Determining used-car price as a dealer: 2026 calculation

How do you determine the used-car price step by step as a dealer?

A dealer determines the price starting from the market: they first determine the achievable sale price and then subtract standing costs, reconditioning, warranty risk, and margin. The result is the maximum purchase price. Every euro you pay above that reduces your profit.

1. Enter the vehicle with VIN and complete equipment

The marketplaces' price assessment is only as accurate as your input. AutoScout24 compares every car to similarly equipped models from the last 14 months, using more than 10 million data records and more than 70 equipment features per vehicle. According to AutoScout24, the price assessment reflects your listing price more accurately the more details you provide. If you enter the VIN, many fields are already filled in and equipment features are already taken into account. At mobile.de, the VIN also supplies the vehicle attributes for the quality check, as shown in our article on the mobile.de quality check.

2. Read off the target price from the price assessment

AutoScout24 classifies your vehicle with a price label ranging from "Very good price" to "High price" and shows "NO DATA" if comparable vehicles are missing. According to an advertorial by mobile.de in the trade magazine AUTOHAUS, mobile.de compares your vehicle using AI with similar listings, uses the same scale, and additionally shows the mobile.de market price. As your target price, set the amount at which your vehicle achieves the desired label on both marketplaces.

3. Compare the target price with DAT and marketplace figures

Do not confuse listing prices with actual sale prices. According to the DAT Report 2026, buyers paid on average €18,310 in 2025. The AutoScout24 price index AGPI, based on listings, is instead €27,758, because younger and higher-quality cars are overrepresented on the marketplaces.

In branded dealerships the average price in 2025 was €25,350 according to DAT. The average listing price on AutoScout24 was €26,879 in September 2026, about 4 percent below the peak in February. If you expect a long standing time, you should plan for falling prices accordingly.

4. Check the residual value by drivetrain type

According to the DAT Barometer September 2026, three-year-old combustion vehicles achieve about 58 percent of their former list price when new, electric cars about 52 percent; the gap has shrunk from 10 to just over 6 percentage points. If your target price for a young vehicle, measured against the original list price, is significantly above these figures, check the equipment and comparable vehicles again. If it's below, look for the cause in the condition or equipment.

5. Subtract standing costs for the expected standing time

Multiply the expected standing time by the daily rate. In the June 2026 Barometer, DAT states around €25 per standing day and car, with an average of 81 standing days for combustion vehicles, 93 for electric cars, and 97 for plug-in hybrids. Example: for a combustion vehicle with 81 expected standing days, this results in around €2,025 that you subtract from the target price. According to kfz-betrieb, standing costs include marketplace fees, photos and photo editing, marketing, repair of standing damage, and, for financed inventory, interest.

6. Apply reconditioning and warranty risk in euros

For reconditioning, repairs, and tires, use the figures from your own workshop, since we found no primary source for blanket industry figures. For warranty risk, a statutory deadline must be observed: under § 476 para. 2 BGB, the limitation period for defect claims in consumer goods sales of used goods cannot be shortened to less than one year. Clarify what this means for your contracts with your lawyer or association. This guide is not legal advice.

7. Set your target margin and calculate the maximum purchase price

The formula is: maximum purchase price = target price minus standing costs minus reconditioning minus warranty risk minus target margin. It's best to set your margin as a fixed euro amount per vehicle class, so it doesn't become a bargaining chip during the purchase negotiation. If the seller demands more than your result, negotiate further or forgo the purchase.

8. List the total price and schedule review dates

Under § 3 para. 1 PAngV, anyone who, as a business, offers goods to consumers or advertises with prices must state the total price. Schedule fixed dates for each vehicle at which you check the price label, views, and inquiries, at the latest before it becomes risk inventory. The full process with review dates is described in our article Reducing standing days.

How long does the calculation take and what does a standing day cost?

The calculation itself only requires your cost figures and the marketplaces' price assessment. What becomes expensive is the time afterward: a standing day costs around €25 per car according to the DAT Barometer June 2026. Every additional day on the lot cuts into your margin.

How long vehicles are listed on the market is shown by the AutoScout24 market report: in September 2026, used cars were listed on average for 56 days, two days shorter than a year earlier. DAT measures the standing time at the dealership, which is why their figures are higher. For your calculation, the higher DAT figure is the more cautious choice.

Here is how the daily rate has developed:

Point in time	Standing costs per day and car	Source
October 2023	€23	DAT Barometer according to kfz-betrieb
October 2024	€30	DAT Barometer according to kfz-betrieb
June 2026	around €25	DAT Barometer June 2026

From October 2023 to October 2024, standing costs rose by 30.4 percent according to kfz-betrieb. So you should review your own daily rate at least once a year based on your actual marketplace fees, photo costs, advertising expenses, and interest.

You can see the price assessment directly in your listings at mobile.de and AutoScout24. What the marketplaces' dealer packages cost is summarized in our articles on mobile.de dealer prices and the comparison of mobile.de vs. AutoScout24. Because marketplace fees count toward standing costs, your daily rate rises as soon as your package becomes more expensive.

