Been keeping my eye on the cars in autotrader for some time, and finally came across an A4 that looks almost perfect for me on paper:

First off, am I possibly looking at a pit of money here? The mileage is a bit high, but the price is right. Is this a good deal?

Secondly, this is a dealer car, but not an Audi dealer. I know dealers usually rip you off, but this one seems to be priced well. How bad of an idea is it to buy from a non-Audi dealer, overlooking the risk of getting ripped off (which I don't think is the case here)? And buying from a non-audi dealer is still far safer than buying privately, right?

Lastly, when I go to check out the car, what specific questions about the car should I be drilling the dealer with? I know all about regular and properly-kept service records and everything, I was wondering more about specific potential problem spots I should be aware of (and thus should look for when I am checking out the car).

This is my first purchase of a car, so I don't want to make a huge mistake here due to the fact that I'm absolutely in love with that color.

 

I myself am personally against buying <b>used</b> cars from dealers. Most cars in my experiance (that either someone in my family or a friend has traded in) have been neglected, needed a lot of work, and/or were warned by their mechanic that xxxx would go bad in x miles and it would cost $xxx,xxx,xxx. Trade-in's are usually done by people who don't want to go through the hassle of private party sale, thus they'll take a financial hit in terms of money for the car, but usually get a pretty good deal on the car their buying.

My mom had a 97 bmw 540i which the mechanic suspected the head to be cracked and had compression issues, along with half a dozen weird electrical issues here and there. She gladly traded it in at the volvo dealership for a discount on her new volvo. Dealership will end up selling that bmw to someone, and they'll have to deal with the warentee stuff when the **** hits the fan.

 

I wouldnt go for that.. Dont know where you are located but that price seems kinda high for that mileage and year

 

Located in Toronto, Canada.

 

Hmmm...that converts to about 108,000 miles. The price is still too high, I wouldn't go over $7500 for that. Don't know about toronto I'm sure there are some deals out there to be had. Keep looking.

 

You guys realise it's in canadian dollars, right?

 

Yea I know, thats another reason why its too much.

 

lol!

 

that would be about 7923.01 in US dollars, and not a good deal with that kind of millage... i payed less than that for my 99 and it had 78k and it was from a dealer in NYC... should have seen this place my friend bought a bike from there as well, its in the middle of no where, and its this wharehouse on this shotty looking streat, just a garage door you would never guess there was a car dealer there..lol looked more like a chop shop but he was a whole saler for dealers, so i delt with him and he made the deal with the dealer, they were going to give me a waranty with the car but i didnt want it because i would never drive 80 miles to have it fixed so i wavered the waranty and got them down alot.. )

just keep looking you will find the right car, it takes some time.. and it dose not hurt to be picky

 

Keep looking, or low ball them.

I wouldn't trust a used car dealer though. At least with a private owner you can get some idea of whats been done to the car and why they are selling it.