S5 owners beware this scam
01-23-2010, 10:09 AM
#1
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S5 owners beware this scam
Background:
I bought my S5 brand new in October of 2007 from a dealer in Ohio. I picked the car up the day they recieved it. I'm the only owner and no one else has driven it but me. I bought a new GT-R last summer and have been thinking about selling the S5 (but not until spring or summer if I do).
Scam:
I recieved a letter from my local Indianapolis dealer (not the one I bought the car from) this week. It said they were looking to buy used S5's and stated that mine could be worth $45,350 (it also said "However, we feel that your vehicle could be worth more). I figured it was some sort of scam but decided to give them a chance. I brought the car in today for an "inspection" to see what they would give me for it if I decided to sell. Here's the good part, after the inspection I was told my car was worth only $34,000 because it had been "completely repainted". I explained that I'm the original owner and that the paint is the same as when it came off the truck from delivery. So either they are lying (which is what I believe) or somehow my car got a repaint between the factory and arrival in the US. In short, this is just another dealer scam and if anyone of you gets one of these letters, please don't wast your time. I'm just trying to decide if I want to call AOA and report what these guys are doing.
I bought my S5 brand new in October of 2007 from a dealer in Ohio. I picked the car up the day they recieved it. I'm the only owner and no one else has driven it but me. I bought a new GT-R last summer and have been thinking about selling the S5 (but not until spring or summer if I do).
Scam:
I recieved a letter from my local Indianapolis dealer (not the one I bought the car from) this week. It said they were looking to buy used S5's and stated that mine could be worth $45,350 (it also said "However, we feel that your vehicle could be worth more). I figured it was some sort of scam but decided to give them a chance. I brought the car in today for an "inspection" to see what they would give me for it if I decided to sell. Here's the good part, after the inspection I was told my car was worth only $34,000 because it had been "completely repainted". I explained that I'm the original owner and that the paint is the same as when it came off the truck from delivery. So either they are lying (which is what I believe) or somehow my car got a repaint between the factory and arrival in the US. In short, this is just another dealer scam and if anyone of you gets one of these letters, please don't wast your time. I'm just trying to decide if I want to call AOA and report what these guys are doing.
01-23-2010, 10:15 AM
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It sounds to me like the local dealer was just trying to drum up a little business. There's a slim chance, I suppose, that your car was repainted at the prep facility after arriving in the U.S. They actually do repairs there on cars damaged during shipment. It seems unlikely in any case, however, that your entire car would have been repainted.
01-23-2010, 11:52 AM
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Good to know, thanks.
I have the same S5, black on black.
How do you like the GT-R? I saw a black one today, very aggressive looking. I'm not looking to get rid of my S5 anytime soon, but I'm curious to see how the GT-R compares (I'm sure it's much quicker).
Thanks again for the info.
How do you like the GT-R? I saw a black one today, very aggressive looking. I'm not looking to get rid of my S5 anytime soon, but I'm curious to see how the GT-R compares (I'm sure it's much quicker).
Thanks again for the info.
01-23-2010, 12:49 PM
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"Build Quality: I do have a few complaints about the GT-R's exterior quality. Mainly the paint, it seems to chip and scratch easier than other cars I've owned. The black S5 with 18,000 miles and two winters under it's belt has the same or better exterior apperance than the black GT-R with only 3,000. Also, I hear every stone and piece of road debris that hit the GT-R's body panels. I don't know if the S5's metal is thicker or it just has better sound insulation. That's it for build complaints on the GT-R. I feel the interior quality is equal with the S5 and I like the LCD touchscreen interface and overall controls better than Audi's MMI but the B&O is much better than the Bose. The GT-R's steering wheel controls are better too. The seats on the GT-R do a better job with side bolstering and really keep you in place, when you combine a 4pt harness with that, you easily become one with the car. Interior size is about the same except the rear head room is better in the S5. The rear seats fold down in the Audi giving a much larger storage space than the GT-R (if you need to carry a lot of stuff).
