History of SB14 MJY

[olimortimer]

Hi all,

First time poster, and new to Audis - currently looking at purchasing an A6 Avant.

The car I'm looking at has a dark grey wrap (originally white), and I was hoping it might be recognised on the forum as a previous owner's, so I could find out a bit of history on it.

It's had 1 owner from new, and always serviced at the same Audi dealer, which puts my mind at rest a little.  However, the dark grey wrap does set some alarm bells ringing over whether or not it's hiding something (although any bad paintwork should show throw on a wrap), and it has some small stone chips on the wrap due to motorway miles, which is showing the white through - it's possible that I might remove the wrap in future if the chips get worse, as white was another choice of colour to go for.

The car drives great, and at 128,000 miles, it's not too high compared to others I've looked at.

Does anyone recognise the car at all please, and is there anything I should be looking out for on an A6 of this age and mileage, and does anyone have a ballpark of a price I should be paying?

Cheers!

[Magnet]

Hello Oli,

I think you are wise to ask as many questions as possible before considering buying this or any other vehicle. To me, this 5 year old car has covered an abnormally high mileage (not always a bad thing in its own right) and this coupled with being wrapped would personally lead me to say ‘Thanks, but not for me’. I think you will find that the car had covered near to 100K in the first 3 years, and it appears strange that was presented for an MOT early in this year - Feb, when the previous MOt did not expire until May. Odd! 

Such things can happen when the vehicle changes hands and the seller puts the car through an MOT for the buyer. That would make sense, but may not be the true reason. I believe (but please do not take my opinion without confirmation of it being correct) that if a vehicle is declared to be beyond economical repair then the current MOT is withheld by the insurers and a new MOT has to be carried out prior to retaxing the car. 

Why would someone who covers a high mileage (company use?) want to wrap a car? I just wonder if although the car is believed to have just the one owner, it may have been purchased by a trader/repairer? and is now being offered for sale. I could well be wrong. You quite rightly ask if anyone has any prior knowledge of this one owner car - which is always a wise question to ask- but the answer lies solely with that one owner. Have you tried making contact there, or is the seller the one registered owner? If so, it might be worth being extra careful. 

As I said Oli, it would not be for me, but if I had to have my arm twisted to be tempted then I would at least be talking with the previous owner, getting the car HPI checked and preferably (definitely?)getting a paid for inspection on it. Is all of that worth worth the hassle with a vehicle you already seem to have some doubts about? 

There will be others.

Good luck with whatever you decide to do.

Kind regards,

Gareth.

 

[olimortimer]

Hi Gareth (@Magnet), thanks for your reply, and for raising some questions to think about!

Like most A6 Avants, it sounds like the high mileage was down to company miles, and I would expect the early MOT was down to the dealer wanting to offer a full years MOT rather than a few months - one owner, but bought by a dealer who's selling the car now.

The wrap isn't brand new, as there are a few stone chips and scuffs, and the dealer said it was the previous owner who had it wrapped, so there's no reason for me to believe it's the dealer that's installed it.  My thoughts are maybe the previous owner had it as a company car, then purchased it from the company, and had it wrapped at some point...possibly.  I've spoken to Audi (or at least one dealer who was helpful, and one who was less than...), and based on the service records there's no notes to say there was any repairs / damage etc, although this doesn't mean that there hasn't been any that they're not aware of.

The car is immaculate inside, which does make me think that the owner did care about it, so I would be shocked if they had spent all the money on a wrap to hide any paint damage - especially as the paint damage would show through.

As with any wrapped car, I think it's a risk, but I've got to decide if it's a risk I'm willing to take, based on the lower price compared to others.

Thanks for your advice Gareth!

 

[olimortimer]

A HPI check shows everything is fine, and that the plate has been changed to a private plate during ownership, which I suppose supports my thoughts that the owner maybe had it as a company car for the first 3-4 years, then purchased it as a private car, put the plate on, and had it wrapped.

SB14 MJY
Original Plate - 22nd March 2018

C14 GSK
22nd March 2018 - 20th January 2019

SB14 MJY
20th January 2019 - Current Plate

[Magnet]

Hello Oli,

Thanks for coming back on this. 

Here are the facts as I see them:-

The car is certainly a high mileage vehicle, and it’s value will be (considerably?) reduced because of it, and my advice would be to first seek a true valuation on it.

The car has been wrapped - by someone at some time, and for some reason. Any attempt to work out when and why, will be pure assumption. 

If (in caps) the car was initially the driver’s company car, and he bought it (say after 3 years of company ownership) then the car will be a 2 owner vehicle, not a one owner example.

As I said earlier Oli, the true history of this vehicle rests with that (last/first) keeper, and personally, I would steer a mile from it, if I had not been able to speak with that owner before committing to buy. 

Have you seen and more importantly studied the V5? 

If you take the Document number off the V5, you can input it into the on-line MOT history enquiry and get the contact details of all the MOT stations. Can we take it you have contacted the servicing dealers shown in the service book, and asked if you can get a print out of what has been done to the car? 

Um! Good luck with whatever you decide to do.

Kind regards,

Gareth.