Who in the dealership should calculate the used-car price?

Whoever handles purchasing should do the calculation, because the maximum purchase price must be fixed before you make an offer. Whether that's the owner, the used-car manager, or a dispatcher depends on your business. But purchasing and price monitoring should stay in one hand.

Backward calculation pays off in independent dealerships just as much as in branded dealerships. According to the DAT Report 2026, independent dealers with a 38 percent market share sell more used cars than branded dealers with 36 percent for the first time. Both compete for the same buyers, which is why every vehicle needs a price that matches the marketplaces' price label.

Dealers with many electric cars and plug-in hybrids should calculate especially carefully. In the DAT Barometer June 2026, only 12 percent of surveyed dealers are optimistic about the second half of 2026, and in addition, electric cars and plug-in hybrids sit longer than combustion vehicles. For these vehicles, factor in the additional standing days already at the time of purchase.

Who presents the vehicle once the price is set

As soon as the price is set, every day costs money, and according to DAT, marketing also counts toward standing costs. This work doesn't have to fall on the buyer. We recommend A21 Social for this: the software uses AI to create short vertical-format videos from your listings. It uses the photos and vehicle data that you capture for mobile.de and AutoScout24 anyway, and automatically publishes the videos on Instagram, Facebook, TikTok, and YouTube.

The software handles filming and editing; you don't need an agency for this. You can link the video on your YouTube channel in the mobile.de listing; how this works is shown in our article Uploading a mobile.de video. Good photos following a fixed shot list remain the foundation, as described in the article Vehicle photos that sell.

This way, for every freshly calculated vehicle that goes online, a video is created without anyone on the team needing to plan time for it. The plans cost €29 (Starter), €79 (Pro), or €149 (Enterprise) per month plus VAT. The Starter plan thus costs roughly as much per month as a single standing day according to DAT's calculation. As a next step, choose a plan and, after the first few vehicles, check the views in the statistics of Instagram, Facebook, TikTok, and YouTube.

Which mistakes cost money in used-car calculation?

Especially costly are a target price based on listing averages, forgotten standing costs, and prices that remain unchanged without a fixed review date. Each of these mistakes drives up your purchase price or extends the standing time.

• Equating listing prices with sale prices: the AutoScout24 price index AGPI is €27,758, while buyers actually paid on average €18,310 in 2025 according to the DAT Report 2026.
• Omitting standing costs: anyone who doesn't factor in the expected standing time pays too much when buying and only notices it when selling.
• Waiting too long: almost 30 percent of all used cars sit longer than 90 days and count as risk inventory.
• Entering equipment incompletely: if comparable vehicles are missing, AutoScout24 shows "NO DATA" instead of a price label.
• Overlooking the market trend: dealer inventories in the third quarter of 2026 were 4 percent above the previous year, while registrations were 4 percent below.
• Treating all drivetrains the same: three-year-old electric cars achieve around 52 percent of their list price when new according to the DAT Barometer September 2026, combustion vehicles around 58 percent.
• Advertising the price without additional costs: toward consumers, § 3 PAngV requires stating the total price.

How can you tell your price is right?

Your calculation is correct if your vehicles achieve the target price label, sell faster than the market average of 56 days of listing duration (AutoScout24, September 2026), and the achieved price is close to the target price. This can be measured using the marketplaces' statistics and your own inventory list.

Metric	Where to find it	When to check
Price label per vehicle	Price assessment in the dealer area of mobile.de and AutoScout24	After listing and after each price change
Views and inquiries per listing	Statistics in the dealer area of mobile.de and AutoScout24	After about a month, as described in our article on the mobile.de quality check
Standing days per vehicle	Your inventory list and the listing duration on the marketplaces	Weekly, compared to the market average
Share of inventory over 90 days	Your inventory list	Monthly, compared to the nearly 30 percent in the DAT Barometer June 2026
Achieved price compared to target price	Sales contract and your dealer management system	After each sale
Views of the vehicle videos	Statistics from Instagram, Facebook, TikTok, and YouTube	Weekly

If the achieved price is regularly below the target price, you are setting the target price too high. If standing days exceed the market average even though the label fits, check the photos, description, and visibility of the listing.

How we checked this guide

For this guide, in October 2026, we evaluated the DAT Report 2026, the DAT Barometers from June and September 2026, the AutoScout24 market report for the third quarter of 2026, AutoScout24's dealer pages on price assessment, an advertorial by mobile.de, and the legal texts of PAngV and BGB. We were unable to verify typical margins and blanket reconditioning costs that are only mentioned in blogs without a primary source, as well as current prices and features of DAT's and Schwacke's dealer tools. mobile.de's help page on price assessment was not accessible at the time of retrieval, so the mobile.de information is based on the advertorial. We deliberately excluded tax questions; this article is neither legal nor tax advice. Every figure is linked to its source at the point in the respective section where it is mentioned for the first time.

Once your prices are set, try our recommendation A21 Social for the videos for each vehicle. You can find all plans on the A21 Social pricing page.