S8 Cat D on Ebay
 

Afternoon

Does anyone know this car?

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/AUDI-S8-QU...UAAOSw44BYOcnh

I'd like to buy it.

Are there any places outside of Audi/Audi approved centres that can/would handle body repairs on an A8?

I'm trying to work out how likely is was this car would have had to go back to an approved shop to be repaired (if indeed it was body damage that caused the Cat D back in Nov 2007)

Dont know the origins or owner of this but its been well prepped both outside and inside and (which I like to see) the engine bay. Many like the Alcantara linings +++ The rear seats aren't heated but that is possibly a minor consideration. The S8 grill badge is PF (I think) and yet this is a FL so maybe that was part of the damage repair.

It may be 2000MY thing as mine has the PF grille badge but almost all else is FL. It probably has the two piece foglight grilles too like mine but can't see in the picture.

The 2000 registered cars had some bits carried over from the PF including the steering wheel, so not necessarily a 'wrong' grill - might just be down to the age.

Bi-xenons, no blind pack, nav, so not massive spec but reasonable. Never seem massage seats on a D2, so we'll take that as seller's puff +++

The tracking would bother me - mainly as it's expensive to do right and can be a result of the damage, or just some of the many suspension joints needing replacement.

At the price, if the mileage and condition stack up. it could make a good buy if you intend to keep and aren't expecting it to go up in value. The cat D marker will always be there....

Appreciate the insight chaps.

Man maths finger in the air value of one of these back in 2007 could have been what, £15k? Trying to reconcile how extensive any damage could have been to write it off (if indeed it was body damage!)

Adrian E - tracking bothers me too, for the exact same reasons.

The ad mentions so worth spending some time looking there and under the carpet in the boot etc. It doesn't take much for the insurers to write these off, partly because the engineers often under value them from the book price :mad:

It looks lovely though!

Always wanted an S8 - they're cool as .....
It would be a second/third car, and whilst it's not a life changing amount of money if it turns out to be a dog - that doesn't necessarily mean I want to lose the asking price :)

Tough call. Suppose I need to go see the car - and arrange a Hunter alignment at my cost as a precondition of sale.

My old (PF) S8 had to have MAJOR body repairs when it was stolen and crashed. It was still relatively new so they did agree (reluctantly) to do it, at Audi.
Eventually I got bubbling too, but that was almost 10 years later....

Their value had tanked already by 2008. I paid £10k for mine in early 2008 and that had only 70 ish k on the clock and was very clean, 2001 S8.

"30mpg on the motorway" seller must have been dreaming :)

I get over 60mpg on the motorway. Its the section on the M6 where it descends from the top of the fells towards Shap. So he's not really lying.

Anybody notice that its on a W plate in the exterior shots and a nice dateless northern ireland plate indoors?

If you got it with the NI plate thats worth a few £££

It's on W908 ULE

LEZ 2500 is on a Peugeot 407GT

I would be tempted to pay for an AA/RAC inspection as that normally clarifies any major issues and also gives you bargaining power for discount due to anything that they find. . .

Is that a fair price for a cat D?

Difficult to say - depends more on the condition now than anything else. You'd struggle to find any S8 now that hasn't had paint somewhere, just on age and presentation grounds.

The spec isn't stellar, but it's better than quite a few, so if a future investment wasn't the ambition it could be OK value.

I think it's a fair price given the mileage (if the history checks out - and especially with the gearbox work too). It's not a new car so I'd expect/allow for a degree of fettling.

My hesitation is based on a (futile?) attempt to work out how extensive any damage would have had to have been for the insurers not to pay out for the repair.

AA/RAC inspection route no good as over 10 years old.

I'll try and get up to see it for myself - thanks for the advice thus far!

You could try to find an Audi Indie Specialist nearby and get them to do a pre sale inspection, I did that with mine which was over 400 miles away when I bought it+++

It's very hard to sell insurance write-off car, in most occasions I would say it cuts regular price in half. If it is decently repaired and you intend to keep it for a long time there is nothing wrong with buying write-off but if you only keep it for a short time you need to consider that it will be hard to shift and will need to be very cheap to attract interest.

The 'slight' bubbling will annoy you on an otherwise tidy looking car, and will be expensive to sort

The Cat D marker is never going away.

Good straight and tidy S8's are going up in value, leaving poorer examples to drop in value.

The fact that this has been for sale for some time now and is in its last 24 hours suggests no one is jumping at it.

PF badges are expected on W reg, that's normal.

Nice colour combo, but not a great spec.

Personally, I'd avoid a D2 with a write off flag, and especially avoid one with previously repaired body damage. At least a front end bump is bolt on / off bits and once fixed is probably going to be fine.

I think 2.5K is far more reasonable for a car with these issues.....