Asking Price vs Sale Price: Reading Irish Car Valuations Properly

What the three price bands actually mean

Our current pricing engine first narrows the available listings by vehicle characteristics and mileage. It calculates the lower quartile, median and upper quartile of asking prices in the selected comparison group. The lower and upper bands use the lower and upper quartiles. The middle figure blends 60% of the median with 40% of the upper quartile, then rounds to €100.

The product calls these Quick Sale, Fair Market and Optimistic. They are positions within an advertised market, not measured sale probabilities. Quick Sale does not promise a buyer within a particular number of days, and Fair Market is not an independently verified transaction value.

A worked example with invented numbers

Suppose comparable adverts have a lower quartile of €15,000, a median of €16,000 and an upper quartile of €17,000. The current middle calculation is €16,400: 0.6 × €16,000 plus 0.4 × €17,000. That figure is deliberately above the median of the adverts.

These are illustrative numbers, not a valuation of a particular model. If you need €16,400 after selling costs, the calculation alone does not establish that a buyer will pay it. You still need to judge condition, competition and the offers you receive.

Why a vanished advertisement is not a sold-price record

An advert may disappear because the car sold, the owner withdrew it, the listing expired or it was replaced. Even when a sale occurred, the last visible asking price does not tell us the negotiated amount. Counting every disappearance as a sale at full asking price would overstate what the data shows.

Use the evidence before choosing a number

Open the comparables and check that their engine, body style, mileage and seller type resemble your car. A group dominated by dealers may include preparation and warranty terms that a private seller is not providing. An unusually expensive trim can also pull the top of a small sample upwards.

For a purchase, use the estimate to identify questions and compare alternatives. For a sale, treat it as a starting range, document your car’s strengths and defects, and reassess against new competing adverts. Avoid applying a universal negotiation percentage: the evidence here does not establish one.