Determining the Initial Reference Price of a Used Vehicle for Expert Valuation

The determination of the initial reference price is a decisive step in expert valuation of used passenger vehicles because it affects the calculated time value, the marketability coefficient, and the final market value. The paper compares three approaches to determining the initial reference price: the original price list valid when the vehicle was first registered, the current price list of a comparable new vehicle adjusted by a technical-level coefficient, and the original price list adjusted by a motor-vehicle inflation index. Five valued vehicles and ten verified comparable vehicles for each model were analysed. The methods were evaluated using the marketability coefficient and its absolute deviation from the ideal value of 1. The inflation-adjusted original price list produced the most stable overall results and the lowest average deviation for four older vehicles. For the youngest vehicle, Volkswagen Passat, the current and original price-list methods were very close, so the current price list can be interpreted as suitable or comparable rather than unequivocally superior. The findings support a transparent procedure combining historical price evidence, macroeconomic price development, and verified market data.