Re: Used A4 Prices

[audidudi@delphi.com (Jeffrey J. Goggin)]

>The problem is with whoever writes the book.  They probably have some sort of 
>double-declining balance spreadsheet and rarely benchmark their numbers
against 
>the market.  You're probably on the same equations used for sewage pumping 
>carts.

Agreed ... this situation is complicated by the fact that most price guides
don't even list the car, there being too few of them around (73 imported,
unknown number still on the road) to generate enough sales they can track.  

>It's really up to your local quattro club to take this up for you against the 
>producers of such material.  They should be able to present a case, based on 
>information from their members, in favour of a higher valuation.  We've had
few 
>problems in the UK with specialist insurers - some have even joined the
club! I 
>don't see that secondhand value tables are any different from insurance 
>valuation tables - but you've got to get to the source.  The problem is that 
>your credit union is treating it as a secondhand car - would they treat a 1930 
>Rolls any different? 

A bank may be willing to take a second look at something like this but not
my credit union: They don't want anything to do with a car whose value can't
be accurately determined from the book or sold readily should I default on
the loan.  Tell them you want to buy a new Ford Taurasoarus-Rex and they'll
happily loan you 100 percent of the purchase price even though it will drop
at least 30 percent in value the moment you drive it
off the lot; tell them you want to buy a car that's 12 years old but likely
to appreciate in value over the next few years and they'll laugh you out of
the office ... hah, hah indeed. 

>An issue we _did_ have is the wide spread of values between "good" and "other" 
>ur-quattros - quite often 2:1 or more.

There are some "beaters" over here as well but it seems that most of these
cars have found their way into the hands of enthusiasts by now and are being
properly maintained, costly as that sometimes is.
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