One point per month
Each point is a whole calendar month, not a day. An advert counts in
every month it was on the market, at the price it was actually
advertised at during that month — so a car listed for six months
is counted six times, once per month, and not weighted by how long it
sat there.
Outliers
- We identify outlier adverts using a standard deviation model, and
exclude them from the headline figures so they cannot skew the
price calculations.
- For example, a car accidentally listed at £100,000 where every
other car is between £5,000 and £10,000 is excluded.
What is on the chart
- Average price — the monthly average, excluding
outliers. This is the line shown by default.
- Average incl. outliers — the same average with every
advert included. Useful where a search legitimately spans a wide
range of prices.
- This car — on a single advert, its own asking price
alongside the market, including any changes the seller made. It is
drawn as steps rather than a slope, because a listing holds one
price until it is changed.
Also shown to registered users
- Typical range — the shaded band behind the line: the
lowest to the highest price that month once outliers are excluded.
- Lowest incl. outliers and Highest incl. outliers
— the true extremes, including the adverts the band leaves
out.
Only the average and the band are shown to begin with. Click or tap any
name beneath the chart to add or remove a series.
How much data is behind each month
The size of each point on the line shows how many adverts that month's
average was calculated from, so a month built on a handful of cars is
not mistaken for one built on hundreds. Where a month has very few
adverts the point is drawn hollow and the line through it goes pale and
finely dashed.
We show those months rather than hiding them. A quiet month is real
information, and filling the gap with an estimate would put a price on
the chart that no car was ever advertised at. Treat a hollow point as
indicative and read the trend either side of it.
The most recent month
The last point is the month we are currently in, so it is only as
complete as today's date and it will keep moving. It is drawn with a
dashed line for that reason.
How far back the chart goes
- Guests and unconfirmed accounts — about 3 months
- Registered, email confirmed — about 12 months
- Premium accounts — a little over 2 years