Audi Q3 cat S

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A freind of mine and his partner are looking at buying their first car. they saw the advert below and asked me what I thought.

Audi Q3 on FB Marketplace

My first response was "Keep away from FB marketplace as it's full of dodgy devious delinquents intent on scamming you". I also explained that diesels aren't great unless he's doing a lot of mileage. However he has said

1. He's going to have it professionally inspected by the AA
2. It's 4k-5k cheaper than a non-write off (so he will have a contingency fund)
3. He'll be doing a long trip at least once a week which should keep the DPF/EGR issues at bay

I recommended a Yaris (both he and his partner are young and newly qualified) but this suggestion was rejected.

Should they

1. Walk away until they get round the corner and then run for the hills as if being chased by cereberus himself
2. Be very careful. It's a risk but worth it at that price.
3. Stop worrying. the car looks fine and an inspection will pick up any issues

All comments gratefully received

[aproctor1]

You've given the advice, I wouldn't labour it.

In 6 months, they will regret it and your conscience will be clear.

[Nickp82]

For me, The first thing to do is spend a few quid on a V-Check or similar, one that’ll show up the salvage auction pictures if they’re available or even see if the seller is prepared to supply them.
Seeing the car in its damaged state might temper their enthusiasm, it may also go the other way if it doesn’t look too heavy.

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Nickp82 said:

For me, The first thing to do is spend a few quid on a V-Check or similar, one that’ll show up the salvage auction pictures if they’re available or even see if the seller is prepared to supply them.
Seeing the car in its damaged state might temper their enthusiasm, it may also go the other way if it doesn’t look too heavy.

Thanks - that’s a good suggestion. The seller has shown them one “pre- repair” pic (a damaged NSR wheel arch) but that doesn’t mean that’s the only damage. Ill let them know

[Defcon5]

That photo could also easily be one of the vehicle half repaired, covering up the mangled mess under the temporary panel that has been stuck on

[Jamescrs]

My view is if they can’t afford to buy a good one then they should be looking at something else, I imagine they want to own an Audi for the badge and that’s why they rejected the Toyota.

Let them make their mistakes you have tried to advise them

[alpinab3]

Jamescrs said:

My view is if they can’t afford to buy a good one then they should be looking at something else, I imagine they want to own an Audi for the badge and that’s why they rejected the Toyota.

Let them make their mistakes you have tried to advise them

True let them learn the hard way. Everyone thinks they are smarter than everyone else and try to take shortcuts with someone they have no clue about. I like how the load cover is missing probably when it was at Copart.

[Yazza54]

Looks absolutely poverty spec which is what would would put me off the most.

IMO accident damaged cars are only worth a punt when you're getting a high spec car you couldn't otherwise afford at a cut price. The high spec always helps with re-sale.

OR if it's so cheap it's a no brainer but I'm not sure if it is really. WBAC valuations are a good gauge for damaged cars as they aren't in high demand.

I say all the above having owned numerous accident damaged cars, but all of those I got cheap and fixed myself. So I got maximum benefit of the "deal" and knew it was safely repaired.

[shtu]

At a glance, Autotrader has a load of similar but not-crashed ones available for similar money, from proper dealers which means proper warranty, etc.

The crashed one isn't cheap enough, despite his bks about being thousands cheaper.

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shtu said:

At a glance, Autotrader has a load of similar but not-crashed ones available for similar money, from proper dealers which means proper warranty, etc.

The crashed one isn't cheap enough, despite his bks about being thousands cheaper.

Any links (preferably within 60 miles of Manchester)? I've had a look on AT and, for that year and mileage, they all seem to be £14k upwards

[Paddymcc]

That has had a front end smash. Look at the state of the headlight bonnet closeup and the state of the alignment.

If it's cat S it will also have had some, a few or all airbags go off depending on how many were in the car at the time of the smash.

Thus if it was front it would be steering wheel, dash and possibly feet airbags. Plus depending upon how many were in the car at the time at least 1 of the seatbelts will have locked out and those replaced too. Quite a bit of trim to dismantle and replace!

[georgeyboy12345]

Bloody hell, every red flag possible there. It’s for sale in Ardwick as well, not at all a dodgy part of Manchester!

[ACCYSTAN]

I buy cat N cars as do friends but as a general rule of thumb we avoid cat S as there is often considerably more to repair than meets the eye and the cost to repair often runs into multiple 4 figures.

Personally a Q3 is nothing special, as such you would want this at close to a 40% discount compared to a non cat S equivalent vehicle.

