#11 - Scammer Story - Buying 2010 Audi A4

INTRODUCTION

To start off with, yes, I was scammed. In terms of price agreement, about $2,500 USD over because the transmission was going out. This wasn’t the only dishonesty on the sellers part. Over two years after purchase, this entry covers why I still love this A4 and the buying mistakes made to help you avoid them. Although this A4 was sold in a deceptive way the ownership experience has been mostly great times. Its proven to be reliable, fast (enough for me) and fun. It’s in nice overall condition, considering the high mileage of 178k when purchased and recently hitting the 200k mile mark. The car was good in stock form and more so now, with ongoing light modifications.

In January 2023, this 2010 Audi A4 B8 was listed on Craiglist in Rancho Cucamunga. Said to be Quattro but actually front-wheel-drive. The placebo effect and Audi quality, independent double-wishbone (front and rear) suspension had me fooled. Five months later, the CarFax was purchased to confirm it as FWD. More than anything it was an ego hit to deal with, as there are still tradeoffs for FWD versus AWD. Besides that, Audi just doesn't sound as sexy without the Quattro name given the history. No Quattro badges were visible, but my thinking was they could be optional. Looking back, I should've known the badging was standard, but wasn't suspicious at the time. A credit to the FWD system, it hasn't stopped us from enjoying San Gabriel Mountain snow days via Angeles Crest Highway. Regarding the CarFax, of course its recommended to acquire before purchasing a car (and Pre-Purchase Inspection). The rest of that day was spent looking into the problems to be aware of. The next morning was Uber rides and the Metrolink train back east to make the deal. The car was in nice condition for its mileage, with few visible imperfections, so there was not too much concern about a shady history. Using CarFax would've shown the two previous owners and the FWD setup.

Not meaning to perpetuate Craigslist scammer beliefs, it has been mostly positive buying and selling transactions in our roughly 17 years of use. The business has a cool history worth looking into if you haven’t (there's a hard-to-find, grassroots documentary out there) and the platform has been more helpful than hurtful. It is common knowledge, but in most car transactions, you need to be weary and on alert for any hidden issues or inaccuracies. In July 2020, our 2006 Saab 9-3 was acquired from a lady on CL. The car didn't have underlying issues and this couple were truly some of the nicest people I've met.

MAKING THE DEAL

The scammer listed it as and claimed to be the only owner. At some point in our meeting, we were sitting in the A4 looking over the service records. My eyes focused on the shops, locations (FL, TX, and CA), and work done. Looking back at the records after purchase, the previous owners name was spotted, which didn't add up. So here’s one example of how scams can work. If this is noticed during our meeting, its hard to imagine an excuse a single-owner can have for another persons name being on their service records for ten years. Maybe he would say it was his partner, but regardless, contact with them would be made before any deal. Once finding this out, they were contacted via email and responded to give a summary of their ownership experience. The information was useful, but he didn't have too much to say for a decade of driving experience. Still, there’s enough evidence to suggest that owner took good care of BB-8. Including having it serviced at a well reputed Porsche-Audi shop in Jacksonville, FL where a tech told him this particular model was built on a good day (In Ingolstadt). We had a phone call, and when I inquired about the sale price, their reaction implied they sold it for less. Including choosing to not give anymore info on the topic. My belief is he informed the scammer the transmission was going bad and sold it for a lower price, and they didn't waste time turning it around after that.

For this scammers final act they pretended to misplace their wallet (no Photo ID picture) and spent the next 20 minutes “searching” for it. After some searching he gave up and said it would be OK. Another behavior that seems more clearly suspicious later. In this moment, I was riding a wave of joy from the acquisition while feeling bad as they scrambled for important personal items. If there's just one quality to admire its their commitment level. The A4 also needed a new battery, so that was the one thing the scammer did in their brief ownership. At least the trunk mounted battery hasn’t given any issues since new.

They claimed to be from California and a resident of Florida and Texas before returning here with the A4. He said ownership of cell-phone shops throughout SoCal also added up the cars mileage. Also said to own multiple cars including a 5.0 Mustang as a fun car but who knows with this guy. We received info on him later when contacting a legal agency and considering to sue in civil court. Ultimately deemed not worth the legal process and max 10k payout. In this case, the amount of money trading hands and distance from purchase is relative. Also did not want to pay the legal agency around $500 to serve papers and put in court filings, in case that didn't work as planned.

THE TRANSMISSION FAILURE

Two weeks after buying, the 8-speed Audi CVT transmission seized up with sudden crunching sounds. This CVT closely mimics DSG/DCT in Tiptronic mode, using Audi’s unique multitronic transmission, and defaulting to snappy 4,000rpm shifts in sport mode. It’s efficient, with just enough power in drive mode, and switching between these three could be my overall favorite feature. Clocking out at 178,000 miles was a respectable number. It stopped going uphill on a two-lane street in Palms. Of all the places for it to happen, it wasn't the worst, including being a relatively low danger zone. With the e-brake these generation A4’s seize up during major issues and have an override option I don’t seem qualified to pull off. It was for the better parked here than downhill at the intersection I was going to lower it to.

