The context behind the numbers
Useful data.
Clear limits.
A market report should help you ask better questions. Here’s how each Motorwatch report is calculated, and what it can’t tell you.
01
Asking prices, not sale prices
The figures describe advertised asking prices. They do not confirm what a buyer ultimately paid, whether a vehicle sold, or whether a listing disappeared for another reason.
02
Which listings are counted
Reports cover cars listed for sale in the UK and seen by Motorwatch users. Vans, motorbikes, motorhomes and trucks are left out. A listing is treated as on sale from when it was first seen to when it was last seen, and counts in a week (Monday to Sunday, UK time) if that span overlaps it, at the asking price in force at the end of the week. Each report lists its source websites and how many listings came from each. Coverage depends on which listings are seen, so it is not every car for sale. Reports start with the week ending 5 April 2026, the first week with consistent vehicle details.
03
Like-for-like movement
The headline movement compares the same cars: listings seen in both this period and the one before. It is the change in their combined asking prices, so one large cut on a cheap car can’t dominate, and it is shown with the number of price cuts and rises. It is only shown when at least 30 cars appear in both periods.
04
The typical asking price
The typical asking price is the median: the middle asking price of every listing in the period, with the middle half of prices shown alongside. The mix of model year, mileage and trim changes from week to week, so read the median as a price level rather than as depreciation. The model-year filter narrows the figures to cars of one year where enough were listed.
05
Small samples and unusual prices
A model is published weekly once at least 30 listings are seen in a week. Models with fewer get a monthly report instead, and models below 30 a month aren’t published. Prices under £500 or over £2 million are excluded as likely errors or finance figures, and the number excluded is recorded with each report.
06
Reports don’t change after publication
Each dated edition is stored with the exact listings and calculation version used, so it can be checked and reproduced. A new week or month is first published as provisional, because a car on sale during it may only be seen again afterwards; two weeks after it ends it is recalculated with those later sightings and replaced by a final revision, marked “updated with later sightings”. Any other correction is also published as a new revision rather than silently changing past figures. The model page always shows the latest edition; past editions keep their own dated pages.