What's your car worth?

How the car valuation works

Type in your number plate and the mileage on the clock today. CarMate looks your exact car up in licensed UK valuation data and gives you three numbers that matter when you buy or sell: the private sale value, the dealer retail price, and the part-exchange figure. It takes a couple of seconds and there is nothing to sign up for.

Private, retail and part-exchange, explained

Private sale is what you would realistically get selling the car yourself to another driver. It is usually the most you can get without a dealer's forecourt and warranty behind it.

Dealer retail is the higher price a dealer asks once the car is prepped, valeted and warrantied. If you are buying from a dealer, this is the number to sense-check against.

Part-exchange is the lower figure a dealer offers you against your next car. It is lower because they need room to recondition it and still make a margin. Most sellers land somewhere between the private and part-exchange numbers.

Why mileage matters so much

Mileage moves a car's value more than almost anything else. That is why we ask for it rather than guessing an average. A car with 30,000 miles fewer than the norm for its age can be worth thousands more, and one that has been used hard will sit below book. Entering your real mileage gives you a figure that reflects your actual car.

Buying, not selling?

Use the valuation to sense-check the asking price, then run the full Listing Check before you message the seller. It reads the whole advert, checks the price against the market, verifies the MOT and mileage against official records, and flags anything that does not add up, so you know what to offer and what to ask.