Valuing a car with Autotrader

Instant tools and an accurate manual valuation

Timeless method to pricing a used car

30 Year secrets to increasing the value of your car

Finds an accurate, retail value for your car, with Autotrader.

This manual approach takes less than five minutes and finds the actual asking price that will sell your car.

Using the free Autotrader valuation tool will estimate a price if selling your car via their website (privately) or as a part exchange (trade-in).

In both instances, the tool is good for finding a broad range but unlikely to give the price you will sell for.

The actual selling price of your car is determined by a few important factors.

Desirable versus undesirable

Determined by how much you can sell for and how quickly.

This car is easy to sell

What is deemed a desirable car?

A car that is sold easily and is worth more than comparative makes and models of similar age and mileage:

Volkswagen Golf 2.0 TDI
2017
5 doors
32,000 Miles
Metallic black
£14,500

Dealers deem this car desirable, for a few reasons:

• Easy to sell
• Difficult to buy for a trade price
• Valuable compared to comparative vehicles

Autotrader’s free valuation tool accounts for desirability, but not wholly.
This means your free online valuation may be less than the price you can achieve with a private sale.

What is an undesirable car?

A car that is more difficult to sell from a dealer forecourt or privately. Such cars are comparatively worth less than the VW Golf mentioned above.

Vauxhall Astra 1.6 CDTI
2017
5 Doors
30,000 miles
Metallic grey
£10,500

The number of motorists looking to buy this Vauxhall Astra is less than that of the VW Golf. In part, this lends to the £4,000 price difference for a car of similar age and mileage.

The cost new is another factor to consider but as these cars get older and mileage increases the disparity in value remains much the same.

Dealers deem the Vauxhall Astra as:

• Undesirable compared to the VW Golf
• Easier to buy for a trade price as there are more available
• More difficult to sell from the forecourt as this type of car is not so popular

Similarly, Autotrader’s online valuation tool accounts for this undesirability, but not wholly.
You may not fetch the price Autotrader is telling you to expect, when selling privately or to the trade.

A genuine car valuation from Autotrader

If you are reading this article and own a Vauxhall Astra, all is not lost.

Finding the retail asking price that will sell your car in less than a week

If you are selling privately I’d like to introduce my complete guide to selling a car with Autotrader.

Selling cars on Autotrader has been my number one work activity for almost 30 years. The Autotrader guide is content I am proud to present. If you are selling privately I am certain the guide will help at the time of sale.

The 5-minute manual approach to car values

Here’s how to do it.
I use Autotrader to find my selling price.

To find a quick, genuine Autotrader value, visit their control panel and enter the make and model of your car, radius from your address and broad price indicators.

In this example, I’m selling a VW Tiguan, 100-mile radius from home with prices between £4,000 – £6,000.

I’m given 41 cars to view but we need a few more specifics to get my selling price.

Use the ‘more options’ tab to refine the search a bit further.

My exact vehicle description:
VW Tiguan 2.0 Diesel
2008
5 Door
80,000 miles
Manual

I enter info into the options panel.

The Tiguan needs a broader search criterion as there are not so many of this car type for sale i.e. it’s a desirable vehicle.

I have the price of £4,000 to £6,000, diesel, manual and a mileage up to 125,000.

I have entered higher mileage cars as part of my search.

If an 80,000-mile car is similarly priced to those with 100,000 miles or more the chances of sale are dramatically increased.

My car will look the best value of the bunch on sale. It will be my telephone that rings first.

If you have a vehicle like the Vauxhall Astra mentioned above, be more specific with your search criteria as there is a larger number of this car type for sale. This includes adding the ‘year from’ tab and ‘trade or private’ tab or reducing the radius from 100 miles to 50 miles or even 25 miles.

Search result checks for a valuation

See in the image above, my search results display just 25 cars.

I am close to finding the price I am likely to get for my car.

Look for 3-5 pages of search results of comparative cars for sale.

Major Faults

Autotrader automatically tells you if a car has a major issue relating to insurance category loss status. Such cars are worth dramatically less than their genuine counterparts. Unless your car is an insurance category loss they must be ignored for price comparison.

The price to sell

If your Vauxhall Astra is 2017 with 30,000 miles it should be priced with those around 50,000 or 60,000 miles, preferably on the same page as those cars advertised.

