Skoda with blown turbo value

Cost of repair, plus a contingency for hassle factor and possible extra problems.

If I were thinking of buying such a car I'd knock off the full retail cost of replacement as a minimum. Anything else would be silly - and not worth the bother. Otherwise I might as well just buy a working one in the first place.

When I'm talking about price reduction, I mean over and above the cost of doing the job right. If the cars worth about £5000 in good condition, a job that costs £1300 tops (all original Skoda parts, done by a garage and offering a 12 month guarantee), would you say £2,500 would be a reasonable starting point? That makes the total cost about £3800, which would be a reasonable contingency fund to pay for anything else tag might show up during the repair.

To the best of my knowledge, nothing else has gone wrong. The car has always been well maintained (by the garage interested in buying it), and despite being in two crashes the bodywork is immaculate. Neither crash affected the engine at all, and all the repair work has been done to a high standard by the insurance company.

That's the figure I'm looking for, the contingency. It's to a neighbour (who is a mechanic and capable of fixing it himself if he decided its worth the saving over having a garage do it). Obviously £50 is far to little for the hassle, how about £500? £1000? We're all a bit uncertain on what to offer/ask so asking for guidance from someone not actively involved :-)

...then...

...but...

So we've now got a 7yo bent-and-straightened-then-bent-and-straightened non-runner.

Sorry, but this is sounding more and more like the best bet's just to lob it on eBay, 99p/no reserve, and let the market set the value.

But don't be too optimistic. A quick look at AutoTrader shows that there are more "sub-prime" Octavias on AutoTrader than half-decent ones. So whilst decent ones might fetch surprisingly strong money, there's a lot of 57 and 08 plate runners below a couple of grand.

Or just get the turbo done and run it into the ground.

When you say 'worth' is that the price you'd expect to pay to buy it retail, or the price you'd get by selling privately?

A new turbo properly fitted might well add to the value rather than detract from it, everything else being equal.

IMHO, the best financial return would be from getting the turbo fixed as cheaply as possible, then selling it to someone who doesn't know the car's history. You can use the 'brand new turbo' as a selling point.

Chris

Selling privately, but I've not had much of a look about. The insurance company did value it at £5,000 from a different pricing source, so I'd say that £5,000 would be a reasonable price for it.

I've got two buyers keen on the car - all the work and repairs on it have been done to a high standard and they're both happy with the history of the car. I'd prefer to avoid eBay, auto trader and tyre kickers and have it go for a fair price to someone who will be happy with the car. It's just setting a fair price that's the issue :-)

Just curious why the turbo has blown? I have a 1993 Saab 9000 258,000 miles, still on same turbo, still working perfectly.

Sorry for replying to address instead of ng. This easily happens in Thunderbird.

Turbos used to have poor reputation, but with better electronic control and cooling, it is a much better situation. But there are certain ground rules. Let the engine warm up properly before pushing it. Don't turn engine off while pressing to gas pedal; the turbo will be starved of oil at next start. Change oil and filter at the same time, and use fully synthetic. Never delay oil changes.

Followed all those tips - used long life oil but kept to regular servicing intervals as well. As I said in the email, I think it's just one of those things that shapes the bell curve :-)

Yeah better get the turbo fixed somehow and make it a 'runner' rather than a non-runner. Possibly a refurbished turbo. You need a proper car to get a proper price. If it's a non-runner, people will always ask why, and what else might be lurking in the in the underbelly.

Sold it to the next door neighbour. He knows the full history of the car (and is friends with the owners of the garage who've done the work so far), so everyone's happy. I've got what I'd consider to be a fair price for the car, he's got a project to keep him busy and likely turn a profit it. :-)

Good news!

Excellent. Mind if we ask what the ballpark price was, given that you were asking what it should be...?

In the region of £2000, depending on the exact value assigned to other work he's going to do for me as part payment :-)

Although it's not the way I would have proceeded, I commend the honest way you have dealt with the problem.

Chris

By the time I'd got the job done, paid out for that, advertised, had all kinds of idiots coming to kick the tyres and then haggling when they saw the turbo had blown, I figured known cash in the hand from a buyer who knows that when I say I don't know if there is any other damage, I honestly mean that I don't know, nor have I looked, or asked anyone else to look.

One friend told him he'd been robbed, another said he'd ripped me off. I'm happy with what I'm getting, he's happy with the price he's paying, so that's the main thing. The work he'll do for me will cost him nothing, as it's skills he has but I don't, but it worth a lot of money to me, who would otherwise have to pay someone the going rate.

He ended up buying my last old car too, which had a clutch on the way out. He ended up doing the soffits and guttering for the cost of the parts as part of that deal, which saved us all a lot of cash :-)

Yep, I'd agree that everybody's done reasonably well out of that.

So average those two opinions out, and it's about right...