If the car won't pass an emission inspection, they must repair it. Even then, there is no guarantee that the car will sell on the dealer's lot. Therefore, the dealer must presume the car will be a wholesale unit, which will be sold to a wholesaler at breakeven, or taken to an auction house hoping to do the same. So, when assessing a customer's trade-in, the dealer will value it beneath wholesale price. Dealer Retail Value is the amount that franchised car dealers are currently receiving for similar vehicles in your area.
Dealers typically incur inspection, reconditioning and holding costs before selling a vehicle.
While dealer holding costs don't add any value to a vehicle, the inspection and reconditioning work represents services typically not performed on privately sold vehicles. As a result, Dealer Retail Values tend to be slightly higher than Private Party Market Values. Our True Market Value SM prices reflect actual transaction prices for similar vehicles in your area and are updated weekly. Keep in mind that regional variations, consumer demand, and seasonal demand will alter these numbers slightly from time to time. During your price negotiations remember that Edmunds does not publish pricing that favors any particular group but instead focuses on what is actually happening in the marketplace by generating pricing values from transaction statistics.