Car valuation
There is no single price a car is worth — there is what a dealer will give you, what it will fetch privately, what a forecourt will ask for it and what it makes at auction, and the spread between them is wide. The useful question is which of those numbers applies to the transaction you are actually doing.
Free check first — the Pro report is the upgrade on your results page. See a sample report.
What the valuation shows
Several figures rather than one, because a single number hides which market it belongs to.
- Trade, private, forecourt and auction
- The realistic range for the car's specification across the markets it could sell in.
- Struck against real mileage
- Valued at the mileage the car has actually covered, not a notional average for its age.
- Where the projection sits
- If the car has been driven harder than the valuation assumes, the report says so and shows the gap — the price on the page is for a lower-mileage car than the one in front of you.
- Previous asking prices
- Where the car has been advertised before, what was asked, and how long it sat unsold.
- What the markers cost it
- A write-off, an import marker or an anomalous odometer all move the real price, and the analysis says which apply.
What a valuation cannot do
It values the specification and the mileage, not the car. Condition, service history, optional extras, tyres, a scruffy interior and a recent cambelt are worth real money in both directions and none of them is in any data feed.
It is also a snapshot. Used prices move with fuel costs, clean-air-zone rules and the supply of nearly-new cars, and a figure from six months ago is not the figure today.
Where this comes from
A commercial valuation feed covering the UK used market, plus advert history where the vehicle has appeared in UK listings.
FAQ
Frequently asked questions
- Why is the trade value so much lower than the forecourt price?
- The difference pays for preparation, warranty, the forecourt itself and the dealer's margin, and covers the risk of the car not selling. It is the normal spread, not a sign anyone is being unfair.
- Which figure should I use when buying privately?
- The private value is the right benchmark. Forecourt prices include things a private seller is not offering you — a warranty, a return right, and recourse if it goes wrong.
- Does a write-off marker change the valuation shown?
- The figures are for the specification. A recorded write-off sits against them, and the analysis says so explicitly rather than quietly discounting a number.
- How accurate is an online valuation?
- It is a well-informed range, not a quote. Treat it as the figure to negotiate around, and let an inspection decide where in the range the car sits.