IsItFair.ca

How it works

Where the prices come from

Every used car listed by Canadian dealers in the last 30 days, for the same make, model and year. A car listed at several dealerships is counted once. Cars that sold in that time are kept in, because a car that sold at a price is evidence about that price.

The fair range

We split those cars by mileage (0 to 25k, 25 to 50k, and so on). When your mileage band has six or more cars, the fair range is the middle half of their prices. With two to five cars we blend them with the price curve from the other bands. With none, we estimate along how this generation’s prices fall with mileage, and we say “estimated”.

Near you

Pick a province, or a city and a radius. In radius mode we use the cars listed in your radius right now to set the local price level, and the province’s mileage curve to adjust it.

Trims

A trim adjustment is measured across Canada, comparing that trim to all trims of the same year at the same mileage, and only when at least eight cars of that trim sold or were listed.

Looking up a VIN

If the VIN belongs to a car on a dealer’s lot right now, we open the price check for that car, filled in with its year, mileage and asking price. Any other VIN we take to be your own car, and show what it is worth. To tell which car it is, we use only the part of the VIN that describes the model and year (the first eight characters and the tenth), matched against the cars on the market that share it, never the serial number at the end.

What your own car is worth

The same range a shopper sees for the same car, year, mileage and region: what dealers are asking for comparable cars, including the ones that sold. A dealer’s trade-in offer is usually lower, because they recondition the car and resell it at a profit. We have no trade-in or private-sale prices, so we never print a number for either.

Confidence

Low under 4 comparable cars, medium from 4 to 7, high at 8 or more, always counted on the exact slice the number came from. When we do not have a number, we show a dash and say why. We never fill a gap with a guess.