid

I have a 1999 Audi A4 2.8 Quattro sedan inherited from my parents with only 25K miles on it. The bluebook price seems way too low for a car with such low mileage. What do you think it is worth? And where/how would i sell it to get anything close to its worth?

clancy

Can you post what the book value is and what you believe it is worth? Of course a 1999 with only 25k miles is worth more than most 1999 Audis with normal mileage and wear and tear. However, if you are thinking 2 or 3 times the book value you will have a tough time selling it. I assume you realize there are problems with cars that are not driven? Not as many as with ones that have been driven 15000 miles a year or more, but still... Tell us where you live and how much you want for it, and the particulars about its condition.

grabo

Sounds like you're in the same boat I was in a bit less than a year ago. I got (well, purchased for a dollar) my parents' 1998 A4 with 27K miles.

Since then, I've done the following; All were either necessary or overdue due to age:

New battery
New tires (they were 10 years old and crusty)
Center instrument cluster display replacement
Oil + filter
Cabin and engine filters
Plugs, Ignition coil module, Plug wires (engine was running rough and had hard starts; plugs were gnarly)
Valve cover gaskets (very leaky)
Top breather hose (shattered when doing the VCG)
Oil filler cap gasket (leaky)
Rear shocks (they were dead)
Brake flush (hadn't been done in years)
Brake fluid reservoir (it shattered when doing the brake flush with a power bleeder)
Front shocks (they were dead, too), upper and lower control arms (ride was very sloppy)
Alignment (had to do that after all the suspension work)
Front brakes and rotors (rotors were past service limit)
Timing belt, tensioner and idler pulleys, hydraulic tensioner (recommended at a higher mileage, but the belt is rubber)
Water pump, thermostat (if you're doing the timing belt, may as well replace these)
Coolant flush (necessitated by two lines above)
Serpentine belt (no reason not to replace it since I took it off)
Alternator (wasn't charging the battery)
Outdoor temperature sensor (random negative readings in the summer)

That's what I've done in the past 11 months. I've done all the work myself except for mounting tires, alignment, and replacing the display LCD. I've put in about $2200 so far into this thing (I'm sort of stunned when adding everything up), and countless hours. I need to start learning how to curse in German.

So, as much as I fully believe that MY car is worth more than the Blue Book, I am also fairly certain that my car is worth more than yours, because unless somebody has been doing work on it like the above, then you've probably got a lot of work to do. Just because the car doesn't have a lot of miles on it doesn't mean it's in great shape. Some things (like rubber, shocks) deteriorate with age, not mileage.

(PS - my sunroof is also shot to hell. I'm not going to fix it)

clancy

thanks for your detailed response grabo. Hopefully others will learn from your experience. Hopefully you now have a car that will be good for many miles.

carkarl

I sold my '99 A4 avant last spring for around the blue book "private seller" price at the time. I might have been able to find just the right buyer with a higher price, if I spent a long time and a lot of effort on it. But I was happy to sell it to my mechanic who understood better than anyone the condition it was in. I remember joking with him that it was already 50% his car because of all the parts he'd installed in it over the years.

Mine had more miles than yours when sold, but it had a similar low-miles story due to being mostly parked from 2001-2008 and then driven around 5-6k miles/year from 2008-2017.

To add to grabo's list of parts that can go wrong with age rather than miles: fuel level sender, engine coolant temp sensor, engine thermostat, boots and joints on the half-shafts, power steering hoses and rack, differential seals, and all the mounts (engine, transmission, and differential). Every small bit like the plastic collar on the oil dip-stick and sleeve get brittle and can fall apart. Also, the interior the plastics will get fragile, so be very careful removing any trim panels or even popping the fuse panel cover. The sound-deadening dries out and becomes less effective, and of course the original speakers will be rotten paper and foam.