Used values; do they match online estimators?

[Senseless]

I've been looking at KBB and Edmunds and they state my 2012 S4 trade-in is roughly $13,000- $14,000, with private party sale about $3000 more. Are these fairly accurate numbers in the current market? I have 93,000 miles, clean condition with no mechanical issues. I'm the 3rd owner. All other info in my signature.

[hilmar2k]

I have found that trade-in is usually lower than online, and private party is often a little higher than online.

Depending on where you are, there aren't a ton of used S4s available, so they can command a bit of a premium.

[jimrobbington]

Ouch that's painful. Kbb says my 2012 prestige manual with 71k is worth around 20k trade in.

Sent from my SM-G965U using Tapatalk

[hilmar2k]

Ouch that's painful. Kbb says my 2012 prestige manual with 71k is worth around 20k trade in.

Sent from my SM-G965U using Tapatalk

Yeah, you'd get less than most likely. I figure high teens. Dealer would try to get mid 20s.

[TFSI]

If you take that to dealer for trade-in, they'll probably call lower than that.
2-3 months ago I was test driving GTI and was curious how much they'd value my car. It's 2013 Manual, all stock with 65k miles at that time. They offered 18k, of course I laughed.

Do a private sale if you're planning to sell the car.

[Senseless]

It's only an additional $400 per year to insure the S4 as a limited use second car. I'm thinking of buying a brand new practical daily and keeping my S4 for weekends and AWD snow driving.
Sad, but my car feels like a dinosaur tech-wise, compared to most new cars. I don't even have a backup camera; lol.

[QS4]

It's only an additional $400 per year to insure the S4 as a limited use second car. I'm thinking of buying a brand new practical daily and keeping my S4 for weekends and AWD snow driving.
Sad, but my car feels like a dinosaur tech-wise, compared to most new cars. I don't even have a backup camera; lol.

I agree with you here! It seems like I every new car I pass has the blind spot warning lights in the rear view mirrors! Blind spot, backup cameras, and smartphone mirroring are the biggest tech leaps (and maybe parking assist) with today's vehicles. The wife and I had a 2018 Jeep Cherokee rental this month and it instantly had her iPhone screen active on the touchscreen Nav display just by connecting to the vehicle's USB port - my phone was also connected via Bluetooth for calls... Fob in pocket unlock, start, lock was also nice as I don't have that on my '13.

I kept my first S4 for over ten years because I was still a blast to drive! Rust and a few issues made it only valuable enough to be a down payment... The bad part is the next car (SUV), although much newer was barely nicer than the Audi! It wasn't until I got the 2013 S4 that I got that backup camera.

Your mileage will keep you out of the premium price range but you still have a great car! I've bought a few new cars and gotten out of them in two years to cut my losses on something I don't want and kept other cars because the current offerings were not (IMHO) worth cost to 'upgrade'.
I prefer/try to not pay for stuff I don't like so I hope you don't regret getting that practical new daily as you hope you were still driving your S4...
Hope this helps!

[Senseless]

I test drove the '18 Accord hybrid touring and it appeals to the technology, environmental and cheap sides of me. This thing has full safety tech, CarPlay, adaptive cruise and even ventilated seats for $35,000 MSRP. That may make the ideal comfort work daily, while still keeping the S4 for fun.


I agree with you here! It seems like I every new car I pass has the blind spot warning lights in the rear view mirrors! Blind spot, backup cameras, and smartphone mirroring are the biggest tech leaps (and maybe parking assist) with today's vehicles. The wife and I had a 2018 Jeep Cherokee rental this month and it instantly had her iPhone screen active on the touchscreen Nav display just by connecting to the vehicle's USB port - my phone was also connected via Bluetooth for calls... Fob in pocket unlock, start, lock was also nice as I don't have that on my '13.

I kept my first S4 for over ten years because I was still a blast to drive! Rust and a few issues made it only valuable enough to be a down payment... The bad part is the next car (SUV), although much newer was barely nicer than the Audi! It wasn't until I got the 2013 S4 that I got that backup camera.

Your mileage will keep you out of the premium price range but you still have a great car! I've bought a few new cars and gotten out of them in two years to cut my losses on something I don't want and kept other cars because the current offerings were not (IMHO) worth cost to 'upgrade'.
I prefer/try to not pay for stuff I don't like so I hope you don't regret getting that practical new daily as you hope you were still driving your S4...
Hope this helps!

