thinking of selling lower mile B6 S4, wanted some feedback on price / options

[DennisCastro]

So I bought my S4 last summer, and love it, but it’s just too much to have where I live driving almost exclusively on concrete with traffic etc, and little chance to drive it hard on nice paved roads.

So I’m thinking of selling it. I probably paid too much initially.

2005 S4, 6 speed, Silver with black leather, no NAV, 64,500 miles

Very good condition, inside and out

New tires (61,000), pads / rotors all around (at about 48,000)

New spark plugs, valve cover gaskets, 2 new front control arms, fuel filter, diff and trans fluid, serp belt, tons of service history, originally a Florida / Texas car

Also, got a warranty through USAA (handled by Assurant) till 93,000 miles, $0 deductable, only available to service members etc with USAA, covers everything except the clutch, which has no issues. This warranty is fantastic; they haven’t flinched covering anything yet. It can be transferred.

Soo what might it be worth? Where should i sell it? Should i wait till spring? Any other thoughts?

[VinnysS4]

i just bought a 2005.5 S4 automatic with 92,000 miles on it. Previous owner did almost no maintenance on the thing except to keep it running.(and he changed the alternator recently) I have had to do the Valve cover gaskets, Valley pan gasket and oil filter housing to block gasket, new battery, remove the rear sun shade because it was locked up in the up position and its in need of some control arms and possibly tie rods. I paid 12,750 plus 1,409 for a warranty which i cancelled because they don't actually cover anything. My car however has a bunch of the options from the factory (nav, heated front and rear seats, sunshades all around, carbon fiber, etc) except no sunroof :( So if you figure in the lower mileage and the maintenance, I'd say you could ask 14 and be fine. Maybe a little more Depending on the market around you. My bank valued mine at like 12,800 so i paid about what mine was worth. Maintenance records usually only add value if someone knows what they are buying,(enthusiasts) otherwise people see it as it "needed" to be done vs. "doing it to keep a good car going" just my .02

[DennisCastro]

thanks for the reply, very helpful. Ive done everything that needs to be done, if it wasnt done already to keep mine running perfectly. My warranty is awesome, when you call, you call a special # only for USAA customers, and it really covers everything, so i think thats a huge value for someone buying one of these. Im located in the Baltimore / DC area, which tends to be a very strong market.

[Audibot]

With winter coming up (well, potentially coming), you know as well as I do how poorly people drive in it. May sell because it's AWD. Also a chance that you may not and it rolls over into the spring. Either case, the fact you have a potentially transferrable warranty on top of the work you've already done should help buoy the price a bit. And if gas doesn't skyrocket, the V8 is not as much a penalty.

[DennisCastro]

All good points, thanks for the response. where would be the best place to sell?

[Guitarmageddon]

I had my meticulously maintained pristine shape car on here for two months, just some tire kickers. Ended up trading it in towards a beater for blue book. It probably would have fetched two grand more through a private sale, but oh well. I was t ired of waiting. I also had an assurant warranty and it was AWESOME. if you are shopping for a warranty, just dont look anywhere else. Assurant/USAA is literally a no brainer. I bought mine for 2800 and probably had a total of 4k paid out at least in just small things over the life of the car (owned for 3 years.) Assurant covered

Valve cover gasket...yes, gaskets
Control arm bushings
Coolant reservoir
Clutch switch
coil packs and a plug
and some more stuff Im forgetting.

The car never needed major repair but at 110/hour, labor adds up.

If I was doing it all again, that warranty is a major value-adder

[VinnysS4]

I must have had the worst warranty. It covered the timing chains, but not the guides or tensioners, or any other "expensive" timing components. Who does that?The warranty should cover the entire engine and all of its components. if they covered more in their list, i would have kept it. It didn't really cover much while listing a ton of "stuff" it covers The thing to look out for(and i cannot speak for assurant/USAA) is them not covering something because a "non covered" part of the car has a failure that makes the covered parts break. like an oil pump not being covered and the engine is starved with oil and seizes up. The oil pump wasn't covered, therefore nothing it causes to break is covered either. That's what they told me at least. I immediately thought of the notorious guide failure on the S4. It could have been very expensive to just fork over at a shop if the company wouldn't cover it. If you get a warranty, get a good one.

[DennisCastro]

the USAA warranty covers all parts that have failed because of a non covered part, which is almost none anyway. All good points to be brought up, and i agree that places like warranty direct etc are all scams, but assurant and USAA are really good and gives you actual peace of mind. they honestly never flinched at valve cover gaskets, bushings, cv boot. im thinking ill do craigslist and autotrader to start and see how it goes. i have a number in my head, just not sure when to put it up.

[VinnysS4]

Craigslist it a good place to start if you can deal with all the tire kickers and low ballers. Not to mention all the people wanting to send you money VIA paypal. Good luck with your sale!!

[Juncura1]

I guess it depends on your area... I just bought an 05' with 58k original miles, all records, and extremely clean from Oklahoma for $14k out the door. However, if I was to sell the car where I live (denver) I feel pretty confident that I could either break even or even make a little on the deal. It's hard to find a clean, low mileage, 6 spd out here.

[cmd4]

I just sold a B6 57k 6 spd avant this weekend… I asked 15.5k,ended up getting close to asking price.No warranty and never touched timing chains,guides or tensioners FWIW.Honestly I can't stand the run around from craigslist,i listed it hear and with the exception of one lowball offer of 12k,everyone that contacted me was good dealing with

[Juncura1]

I just sold a B6 57k 6 spd avant this weekend… I asked 15.5k,ended up getting close to asking price.No warranty and never touched timing chains,guides or tensioners FWIW.Honestly I can't stand the run around from craigslist,i listed it hear and with the exception of one lowball offer of 12k,everyone that contacted me was good dealing with

Agreed... I'm not a fan of dealing with Craigslist at all.

[Audibot]

I've had pretty good luck dealing with Craigslist. It's a matter of how you make your ad.

Need to put it in writing up front (before the car description) that you will NOT accept: lowballers, tire kickers, foreign transactions

Add in that all transactions must be made in cash only (or maybe certified check with transaction at their bank), price is firm (you may provide some wiggle room, but it's gotta be close), and you will only speak to folks on phone--no texting or emailing back and forth. Usually works out well for me that way, plus plenty of pictures and a detailed list of everything.

[DennisCastro]

thanks for all of the guidance and suggestions, i just paid off the loan and will put the car up for sale sometime in February, had it fully serviced at NGP and had them do a thorough once over, PM me if anyone is interested, thanks