You can get some real bargains buying cat N cars but this isn't one of them.

[Yazza54]

ACCYSTAN said:

I buy cat N cars as do friends but as a general rule of thumb we avoid cat S as there is often considerably more to repair than meets the eye and the cost to repair often runs into multiple 4 figures.

Personally a Q3 is nothing special, as such you would want this at close to a 40% discount compared to a non cat S equivalent vehicle.

You can get some real bargains buying cat N cars but this isn't one of them.

Agree, not cheap enough and that low spec it doesn't seem like an opportunity not to be missed.

[Countdown]

Thanks for the comments all - very helpful. I've passed them on to him.

Am i right in thinking that the mechanical inspection will

1. reveal any other structural damage apart from what the seller has declared
2. Will an OBD scan reveal if any airbags have gone off?

Cheers

[shtu]

Countdown said:

Thanks for the comments all - very helpful. I've passed them on to him.

Am i right in thinking that the mechanical inspection will

1. reveal any other structural damage apart from what the seller has declared
2. Will an OBD scan reveal if any airbags have gone off?

Cheers

1 - Maybe, maybe not. Depends on the skill of the inspector, and the distraction skills of the seller. I doubt any of the warranties\reassurances given by those inspections cover Cat S damage.
2 - Probably not. The crash data can be cleared, or just fit a used airbag module.

If these people are your friends, stop trying to find ways to reassure them it'll all be OK, or it'll be on your head.

It's a Bad Idea. That's a badly repaired, billy basic car being sold by a backstreet chancer. A few thousand miles ago that was an Audi Approved Used at (iirc) Lookers Newcastle, it's fallen a long way in a short time.

Your best advice, albeit a bit sweeping, is "Category S cars sold on Facebook are heavily damaged, repaired to an unknown standard, probably using scrapyard parts, without a warranty or even any idea of the quality of the repair, and are very difficult to resell, especially to a dealer. Avoid them."

Take that car, and put it's details into WBAC or similar, declaring the Cat S. See how much of a bargain it looks then.

[shtu]

In fact, best advice I can think of,

Countdown said:

2. It's 4k-5k cheaper than a non-write off (so he will have a contingency fund)

Add half of that contingency fund to the buying budget. That way they get a better car, still have a contingency fund, and don't have a lemon to try and get rid of in a couple of years.

(realistically, the £5k contingency fund doesn't exist. )

[CrippsCorner]

shtu said:

1 - Maybe, maybe not. Depends on the skill of the inspector, and the distraction skills of the seller. I doubt any of the warranties\reassurances given by those inspections cover Cat S damage.
2 - Probably not. The crash data can be cleared, or just fit a used airbag module.

If these people are your friends, stop trying to find ways to reassure them it'll all be OK, or it'll be on your head.

It's a Bad Idea. That's a badly repaired, billy basic car being sold by a backstreet chancer. A few thousand miles ago that was an Audi Approved Used at (iirc) Lookers Newcastle, it's fallen a long way in a short time.

Your best advice, albeit a bit sweeping, is "Category S cars sold on Facebook are heavily damaged, repaired to an unknown standard, probably using scrapyard parts, without a warranty or even any idea of the quality of the repair, and are very difficult to resell, especially to a dealer. Avoid them."

Take that car, and put it's details into WBAC or similar, declaring the Cat S. See how much of a bargain it looks then.

Just done this, out of interest...

[Yazza54]

shtu said:

In fact, best advice I can think of,

Countdown said:

2. It's 4k-5k cheaper than a non-write off (so he will have a contingency fund)

Add half of that contingency fund to the buying budget. That way they get a better car, still have a contingency fund, and don't have a lemon to try and get rid of in a couple of years.

(realistically, the £5k contingency fund doesn't exist. )

Totally nonsensical to think of it like that, unless you plan to never sell it and run it into the ground til it's worthless there's no contingency as it's not worth what the others are worth anyway!!

[andymc]

Countdown said:

Thanks for the comments all - very helpful. I've passed them on to him.

Am i right in thinking that the mechanical inspection will

1. reveal any other structural damage apart from what the seller has declared
2. Will an OBD scan reveal if any airbags have gone off?

Cheers

The car is in a very base trim, it is being sold from the arse end of Manchester by a road side trader, it will be a miracle if a cat s has not triggered the air bags, the car had a MOT advisory for low oil level, the seats do not look the correct ones for that model (may be wrong), join up all these dots, for not a lot more you could buy a straight car from a private seller

https://www.autotrader.co.uk/car-details/202312265...