Valuation methodology

1) Every day we scan thousands of Trade Me Motors listings and value each one against real comparables (same model, year and odometer band).

2) Genuine bargains are flagged with a deal score and a recommendation score that prices in condition signals, seller reputation and how fast the model sells.

3) You follow a model or a single car with one click — SnagMe then watches it for you and emails you new listings, price drops and last-hours auctions, within your daily-email budget.

We collect public TradeMe Motors listings daily, including make/model/year/odometer, region, seller type, price and every price change until the listing ends.

Listings are segmented into comparable pools (make × model family × seller type) so estimates come from genuinely similar cars, not a one-size market average.

Each listing's value is estimated from its segment's price curves, adjusted for odometer and age, then adjusted for brand/model-family reputation derived from long-run resale data.

Every estimate is published with its comp count and a confidence figure. Low-confidence estimates are never promoted as deals.

Deal score = (estimated value − asking price) / estimated value. The recommendation score additionally weights confidence, AI-reviewed condition and reputation; cars with serious or fatal AI flags are capped regardless of price.

We cannot see undisclosed damage, service history or odometer fraud. Estimates are a screening tool to decide which cars are worth inspecting — never a substitute for inspection.