Used-car appraisal guides for Canadian dealers
The short answer
These guides explain how Canadian dealers appraise a used car from VIN to offer: inspecting it, catching check-engine codes cleared before the trade-in, pricing reconditioning, separating wholesale, retail and trade-in value, calculating a max buy and presenting the offer. Each is written for Canadian lots, in dollars and kilometres, with Canadian winters and road salt in mind.
Key facts from these guides
- Max buy = expected retail − recon − pack − holding cost − target gross. Max buy guide
- A recent clear shows as incomplete readiness monitors and low km, warm-ups or minutes since codes cleared. Cleared-code guide
- iPhones need a Bluetooth Low Energy OBD reader; classic-Bluetooth readers won’t connect. Scanner guide
- Wholesale is graded Extra clean, Clean, Average and Rough. Value guide
- Rust is graded surface, scale or perforation; structural rust is a buy-or-pass decision. Road-salt guide
- On a $20,000 trade, the GST/HST trade-in credit is worth $1,000 in Alberta and $2,600 in Ontario. Offer guide
Who are these guides for?
Used-car managers, appraisers, desk managers and independent dealers who want every appraisal to land on the same, defensible number. No fluff and no vendor pitches: each guide is a working checklist you can use on the lot today, whatever tools you use.
Prefer to see it done? Watch the 60-second guide or book a demo.
How do I value a trade-in and make the offer?
The appraisal process in order, the three values every desk juggles, the max buy formula, and how to present a number customers accept.
How to appraise a used car trade-in: a step-by-step checklist
The full process in order, from VIN and lien checks to the walk-around, scan, test drive, recon list, comps and max buy.
Read the guide ValuationWholesale vs retail vs trade-in value
Three numbers for three transactions. How they relate, why condition grades move wholesale, and which one to use when.
Read the guide PricingHow to calculate your max buy on a used car
Expected retail − recon − pack − holding − gross. Each input explained, with a worked example on a pickup trade.
Read the guide ClosingHow to present a trade-in offer customers accept
Show comparable cars and recon transparently, keep internal numbers private, and put the offer in writing.
Read the guideHow do I check condition and price reconditioning?
What the engine computer, the body and the underbody can tell you, and how to turn it into a recon number you can defend.
How to tell if check-engine codes were recently cleared
Readiness monitors, distance and warm-ups since codes cleared, and permanent codes: what a quick reset leaves behind.
Read the guide OBD-IIBest OBD-II scanner features for car dealerships
Bluetooth Low Energy for iPhone, permanent codes, readiness and since-clear data, speed, and what generic OBD-II can’t do.
Read the guide ReconditioningReconditioning cost estimates: dents, paint, tires and rust
PDR vs body shop, the three depths of paint damage, tire tread and age, rust severity, and where recon belongs in the offer.
Read the guide InspectionAlberta winter and road-salt damage: what to check
Frame rails, rockers, cab corners, brake and fuel lines and subframes, plus how to grade rust and what cold does to batteries and 4x4s.
Read the guideLooking for a specific region or tool?
Local conditions and rules change what an appraisal has to catch. These pages cover them, and the tools that do the work.
Calgary
Hail alley, chinook freeze-thaw, gravel roads and hard-working trucks.
Learn more RegionEdmonton
Deep cold, salt that sits, and high-hour work trucks from the north.
Learn more RegionAlberta
AMVIC, the MFA, out-of-province inspections and conditions across the province.
Learn more RegionBritish Columbia
Coastal moisture versus Interior salt, winter tire rules and cross-border sourcing.
Learn more RegionVancouver
Rain over salt, Fraser Valley flood checks, EVs, hybrids and Japanese-market imports.
Learn more RegionSaskatchewan & Manitoba
Minus forty, gravel grid roads, summer hail, farm trucks and out-of-province inspections.
Learn more RegionOntario
Safety certificates, all-in pricing, snow belts, the North and the border cities.
Learn more RegionToronto
Heavy salt, potholes, crawl-traffic km, theft and cloned VINs, and flash-flood damage.
Learn more RegionAtlantic Canada
Salt air, freeze-thaw winters, inspection stickers and bridge and ferry transport.
Learn more ToolTrade-in appraisal app
From VIN to a written customer offer on one phone.
Learn more ToolWholesale value tool
Four grades from Canadian listings near you, with confidence shown.
Learn more ToolOBD scanner for dealers
Codes, readiness and cleared-code flags from a Bluetooth reader.
Learn more ToolAI vehicle inspection
Walk-around photos in, recon priced at your rates out.
Learn moreReady to appraise your next trade-in the same way every time?
Try it free for 14 days, no card needed. Or book a demo and we will run a real VIN with you.