If you are a car owner, you might need to know your vehicle's current selling price at one point or another. Perhaps you are thinking about selling the car, evaluate an offer, or simply looking to value your total assets. You have probably heard of terms such as the Redbook or another valuation tool. In this article, you can learn all about your car's valuations, what it means, and how to find it.
What Is the Value of a Car?
To understand the meaning of this term, take a short trip down memory lane. Think about your car and when you bought it. You paid a certain amount of money at that time. That price you paid was what the car cost you and what the car's buying price was and still is now on paper. Since then, which could be a few months, years, or even a decade, a lot has happened in the market and your car. If you have an older model car, the chances are high that newer ones have come out. Over time, normal wear and tear affect your car.
The market value of a car, or Open Market Valuation (OMV), is the price that it could fetch in the present day in a competitive auction setting between willing buyers and willing sellers. Another term used is the fair value. Simply put, if you want to sell a used car today, the fair price is the most important number because it represents how much you can get from the sale.
What Affects the Current Selling Price of a Car?
Say you have a vehicle you want to sell. Now consider further what factors affect how cars are priced and how similar cars may often fetch varying prices. The aspects explored here are taken into consideration when car valuations are done for selling or insurance purposes.
The first factor you need to think about is the trends and mass appeal. If a certain car make is highly popular among certain demographics for intrinsic reasons, you can expect these cars to sell for more. In certain terrains in Australia, for example, having a four-wheel-drive or other body type could be more important to people in that area than in other areas of Australia. You cannot be able to control the reputation and popularity of your car's make.
It may or may not surprise you, but the colour of a vehicle has been found to affect the valuations. Some colours are more appealing to the masses. Various studies have shown that the value of cars that are yellow or orange depreciates the least in the first 3 years, compared with other colours.
The mileage of cars is a big consideration whenever someone is buying. The buyer needs information on how much use has gone into the car and determine if there is enough left for their usage in the coming years. There are general ranges about how high a mileage you can get from a certain model. So, the more you have used your vehicle, the lower you can expect when you decide to trade it, in general.
One more example is the current condition. Anyone buying a car wants to understand if it works, how it moves, if there are any pressing repairs, whether anything is missing, and if there have been any major accidents. All these details are obtained when you are in contact with a seller. You can ask questions, take the car for a test drive, visually inspect it, and have a professional check the engine or conduct price valuations.
In summary, if you want to buy or sell a car in Australia, the valuations are determined by a combination of the factors above, and they fluctuate as such.
How Do I Find the True Worth of My Car?
If you have a willing buyer, you can sell your car for any price, whether or not that reflects the true present-day worth. If, however, you want a proper valuation, there are proven ways to do this. The good news is that any time this is free and relatively easy to do.
Below is a simple guide on how to get the value of your car:
- As a starting place, the OMV is always going to be lower than the price you paid when you bought your car new or new to you. Use this information to evaluate how reasonable each valuation you obtain from various sources.
- Search online for past car valuation information. Current valuations are an instant way to see if you are in the right range.
- Contact an expert, mechanic, or someone who understands more about vehicle valuations than you.
- You can use an instant online valuation tool for a car valuation before a trade. Many of these are free and easy to use. Do an online search to see which ones apply to Australia or to your region.
- Obtain the RedBook value. This is a tried and tested instant valuation tool used in Australia and other parts of the world. You can use it to find out what prices you can offer for your vehicle based on its year, make, model, use, and condition.
- Any valuation tool you decide to use has already done the hard work. You simply enter the car details into RedBook or another site. From this, you can get a good value of your car and how much you can trade it for. If you are lucky, you might find someone willing to pay more, but to complete the sale, you must both be satisfied.
Whether you want to sell your car, buy your next one, change your insurance, or get estimates on car prices, the OVM is an important metric. You always want to pay for or offer a present value for an asset. You can know what a car is worth by looking at industry conditions and the car's conditions, as well as making use of a good valuation tool. Use the RedBook or contact a Westside autos instant in-person valuations team members to know your car's value and set the sale price that makes sens
