[ainarssems]

Insurance write off wipes a lot of value off car, it might be 20-30% on something like Golf but when you are looking at A8 it's more like 50%. And I do know what I am talking about as I have had several write off cars including my S8. If you buy one you intend to run it in the ground as it's very hard to sell. I bought mine for £2.5K in 2008 after it has been write off in 2007 and I bought it with the idea that I will be never able to sell it for more than scrap value. The £1400 you put in to it you should consider as running costs and you should not ever expect to get them back, it's like saying I used £3k in petrol so my car is now worth£3k more. I think others have been generous with valuation, in my mind if it did not have gearbox replaced it would be £1500-2000 car, with a gearbox replacement £2500-3000.