Hey guys, got a question about a this Audi A8L I've been looking at. It's a 2004 with 109,000 miles on it. It is very clean and was traded in at a dealership because a guy was moving into a house with a 4 car garage, and he had 6, so he had to get rid of two, this being one. I hear he took very good care of it and did not want to let it go. My problem is this, the timing belt on the A8L has not been changed and it is at 109,000. The car rides smooth and there is nothing wrong with it as far as I can tell. I am concerned about the timing belt being changed. The current price of the car is 14,999 right now. I called a few places and the dealership is the only place that is willing to work on the car and put a new timing belt on the engine and they want 1,600 to do it along with alot of other parts so, all other mechanics will not touch the automobile. I was looking for some advice on the purchase, should I go down to the dealership and try to work out a deal and get money towards the timing belt or should I just walk away. Any advice would be appreciated as I will be deciding upon this in the next 24 hours. Thanks a lot.

 

IMO if the timing belt service was not performed, then I'd treat any statements of the previous owner "taking very good care of it" as complete hearsay. That is one of the most critical services on the car (IIRC it's the timing belt and water pump). Not performing it reeks to me of someone cheaping out on maintaining their car. I could understand wanting to stretch it out to maybe 90K, but at 109K, it's a ticking bomb. IMO you can find a better deal with some patience. I know I did.

l8r)

 

How much did you end up spending on your Audi A8L?

 

$12,500 - private party. Though I will admit, that's probably the best deal that's been out there in the past 12 months. Took me about 6 months of perusing all kinds of ads (autotrader, cars.com, craigslist, etc.) to find that one, which is why I said some patience is needed.

When you look at a used A8 (or any car really), figure in the projected maintenance costs in addition to the purchase price - and don't forget to include tax. By buying my car out of state and from a private party, I only paid $115 in tax. I had put together a spreadsheet that listed each car, it's mileage, options, vin, price, tax, and projected maintenance costs over the next 12/24/36 months.

l8r)