Checking your car’s value in Portsmouth is fast, easy, and free – thanks to Motorway

When you sell your car or van on Motorway, not only can you get your best price from a verified dealer within 24 hours, you can also use free tools to track the ongoing value of up to six vehicles every month, and to check your compliance with ULEZ and Clean Air Zone.

For many of us, cars are our most valuable financial asset. It’s important to get the best price possible, and to know what to expect in running costs and depreciation trends going forward.

What affects your vehicle’s value?

The truth is that there’s no law of averages when it comes to depreciation. All models change value at variable rates and speeds.

Unless you’re highly attuned to the movements of the UK’s used-car market, worth over 8m sales a year, you may not be aware of when pricing is higher or lower for most vehicles.

Age

Your car’s age has a direct relation to value. Most cars drop their value the quickest in the first 3-5 years. Track your ongoing value with Motorway’s free Car Value Tracker to see at what point your car’s value stabilises and holds better.

Mileage

Mileage is a proxy for both age and condition. If your mileage is lower than average (these days approx 8,000 per year) then your car’s value will be favourable compared to similar models on the market.

Condition

It’s hard to hide faults and poor maintenance from a professional, even if your car is young or modern. To keep your value high, it’s essential to keep hold of service history and fix small issues quickly, before they can become more damaging.

Fuel type

Emissions regulations such as Greater London’s ULEZ and Birmingham and Sheffield’s CAZs charge drivers with non-compliant cars, and tax bands are changing from 2025 based on emissions. With fuel type and emission policies regularly changing, it’s wise to check your compliance using Motorway’s free ULEZ Checker to know whether your running costs are likely to change over the coming years, as this will impact your value.

Supply of new cars

In recent years, supply chain shortages and slow new car production drove high demand for used cars, increasing their value. With more new cars now hitting the market and catching up to pre-covid rates of production and new registrations, average used car prices have dropped.

Finance

Whether you own your car outright or have outstanding finance will not make a difference to your car’s value. You might, however, find that the guaranteed future minimum value in your finance contract is lower than the valuation you can get on Motorway. It’s worth tracking the ongoing value of any financed car in order to check whether it’s worth your while to sell it and clear the finance early, and make some money in the process if you’re in positive equity.

Does the Portsmouth CAZ decrease your value?

Portsmouth’s CAZ only applies to heavy goods vehicles, so private passenger cars and vans are not affected.

Despite this, Portsmouth’s fifth top-selling model on Motorway is the ubiquitous Ford Transit – suggesting that local drivers are switching to compliant models going forward, just in case.

Since compliance is related to age (most diesel vehicles since 2016 are compliant, as are petrol models since 2006), non-compliant drivers may have seen their values drop recently as the used-car market has more modern stock available.

If your vehicle is non-compliant, you may also see some increases to your running costs (and potential decreases to your value) due to other policies based on your emissions, such as your car’s tax band.

Sell your car in Portsmouth, on Motorway

When you sell your car on Motorway, over 5,000 verified dealers nationwide compete to give you their best price. And, thanks to their speedy car profiling process, you can have a sale agreed in as little as 24 hours.

To get started, just enter your reg and mileage on Motorway’s website or in the app and you’ll get an instant valuation for free. Because this will be based on live sales data for cars just like yours, your estimate will be as accurate as possible (based on your vehicle being in good condition.)

If you like the price, you can profile your car in Motorway’s app, and then enter your car into the online daily sale. The winning offer gets sent to you at the end of the sale, and all you need to do to approve it is click the link in your email. Then it’s just a matter of choosing a date and time for them to come and collect your car from home – for free. You’ll get the money paid straight into your bank account, and if your car or van is financed, the dealer will clear the remaining balance with your lender before paying you the surplus.

Get started today with an online valuation, so you can plan to sell at the perfect time.