Hello, welcome to the world of motoring randomness and the love of older vehicles.
I can only speak for myself, but as insurance
can cost more for a car without a current test certificate. Insurers whose premiums are the same regardless of test status seem, for some reason, to charge more to begin with, hmm, I wonder how that situation came about!
I agree with Pete about the Skoda not being the cheapest, but at least there are no mentions of the dreaded structural rot in its recent test history, found here:
https://www.check-mot.service.gov.uk/ .
I wonder, does the mag's price guide take into account private or trade figures, or an average of both? Yes, the Triumph Saffron, or possibly BMC Bronze Yellow paint does stand out somewhat, but that could be the result of using different primer given how transparent yellows tend to be. IIRC, the rest of the car appears to be exactly as I remember these from when they were current, but I would see the difference as a bargaining point, rather than a massive turnoff, just bear in mind that spraying further coats of yellow on the already varying shades found on the car would probably be a bad idea, so budget for flatting the original and the newer paint, giving the shell an all over coat of a darker primer than is ideal for yellow (but which would seem the easiest way to achieve a uniform shade for the topcoats), then perhaps trying again with a fresh topcoat. Before thinking about any of that though, check the inner front wings and other panels hidden behind the odd paintwork - it looks pretty straight but it's always essential to search for signs of accident damage just in case!
The PC guide price - even if a trader could drop the price that far or indeed would be prepared to given that he's not hiding the colour related disparity - would be unlikely to be achievable in that car's case, yet the low mileage, the generally pleasant appearance and the fact that these are - in my opinion at least - a really "cool" car to trundle around in and great for the sort of showing that doesn't involve prizes for point perfect finish and originality.
Is it close by your location? If so, then go and view it. I wouldn't be surprised to notice far less of a mismatch in the flesh than in an image - just look at several images of Saffron, Bronze Yellow and - although quite dissimilar to either of these - BMC Harvest Gold which can appear virtually indistinguishable from the other shades I mentioned when seen in a digital image, especially one [strikethrough]ruined by[/strikethrough] *coughs* "altered for the worse" by the use of that damnable HDR facility found enabled by default - unless disabled in settings - in current Android 10 & 11 handsets and quite possibly devices that run other operating systems.
Go and see it, ask for some money off if the paint is offensive to the eye when the car is seen in reality, if you can accept this, and test drive it. Some folk dislike these for some reason, but I rather enjoy their looks, their swing axle rear suspension (great fun if you drive correctly and get that rear end squatting beautifully as you apply the power, some of which these things have as it happens. It's the closest some people ever get to driving a 911, but much cheaper to insure even if the trader has some strange reason not to supply it with a fresh MOT certificate. For me, that would be a deal breaker because I tend to prefer a seller who has genuine confidence in their stock.
Good luck, and if it doesn't seem right but you just can't think how, then walk away and look for another car, though that type of Skoda is a really fun thing to own, simple to fix and you won't meet other examples on the road all that often.
Edited: I just noticed that the nearside wing, which appears to be closer to the correct colour, has a spot of rust up by the corner near to the windscreen, that's almost sure to be the tip of an iceberg that may be something to think about. Does that suggest that maybe the odd offside wing could be hiding rust? I'd still go and look more closely before offering the vendor any of the hard earned.
!
