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How we value your car
An Online Car Valuation prices your exact registered vehicle against the cars currently advertised for sale across Australia, adjusts those prices to your kilometres, year and condition, and gives one market value with a likely range. Every step is below, including what we leave out and when we refund rather than guess.
1. We identify the exact car
After payment we look up the registration in state registry data, which returns the make, model, variant, year, body, engine and transmission on the record. You confirm it is your car before anything is valued. Where the market splits a model into badges with very different prices (a Ranger Raptor against an XLT, a C63 against a C200), you pick the badge from the versions currently on sale, so the comparison is like for like.
2. We gather live evidence, not a book figure
We search current for-sale advertisements on Australia's major classifieds (carsales, Autotrader, Drive, Gumtree and CarsGuide) for the same make, model, badge and year. Each listing's title, asking price, odometer, year, state and seller type are shown in your report (up to 20 of them); the site it was advertised on is recorded but not printed, because the report is about price, not about sending you to other sellers.
We read the classifieds' own search-results pages for your make and model as well as web-search results, so a common car yields dozens of candidates. If the first pass still finds too few, we search again more widely (the model without year or badge, and the wider web) before we ever refund.
We deliberately leave out anything that would drag the figure toward a wholesale or guesswork number: auction results and auction houses, price guides and valuation pages, trade-in and instant-offer quotes, weekly or finance repayments shown as prices, wanted ads, new and demonstrator cars, and any car described as damaged, written off, repairable or for parts.
3. We keep only true comparables
- Same model line. Sister models never mix: a Corolla hatch is not priced against Corolla Cross SUVs, a Mustang against a Mach-E, a Kona against a Kona Electric. Short names such as "3" or "CX-3" match whole words only, so a CX-3 is never compared with a CX-30.
- Same age. Listings within one year of your car. If fewer than four exist, we widen to two years and adjust prices for the year difference; closer years carry more weight.
- Known year and plausible price. A listing with no readable year is not used. Asking prices below A$1,500 are ignored, and prices far outside the middle of the group (more than 1.5 times the interquartile range) are removed as outliers.
4. We put every listing on the same footing
- Seller type. Dealer asking prices include margin, warranty and preparation, so they are converted to a private-sale level (dealer × 0.92). Unknown sellers sit between the two.
- Government charges. Dealer prices advertised "excluding government charges" leave out stamp duty, registration and CTP, so they are lifted by 5% to a drive-away level.
- Year. Prices are adjusted by 8% for each year between the listing and your car.
- Kilometres. We fit the price-per-kilometre slope from the listings themselves when six or more carry an odometer reading, kept within realistic bounds (0.05% to 0.3% of value per 1,000 km), and adjust each listing to your odometer. No single listing moves more than 25% for kilometres. Odometers under 100 km are treated as unknown.
- Condition. Listings are mostly cars in good condition, so "good" is the baseline. Excellent adds 3%; fair takes 7% off; poor takes 15% off.
5. We weight, then read the figures off the evidence
Listings with kilometres close to yours, the same year, the same badge and the same state weigh more. The private sale value is the weighted median of the adjusted listings. Dealer retail reverses the seller-type adjustment (private ÷ 0.92). Market value is the midpoint between private sale and dealer retail: the figure a willing buyer and a willing seller would most likely meet at. Trade-in is 83% of private sale, reflecting what a dealer can pay and still recondition and resell. Auction is 25% below market value. The likely range is the middle half of the adjusted listings, moved to sit around the market value.
Confidence is shown on every report: High with ten or more agreeing listings (range narrower than 15% of the value), Medium with six or more, otherwise Low.
6. Rare badges
When the badge you chose has fewer than four listings but the model has plenty, we value the model first, then measure how much more or less your badge sells for from its own listings (at least two, after the same year and kilometre adjustments, and they must agree with each other within 40%). The report says so plainly and shows Low confidence. If even that can't be done reliably, we refund.
7. If the evidence isn't there, you get your money back
Fewer than four usable comparable listings means an automatic refund of that vehicle, not a guess. The same applies if the registry can't find the plate and our team can't resolve it with you.
What this method can't see
An Online Car Valuation is built from advertisements, so it reflects asking prices at today's date, not completed sales, and it cannot see your car's service history, accident history, tyres, paint or modifications. It is a market-based estimate, not a certified valuation. When a figure has to stand up to a solicitor, insurer, lender or court, or your car is modified, choose the Certified Comprehensive Valuation: an Asset Valuations Group valuer inspects by video and signs the report.
Value my car · from A$49.95Compare the two valuations
Questions
Why use asking prices rather than sold prices?
Completed private sale prices are not published in Australia, and dealer sale prices are not public either. Current asking prices are the evidence buyers and sellers actually negotiate from, and the dealer-to-private and trade-in adjustments account for the gap between asking and achieved prices.
How many listings does a valuation use?
At least four after filtering, typically ten to thirty. The count and every listing used are printed in the report.
Why does my figure differ from RedBook or a free tool?
Guides publish a modelled range for a make, model and year. We price your specific registered variant against the cars on sale this week, adjusted to your odometer, and show the evidence. The two will often differ, and ours will move with the market.
How current is the data?
Every valuation runs its own search at the time of the order. Nothing is cached from earlier valuations, so the report reflects the listings live on its valuation date.