Free car valuation

Getting an accurate valuation for your car can be a tricky business. There are now a wide variety of ways to get a free online car valuation, with many UK websites promising to tell you the value of your car. But do tread with caution. The value of your car will vary on where you are valuing it and how in-demand your vehicle is at that moment in time. Your car’s age, mileage and condition are always the biggest factors influencing a car’s ongoing value, but there are other material things to be aware of too. Things like your car’s specifications, service history, emissions rating and its location will all play a part.

Fuel type is also a huge factor too. Diesel and petrol car valuations have fallen significantly in recent times as electric vehicles become more popular. This is because of tax incentives for new electric cars, with a push to meet the 2030 electric switchover date set by the UK government. There’s also the impact of low-emission zones in some cities affecting the running costs of older diesel and petrol models. Unsurprisingly, more people are now selling fossil fuel cars than are buying them new, and diesel and petrol car prices have fallen significantly because of this.

And what about seasonality? Even the time of year you are selling can cause variation in your valuation. Used convertible cars often go up in value during the summer months and down in the winter. Selling a convertible is therefore usually advisable in the summer.

When a car has been bought as new, it’s usually easy to determine its value as it will still be under warranty. The manufacturer will provide dealerships with a recommended retail price, and most dealerships will put it on the market at that price. However, with older used cars, valuations are much more variable and harder to predict

With used cars, depreciation is always a major factor, with most cars losing a staggering 15 – 35% of their value in their first year. For this reason, things get complicated when trying to place an accurate value on a used car out of warranty. Used cars also come with all kinds of specs and add ons, and if they’ve been on the road for any significant length of time, there will inevitably be damage of some kind, even if it’s just a few surface scratches . Could the gearbox be on its last legs? Is the cam belt about to break? It can be hard to determine how well a car has been looked after.

Take two very similar cars, both have exactly the same mileage, they’re the same colour and specs and nearly everything appears identical. However, one has been driven up a 10 mile-long bumpy hill everyday of the week and the other has driven only now and again on smooth A-roads. Turning up as a buyer, you would have no idea that was the case and you’d immediately need to get to work checking mileage, condition and damage in-person.

It’s therefore very difficult to give an ‘exact’ valuation online. Used car valuations are therefore, to some extent, only ever estimates – they are indicative, but never likely to be 100% accurate. To account for this, most valuations are based on the ‘average’ condition of a car, based on its age, mileage and other factors like make, model, colour, damage and more.