Barn find (garage) 2003 Audi A4 Avant Quattro, what to do?
Discussion
Hi PH,
Firstly, I know this is not a vintage Ferrari find, it's a normal Audi but my aunt recently passed away and we are clearing her house, I would appreciate some of your wisdom, specifically on how to sell it in the best way.
She has a car which, unusually has sat locked in her garage for the last decade, untouched since 2012.
It's a 2003 Audi A4 Avant 1.8T 190 SE Quattro in silver with only around 40k miles on it. I haven't seen it personally yet and don't have photos. My dad has said it looks like it was in pretty good condition but that is always subjective of course.
He hasn't tried to start it, the cam belt is now 19 years old so concerned it should be changed before anyone tries to start it. My aunt said she thinks it was running normally when put away but we have no way to validate that for sure, my uncle took care of the cars and he passed a few years ago.
The quandary is what to do with it, we have a duty to sell it for the best price, but are really not sure how to achieve that.
Options we've considered...
1. Leave it as is, advertise 'as is', untested in situ to be taken away by buyer on a trailer
2. Try to get it started (may involve paying for garage work, i.e. cam belt minimum) and sell it as a runner
3. As above in option 2 + get it MOT'd
The car is located around 2 hours drive away from us.
Appreciate your thoughts, thanks in advance.
Firstly, I know this is not a vintage Ferrari find, it's a normal Audi but my aunt recently passed away and we are clearing her house, I would appreciate some of your wisdom, specifically on how to sell it in the best way.
She has a car which, unusually has sat locked in her garage for the last decade, untouched since 2012.
It's a 2003 Audi A4 Avant 1.8T 190 SE Quattro in silver with only around 40k miles on it. I haven't seen it personally yet and don't have photos. My dad has said it looks like it was in pretty good condition but that is always subjective of course.
He hasn't tried to start it, the cam belt is now 19 years old so concerned it should be changed before anyone tries to start it. My aunt said she thinks it was running normally when put away but we have no way to validate that for sure, my uncle took care of the cars and he passed a few years ago.
The quandary is what to do with it, we have a duty to sell it for the best price, but are really not sure how to achieve that.
Options we've considered...
1. Leave it as is, advertise 'as is', untested in situ to be taken away by buyer on a trailer
2. Try to get it started (may involve paying for garage work, i.e. cam belt minimum) and sell it as a runner
3. As above in option 2 + get it MOT'd
The car is located around 2 hours drive away from us.
Appreciate your thoughts, thanks in advance.
Edited by VictorSeven on Wednesday 10th August 21:37
Take loads of pics and put as much info in the advert as possible and sell on eBay 7 day auction start price £500 buyer must collect within 7 days.
Cost to do cambelt sort brakes coolant etc probably £1,000 to £1,500 min to get close to mot and useable.
Also will probably start fine as is with new battery and fresh fuel if the elec fuel pump still works - take 30 second video of engine running.
Cost to do cambelt sort brakes coolant etc probably £1,000 to £1,500 min to get close to mot and useable.
Also will probably start fine as is with new battery and fresh fuel if the elec fuel pump still works - take 30 second video of engine running.
Do what rallycross suggested, or you could get lumbered with it.
This reminds me, my mate had a really old Subaru Legacy that had been sitting in his barn for about TEN years. We cleared the mouses nest from the engine bay, fitted a new battery and it STARTED!! Washed all the moss and bird s
t from the body and windows, fitted new wiper blades, pumped up the tyres. Then drove it to the MOT bay, and it passed!! couple of days later it was sold for £200.
This reminds me, my mate had a really old Subaru Legacy that had been sitting in his barn for about TEN years. We cleared the mouses nest from the engine bay, fitted a new battery and it STARTED!! Washed all the moss and bird s
t from the body and windows, fitted new wiper blades, pumped up the tyres. Then drove it to the MOT bay, and it passed!! couple of days later it was sold for £200. I stored an early Audi Quattro for ten years it was mint inside and out - not a UR though. The owner rang me one day and said I'm never going to come and get it never mind ever run it again can I GIVE it to you?
