How our prices are calculated &
why it works

Introduction

We aim to provide the most useable prices possible for used car buyers and sellers.

To make them accurate we base all prices on real cars in the market today. As you will see when looking at a price, we are continually monitoring hundreds of thousands of cars.

To make them really practical and useable in the modern car-buying world, we give you three prices:

The top price is what we expect good quality dealers to charge. You can haggle a small discount from this price.
The best price is the lowest a savvy and reputable seller (who is not in a rush) would expect to sell for.
Anything in the middle is a fair price and deal for both sides.

What does 'confidence level' mean?

When you look for a price on this website, our system searches the latest data available. Sometimes this means there are not as many examples of the car you are looking for available as we would like, to ensure a really accurate price.

We have therefore set five levels of confidence:

Excellent
Good
Fair
Average
Poor

All the prices are based on real cars, so they reflect what is happening in the market. The 'excellent' prices are based on a large sample of cars and so give a more accurate price than the 'poor' prices which are based on a small sample of cars.

With some more specilaist cars you will only ever get a small sample of cars. So you should not worry about a 'poor' rating but proceed with caution as the car you are about to buy may be rare and prices may be volatile. Visiting several cars and comparing them for price vs. quality is usually the final answer.

Year and 'Number plate premium'

New number plates affect the value of a new car significantly. They have much less impact on used cars than the engine, specification and mileage. For example a car with a '57' number plate that has completed notably higher mileage than an otherwise identical car with an '07' number plate will be on the market for less.

Condition

All prices in this guide are based on the following assumptions about the vehicle's condition:

Cars with mileage of 0 - 30,000 will have hardly any wear.

Cars with mileage of 30,000 - 60,000 can be expected to have some minor scuffs on plastic and very slight creasing or fraying on seat squabs. Bodywork should be in very good condition, with only very minor stone chips or occasional fine scratches on the main panels.

Cars with mileage of 60,000 - 90,0000 will have more scuffing and fabric creases or fraying. Seats may have begun to sag slightly. The ceiling of the car and light trim may also be slightly dirty or marked. Some plastics will be a little shiny in high wear places, such as control stalks, gearshift and steering wheel. Pedal rubbers will be showing signs of wear. Load areas may have some scratches. Bodywork should be in good condition, with some stone chips on the front of the car and some minor fine scratches on other panels. There may be the odd very small dent (less than 160mm2 ).

Cars with mileage of over 90,000 will have very shiny gearshifts, control stalks and steering wheels, and light fabrics will be marked. Some seat squabs and backrests will be creased, sagging and frayed. Pedal rubbers will be significantly worn. Load areas will be scratched. Bodywork may have quite a few stone chips on the front, a few scratches in other panels and one or two very small dents (less than 160mm2 ).

Damaged or Abused Cars

No car, of any age should be valued using this guide book if it has visible rust, major dents, broken controls, badly torn or stained interiors. With cars in this kind of condition, buyers are advised to obtain quotes for repair and discount the guide price accordingly.

Service History

All prices assume that cars under 5 years old have full service history and older cars have at least 80% of their standard services and all major services or key component replacements (e.g. Cam belts) completed and recorded.