car valuation sites, what the hell!

[Alan_VRS]

i'm selling my car so had a look around to see what the different site's thought it was worth, well, bloody hell, looks like its worth bugger all acording to some of them!

two of them thought it was worth £3200 to £3500

and the other four or five thought it was only worth 1600 to 2200, i mean, how can there be THAT much difference?

and to top it off, i called a dealer today as they had a car i was interested in, and they offered me £800 trade in, i mean thats just a **** take isn't it?

Edited 24 August, 2009 by postmanpat
Just so you aren't circumnavigating sale rules, to advertise please join freedom

[Jimbo vRS]

All the valuation services use different methods of working out the price. Not sure which services you've used, but the only ones the motor industry will touch (generally) are CAP and Glass's.

CAP are notorious for being more stingy when it comes to pricing (there's an old saying in the motor trade : Buy off CAP, sell off Glass's).

I don't think you can get a CAP valuation as a private customer, but Glass's will do you one for ~ £3.50.

You'll almost always get a better price by selling it yourself, but a lot of people don't have the time or inclination to do it and will take the dealers trade in price just to get rid of it.

The following snippets are from Glass's FAQ section which may explain some of it a bit more

Why is the dealer offering me a different trade-in price?

There could be many reasons, for instance, the dealer might have given you extra discount on the car you are buying, it may depend on how much he can get for it on the forecourt (demand), he may have a large stock of that model, his view of the condition may be different to your own, it may be the time of year. You always have the option of going to a different dealer.

Why is there a difference between the Trade-in and Retail Values?

The trade in price (the amount a dealer pays you) differs from the retail price (the price a dealer may advertise the car for) because a dealer has the following costs and considerations: refurbishment, valeting, servicing, stocking, storage, warranty, administration, title checks, profit, advertising & VAT.

[Brimma]

You could always go through the, dare I say it, Vauxhall website, to see if you can get a free Glass's indication :-

Value your car | Finance | Vauxhall Motors UK

No idea how accurate it will be.

I think you might able to do something similar on the Whatcar website

Edit :-

I've just done a check myself on there for my car, and the excellent condition trade in price for the manual version of mine is actually nearly £500 more than I paid Result

Edited 24 August, 2009 by Brimma

[robmawer]

i recon its worth 3k by the way, two of them thought it was worth £3200 to £3500

and the other four or five thought it was only worth 1600 to 2200, i mean, how can there be THAT much difference?

Depends on the type of website you're getting it valued on - if it's someone who buys cars for cash, you'll usually end up with a lower evaluation in exchange for being able to offload your car to them quickly without any hassle.

and to top it off, i called a dealer today as they had a car i was interested in, and they offered me £800 trade in, i mean thats just a **** take isn't it?

Sounds like they didn't really want the car. From speaking to a few dealers recently, the only cars they're eager to take as p/x at the moment are small economical cars as this is what is proving popular with the buying public...no doubt due to road tax and fuel costs increasing, and the impending threat of financial doom.

Personally, I wouldn't worry too much with book valuations at the moment - if you're happy with the deal you're getting, go for it, if you're not then don't. After all, book prices are just a guide...

Rob.

[fluffmeister]

fwiw I don't think book values count for much these days, a used car is worth what someone will pay for it or if it's a dealer what they will bid on it.

Try a couple of sites, check ebay and autotrader and try and set a fair price from their

[Jimbo vRS]

the excellent condition trade in price for the manual version of mine is actually nearly £500 more than I paid Result

A dealer will never acknowledge a car as being in "excellent" condition once you've driven it off the forecourt. Took my other halfs mint Ka in last year and was told it only rated as "fair" as it had been used :confused:

He didn't seem to get it when I pointed out that the system was giving him prices for used cars :(

[ExAudiSi]

I had a dealer offer me a lot less than book price for my old Fabia against a brand new car because it had more than one previous owner!

Couldn't knock it on condition (actually said how good and free of car parking dings it was), mileage or service history, so said he couldn't give me book price because of the additional owners (this is on a 5 year old car too!). I laughed at him and walked out.