Autotrader Price indicator Tags

[Street]

I have a little app that tracks changes on AT.
Ads initially have no price indicator (Higher, Fair, Lower), then I can only assume their algorithm churns overnight labelling each one.

I saw a Z4MC appear yesterday priced £17,250 with 121k miles on the clock. A very high price IMO but it’s being sold by BMW direct and has all sorts of kit on it.

The site as expected labelled it Higher. Then suddenly on day 2 the indicator dropped to Fair?? No ad changes whatsoever.

Anyone guess how it decided to change its rating? Can these be really be manually reviewed??

 

[Argyll Andy]

The site as expected labelled it Higher. Then suddenly on day 2 the indicator dropped to Fair?? No ad changes whatsoever.

Anyone guess how it decided to change its rating? Can these be really be manually reviewed??

As far as I’m aware it sets it’s Low/Fair/High on what other similar models are selling at on its site and adjust the factors of current ads like you mention accordingly.

What I also didn’t realise until recently is that’s why cars now don’t have “sticker prices” and they fluctuate constantly sometimes by small amounts.

Some dealers use a similar system for pricing and it adjust their stock on a daily basis. It also seems to be the explanation as to why prices are odd amounts like £8144 etc as the system is adjusting the prices and does so to an exact amount.

All my understanding and may not be totally accurate

 

[M1k3yC]

Used car prices, at least for certain types of vehicles, seem to be gradually increasing. I've watched a couple of saved vehicles on Auto Trader have their prices increased over the last few weeks. It's my understand as well that some dealers use dynamic pricing.

 

[TitanTim]

Re used car prices, they are definitely on the up, mainly down to a surge in demand for used cars as people don't wish to use public transport due to Covid, less likely to buy new etc and some weird story associated with a worldwide shortage in microchips for new cars. There's been a bit of banter on other forums with members getting their motor valued over the past few weeks and seeing values steadily rising, this being an example,

On 13 April I got a quote from WBAC just out of interest.
16 M235i 25k unmarked.
They have texted me the following prices :-
13 April £16790
16 April £17000
4 May £17700
11 May £18565
20 May £18735

So if you're thinking of selling looks like the time is right

Tim.