How much is my car worth?
Having an accurate estimate of what your car is worth is extremely important, not only so you can get a fair price when it comes time to sell, but also for simple tasks such as renewing car insurance policies. By using our simple guide or our online car value calculator, you can quickly and easily work out what your car is worth.
What's my car worth?
Have you been wondering, "How much is my car worth?" Calculating what your car is worth requires a knowledge of the car’s history and condition, as well as current market value. However, a good starting point is to roughly calculate the value of a car based on its age and category.
People often wonder what is my car worth, especially once the vehicle begins to depreciate from its original retail price. Not only is this useful to know if you're planning to sell the vehicle, but also for other aspects of ownership such as car insurance. We have put together the chart below to find the projected worth of each category of car year by year to help answer this question. Please note, this chart assumes the listed vehicles are in mint condition and have not exceeded the average annual UK mileage for each of their respective categories.
Find out how much your car category depreciates
| Sector | 1 Year | 2 Year | 3 Year | 4 Year | 5 Year | 6 Year | 7 Year | 8 Year | 9 Year | 10 Year | +10 Year | Average Price |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 4x4 | £30,281 | £26,307 | £19,713 | £16,617 | £14,111 | £12,756 | £10,731 | £8,857 | £6,578 | £5,450 | £2,680 | £10,635 |
| City Car | £5,290 | £4,966 | £4,126 | £3,372 | £2,972 | £2,546 | £2,060 | £1,659 | £1,413 | £1,033 | £554 | £1,868 |
| Convertible | £24,550 | £20,084 | £17,711 | £15,714 | £12,938 | £11,515 | £9,500 | £8,206 | £6,259 | £5,427 | £3,046 | £6,559 |
| Executive | £23,802 | £21,780 | £18,386 | £15,524 | £12,811 | £11,063 | £9,314 | £7,484 | £5,573 | £4,536 | £2,008 | £8,225 |
| Lower Medium | £16,331 | £13,346 | £10,955 | £8,444 | £6,677 | £5,454 | £4,413 | £3,358 | £2,555 | £1,919 | £773 | £3,532 |
| Mini MPV | £7,586 | £6,848 | £6,655 | £8,367 | £6,681 | £4,416 | £3,489 | £2,352 | £1,771 | £1,197 | £445 | £2,415 |
| MPV | £10,455 | £9,595 | £9,774 | £8,105 | £7,007 | £6,374 | £5,040 | £3,242 | £2,465 | £1,676 | £734 | £3,424 |
| Small Executive | £20,223 | £16,723 | £13,649 | £11,649 | £10,332 | £8,391 | £6,709 | £5,598 | £4,675 | £3,539 | £1,306 | £5,167 |
| Sports | £30,893 | £28,761 | £26,086 | £19,894 | £15,233 | £13,856 | £13,156 | £12,453 | £9,588 | £9,957 | £5,944 | £11,050 |
| Supercar | £132,490 | £112,840 | £108,873 | £96,717 | £80,629 | £75,635 | £64,281 | £54,586 | £49,297 | £43,633 | £41,386 | £61,493 |
| Supermini | £9,346 | £8,004 | £6,398 | £5,491 | £4,560 | £3,913 | £3,255 | £2,467 | £1,933 | £1,334 | £517 | £2,643 |
| Upper Medium | £14,507 | £13,443 | £11,384 | £9,084 | £6,805 | £4,894 | £3,819 | £2,879 | £2,064 | £1,386 | £559 | £3,507 |
| Average Price | £20,495 | £16,750 | £12,487 | £10,222 | £8,242 | £6,939 | £5,739 | £4,498 | £3,495 | £2,822 | £1,388 | £4,952 |
As you can see, the rate of age depreciation can have a large bearing on how much a car is worth. Typically, a car can lose between 15-35% of its value in its first year, and in some cases up to 50% over its first three years based on its age alone. However, there are many more factors than just age to consider when calculating how much you could sell your car for.
Helping you get the best price for your car
The more miles a car has been driven, the less it is worth due to the car having more wear and tear. To work out how much the value of your car has been affected, you can group your mileage into bands of 20,000 miles, such as - up to 20k, 40k, 60k miles etc. As a general rule, each time a car moves into the next band, it loses approximately 20% of its current value.
A car in perfect condition will ultimately be worth more than the same car which has cosmetic or mechanical damage. This is due to the cost of repairs having to be deducted from the car’s resale price.
Vehicles that have been involved in a collision which resulted in the car being deemed an insurance write-off will also see the value decreased. These cars will be sold as Category S or Category N depending on the damage that has been incurred during the accident.
Service history gives the buyer an indication of how well a car has been looked after and highlights any historical issues. A car that only has a part or no service history is a bigger risk to the buyer, therefore the resale value is lower. To reduce the amount of depreciation caused by gaps in the service history, it is advised that all service and MOT documentation is retained.