[TMurt]

It's only an additional $400 per year to insure the S4 as a limited use second car. I'm thinking of buying a brand new practical daily and keeping my S4 for weekends and AWD snow driving.
Sad, but my car feels like a dinosaur tech-wise, compared to most new cars. I don't even have a backup camera; lol.

For what its worth, I just did this a year ago. Picked up a Fusion for commuting and kept the S4 for fun and I regret it. The fusion is a perfectly good car and the gas savings are amazing, probably half of what the S4 would cost to fuel, but a couple things are leading me to go back to my S4 daily and maybe look to upgrade to a newer S5. First, I'm in Michigan so insuring the second car costs $1000 extra per year and second, I underestimated the value in having a car that can put a smile on your face every time you drive to and from work. Moving up to a b8.5 would give me all the tech I care about (side assist, backup camera, bluetooth music), but I may need to sacrifice the 6MT if I go to one car.

[Senseless]

For what its worth, I just did this a year ago. Picked up a Fusion for commuting and kept the S4 for fun and I regret it. The fusion is a perfectly good car and the gas savings are amazing, probably half of what the S4 would cost to fuel, but a couple things are leading me to go back to my S4 daily and maybe look to upgrade to a newer S5. First, I'm in Michigan so insuring the second car costs $1000 extra per year and second, I underestimated the value in having a car that can put a smile on your face every time you drive to and from work. Moving up to a b8.5 would give me all the tech I care about (side assist, backup camera, bluetooth music), but I may need to sacrifice the 6MT if I go to one car.

Interesting; this mirrors what I was thinking of doing, but I should think about the initial novelty of the hybrid wearing off. The cost of the B9 S4 is way over what I want to spend, when I add adaptive cruise and ventilated seats. I'm also considering the new Genesis G70 to REPLACE the S4. Tough choice.

[Indepth]

I picked up my S4 to daily over my second car.

My second car would never work as a daily in my location but the S4 provides the fun factor that I think we all like to have in a daily driver. The thing to keep in mind when it comes to deciding on whether or not moving to something more affordable is the fun factor will likely drop severely. As stated already, this is something you really should keep in mind!

I love my S4 for it's comfort and fun factor. I have a Premium Plus model with all the bells and whistles minus blind spot monitoring, adaptive headlights, and the upgraded shocks. To me, those things aren't necessary. I'm young enough to turn my head to check my blind spots and I don't want the added cost of the shock replacements when they inevitably go bad (the adaptive headlights I would like though).

The S4 is a unique car for what it is, especially the B8/8.5 when it comes to engine reliability compared to past iterations of the S4. Be careful to let it go so easily or you may find yourself saying "I just had to do that, didn't I?".

[TMurt]

Interesting; this mirrors what I was thinking of doing, but I should think about the initial novelty of the hybrid wearing off. The cost of the B9 S4 is way over what I want to spend, when I add adaptive cruise and ventilated seats. I'm also considering the new Genesis G70 to REPLACE the S4. Tough choice.

It definitely will. The other factor I miscalculated was maintenance on the S4. You may be driving it less but the cost/mile for maintenance (i.e. you may drive it 80% less but odds are your maintenance won't drop by 80%). Spending money to maintain a car you aren't driving a lot but know could serve as a daily gets really frustrating. Also, two big things I've missed when not driving the Audi are the auto dimming mirrors and MMI system. I spent 4 hours getting blinded by trucks behind me on a drive back from Chicago one night and was ready to lose my mind. The fusion infotainment and several others nowadays is mostly touch screen based which I also hate because you're constantly reaching forward while driving which is distracting, wheres all of the MMI controls are easily within reach, especially since my hand is already there to shift.

At the end of the day, its all about how you prioritize things. I've realized I'm not going to buy another car unless I think it's going to be something I'd have fun tossing around a backroad. That doesn't mean its needs to be a TTRS but at least something with some spirit when the time is right. The G70 does look like it'd be a fairly good replacement though, especially with the B9's not really dipping below $50k used yet.

Also, to chime in on the initial question here, I've found most dealers will offer you below what the sites suggest, with the difference increasing as mileage climbs. My dad just picked up a new SQ5 and they only offered him $7k on a 2010 Q5 trade in (5 months ago) while KBB has it around $10.5 (currently). If your car is in good shape and you have full maintenance records you can probably get slightly more than what it suggests for private party sale.