As I said before, the S5 is the best winter car I have ever driven. Combined with winter tires, this thing just feels planted in all conditions (except on pure ice of course), but let's face it, Audi has been doing quattro for 25+ years now. With the rear bias and high HP of the GT-R, it just doesn't compare. With a set of winter tires, the GT-R will be manageable in winter, just not as good as the Audi. The same can be said when driving in wet conditions, it's very easy to break the rear tires on the GT-R but requires a lot of work in the S5. So the S5 would be a safer car in poor weather.
The ride quality is better in the S5, but then it's a true GT car designed to give a sporty and smooth ride that alows you to eat up long stretches of highway. The GT-R is a sports car and even in "comfort" mode, the ride can be anything but comfortable. It's still great for long journey's, but you and your passanger will be well aware when the road is bumpy. The cars get about the same MPG in city driving and the GT-R gets a little better highway mileage.
The V8 of the S5 is very quiet from the interior. Many times I found myself close to the rev. limit without knowing it, but a set of downpipes and a cat-back exhaust changed that, and I would recommend one or both additions to any S5 owner.
Looks are subjective. What helps the GT-R is that it's newer and rarer. The S5 got a lot of attention 2 years ago but with the introduction of the A5 and similar A/S 4 it's become a little common now (even the front LED idea has worked it's way into many other car makers). The S5 is still a beautifull car, it just doesn't have that exotic look anymore and the GT-R does.
-Purchase price: I paid sticker for the S5 two years ago and was satisfied with that. I would never have paid over sticker for the GT-R, so only until recently have the two been close on price. Comparing MSRP, the GT-R is a lot more car for not a lot more price. If you are truly torn between the two cars, price shouldn't be a big issue.
Performance is no comparison because the GT-R wins in all categories: Accel, Braking, and Corning are no contest."
BTW- I hope I didn't come to angry in my first post, I had just come home from the dealer and needed to vent. I really just wanted to warn any other owners who may get a letter similar to this.
01-23-2010, 01:41 PM
#5
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About the "complete repaint"...
Just a thought, but I recall that there was a major hail storm at the port in Germany back in June of 2008, which damaged many, many VW and Audi cars that were awaiting shipment out of country. They had to transport many cars back to Ingelstadt to make repairs, and since it was hail damage I would bet that there were many that required repainting. Could this have happened to your car? Because these cars had not yet been released from Audi inventory, these repairs were considered to be part of factory QA, and hence were not necessarily reportable to the future owners - however, I also heard that Audi gave a 3% "consideration" when the cars were delivered. More info here: http://www.a5oc.com/forums/showthrea...ght=hail+storm .
01-23-2010, 02:05 PM
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Thanks for the info
The following is a from a post I made on the NAGTOC forum when someone made a post about going with an S5 over the GT-R. The topic ended up going 4 pages and got a little nasty. I tried to make a few objective posts comparing the two. In reality it's like apples to oranges:
"Build Quality: I do have a few complaints about the GT-R's exterior quality. Mainly the paint, it seems to chip and scratch easier than other cars I've owned. The black S5 with 18,000 miles and two winters under it's belt has the same or better exterior apperance than the black GT-R with only 3,000. Also, I hear every stone and piece of road debris that hit the GT-R's body panels. I don't know if the S5's metal is thicker or it just has better sound insulation. That's it for build complaints on the GT-R. I feel the interior quality is equal with the S5 and I like the LCD touchscreen interface and overall controls better than Audi's MMI but the B&O is much better than the Bose. The GT-R's steering wheel controls are better too. The seats on the GT-R do a better job with side bolstering and really keep you in place, when you combine a 4pt harness with that, you easily become one with the car. Interior size is about the same except the rear head room is better in the S5. The rear seats fold down in the Audi giving a much larger storage space than the GT-R (if you need to carry a lot of stuff).
As I said before, the S5 is the best winter car I have ever driven. Combined with winter tires, this thing just feels planted in all conditions (except on pure ice of course), but let's face it, Audi has been doing quattro for 25+ years now. With the rear bias and high HP of the GT-R, it just doesn't compare. With a set of winter tires, the GT-R will be manageable in winter, just not as good as the Audi. The same can be said when driving in wet conditions, it's very easy to break the rear tires on the GT-R but requires a lot of work in the S5. So the S5 would be a safer car in poor weather.
