# How OttoQuest prices cars > OttoQuest puts a market value on every used car for sale in Canada that it can identify: the typical price of the same trim and model year, moved to the car's kilometres and adjusted for its history, its province and its factory options. Prices are in Canadian dollars. This page explains where the numbers come from, how a value is built, how often it changes and what it can't tell you. ## What the numbers are built from Cars for sale: listings from dealers' own websites, dealer groups and marketplaces across Canada, and private sellers, read every day. A car listed in several places is counted once, by its VIN. Prices: Canadian asking prices in Canadian dollars, never mixed with US prices. Canada has few public records of what cars sold for, so Canadian values rest on the last asking prices of cars that left the market and on current asking prices. Each VIN is decoded to the make, model, trim, body, engine and drive. Kilometres are shown as listed; the value works in the same distances whatever the unit. Cars that leave the market: when a complete read of a source no longer finds a car, it is marked off the market on that day. Most of those cars were sold; a large share vanishing at once is treated as a reading problem, not sales, and held back. ## How a market value is built A value starts from the median price of cars like this one: the same trim and model year when enough of them are known, else the same model and year. The last asking prices of cars that left the market come first, then current asking prices: - same trim and year, last asking price of cars that sold or left the market (5 or more, from 3 or more sources); - same trim and year, asking now (6 or more); - the same two steps for the model and year. ## Kilometres Each model year has its own mileage curve, measured on its cars: how much the price falls per kilometre. The value is moved along that curve from the typical kilometres of the cars it was built from to this car's, by at most 50% either way. When a car is far from every group's typical kilometres (a 60,000 km car whose trim mostly sells at 180,000 km), the value is marked rough and the car is never shown as a deal. ## History, province and factory options History: where a listing reports one accident, several accidents or a branded title (salvage, rebuilt, flood), the value is adjusted by a factor measured on the listings themselves, comparing cars with and without that history within the same trim and year. Province: the same car asks more in some provinces than others. Each province's factor is measured the same way, for each model where enough of its cars are for sale in the province and for all cars otherwise, and applied to a car's value in that province. Factory options: where the car's window sticker is known, its options total is compared with the typical options of its trim and year. Options keep about a third of their sticker price, so a car with $5,000 more options than usual is worth a little more, not $5,000 more. Single features (a sunroof, leather, CarPlay) move asking prices by under 2% each within a trim, so they are not priced one by one. ## Deals A car's deal figure is its asking price against its market value. Within 3% of the value is a fair price; more than 10% below or above is well below or well above the market. A price far below the value is a reason to ask why (fees left out of the advertised price, damage, a title problem) as much as a bargain. ## How often it changes Listings are read every day. Values are rebuilt several times a day from the cars then for sale, so a value moves as the market does. Records of price changes and cars leaving the market in Canada start in November 2026. ## What a value can't tell you A value is a guide to the price, not to the car. It doesn't see condition, maintenance, tires or a history the listing doesn't report, and an advertised price may leave out dealer fees, freight and PDI or require the dealer's financing. Have a car inspected, ask for the all-in price in writing and check its VIN for open recalls before you buy. ## Who pays for OttoQuest OttoQuest is paid for by its members (OttoQuest Pro), not by dealers. No dealer pays to rank higher or to look like a better deal, and we don't sell shoppers' details as leads. ## Questions ### How does OttoQuest calculate a car's market value in Canada? From the median asking price of the same trim and model year in Canada (the last asking prices of cars that left the market first, then current asking prices), moved to the car's kilometres along its model year's mileage curve and adjusted for its reported history, its province and its factory options. ### Are OttoQuest's Canadian prices in Canadian dollars? Yes. Every price on the Canadian site is in Canadian dollars, built from cars for sale in Canada only. ### How often are OttoQuest's prices updated? Listings are read daily and values are rebuilt several times a day. ### Does OttoQuest take money from dealers? No. OttoQuest is paid for by its members. No dealer pays for placement or to look like a better deal. ## Public data OttoQuest uses NHTSA and EPA data. Place data: GeoNames (geonames.org), CC BY 4.0 --- OttoQuest ยท [this page](https://ottoquest.com/ca/methodology).