I thought the best plan was to get it MOT'd and all ready to go to realise the best return - more fool me
All the hydraulic clutch and brake parts became leaky one by one as if teasing me and things like the clutch master are a nightmare to change. It needed a clutch and a starter plus a battery and then there was the injection system which was the gift that just kept giving plus all the little faults it had when it was dropped off. Then the back box started to blow and they are unavailable.
Wash it and sell it .....................
I thought the best plan was to get it MOT'd and all ready to go to realise the best return - more fool me
All the hydraulic clutch and brake parts became leaky one by one as if teasing me and things like the clutch master are a nightmare to change. It needed a clutch and a starter plus a battery and then there was the injection system which was the gift that just kept giving plus all the little faults it had when it was dropped off. Then the back box started to blow and they are unavailable.
Wash it and sell it .....................
Thanks chaps, great to have your views, really helpful.
Makes sense the consensus is mainly to go down the route of selling as is, with a good accurate description of what we know, rather than embarking on works and associated unknown costs as you shared from experience!
I will be going to the house in the next 2-3 weeks so can take lots of photos, including underneath too, good suggestion there.
Hopefully we can pull it out with another car to wash and get around it.
I promise not to list it as a ‘barn find’, I just wanted to draw some attention to this thread…;)
Makes sense the consensus is mainly to go down the route of selling as is, with a good accurate description of what we know, rather than embarking on works and associated unknown costs as you shared from experience!
I will be going to the house in the next 2-3 weeks so can take lots of photos, including underneath too, good suggestion there.
Hopefully we can pull it out with another car to wash and get around it.
I promise not to list it as a ‘barn find’, I just wanted to draw some attention to this thread…;)
Edited by VictorSeven on Thursday 11th August 13:21
WyrleyD said:
I had a 2002 B6 model and it was a really nice car, with such low miles it does have some value. Sold mine at 5 years and 130,000 miles and it never went wrong (other than when a stone damaged the fuel line when it was a few months old).
That’s good to hear, I guess they probably fair well with regular use. I’m intrigued wether this would just start with a new battery and fuel, my guess is yes, but probably won’t get to find out if we sell it as is.rovermorris999 said:
Stick a socket on a pulley just to confirm the engine isn't seized then sell as is. If it was round the corner I'd want to try to get it running but 2 hours away makes it a pain.
Agree it bring a four hour round trip away is a key factor, that’s a good idea regarding turning the engine, thank you.Not sure if allowed on this forum, but I would be genuinely interested in the Audi (have very fond memories of a very similar one i had many years ago (also a huge audi fan too) and would be very keen on getting back into a B6 Quattro again). I have tried sending you a direct message, but I think your profile settings don't allow an email to be sent directly to you (this can be changed easily by the way).
Can you somehow get in touch via a direct message and hopefully we can discuss further?
Many thanks.
Can you somehow get in touch via a direct message and hopefully we can discuss further?
Many thanks.
ads_4116 said:
Not sure if allowed on this forum, but I would be genuinely interested in the Audi (have very fond memories of a very similar one i had many years ago (also a huge audi fan too) and would be very keen on getting back into a B6 Quattro again). I have tried sending you a direct message, but I think your profile settings don't allow an email to be sent directly to you (this can be changed easily by the way).
Can you somehow get in touch via a direct message and hopefully we can discuss further?
Many thanks.
Hi Ads, I’ve actually been a PH member for almost 20 years but lost access to my original profile so I’ve just turned on the message option again.Can you somehow get in touch via a direct message and hopefully we can discuss further?
Many thanks.
Feel free to drop me a message, whatever we do, it will ultimately have to be offered for sale publicly, i.e. eBay but very happy to speak to a fellow PH about it and see if it might be of further interest.
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