Generally, the more owners a car has had, the less it will be worth. This is due to potential inconsistencies in driving styles, how the car has been maintained and the amount of mileage the car has covered. You can find out the number of previous owners by looking at the vehicle’s V5 document.
A car that is still under manufacturer warranty could increase how much your car is worth. It’s not uncommon for manufacturers to offer extended periods of warranty to improve sales and interest for their fleet, therefore if your car is less than a few years old, it’s likely it’ll still be covered. If your car is still under warranty it’ll improve the value, as it provides peace of mind to the buyer that they’re protected should anything covered under warranty go wrong.
Modifications to a car can both positively and negatively impact what it is worth at resale. Some modifications may make the car more aesthetically pleasing, which can result in the value being higher as it appeals more to a car enthusiast. However, modifications can also have a negative impact on the resale value as it adds more risk for the buyer and could be hiding previous damage. Modifications to the car’s mechanics also increase the risk involved, as there’s no guarantee they’ve been carried out to a high standard.
The age of a car is one of the largest determining factors when it comes to assessing how much the vehicle is worth.
As you may know, newer cars can depreciate quite quickly, losing up to 50% of its ‘new’ value in the first 3-4 years of ownership, so paying close attention to the market value of your vehicle based on its age alone is a good way to know what to expect when the time comes to resell the car.
You can use the handy depreciation graph above to see how cars tend to depreciate on average by category; the graph shows you how much cars are worth throughout the first 10 years of ownership, and demonstrates the average rate of depreciation based on average resale prices on a model and usage basis.
Simply put, the age of a vehicle has a large bearing on how much it is worth, regardless of its condition. The older the car is, the less it will ultimately be worth at resale compared to the vehicle’s ‘showroom value’ as new.
To find out how much your car is worth in under 60 seconds, you will need to enter your registration plate, mileage, number of previous owners and your service history. If you’re happy with your valuation, simply book an appointment at one of our 300+ UK branches and sell your car in under an hour.
Less than 30 seconds for a quote!
While the guide above can help you get a rough idea of how much your vehicle is worth, we have a much more convenient and accurate tool that you can use to get a free car valuation in under 30 seconds.
So, if you often ask yourself what is my car worth, simply enter the registration plate number of the car you’d like to value into the box above, and enter a few simple details on the following page and you’ll receive an instant online quote.
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Frequently asked questions
The more miles a car has been driven, the less it is worth due to the car having more wear and tear. To work out how much the value of your car has been affected, you can group your mileage into bands of 20,000 miles, such as - up to 20k, 40k, 60k miles etc. As a general rule, each time a car moves into the next band, it loses approximately 20% of its current value.
A car in perfect condition will ultimately be worth more than the same car which has cosmetic or mechanical damage. This is due to the cost of repairs having to be deducted from the car’s resale price.
Vehicles that have been involved in a collision which resulted in the car being deemed an insurance write-off will also see the value decreased. These cars will be sold as Category S or Category N depending on the damage that has been incurred during the accident.
Service history gives the buyer an indication of how well a car has been looked after and highlights any historical issues. A car that only has a part or no service history is a bigger risk to the buyer, therefore the resale value is lower. To reduce the amount of depreciation caused by gaps in the service history, it is advised that all service and MOT documentation is retained.
Generally, the more owners a car has had, the less it will be worth. This is due to potential inconsistencies in driving styles, how the car has been maintained and the amount of mileage the car has covered. You can find out the number of previous owners by looking at the vehicle’s V5 document.
A car that is still under manufacturer warranty could increase how much your car is worth. It’s not uncommon for manufacturers to offer extended periods of warranty to improve sales and interest for their fleet, therefore if your car is less than a few years old, it’s likely it’ll still be covered. If your car is still under warranty it’ll improve the value, as it provides peace of mind to the buyer that they’re protected should anything covered under warranty go wrong.
Modifications to a car can both positively and negatively impact what it is worth at resale. Some modifications may make the car more aesthetically pleasing, which can result in the value being higher as it appeals more to a car enthusiast. However, modifications can also have a negative impact on the resale value as it adds more risk for the buyer and could be hiding previous damage. Modifications to the car’s mechanics also increase the risk involved, as there’s no guarantee they’ve been carried out to a high standard.
The age of a car is one of the largest determining factors when it comes to assessing how much the car is worth. newer cars can depreciate quite quickly, losing up to 50% of its ‘new’ value in the first 3-4 years of ownership, so paying close attention to the market value of your vehicle based on its age alone is a good way to know what to expect when the time comes to resell the car. You can use our handy depreciation chart above to see how cars tend to depreciate by category.
To find out how much your car is worth in under 60 seconds, you will need to enter your registration plate, mileage, number of previous owners and your service history. If you’re happy with your valuation, simply book an appointment at one of our 300+ UK branches and sell your car in under an hour.
While we don’t require much personal information to give you a car valuation, we do require an email address to send the information and valuation updates.
Your car valuation will be valid for up to 4 days, meaning you are protected by market fluctuations and can book an appointment at a time that is convenient.