Prices Second Hand in the UK and buying advice

[andyhofer]

Hi there all. I haven't got an R8 at present but I am looking forward to getting one within the year. I wish I was in the fortunate position to buy one new but unfortunately I'm not.

So I have been looking at the prices and currently these cars, 2 yrs old a advertised at around £60,000. I am not looking to spend more than £50,000 which is the main reason why I am waiting for a year for the prices to reach this level.

I had a look in the "Parkers Guide" today and I am somewhat confused. The price for an R8 manual in Parkers is £49,000 with 20,000 miles on the clock (2 yrs old). After adjusting the mileage at £130 per 1,000 miles to bring it into line with the mileages I am seeing on the cars currently for sale (10,000 miles) this brings the price in at £50,300. So, why are the cars for sale nearly a full £10,000 more than the guide price.

Could it be because of the level of spec fitted to the cars, with Mag Ride, Sat Nav, Parking Assistance, B & O, light pack etc. Parkers Guide seems to suggest that the options won't make that much difference to the price other than the R-Tronic adding £1,000.

Is it that the prices of the cars for sale, £60,000, is over the top and artificially inflated knowing that any buyer will haggle the price down to something more reasonable, not sure if you could haggle £10,000 off the car.

Where are the sellers getting the £60,000 sale price from, if they look in these guides then it would give them a value to sell at, but they all seem to be priced high, and from looking at Autotrader.co.uk the cars aren't shifting that much.

There's a private sale currently online "Audi R8 4.2 FSi Quattro 2dr R Tronic Coupe" with 35,538 on the clock priced at £57,495. Now using Parkers this would equate to a base price of £49,000 - mileage (£130 * 15) = £1950 + £1,000 for R-Tronic, so the car should be being sold for £48,050 approx, so yet again the car is actually for sale for around £10,000 over guide price.

I am aware that these cars will hold up well on second hand prices, but surely the guide price would reflect this. Perhaps I need to look at the Black book rather than an on the shelf publication.

On another note, I see that Audi UK offer a used car guarantee, does anyone here have any experience with this, obviously not with an R8 as they are not old enough and are all under warranty, but with any Audi car. If I am going to buy one of these cars then I need to make sure I can afford to look after it and wouldn't want any nasty shock by the engine blowing or something else major.

I absolutely adore this car and only wish I could afford a new one but I guess someone, me that is, has got to support the second hand market. Any guidance from you all would be great, including what to look out for with to buying second hand. I could go for an Audi dealership sale and stomach the £5,000 premium but I would get 1 year warranty.

Another thing is the servicing, is it really every 19,000 miles as per the onboard computer, this seems somewhat high, an perhaps I am mistaken and misunderstanding the detail.

Let me know what you all think, hearing direct from R8 owners has got to be the best way to get honest views.

Thanks all.

[Davey_Dee]

Could it be because of the level of spec fitted to the cars, with Mag Ride, Sat Nav, Parking Assistance, B & O, light pack etc. Parkers Guide seems to suggest that the options won't make that much difference to the price other than the R-Tronic adding £1,000.

Why do options not make a difference in the price when the options are the difference in price for all new cars.

Another thing is the servicing, is it really every 19,000 miles as per the onboard computer, this seems somewhat high, an perhaps I am mistaken and misunderstanding the detail.

I think servicing is every 5000 miles?

[London Lad]

Guides are just that, guides !

Try and get hold of a copy of Glasses guide or 'Cap' from someone in the trade.

Personally I think the current financial 'recovery' is without any real underlying foundation and you will be able to get good deals in the first quarter next year.

[London Lad]

Why do options not make a difference in the price when the options are the difference in price for all new cars.

Most options seldom make much difference to the second-hand value of cars in the UK. They may help the car sell quicker (or at all in the present climate) Why ???


A lot of people here are in a fortunate position to only buy new cars. When I spend £100k + I want a car with EXACTLY the spec I want and I'm prepared to pay / wait for it.

