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How Much Is Your Car Worth?

See what comparable cars are advertised for right now, from live listings on Autoza

Vehicle Details

Fill in the form to see your vehicle valuation

How does our car valuation work?

Our valuation compares your car against live dealer asking prices on Autoza for a similar make, model, year and mileage, and returns a range rather than a single figure. Cars from your exact year count most, and each year further away counts a third as much, out to three years either side for the model itself, and five when we have to widen to other models by the same manufacturer; the result shows the years and mileages it used. We see what cars are advertised at, not what they eventually sell for, so treat the range as where the market is opening, not where it will close. If we do not yet hold enough matching listings for a fair comparison, or too few from around your car's year, we say so rather than guess.

This tool is free to use whether you want to sell your car in the UK or are looking to buy one. You can also create price alerts to get notifications when similar cars appear on the market.

Want to see how your valuation stacks up against the wider market? Explore live UK used car market data updated from real Autoza listings.

Enter your car

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“What is my car worth” has three different answers

Most valuation tools return one number, which is the main reason people feel misled later. A used car has at least three prices at the same moment, and they are not close together:

  • Part-exchange — what a dealer will knock off a car you are buying from them. It is the lowest of the three, because the dealer takes on the cost of preparing, warranting and storing your car, and the risk that it does not sell.
  • Private sale — what another individual pays you. Higher, and it costs you the advertising, the strangers at your door, the test drives and the payment risk.
  • Forecourt price — what the same car is then advertised at, with a warranty, preparation and consumer rights attached. It is the highest, and it is the number people usually see online and mistake for what their own car is worth.

A valuation is only meaningful once you know which of those three you are asking about. If you are comparing a dealer’s part-exchange offer against advertised prices for the same model, you are comparing two different products.

What we can see, and what we cannot

We hold what cars are advertised at. We do not see what they eventually sell for. That figure is agreed privately between a buyer and a seller, and we are not told it. That is why our valuation is a range rather than a figure. Other tools are built on other data — some trade guides value against recorded transactions, and a dealer’s part-exchange offer is a different number again — so it is worth knowing which kind you are reading before comparing two.

It also means an asking price is a seller’s opening position, not a market verdict. A car advertised for a long time at one price tells you what the market declined to pay. The useful way to read comparable listings is not the average asking price but the spread: a wide spread means the market has not settled, and the ends of it are where the negotiating happens.

What actually moves the number

Mileage judged against age, not on its own. A figure only means something next to the years that produced it — how many miles is too many sets out the comparison, and what your budget actually buys shows the median age and mileage at each price band from live stock.

The paperwork, more than the condition. A full service history, a clean MOT record and a V5C in the seller’s name are worth real money, because they remove the buyer’s main risk. A gap in the MOT history or a recent change of keeper invites questions that cost more than the fault would have.

Specification, but only the parts buyers ask for. Options that cost thousands when new rarely return their cost second-hand. What holds value is what a used buyer searches for — an automatic gearbox, a tow bar, the right trim level — rather than what was expensive to tick.

Running costs attached to the car. The vehicle tax band, whether it is exempt in a clean air zone, and for an electric car the mileage charge arriving in 2028 all feed into what someone will pay, because the buyer is pricing the whole cost of ownership rather than the car alone.

How to sanity-check any valuation, including ours

Search for your exact model, within a year either side and a similar mileage, and look at how many are advertised and how far apart the prices sit. If you find very few, the valuation behind any tool is thin and should be treated as a wide range. If you find a lot, the ones at the bottom of the spread tell you what a quick sale costs, and the ones at the top tell you what a patient one might earn.

Then decide which of the three answers you actually need. Someone who wants the car gone this week and someone who will wait two months are not asking the same question, and no single number answers both.

Frequently Asked Questions

What is a used car valuation based on?
This tool compares your car against live UK dealer asking prices for the same make and model at a similar year and mileage, and returns a range rather than a single number. Cars from your exact year count most and each year further away counts a third as much, out to three years either side for the model itself and five when it has to widen to other models by the same manufacturer, and the result shows the years and mileages it used. When too few cars of the model are listed, or too few from around your car's year, it widens the search or holds back the single figure, and the result says so. Asking prices are what sellers advertise, not what buyers finally pay, so a valuation built from them usually sits above the price a car actually changes hands for. Treat the range as what the market is currently asking for cars like yours.
Why do two valuations of the same car disagree?
Because they measure different things. A tool built on advertised stock reports what comparable cars are listed at today; a trade guide values against recorded transactions; a dealer part-exchange figure is what one business will pay to take the risk of reselling it. All three can be right at once, and the spread between them is normal rather than a sign one is wrong.
What information do I need to value my car?
Make, model, year, mileage and fuel type. The tighter those inputs, the narrower the range — mileage moves a valuation more than most people expect, and transmission and trim matter more on premium cars than on mainstream ones.
What does a valuation not account for?
Condition, service history, MOT status, outstanding finance and local demand, none of which a registration and a mileage can tell anyone. Those are exactly the things that move a real sale price, which is why a valuation is a starting point for a conversation rather than a price.