It looks exactly like this:

Car A
Vauxhall Astra 1.6 CDTI, 2017, 59,000 miles, 5 door, manual, metallic silver, asking price £10,300

Car B
Vauxhall Astra 1.6 CDTI, 2017, 30,000 miles, 5 doors, manual, metallic grey, asking price £10,300

Of those cars, which is more likely to get a phone call?

On owning this car above, the selling price is £10,500. It’s better value than the others around. In effect, a keen price brings its own desirability factor!

Faults and Damage

Most second-hand cars have at least one or two faults that buyers will recognise.

Do the faults impact the value?

• Chip in the windscreen
• Broken glove box handle
• Small tear in the seat
• Hole in foot well carpet

These are all examples of faults that don’t have much impact on car value.

In fact, these types of issues can help to sell your car. If you doubt it, read my car selling guide and find out how.

Major Faults

• Noisy engine
• Oil leaks
• Dashboard warning lights
• Dent in the roof or bonnet etc.

These directly impact car value.

Weighing up repair bills versus my selling price

If your car has major issues like those listed above is it more economical to have them repair first?
Will the repair bills be more than the difference I can sell the car for or the time it took to have them taken care of?

Example
An engine warning light that remains on all the time will stop almost all motorists from buying your car. Those that would be prepared to buy are either mechanics or dealers looking for a huge chunk of cash from the asking price.

Let’s say the ABS warning light remains on after starting the engine. In most cases, ABS lights on the dash are a result of a faulty sensor. The repair cost is probably less than £150, fitted.

In this case, the repair should be made for £150 as a buyer mechanic will probably been looking for £500 or more taken from the asking price.

Similarly, if the clutch is badly worn and perhaps slipping you would be very fortunate to sell your car for its true value. Your buyer may want a significant price reduction to compensate for the repair bill.
Perhaps a clutch for your car is less than £300 fitted?

In this instance, the clutch would be replaced before the car goes up for sale.

Plus, a new clutch can be added to your car advert creative to increase desirability.

Clean cars are worth more than dirty ones?

Especially when selling privately

A car that is valeted perfectly can increase its value more than any other aspect and make the car simple to sell.

My father taught me this when I was seven years old. He had a mantra that probably won’t make much sense until I explain it:

The key to cleaning a car is to make it look like it has never been cleaned…

Confusing, I know.

But, my father knew how to buy and retail hundreds, sometimes thousands of cars each year.

The mantra means that the car must appear like it’s been kept in great condition for its whole life and never needed much cleaning.

Things like super shiny tyres, suffocating amounts of air freshener or cleaning chemical dripping from the ends of the car is the wrong way to go about this crucial step. It impedes a sale because the car looks buffed up and a little fake.

In contrast, a car that is simply clean and tidy wins the day. Natural, original and reliable are the messages your car should give out if you want to sell quickly and for a good price.

It can still surprise me how impactful a soapy wash, clean windows inside and out and vacuumed carpets can be.

Forced to buy a car valet

Note: If your car has been smoked in or had dogs you should have this treated. Bad smell and grime will stop most car buyers. Dog hair is difficult to get out of seats and carpets, so some professional help may be best.

I cringe to think just how many cars I’ve valeted over 30 years but it’s well into the thousands.

Car valets don’t like filthy cars, especially those with dog hair or cigarette stains. As a result, they’ll look for shortcuts. One such corner cut is to get the inside of the car dripping wet.

I have observed valets use a boiling hot steam power washer on the interior of a car and spray right into the seats and/or carpets.

This cleans the areas well, but the water is hard to remove.

There are times to wet the inside of a car with a tailored seat and carpet cleaning machine. Using a power gun is the result of laziness.

Under your carpets is an inch thick felt lining that absorbs water. Once absorbed it can’t be removed completely.

A few days after collecting your car from the valets there will be a fowl, damp odour and the inside of your windows will continually condensate sometimes for months after.

Instructions to your valet company

If seats and carpets need shampooing to bring them back to life let the valets know that the car must be bone dry upon collection.

These days, I stipulate that the car must not be soaked under any circumstances. A dirty car is preferable to a wet one.

Read my guidance notes on documentation and receipts when selling a car privately.

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Here’s a link to value a car with Autotrader.

Marcus Rockey
Used Car Guy