[jerseyboosted91]

I picked up my S4 to daily over my second car.

My second car would never work as a daily in my location but the S4 provides the fun factor that I think we all like to have in a daily driver. The thing to keep in mind when it comes to deciding on whether or not moving to something more affordable is the fun factor will likely drop severely. As stated already, this is something you really should keep in mind!

I love my S4 for it's comfort and fun factor. I have a Premium Plus model with all the bells and whistles minus blind spot monitoring, adaptive headlights, and the upgraded shocks. To me, those things aren't necessary. I'm young enough to turn my head to check my blind spots and I don't want the added cost of the shock replacements when they inevitably go bad (the adaptive headlights I would like though).

The S4 is a unique car for what it is, especially the B8/8.5 when it comes to engine reliability compared to past iterations of the S4. Be careful to let it go so easily or you may find yourself saying "I just had to do that, didn't I?".

I agree. I have a 13 S4 as well and it’s my daily. I just got it last July with 34k on it and now I have 55k. These engines are so reliable and it’s in a way so hard to drive something much more less of a car (no offense guys!) like a Honda Civic, Toyota Camry, etc. knowing that you have a beast sitting at home in your driveway. It kills me at least! I understand wanting to save miles on the car as well, trust me with my commute I do lol I’ll have well over 100k miles on my car once I finish up my loan.

The trade in value on our cars to dealerships (especially ones with the higher miles) are a little tough to hear and look at (18k trade in, 21k trade in, etc) but at the end of the day a 2013 S4 is 5-6 year old German sports car and to add the 85-100k Mileage to it, people will be skeptical on looking to pay that X amount of price to be the new owner of it.

People have this perception of once a car hits 100k miles it’s going to explode and to add that it’s a German car, it’s going to cost an arm and a leg to fix all the headaches that will be coming up.

Basically what I am trying to say is, just drive the car. Don’t worry about the miles, you didn’t buy an S4 to not enjoy it fully. If you have the expenses to buy a second car then go for it, more power to you!


Sent from my iPhone using Audizine (http://r.tapatalk.com/byo?rid=87676)

[Snowmonkey]

For what its worth, my 2013 6MT with 85k miles, Nav, with decent options, was traded in at the dealer for 21k, I bought it for 23.5

[Senseless]

The trade in value on our cars to dealerships (especially ones with the higher miles) are a little tough to hear and look at (18k trade in, 21k trade in, etc) but at the end of the day a 2013 S4 is 5-6 year old German sports car and to add the 85-100k Mileage to it, people will be skeptical on looking to pay that X amount of price to be the new owner of it.

People have this perception of once a car hits 100k miles it’s going to explode and to add that it’s a German car, it’s going to cost an arm and a leg to fix all the headaches that will be coming up.
Audizine (http://r.tapatalk.com/byo?rid=87676)

I think you nailed it and why I'm having a hard time accepting a giveaway price. If the car cost me $2000 every time I took it in for inspection and it was starting to fall apart, I'd sell it cheap. But I know better. I can't tell you how many times I see, "Never buy a German car out of warranty" on Reddit. Well, the dealers have to share some blame when they charge $1000 for a brake job and scare people away.

[jerseyboosted91]

I think you nailed it and why I'm having a hard time accepting a giveaway price. If the car cost me $2000 every time I took it in for inspection and it was starting to fall apart, I'd sell it cheap. But I know better. I can't tell you how many times I see, "Never buy a German car out of warranty" on Reddit. Well, the dealers have to share some blame when they charge $1000 for a brake job and scare people away.

Oh absolutely and yes I agree about the dealership pricing to service our vehicles. That’s why you find a good Indy shop that specializes in German cars and you know that does good quality work without them sticking their hands in your pockets.
As mentioned earlier in this post, I just did my 55k service and the dealership wanted $1100 to do. Yes you can buy the Audi care which makes a lot more sense but if you don’t want to do that then next best thing is to find an Indy shop that’ll do it cheaper. But buying a German sports car always comes with the saying “you gotta pay to play” haha

Anyone located in jersey?


Sent from my iPhone using Audizine (http://r.tapatalk.com/byo?rid=87676)