Auto Trader: our online used-car valuations are the most accurate

8:41 am, April 20, 2015

AUTO TRADER’S used-car valuations are the most accurate of any online provider, the company claimed today.

Measured against actual retail, as well as trade and auction prices, they more closely reflect the reality of a dynamic market place and are increasingly seen as the natural benchmark for part-exchange, private sale and dealer retail values, they say.

They add a survey undertaken in September shows 73 per cent of consumers expect Auto Trader to provide an accurate valuation for their car, compared with 34 per cent for WhatCar?

Analysis, they say, shows how much more closely Auto Trader has been tracking sold prices compared with another leading provider of valuations, thanks to half a million data points derived from sources like autotrader.co.uk, as well as intelligence supplied by 15 fleet and leasing companies and six auctions houses including BCA. They supplied the chart below to validate the claims:

Valuations accuracy: selling price shown as % of Auto Trader v another leading provider

% of Auto Trader – blue line % of another leading valuation provider – red line

Auto Trader say that, following the launch of their new consumer valuations tool in January 2015, they have become the most prolific online provider. In three months volumes have soared to more than one million a month. Last month the site hosted 1.1 million consumer valuations, compared with 947,000 in February, a rise of 16 per cent.

The figures complement more than two and a half million valuations sought by retailer partners . In a record March market, when Auto Trader hosted 52 million visits, the number of valuations sought by retailers rose by 38 per cent year on year.

In addition, more than 1,100 retailers are now using Auto Trader valuations to power i-Control, the intelligence tool that helps source the right cars at the right price, to manage forecourts in line with live market changes and to sell cars quickly, accelerating stock turn and boosting profits.

‘Nearly two thirds of all used-car transactions involve cars listed on Auto Trader, and there is a clear appetite for us to provide tools like valuations to help buyers begin realistic negotiations with a dealer,’ said Auto Trader’s Karoline Edwards-Smajda.

‘We are proud to be the premier valuations provider in the retail market and believe the price at which cars are actually sold is the benchmark by which valuation accuracy should be judged. We know consumers use our values, and we’re going to be providing our valuations for retailers, to better align consumer expectations and help retailers sell more cars, more quickly.’