No transmission slips prior to this. No potential issues listed such as burning smell, strange noises in neutral, trouble switching gears, leaking fluid, or shaking. The mistake was thinking the noise during acceleration was one of those distinct VW/Audi sounds and no major issue. It had a consistent air induction, vacuum sound that wasn’t harsh. After the failure, we heard it might've been the torque converter. The first transmission was smooth enough while it worked, but it was a nice swap of about 120k less miles to feel the increased smoothness. After purchase, the shop that inspected the car quoted about $500 for things like spark-plugs, coils, filters, oil change, but they didn’t mention this sound. We have witnessed a few transmissions die and they tend to go in different ways. With Fords (and many other makes) you'll get slippage that tends to get worse over time, so some warning to prepare for its failure or have it checked for a rebuild option. One or two years ago we had a Turo rental Escape with bad transmission slips and mileage around 130k. Back in 2008, a buddy’s Honda Accord started slipping suddenly on a 40 mile trip home from Cocoa Beach, FL. It gradually got worse, but in true Honda fashion, got us back home before failing. On the final stretch it was wobbling back-and-forth before engaging gear. The buddy ended up with a (new at the time) Flex Fuel Chevy Impala which was a cool transition car. We owned a gifted 2001 Acura TL for one year (2019-2020) and donated it after the transmission cracked around 170k. This was a unique situation leading up to and during the failure. Be on the lookout for future release of this full ownership story. Back then, we talked with a visitor at our auto shop who mentioned owning one of these naturally aspirated 3.2 V6s, with their transmission failing around the same mileage.

In the two weeks time between purchase and transmission failure, there were unfortunate family matters that were more important. A reminder that while this was an L, there’s a bigger picture to keep in mind. Rest in peace, to our Uncle Ricardo (1955-2023) who passed away one day following the A4 purchase. In divine fashion BB-8 was the right name for this B8 gen to carry on family use of Star Wars car names he started. Back then he ran with a Trans Am group around the New York area in his aptly named Death Star.

I purposely waited months after the transmission failure to recontact the previous long-term owner via email and he did not respond. Safe to assume they don’t want further involvement and expected that follow-up after the first time we spoke. From here, its only speculation on what happened between him and the scammer while BB-8 and I continue to trade miles for smiles.

Not clear in the photo but many records are from Audi Jacksonville,FL and Plano,TX. Owner reported no issues/no records from 2022.

THE CAR SEARCH

The 5-7k USD price range is great territory to find well maintained yet heavily depreciated vehicles, leaving space for mods and repair money. Many of these cars still have original engines and transmissions, so the gamble is how long they will last. The original Audi CAEB motor and IHI RHF5 turbo have ran well to their current mileage of 204,000. For model years, 2010 is around the cutoff for most vehicles I’d like to own, so taking advantage of some older models that go cheaper was par for the course. A current search comparing cars for sale in the 5-7k price range to 7-10k yielded more desirable cars in the lower price range.

There were plenty of cool examples during our original search that lasted 2-3 weeks, including Audi A3/A4s, Volkswagen Golf/GTI, Lexus IS (1st and 2nd gen), Saabs and a BMW Z3 Coupe sticks in the memory. The competition from this era was great. The BMW e9x are a favorite, but good for the driving experience, not owning. An e36 would be more worth the risk, but in general, don’t want BMW problems. We’ve heard the e30 is the solution for this and overall easy to maintain. A Mini Cooper S test-drive showed the same concerns of owning most BMW’s, they are divas. The Arctic Silver Metallic Z3 Coupe was a unique enough car, in good condition to appear worth a risk, but that test drive didn't materialize. The contact was selling it for a lady that didn’t want to be directly involved in the process, which was a deal-breaker for me. The closest, most plentiful competition were Audi A3’s and Lexus IS models. A 220k mile A3 hatchback in Silver Lake (not pictured) attracted attention. The mileage was too high but it was in clean condition. Upon contact, the owner confirmed the engine, transmission, and turbo were original. This reassured us about our higher mileage Audi purchase as we headed back to seal the deal.

The Lexus IS XE20 (second) gen has been a favorite and proven overall reliable. That said a friend has shared bad IS 350 ownership experience that included as many as three engine and/or transmission swaps. Current market check while finishing this write-up shows a 130k mile IS 250 for 10k (USD), 190k for 9k, and a 200k for 5k.

CONCLUSION/FINALS STATEMENTS

The most important thing since the transmission failure is the car being free of further major issues while proving able to drive hard into its higher mileage. The 2.0T (10 psi) longitudinal inline-four (211 underrated hp) CAEB engine has proven worthy of praise. At 50k miles, this one received the Stage 2 rebuild (under recall) from Audi which included replaced pistons. The German cars ability to high rev and coast at speed through various weather conditions lends to a real love and appreciation for them. To keep things PG we will spare detailed thoughts on the scammer, but people like that will get whats coming to them. I’ll live with the mistakes made on my end, as I regularly display both brainless and brilliant traits.

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