Why a Car Offer Can Change After the Inspection

An online offer is priced from your description. At the inspection, that description meets the car, and if they don't match, the number gets redone. Here's what gets looked at, and what to do if you think the new number is wrong.

Why does the offer change at all?

The offer was priced for the car you described. When that matches the car in your driveway, nothing moves. A car that's exactly as described can be bought in ten or fifteen minutes.

When it doesn't match, the number gets redone with the same math and better information. It isn't a tactic or a second negotiation.

What is the buyer actually looking at?

Less than most sellers expect. The body first, then the drive:

1. 1.A walk around the whole car, looking for dents, scrapes and repairs that weren't in the photos or the description
2. 2.A short drive, listening for clunks
3. 3.What you said about accidents and claims, checked against the car

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

That's it. No hoist, no removing panels, no diagnostic scan. It takes a few minutes, and almost everything that changes a price can be seen standing up.

What costs more than sellers expect?

Not dents. Water inside a tail light.

Condensation in the lens means the seal has failed or the light is cracked. It usually still works, so owners think it's cosmetic. It isn't. The whole unit has to be replaced, usually around $800 for one side.

It's come up four or five times on our own pickups, and every seller was surprised.

Does an offer ever go up?

It can, for the same reason: the description was off, in the other direction. Sellers often understate their trim, forget options, or describe the condition as worse than it is.

What if you think the new number is wrong?

Say so, and ask which item changed it and what it costs to fix. A named part with a named cost can be checked. Blaming the market or the general condition isn't an explanation.

Nothing is signed yet. The car is still yours, and you don't have to accept a number you don't believe.

How do you keep it from happening?

Almost every change comes from something the seller didn't think was worth mentioning. Describe more, not less:

1. 1. Walk around the whole car.

   Both sides, both bumpers and the corners. You stopped noticing that scrape by the rear wheel years ago. A stranger sees it right away.

2. 2. Check every light

   for cracks and for water inside the lens.

3. 3. Mention what you'd rather not.

   Accidents, claims, warning lights and repairs. It comes out anyway, and a problem named early gets priced instead of discovered.

4. 4. Mention what you've learned to live with.

   The clunk on left turns, the slow window, the tailgate that needs a second pull.

A number that changes at the inspection is almost never someone trying it on. It's the description catching up with the car. The sellers it never happens to aren't the ones with the best cars. They're the ones who described what they actually had.