What Affects Your Car's Value in Alberta

Your car has a real value, and you can get close to it yourself. Most of the prices you see online aren't it.

Here's what actually sets the number.

What number are you actually asking for?

Any offer you get is a wholesale price: what a dealer could buy the same car for at auction.

A dealer's lot price is higher because it includes reconditioning, any warranty and the weeks the car sits there. None of that is yours to sell. Here's how we build an offer.

Why does your car get compared to other cars?

Because a buyer can usually get the same car somewhere else this week, without waiting. That caps what yours is worth.

A truly unusual car, with very low kilometres and kept exceptionally well, does stand out. Most cars are priced against the others exactly like them.

Want the number for your own car? Get a free offer. It takes about a minute.

Which three things set the number?

Kilometres, claims and condition. Everything else is a small adjustment.

1. 1. Kilometres.

   Past about 130,000 km a car gets harder to sell, so it's worth less. See how kilometres are priced.

2. 2. Claims.

   What matters is the dollar amount, not just whether there was an accident. A small fender claim and a near write-off look the same on a report but aren't priced the same, and a Rebuilt status costs more again. What a claim costs.

3. 3. Condition.

   This is the one sellers misjudge. You see your car bit by bit over years. A buyer takes it all in within 30 seconds.

Trim and options matter less than most sellers think. Your exact trim at your kilometres has its own value, and that's what you're compared against.

What is worth spending money on before you sell?

Almost nothing. A new windshield, an oil change or minor maintenance won't come back in the price, and often brakes won't either. People hope it adds $1,000 to $1,500. It doesn't.

A cracked windshield barely matters unless the car is worth something like $200,000.

What does help is free: a folder of receipts for work you've already done. It shows a buyer how the car was looked after.

Does anything about Alberta change the number?

Not really. There's no provincial sales tax, and private sellers don't charge GST, so nothing is added on top. The value itself comes from the same three things as anywhere else.

Why is your number lower than the one in your head?

Usually because the number in your head came from listings. A listing shows what someone hopes to get, not what anyone paid.

The usual gap between what sellers expect and what the car is worth is $5,000 to $10,000. Sellers who test the market themselves usually land on the same number a week or two later, and trying it first is fine.

What you owe doesn't affect the value. If you owe more than it's worth, it's a normal sale with one extra step.

How do you get close to the number yourself?

1. 1. Price your exact trim, not just the model.

   A base car and a loaded one are different vehicles.

2. 2. Treat asking prices as a ceiling.

   In Canada you can't look up what used cars actually sold for, so listings are the most optimistic number you'll see.

3. 3. Know your claim total.

   The dollar amount, not just that it happened. Your insurer has it.

4. 4. Don't add what you spent.

   Recent brakes, a new windshield or an oil change aren't in the number.

For the real figure for your car, get an offer. It takes about a minute. After that, the rest of an Alberta sale is quicker than most people expect.