Alright, so I've been looking for an SS or WS6 and I found an interesting one I can't gauge the value on. It's a 2000 SS A4, Arctic White with tan leather, only 24,200 miles on it, original owner with all documentation. It's bone stock; only SLP options are catback, SS dash plaque, and the castrol oil upgrade. Here's the thing it's not your typical low mile weekend driven car. It's female owned and she daily drove it everyday, year round til 2012, but she only drove 8 blocks to work, hence the low mileage. So condition wise, it's a 14 year old daily driven car. The interior plastics are faded, the leather is cracked, the headlights are foggy, the paint on the bottom of the front bumper is all spider cracked, and there's a small crack in the hood along the edge where it meets the bumper cover. They're asking $11,500 for it based on the mileage. I'm thinking the condition outweighs the mileage and it's worth less but wanted to get some opinions.

 

That's really an interesting find. The climate has had it's toll on the car. Too bad the lady couldn't do the proper maintenance to keep it nice. Simple protectant for the dash and plastics, and leather conditioner for the seats takes so little effort to apply once in awhile. Oh well, too late for that.
If the interior can be rescued to some degree (to your satisfaction) I think you can proceed with an offer. I wouldn't be worried about the headlights (easy fix), and the paint issues are not a deal breaker either. These flaws can be used in your negotiations. Another factor is the short driving distances each and every day. Many owner's manuals put this type of driving into the 'severe use' category where the oil and fluids have to be changed frequently. Is this the case? Does she have paperwork to verify that every single fluid in that SS has been changed? All great negotiating points for you. Changing all the fluids, if you can't do it yourself, will run $500+ at most shops. Rear end, coolant, power steering, tranny, brake, you name it!! You also should have the price guides in your favor. My zip code shows $9,500 for that 24k miles SS. While I personally think that is way too low it still can work in your favor if brought up in your pricing talks.
If the car needs things (most likely) and you have to buy new tires and get all the fluids changed, I would offer that 'book' value of $9,500. If by some miracle the lady has receipts for everything and a new set of quality tires, then she may not be horribly off, but you still can negotiate that price down into the $10,000+ area due to the interior and paint flaws you mentioned.
It's tough to guesstimate on this one without actually seeing the problems. What you may consider OK I may find just unacceptable. If the interior is shot, I just wouldn't want the car at all unless I had the ability to fix it myself or got the car for much less than book. Too much $$ needed to fix it.
Best of luck if you go for it. Don't pay the asking price. The car needs too much IMO and you have valid negotiation points. If she doesn't want to listen, walk away. Her only redeeming quality in the price is the ultra low mileage. Even that isn't so great if the original fluids are still in the car.

 

Yeah, the book value here is comparable. $9100-9500 depending on condition. The lady who owns it's husband runs a shop, so the oil was changed every 3k and it's documented. Aside from the oil changes nothing has been replaced/repaired except for tires and a battery. Honestly after thinking about it overnight, if I bought it I'd have to replace the interior anyway; I just don't like the tan in a white car. So I may not even make an offer on it; gotta think on it a little more. I appreciate your thoughts.

 

With an original AC system I'd also figure that a $500-$800 repair bill will be in your future (new compressor, HP and LP lines). Figure on window motor(s) if they have never been done. The 8 block trips is a key issue. That's more than likely 1/2 to 1 mile trips. The car never really gets warmed up properly. That means any unburnt combustion products get to sit in the oil and exhaust system all during the day and then again at night. Even with the 3K mile oil changes they stuff is sitting around for for days or maybe weeks until the next 8-12 mile run that burns it off. In this case, those 3K oil changes were every 21 months! Who goes almost 2 years between oil changes on a daily driver? That's not good at all, especially with such short daily trips. Compared to a typical car with say 100K miles with 5-10 mile daily trips to work, the starter and other systems have been cycled multiple times more.

I'd have to agree that this car was driven under "extreme" conditions...even worse if still sporting original coolant and trans fluid. The "adjusted" mileage on the car is probably 40K to 60K. Certainly it's cosmetic condition sounds like that of a car in that mileage range. While some of the items on that car are indeed near new with 24K miles (differential?), other parts are the equivalent of 100K miles. If this is an automatic I have to wonder if the trans fluid was ever changed, or maybe only changed once. I'd be less concerned with a 6 speed. Not a car I would consider unless priced like a 50K mile car. Even then, I'm leery of the potential abuse to the engine/trans. $11,500-$12,500 would be a good price for a 24K mile 2000 SS that was a weekend driver and looked like 24K miles from front to back, inside and outside. This is not that car. But, someone will come along and only look at the miles.