How the valuation is calculated

Every case starts from the VIN. A basic decode fills in the vehicle's year, make and model on every plan. Paid plans add the full factory build: trim, options, packages and base list price, which the app needs to adjust for equipment and configuration. A case counts toward your monthly allowance when you first save its VIN.

Comparables are vehicles of like kind and quality offered in the vehicle's market. Every plan searches live listings from licensed providers near the vehicle's ZIP code. When there are few matches, the search widens one step at a time, to farther listings, closely related trims and a neighboring model year. Each listing shows its mileage and how far it is from the vehicle.

On every plan you can also add a comparable by hand or reuse a vehicle from one of your organization's completed cases. You choose which comparables count, up to six per case.

A comparable is rarely identical to the vehicle being appraised, so each one is adjusted to it, part by part, and every part is itemized in the report.

• Mileage: the difference between the comparable's odometer and the vehicle's, multiplied by a rate per mile. A comparable with more miles is adjusted up and one with fewer miles down. The default rate comes from the market's own price and mileage data, with a rule-of-thumb rate when that data is thin. You can replace it with your own.
• Equipment: options and packages that one vehicle has and the other lacks, valued at list prices from the build data and scaled by the share of its list price the comparable sells for. This needs a paid plan's full build decode.
• Configuration: for a comparable of another trim, cab, drivetrain or powertrain, the difference between the two base list prices, scaled the same way. Paid plans.
• Model year: for a comparable one model year newer or older, one year of the depreciation implied by its own price and age. Paid plans.

You can replace any adjustment with an amount of your own. The report marks every amount you entered instead of one the app calculated.

The value is the mean of the adjusted prices of the comparables you selected, rounded to the cent. If you enter a guidebook value from J.D. Power, Red Book or another named source, the appraised value is a 50/50 blend of that mean and the guidebook value, and the report says so. Adjustments to the vehicle itself, such as condition, recent repairs, equipment or prior damage, follow the comparables, each with the reason you give.

The app calculates the value and it is never typed in, so it always matches the comparables on the page. A report states one value, never a range, and states its basis, for example "Mean of 3 comparables" or "50% mean of 3 comparables, 50% J.D. Power".

• It does not discount asking prices. Comparable values start at the listed asking prices, and the report's limiting conditions say so. Record any different assumption in your valuation notes.
• It does not choose comparables for you. Listings come back best match first, but only the comparables you select count toward the value.
• It does not hide the arithmetic. A report can show every step, from the adjusted prices to the appraised value.
• It does not take a side. The same method serves an appraiser working for the vehicle's owner and one working for the insurer.

Preview a watermarked PDF as often as you like, then issue the report when you are ready. An issued report is a numbered revision and stays in the case permanently. When the valuation changes as the claim moves, you issue a new revision from the same case without using another case. Every report ends with a certification and limiting conditions; Studio plans can write their own wording, and the standard disclaimer remains in every report.