The ride quality is better in the S5, but then it's a true GT car designed to give a sporty and smooth ride that alows you to eat up long stretches of highway. The GT-R is a sports car and even in "comfort" mode, the ride can be anything but comfortable. It's still great for long journey's, but you and your passanger will be well aware when the road is bumpy. The cars get about the same MPG in city driving and the GT-R gets a little better highway mileage.
The V8 of the S5 is very quiet from the interior. Many times I found myself close to the rev. limit without knowing it, but a set of downpipes and a cat-back exhaust changed that, and I would recommend one or both additions to any S5 owner.
Looks are subjective. What helps the GT-R is that it's newer and rarer. The S5 got a lot of attention 2 years ago but with the introduction of the A5 and similar A/S 4 it's become a little common now (even the front LED idea has worked it's way into many other car makers). The S5 is still a beautifull car, it just doesn't have that exotic look anymore and the GT-R does.
-Purchase price: I paid sticker for the S5 two years ago and was satisfied with that. I would never have paid over sticker for the GT-R, so only until recently have the two been close on price. Comparing MSRP, the GT-R is a lot more car for not a lot more price. If you are truly torn between the two cars, price shouldn't be a big issue.
Performance is no comparison because the GT-R wins in all categories: Accel, Braking, and Corning are no contest."
BTW- I hope I didn't come to angry in my first post, I had just come home from the dealer and needed to vent. I really just wanted to warn any other owners who may get a letter similar to this.
"Build Quality: I do have a few complaints about the GT-R's exterior quality. Mainly the paint, it seems to chip and scratch easier than other cars I've owned. The black S5 with 18,000 miles and two winters under it's belt has the same or better exterior apperance than the black GT-R with only 3,000. Also, I hear every stone and piece of road debris that hit the GT-R's body panels. I don't know if the S5's metal is thicker or it just has better sound insulation. That's it for build complaints on the GT-R. I feel the interior quality is equal with the S5 and I like the LCD touchscreen interface and overall controls better than Audi's MMI but the B&O is much better than the Bose. The GT-R's steering wheel controls are better too. The seats on the GT-R do a better job with side bolstering and really keep you in place, when you combine a 4pt harness with that, you easily become one with the car. Interior size is about the same except the rear head room is better in the S5. The rear seats fold down in the Audi giving a much larger storage space than the GT-R (if you need to carry a lot of stuff).
As I said before, the S5 is the best winter car I have ever driven. Combined with winter tires, this thing just feels planted in all conditions (except on pure ice of course), but let's face it, Audi has been doing quattro for 25+ years now. With the rear bias and high HP of the GT-R, it just doesn't compare. With a set of winter tires, the GT-R will be manageable in winter, just not as good as the Audi. The same can be said when driving in wet conditions, it's very easy to break the rear tires on the GT-R but requires a lot of work in the S5. So the S5 would be a safer car in poor weather.
The ride quality is better in the S5, but then it's a true GT car designed to give a sporty and smooth ride that alows you to eat up long stretches of highway. The GT-R is a sports car and even in "comfort" mode, the ride can be anything but comfortable. It's still great for long journey's, but you and your passanger will be well aware when the road is bumpy. The cars get about the same MPG in city driving and the GT-R gets a little better highway mileage.
The V8 of the S5 is very quiet from the interior. Many times I found myself close to the rev. limit without knowing it, but a set of downpipes and a cat-back exhaust changed that, and I would recommend one or both additions to any S5 owner.
Looks are subjective. What helps the GT-R is that it's newer and rarer. The S5 got a lot of attention 2 years ago but with the introduction of the A5 and similar A/S 4 it's become a little common now (even the front LED idea has worked it's way into many other car makers). The S5 is still a beautifull car, it just doesn't have that exotic look anymore and the GT-R does.
-Purchase price: I paid sticker for the S5 two years ago and was satisfied with that. I would never have paid over sticker for the GT-R, so only until recently have the two been close on price. Comparing MSRP, the GT-R is a lot more car for not a lot more price. If you are truly torn between the two cars, price shouldn't be a big issue.
Performance is no comparison because the GT-R wins in all categories: Accel, Braking, and Corning are no contest."
BTW- I hope I didn't come to angry in my first post, I had just come home from the dealer and needed to vent. I really just wanted to warn any other owners who may get a letter similar to this.
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