How Is My Car Price Determined? A Professional Car Buyer Explains Exactly How We Get to Our Number
- Evan Murphy
- Jul 20
- 6 min read
Updated: Jul 20
Every week, someone tells us their car is worth $10,000 more than it is. Not because they're dishonest, but because nobody ever showed them how the number is actually built. Dealers won't explain it. Instant-offer websites hide it behind an algorithm. So here it is, straight from a family business that has been buying vehicles across Quebec and Ontario since 1993: this is exactly how we determine what your car is worth.
Three Real Cars, Three Real Gaps
Theory doesn't sell cars. Numbers do. So let's start with three actual deals that crossed our desk recently.
The first: a 2025 GMC Sierra 1500 Denali Ultimate crew cab with 12,000 kilometers. The seller wouldn't name a price. Based on the description alone, with no photos and no CARFAX in hand, we offered $77,000. Nearly-new, well-equipped, low-kilometer trucks hold serious value, and we can price them tight because we know exactly where they sell.
The second: a 2024 Tesla Model Y rear-wheel drive, standard range. The seller wanted $40,000. Our number: $32,000. That's not a lowball. It's a base model, rear-wheel drive, in an EV market that has softened hard. His number was based on what he paid. Our number was based on what the vehicle sells for today. Those are two completely different things.
The third: a 2022 Toyota Venza LE all-wheel drive with 110,000 kilometers. Well maintained, two keys, a nice vehicle. The seller wanted $35,000. The reality is that with that mileage, the market pays $23,000. We were paying his number, yes, but for low-kilometer units with more equipment. The mileage isn't a negotiating tactic. It's math.
Why Sellers Overprice (And Why It's Not Their Fault)
Almost every inflated asking price comes from one of three sources: what you paid for the vehicle during the 2021 to 2023 price spike, what you still owe on your loan (a lot of people are carrying big balloon payments right now), or what similar vehicles are listed for on Kijiji and AutoTrader.
None of those three numbers is your car's value. What you paid is history. What you owe is between you and your bank. And listed prices are exactly that: asking prices. The only number that matters is what vehicles like yours are actually selling for, this week.
If you're just starting the process, our simple guide for selling your car in Montreal covers the paperwork and timing.
Where Our Number Actually Comes From
When your vehicle comes in, the VIN is decoded so we know the exact trim and options. Not "a Sierra," but your Sierra. Then we price it against real transactions, and there are several layers to that.
Wholesale Auction Results Are the Foundation
Auction sales are completed, guaranteed transactions. The vehicle sold, at that price, this week. We watch those results constantly, and the market moves like the stock market: $500 down one week, $1,000 up the next. A recall drops on a popular truck and you can watch values fall $5,000 in a matter of days. Anyone quoting you a price from a month-old book is guessing. We also cross-check retail values and history-adjusted values, because an accident on the record changes what the same vehicle is worth everywhere down the line.
Export Vehicles Are Priced Off the U.S. Market
A big part of our volume goes to American buyers. That means the U.S. market price, converted at the day's exchange rate, minus transport and expenses. We also take a couple of points off the exchange rate to protect ourselves, because the rate can move between the day we buy your vehicle and the day we get paid. It's risk management, the same way a broker manages his.
Then We Subtract Our Real Costs
Detailing, mechanical work, the safety inspection, bodywork if needed, and the time the vehicle sits idle while all of that happens. A car that spends a month at the body shop waiting for parts costs money every single day. And yes, our margin comes out of there too. We're a business, and we'd rather tell you that plainly than hide it in "processing fees."
Every vehicle goes through the same process. Susie, John, Bob, it doesn't matter. Same math, same treatment. It's case by case on the vehicle, never on the person.
The Trade-In Trick Nobody Tells You About at the Dealership
Here's the part most "what's my car worth" articles will never touch, because they're written by dealers.
When you trade in your vehicle at a dealership, the trade-in amount you're shown is usually not what they're actually paying for your car. If they're making good profit on the new vehicle, they can shift part of that profit onto your trade to hit the number you want to see. It's smoke and mirrors. The trade looks generous, but the money came out of somewhere else in the deal.
Want to know what a dealer is really giving you? Negotiate the new vehicle with no trade. Tell them there's no trade at all. Your wife is keeping the car, whatever the story. Lock in the full price of the new vehicle first. Then, at the very last second, ask: "Actually, if I traded in my 2022 Venza LE AWD with 110,000 kilometers, what would you give me?" Ninety-nine times out of a hundred, that number will be completely different from what they would have shown you up front, because there's no other profit left in the deal to disguise it with.
That honest baseline is what you should be comparing our offer against. Not the inflated trade-in figure, and not the Kijiji listing that's been sitting for 90 days.
How to Get Our Best Number
Since we price off real market data, you can't talk us up $10,000. But you can absolutely earn the top of the range, and sellers do it every week. See also how to sell your car fast and get the best price.
Be Transparent About Everything
If you're sketchy with us, we get suspicious, and a suspicious buyer lowers his number to protect himself. "The check engine light comes and goes, but it's nothing" costs you money. "It's an EVAP code, my mechanic quoted me $500" costs you almost nothing, because we repair for less than retail, and now we trust the rest of what you're telling us. Same thing with the small details. A door ding that costs us $100 in paintless dent repair is not a $500 deduction. Unless we find it ourselves, and then we start wondering what else we haven't found.
Prepare Your Vehicle Properly
A few things that regularly bring a seller to the top of our range:
A real professional detail, with compound and a full interior, costs between $400 and $500 and can put an extra $1,000 in your pocket. We can see through dirt, but presentation is real money.
Good close-up photos, including the damage. A photo taken from ten metres away tells us you're hiding something, and we price accordingly.
Maintenance records, good tires, and good brakes. Records prove the vehicle was loved.
Two keys. We prefer two, but we won't penalize you for one.
An accident on the CARFAX? It happens, it affects the value, and nobody can change that. But honesty about it keeps everything else on the table.
Trust is everything in this business. Your word is everything, and so is ours. Be straight with us and we'll stretch for you. That's how deals get done.
The Bottom Line
Your car's price is determined by what identical vehicles are actually selling for at wholesale this week, adjusted for mileage, condition, options, history, and the real costs of getting it to its next destination. Not by what you paid, not by what you owe, and not by what an optimist is asking on Kijiji.
Want your real number? Send us the VIN, honest photos, and the truth about the vehicle. We'll show you how we got to our number — and how to sell your car in Montreal hassle-free — and we'll treat you the same way whether you take our offer or not.
Murcot Auto is a licensed vehicle dealer (Quebec dealer licence 73152) based in Châteauguay, buying vehicles across Quebec and Ontario since 1993. Get your quote at murcotauto.com.
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