• How do the values in MMR compare with traditional guide books?
It is not uncommon to find differences between MMR values and guide books. MMR prices are based exclusively on millions of actual sales. The computer programs that compute the averages are completely neutral, without editorial opinion or bias. MMR's programs do not use statistical interpolation to compensate for an insufficiency of data. Guide books, which do not have access to the same amount of data as MMR, use editorial expertise and limited market observations to arrive at prices. Sometimes they are right. Sometimes they are not.

• Why is the MILEAGE different for each vehicle?
Because that's the way it is in the real world. For example, the average family car logs more miles than an expensive weekend-only sports car. MMR obsoletes the old-fashioned "mileage tables" that can not allow for differences in how a vehicle is used. The MMR statistical programs compute a separate average mileage and per-mile depreciation factor for every vehicle in its database.

• How Are The MMR Averages Calculated?
New calculations are performed every night. The MMR computers analyze every transaction for the previous 13 months. The transaction file contains over 10 million records.
• The program begins by gathering all transactions for a specific vehicle. If a sufficient sample cannot be found from the previous 30 days, the computers search earlier months. Any auction transactions gathered from earlier months are "aged" to the current month.
• Statistically unreliable records (outliers) are discarded from the sample. For example, the computers will throw out a high-mileage vehicle that sold for more than vehicles with lower mileage. Or a low-mileage car that sold below higher-mileage cars.
• When the sample is gathered and pruned of outliers, the programs mathematically cancel out the effect of mileage in each transaction. This is a complex process that results with all vehicles in the sample appearing to have the same mileage. The goal is to make all sample vehicles statistically equal so the software is always evaluating "apples to apples".
• The software then computes the average price and mileage. It also computes the age and mileage depreciation factors for each vehicle. These factors are unique for each vehicle. The software even computes different depreciation factors for different trim levels of the same vehicle. It is this precision that makes MMR so valuable.
The resulting values are what you see in MMR.

• Why Do I Get A Different Result Than MMR When I Average The Transactions?
Because you are working with a different data set than the one our MMR computer uses. For some vehicles the difference is very slight; for others it is pretty big.

MMR is really a two-piece product. One piece is the prices and miles displayed in MMR. These are pre-calculated by our main-frame computer and then down-loaded to your PC in a file that is separate from the auction transactions. Your PC doesn't calculate the averages; it just displays them.

In fact, about 25% of MMR's users do not download transactions. They get just the pricing files.

The second piece of MMR is the auction transactions displayed on the Transactions and Sales By Auction tabs. These are from just the previous 30 days (assuming you have performed all updates) and are included solely as additional information about the auction market. They are really a sortable post-sale report. The MMR computer bases its calculations on ALL transactions for a specific vehicle; not just these most recent ones.

• Why Does MMR Pre-compute Averages?
Many reasons, but the most important is that the statistical solutions for calculating averages from small data sets - brand new models or seldom-traded vehicles, requires a lot of processing time and horsepower to arrive at accurate averages. This kind of heavy lifting is outside the capabilities of desktop PCs.

• What about the vehicle's condition?
Vehicle condition is a subjective judgment and MMR is objective. However, for the convenience of subscribers for whom condition is important, the MMR program simulates condition by showing values and mileages that are 1.5 standard deviations from average price and average miles.

• What do PROJECTED VALUES mean?
Projected Values are MMR's predictions of prices for today, next month and next year. These projections are based on millions of auction transactions. These predictions are the result of a very sophisticated and complicated modeling program. The accuracy of the modeling technique is constantly tested against the actual auction transactions.

• What is ESTIMATED RETAIL?
Retail values are shown in MMR only for the convenience of our subscribers who need an approximate retail price. These retail prices are mark-ups on actual wholesale values. The markup algorithm is unsophisticated