As you can read in this other thread, I have a niggle that won't go away. This is the last of a succession of niggles and issues, and now I have decided I have had enough and I'm considering selling my Fabia. Now I'm trying to figure out a reasonable sale price.

Details: it's a 1.4 8v Fabia from 2001 (51 registration). It did about 47000 miles, from memory. It's a Comfort model, and it has air conditioner. It was serviced by Skoda dealers every year apart from one (the previous owner's clever idea to save money - they didn't have the book stamped, but I saw the bills). I recently had head gasket, coolant tank, timing chain, brakes and rear suspension bushes replaced. It is MOT'd until August 2008, and taxed until June 2008.

So, what can I ask for it?

By the way, there is a chance this could be my first and last Skoda. The car was comfortable and ok to drive, but I had too many issues, and I'm not really happy with local dealers (Benfield and Silbury, for those in the North East). Is this the brand that reached number 1 on the Top Gear Survey? Is this the dealer network that won third place in the Auto Express survey?

I don't dare to think what the other cars can be. Can it be that Skoda got so many good marks because of its quality to price ratio, rather than its actual quality? If that is the case, with prices going up for new and used models, things are going to get worse for Skoda.

Maybe I just got an unlucky car, what can I say. But there, my wife is not happy and is definitely anti-Skoda now, and I have dealt with dealers more than I'd like, and I'm not really happy with my impressions.

Suggestions and ideas will be appreciated, of course.

There are bad eggs in every batch, no matter what make. Some people are just unlucky with the car they get. My mate had a Honda Civic Type R from new and it was being fixed more than it was driven, he now hates Honda. One bad experience can turn you off a marque forever. I'd NEVER buy a VW Golf again, too many problems and terrible terrible Dealer (Abridge Harlow.......I dont mind naming and shaming). Yep, I KNOW Skoda are part of VAG but so far the car AND the Skoda Dealer network prove to me that whilst part of the same group, they ARE almost independent from each other.

It's a shame, but the law of averages mean that for every 100 or so cars built, your bound to get a few lemons. Luck of the draw.

Good luck.

I always think a good way to guage a sale price is to find similar cars in Autotrader and price yours accordingly.

Well, yes, of course, the only problem is the bit where I price mine accordingly. Repairs have been made, and quite a few: does the price go up (problem removed, increased expected reliability) or down (a number of failures turning up in one go)? How much does having that recent overheating problem I mentioned affect the price? And so on and so forth.

If I knew, I wouldn't have to ask, right?

When pricing a car it is based on it's current condition, not what might happen in the future as it's a case of buyers beware.