Buyers like the OP who are going for a second hand car probably are more happy to make small compromises on the spec and therefore options become less valuable ???

[Davey_Dee]

I just think that options make a big difference in price for new cars so they should for used

[andyhofer]

I know what you mean Davey_Dee, but that's what I believe these guides suggest. From what I gather new R8 buyers add around £10,000 in options to their purchase. I would personally expect extra options to add value to the second hand price, but I wouldn't expect the full cost of the options to be sold on at 100% of original cost.

From the R-Tronic example, it costs around £5,000 over the manual and the guide suggests it adds £1,000 to the second hand price, if this was used for all options then £10,000 of option would equate to £2,000 second hand making these cars £52,000 - £53,000. Still can't work out why they are going for £60,000., I've been watching these cars and they are just not selling.

Looking at the Audi website, it's the LongLife Service Regime that goes to around 20,000 miles between services, the Standard Inspection Service Regime is more appropriate to me which is every 10,000 miles. Does everyone on here use the onboard computer to tell them when to service the car or do you do it every 10,000 regardless of the onboard computer feedback.

[andyhofer]

Buyers like the OP who are going for a second hand car probably are more happy to make small compromises on the spec and therefore options become less valuable ???

I agree London Lad, yes, if the spec was an option I would love to have exactly what I want, but as I cannot afford a new car then I am happy to compromise on nearly everything. The only thing I must have is a manual gearbox, other than that all other additions are a nice to have. It may seem odd but parking sensors are important to me as I would hate to knock it on something I haven't seen, especially if visibility is limited compared to a standard car. Even the colour isn't that important, black with Oxygen, Silver with Carbon, as long as it looks nice then I'm happy, the interior colour is also important, I'm not keen on stuff like Red or Mustang, I prefer black, but if the cars right I'd still accept stuff that isn't perfect.

[randombloke]

guides are useless if nobody is actually selling the cars for what they predict - the guides had to make a lot of assumptions in predicting r8 depreciation as there's no comparable car to draw inference from.

Looking at the Audi website, it's the LongLife Service Regime that goes to around 20,000 miles between services, the Standard Inspection Service Regime is more appropriate to me which is every 10,000 miles. Does everyone on here use the onboard computer to tell them when to service the car or do you do it every 10,000 regardless of the onboard computer feedback.

the longlife is *up to* 20k miles/2 years but I doubt many people will manage to go that long. personally I went for inspection servicing every 10k/12mth which means 12 mths for me given the mileage I'm doing.

[andyhofer]

guides are useless if nobody is actually selling the cars for what they predict - the guides had to make a lot of assumptions in predicting r8 depreciation as there's no comparable car to draw inference from.

I agree they are only guides, but if I were selling car I would use a guide to guide me in establishing a price. Obviously, market forces would dictate the price and a car is only worth what someone is willing to pay for it. Looking at the turnover of cars on autotrader and the car at my local audi, the price they are asking is too high, as they are not selling at their current values.

How much would you think sellers would be willing to shift on price, would 10% be too high . Like I said at the start of the thread, I will be looking to buy sometime next year when the price is sub £50,000 and am not expecting to buy prior to that.

Like buying a new car, I need to start looking at my options, what you get for what money, current market values so that I don't get ripped off when I buy. What to look for, has the car been looked after etc, etc...

I guess this site will start to get more second hand owners on them rather than brand new owners and I hope we can rely on the experience of current owners to help us newbies get the car we dream of.

Thanks for the feedback so far...

[randombloke]

but if I were selling car I would use a guide to guide me in establishing a price.

guides are predictions - it doesn't make sense to blindly follow them and not look at the competing cars being offered for sale.

bear in mind that for the cars being sold trade, they include the traders profit and costs for handling so when you look at private you can assume they were low balled by the trade which gives you a bit more leverage to knock the price down.