What is my car worth?
three numbers, and only one gets paid to you

Trade-in, private party and retail are different figures for the same car. Knowing which one applies to you is most of the answer.

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You typed the question because a website gave you a range with a two-thousand-dollar spread and you're not sure what to do with it. That range isn't the site being cagey. It's three different values averaged into one band, and they don't apply to the same situation. This page separates them, explains what actually moves each one in central Ohio, and tells you when the free online number is close enough that you don't need us at all.

There are three values, not one

Every car has at least three prices at the same moment, and most confusion about what a vehicle is "worth" comes from comparing one against another.

Which one is yours depends entirely on what you're planning to do next. Nobody gets all three.

  • Trade-in value. What a dealer pays you, in a deal where you're also buying. Lowest of the three, because the dealer has to recondition it, floor it, and carry it until it sells.
  • Private party value. What another person pays you directly. Highest cash figure, and it costs you listings, strangers at your house, test drives, tire-kickers and the paperwork.
  • Retail value. What that car sits on a lot for. You never receive this number. It includes reconditioning, warranty, overhead and profit that has nothing to do with you.
  • What we pay sits between trade-in and private party. Higher than a trade because we're not discounting to protect a new-car deal, lower than private party because you're not doing the work.

Why the online estimate came back as a range

Instant valuation tools work from year, make, model, mileage and a condition dropdown. That is five facts about a machine with several hundred relevant ones.

They can't see your tires, your service records, whether the second key exists, or what forty Ohio winters of road salt have done to the underside. So they widen the band until your car is almost certainly somewhere inside it. A wide range is never wrong, which is the point.

The range also blends the three values above. The top of it is usually closer to retail and the bottom closer to trade — so the number you fixate on is often the one you were never going to be paid.

None of that makes those tools useless. It makes them a starting point rather than an answer.

Trim is where most estimates go wrong

If one thing explains a gap between what you expected and what you're offered, it's trim.

People know their car's model. Fewer know exactly which package it left the factory with, and two of the same model year can be thousands apart on options alone.

It's worth finding out before you talk to anyone about price. The window sticker, the original sales paperwork, or the build sheet a dealer can pull from your VIN will all tell you.

  • Drivetrain. All-wheel drive carries a genuine premium in central Ohio and a much smaller one three states south.
  • Factory packages. Tow, cold weather, technology and safety packages move the number. Dealer-added accessories mostly don't.
  • Engine. Often the single biggest split within one model name.
  • Roof, leather, wheels. Real money on some models, close to nothing on others. It depends on what the next buyer in this market expects.

What moves the number here specifically

Once trim is settled, condition takes over. These are the items that change a central Ohio number most often, in rough order of how much money is attached.

  • The underside. Ohio salts its roads about half the year. Frame rails, brake lines and fuel lines take it. A car can look clean at eye level and be badly compromised underneath — and the reverse is worth real money here, because a genuinely clean underbody is uncommon in this market.
  • Tires and brakes. The next owner pays for these, so a buyer prices them in. Four tires at the wear bars is a four-figure adjustment.
  • Service records. The most undervalued thing you can produce. On a higher-mileage car they can be worth more than a cosmetic repair.
  • Accident history. A reported accident affects the number even when the repair was done properly. How much depends on severity and where it landed on the structure.
  • Stored diagnostic codes. A light that has been off for a month still leaves a record, and a scan finds it.
  • The second key. Small item, real deduction. Cheaper to cut beforehand than to lose in the offer.

Pricing against central Ohio, not a national average

A national valuation averages sales in Phoenix and sales in Cleveland. Those are not the same market and the same car is not worth the same in both.

All-wheel drive and four-wheel drive carry a premium here that they don't carry in a dry state. Convertibles do the opposite. And the salt question cuts in both directions — it costs a corroded car real money and it pays a clean one, because buyers in this market have learned to look.

We price against what comparable vehicles are actually selling for in central Ohio at the moment you ask, which is why the number can differ from a national estimate in either direction.

When the free online number is good enough

Sometimes it is, and it's worth saying so plainly.

If your car is a common model, three to six years old, average mileage, no accidents, no modifications and no warning lights, the instant estimates are usually close. You probably don't need an appraisal to make a decision — you need it to get paid.

The estimates get unreliable in the other direction. High mileage, older than about ten years, an accident on the record, an unusual trim, aftermarket modifications, a salvage or rebuilt title, or anything where the underside matters. In those cases the online range is guessing, and it's normally guessing low.

The other reason to get a real number is that an estimate isn't an offer. Nobody will hand you money on the strength of a website's range.

How to find out what yours is worth

Send the year, make, model, trim if you know it, mileage and whether there's a loan on the vehicle. It takes about two minutes and there is no obligation attached to any of it.

We come back within 24 hours with a number and the reasoning behind it. If the car is here, our team goes through it properly — exterior, interior, tires and brakes, a diagnostic scan, the history report and the underbody on a lift.

Then someone tells you what they found and how each item moved the figure. You hear it out loud and you can argue with any of it. If you'd rather just know the value and not sell, that's a fine reason to come in, and it costs the same as everything else here: nothing.

What to have ready

None of this is required to get a number. Bring what you have and we'll tell you what's missing rather than send you away.

  • The VIN. Enough on its own for a first conversation.
  • Mileage, roughly. Within a few hundred is fine.
  • Trim or the window sticker if you can find it. This is the one that most often changes the answer.
  • Service records. Worth more than people expect, particularly past 80,000 miles.
  • Your loan details if there is one. We contact the lender for the payoff figure ourselves.
  • Any written offer you already have. Dated within seven days — we beat it or hand you $250, terms apply.

Common questions

Is a market value assessment the same as an appraisal?

They overlap, and the difference is what you want at the end. An assessment answers what the vehicle is worth in the current central Ohio market. An appraisal is that plus a firm offer you can accept. Both are free here and both involve the same inspection, so if you start out just curious and decide to sell, nothing has to be repeated.

Why is your number different from the online estimate?

Usually one of three reasons. The estimate averaged trade-in, private party and retail into a single range and you're comparing against the top of it. Or the trim it assumed isn't the trim you have. Or it can't see the underside, the tires, the records or the accident history, all of which we check. We'll show you which of those it was rather than just assert a figure.

Does it cost anything, and do I have to sell?

No to both. There is no fee, no deposit and no obligation. A fair number of people who come through the Caine Road buying center are finding out what they're sitting on and go home with a figure and their keys. That's a normal outcome and nobody will chase you about it.

How long is the number good for?

Seven days. Used vehicle values move week to week, so quoting a figure indefinitely would mean quoting it low enough to be safe. Seven days is long enough to think it over and short enough that we can price it honestly.

What if I still owe money on the car?

That's normal and it doesn't complicate the valuation. We contact your lender for the ten-day payoff amount and compare it to what the vehicle is worth. If the car is worth more, that difference is yours. If the loan is larger than the value, we'll tell you the exact gap so you can decide with real numbers instead of guessing.

Do you value cars you're not going to buy?

Yes. Motorcycles, boats and RVs are outside what we handle, but for cars, trucks and SUVs the assessment is the same work whether or not a sale follows. We'd rather be the people who told you straight than the people who wasted your afternoon.

Find out what yours is worth

Send the year, make, model and mileage. We'll come back within 24 hours with a real number and the reasoning behind it.

Get my offer

Or call (614) 321-1356 · 6780 Caine Rd, Columbus, OH 43235

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