Used car valuation guides

How used cars are actually valued — the methods, the formulas and the factors that move a price — written so the reasoning can be checked against real listings. Each guide explains the method and points to where the numbers for a specific vehicle come from.

Value my vehicle by VIN

Guides

  • Book values vs live market pricing: what each one measures

    What a used-car book value measures, what a live market price measures, where the two diverge, and how to use both when you buy, sell or trade.

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  • How a salvage or rebuilt title affects a car's value, and how to estimate it

    What salvage and rebuilt titles mean, why they lower a vehicle's value, how to estimate the branded-title value step by step, and the documents that protect it.

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  • Used car mileage and depreciation: the formula and what actually drives it

    The age and mileage formulas behind used-car depreciation, why the rates are not universal constants, and how to estimate a mileage adjustment from comparables.

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  • How to negotiate used car pricing at a dealership: a data-first approach

    An evidence-based method for negotiating a used car at a dealership: set target and walk-away prices, separate the transactions, and anchor on comparables.

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How these guides are written

Auto Intelligence Network writes and maintains these guides. They explain method and the factors that move a value; they do not publish market statistics, fixed deduction percentages or depreciation rates, because those differ by vehicle, market and moment and would be wrong for many readers. Where a formula is shown, its constants are described as what they are — inputs the market sets — and the AIN appraisal derives them from live listings for the specific vehicle.