How Carfinity counts, prices and ranks

The source

Every figure starts on a dealer's public website. Carfinity's data comes from MotorsDynamic, which reads about 20,000 US dealer websites, most of them every 48 hours. Each page shows the date its dealer sites were last read.

What is counted

• New vehicles only. A vehicle counts when a dealer's site lists it as new and it is from last model year or later.
• Once each. Dealer groups often list one vehicle on several sites. It is counted once and attributed to the store that holds it.
• By nameplate. Hybrid and plug-in versions count toward the model: a Tucson Hybrid is a Tucson. Separately named vehicles do not: an F-150 Lightning is not counted as an F-150, and a Silverado 2500HD is not a Silverado 1500.
• By model year. Each summary leads with the model year that has the most vehicles advertised and lists every year in a table.

Prices

• Advertised price is the price the dealer's site shows for that vehicle. It is the dealer's figure, before tax, title and registration. Carfinity does not add to it or subtract from it.
• Median advertised price is the middle advertised price for one model year in one metro. Half are above it, half below.
• MSRP is the manufacturer's suggested price as shown on the dealer's listing.
• A price that a dealer's site reports unreliably, or that is far outside the vehicle's MSRP, is left out of the median.

Carfinity never estimates a price or computes a monthly payment. If a dealer or manufacturer did not publish it, it is not on the page.

Market price and deal ranking

Carfinity ranks every new vehicle against its local market. A vehicle's market price is its MSRP times the typical advertised-to-MSRP ratio for the same model and model year in the same metro, so options and packages are priced in. A vehicle advertised at least 3% below its market price is under market. Vehicles are ranked among comparables: same model, model year and metro.

Every priced vehicle gets a score from 0 to 100: 50 at market price, moving up to 35 points either way with the percent under or over market. The labels are Great deal (7% or more under market), Good deal (3% to 7%), Fair price (within 3%) and Above market. Rank 1 is the best score among comparables, and ties share a rank.

Each market shows its best-ranked cars with price, market price, score and rank, and each card links to the dealer's own page for that car. A vehicle priced more than 20% from its market price is treated as a pricing condition, not a deal, and is not shown.

Used cars

Used and certified cars are counted the same way: read from the dealer's site, each car once. A used model gets a market page when at least 20 are for sale at 3 or more dealers.

A used car's market price comes from every car of the same make and model in the same market. Carfinity fits what price does for each year of age and each mile, then adjusts for trim, for color and for certified status where enough cars show a difference. With fewer than 12 comparable cars it uses the median of the same model year, adjusted for mileage.

The used score starts from the same price measure (up to 35 points either way), then adds up to 6 points for low mileage for the car's age, 3 points for a listing with 10 or more photos, and takes 5 away for a listing with none. A used car with no mileage reading is not ranked. Rank is among the same make, model and model year in the market.

Offers

Three kinds of figures are kept apart and labeled: a manufacturer program, a dealer's advertised price, and a dealer's advertised offer. A lease is shown only with its monthly payment, term, amount due at signing, annual mileage and end date, along with the advertiser's own disclaimer. An offer missing any of these is not shown.

Metros

A metro is every dealer within 40 miles of the principal city's downtown. A dealer that sits between two metros belongs to the nearer one. Carfinity currently covers 5 metros: Chicago, IL; Dallas, TX; Houston, TX; Atlanta, GA; Phoenix, AZ.

Models

Carfinity currently tracks Hyundai Tucson, Toyota RAV4, Honda CR-V, Ford F-150, Chevrolet Silverado 1500, Toyota Camry, Nissan Rogue, Honda Civic, Kia Telluride, Jeep Grand Cherokee.

When a figure is withheld

A median is published only when it rests on advertised prices from at least 3 dealers and at least 5 vehicles. Below that, the page says so. A model and metro with fewer than 5 vehicles advertised has no page.

Named dealers

Each market summary names the dealers with the most vehicles of that model advertised, ranked by count alone. Placement is not sold. Dealer names and addresses come from the dealer's own website.

Dates

Each page carries the most recent date its dealer sites were read, in its page data. URLs are stable and each page is updated in place, so a link always shows the latest check.

Corrections

If a figure about your dealership is wrong, write to corrections@carfinity.ai with the page URL and the correct figure. Every report is reviewed.

For AI assistants

Every summary page is plain HTML with schema.org markup, and llms.txt lists them all. Quote a figure with its check date and link the page it came from.