Scirocco sold - just a couple of questions

[pappasmurf]

Hi 'All'

I parted company it my Scirocco yesterday after 17 months of ownership. It was a 1.4 (122) model. It was a '60' plate with 48500 miles on the clock. I traded it in for a car I had wanted for a long time and decided to take the plunge.....however, I cannot feel disappointed by a few things and for peace of mind, I'm going to throw them out there just to hear other views on it.

I bought the car for around £11500 in February 2015 from an Independent garage. It had 44k miles and FSH. The previous owner had fitted HID's and dectane DRL's. The standard alloys were painted gloss black. Before completing the deal, a new rear window (faulty elements) and new front screen (scratch) were also replaced. To me, the car drove quite well. I never really had any issues with it but I did not drive the car hard apart from the odd burst overtaking on the motorway.

I traded the car in for an A5 coupe. The garage I went to had offered me £8500 p/x which I was happy with but even then the car had depreciated quite a bit in just over a year. However, when I went to complete the deal, the owner of the garage took the car out to ensure there were no issues with it. (It wasn't him that had gave me the p/x offer). When he returned he said that the synchro was away and it was an expensive repair. He said this was going from 3rd into 2nd at around 2.5k revs.I had found the gearbox a bit 'clunky' but I was quite surprised and didn't doubt what he was saying. He offered to take me out to show me what he meant. I declined as I believed him. I was left with 2 x options.........drive away and try to sell privately or drop my trade in. As I was already there and had pre-empted the deal by changing my insurance, I dropped the trade-in by £750. In effect I got £7750 for my car.

To put my mind at rest, is this a common issue? Is a £750 drop reasonable for a synchro repair on the gearbox? I had tried selling my car privately previously with no knowledge of this gearbox issue at £8850 and got no interest, hence what swayed my decision. In a way I am glad as I would never have knowingly sold someone a car with an issue. I may have bought this car with the gearbox problem which is annoying me more than anything at the moment

[Cuprabob]

You have to remember that when you are buying a car you paying retail price and when trading in you are getting a trade price. This alone has a big impact on your depreciation. Even if you traded your car in on the same day you paid £11.5k for you would probably have been offered £10.5k. It also depends on the price of the A5 as it's the cost to change that's important.

With regards to the gearbox issue, if you send in a friend to rest drive it and they comment on the 2nd gear they will be told it's normal and that's what VW boxes are like. I'm sorry to say I think the dealer was pulling a fast one to improve their margin. I will guarantee you they won't do anything to that gearbox and sell on as is.

[pappasmurf]

Thought as much. Shouldn't have asked. I was put in an uncomfortable position. Even at my age, you think you have covered all bases. I know trade-in values are generally chap but as I say, I tested the water on auto trader at £8850 with no luck. I could have maybe got luckier around the £8250 mark but my car was on auto trader for 3 x weeks without any luck. I guess I'm just a bit gutted that there was no interest in a pretty good car

Sent from my SM-G920F using Tapatalk

[andyy]

If they offered you £8,500 did you get it in writing? I would walk away from the garage if they did that to me. As Bob said.. there's probably sweet FA wrong with your motor, it's just them trying squeeze more from you!

Also, you would know if the synchro was starting to go / play up!