What is my car actually worth? Wholesale, trade, retail and auction explained
Updated 13 August 2026
There is no single value for a used car. There are four, they can be thousands apart, and knowing which one applies to your situation is the difference between a fair sale and a disappointing one.
The four numbers
Each answers a different question.
- Retail asking price: what a dealership lists the car for after reconditioning, warranty and floor cost. It is not what you can get.
- Wholesale value: what dealerships pay each other at auction. This is the honest benchmark for a private seller selling to the trade.
- Trade-in value: wholesale, minus the store's risk buffer, adjusted inside a larger negotiation.
- Auction result: what several dealerships will actually commit to today for your specific vehicle. It is the only number based on your car rather than an average.
What moves your number most
Mileage relative to the segment average, verified accident history, title status, tyre and brake life, and the presence of factory options that the local market pays for. Colour matters more than sellers expect. So does the completeness of your documentation, because uncertainty is priced as risk.
Why an estimate is a range, not a figure
A responsible estimate expresses a range because the true price depends on which stores need your model that week. Any tool that gives a single confident number to the dollar before seeing the car is expressing marketing confidence, not market data. Treat a range as a decision aid, then let real bids resolve it.