How we rate cars

Where our information comes from

• Expert road tests and reviews, owner reliability surveys, owner reviews, and official NZ data — Rightcar (NZTA Waka Kotahi) and ANCAP for safety, and NZTA for Road User Charges.
• We prefer New Zealand and Australian sources. When we rely on overseas data — US recall or complaint data, for example — we say so next to the fact.
• A review is fully verified when it draws on at least three expert New Zealand or Australian reviews and one official source, such as a manufacturer spec sheet, ANCAP, Euro NCAP, NZTA or a recall database. When local coverage is thinner, we may write a review from UK and US road tests of the same engine and platform instead, still with at least three expert reviews and one official source. Those reviews carry a notice at the top, and any NZ-specific figure we couldn't confirm locally — safety ratings, running costs, NZ fleet data — is marked “not yet verified for NZ” rather than filled in from overseas.
• We open and read every source before citing it, and each claim names its source. If we can't find a source for something, we leave it out.
• Reviews are in our own words. We quote at most one short phrase from any source, with credit.
• We use AI tools to help find and summarise sources. Links and claims are checked against the source pages, and a person approves every new review before it goes live.

How scores are worked out

The CarTrader Rating (out of 10) is our overall verdict on a model generation as a used buy in New Zealand. It is a judgement, not an average of the category scores. It rates the model, not any one car — that's what a vehicle's inspection report is for.

The scorecard rates six categories from 1 to 10, each with a one-line reason:

• Reliability — based on owner reliability surveys, recall history and the known issues we list.
• Running costs — based on fuel or energy economy, servicing needs and known big-ticket repairs.
• Safety — based on official Rightcar and ANCAP ratings for NZ-new and used-import versions.
• Space & practicality — based on boot and cabin space, and how usable it is day to day.
• Drive — based on road tests and owner feedback on ride, refinement and performance.
• Value — based on what you get for the money on the NZ used market.

If we don't have enough sourced evidence to score a category, we leave it out rather than guess. The scorecard only appears when at least 4 categories are scored.

The same rule applies across the review: “Which one to buy”, best and worst years, and repair costs only appear when a source backs them up. Repair costs are shown in NZ dollars, and only when we have a sourced price.

How we keep reviews up to date

We re-run the research on published reviews about every 30 days, so new recalls and newly reported problems get picked up. The “Updated” date on each review shows when it last changed.

Corrections

Every review has a “Report an error” link. You can also email billing@cartrader.nz. We check each report against the sources. If we got something wrong, we fix the review and update its date.

No paid placements

No manufacturer, dealer or advertiser pays for a review, a score, or a spot in “Also consider”. We choose the rivals we suggest, and only from models we've reviewed. We never publish what dealers offer for cars on CarTrader, in any form.

How known-issue checks work

For some well-known problems — like the timing belt on Ford's 2.0 diesel — we record whether each car listed on CarTrader has had the work done. We take this from service records and inspection reports. The answer is yes, no, or unknown.

Once at least 10 listings of a model have a yes or no answer, the review shows the count. It reads like this (illustrative numbers): “Of 14 Rangers listed on CarTrader, 9 had the belt replaced.” Unknown answers aren't counted. The figures never include prices, and they never identify individual cars.

How dealer demand works

Private sellers tender their cars to dealers on CarTrader. For each model generation we look at the tenders that finished in the last 12 months and count two things: how many dealers made an offer, and how long the first offer took to arrive. We never use or show the amounts.

• High dealer demand: on average at least 4 dealers bid, and the first offer typically arrives within 12 hours.
• Low dealer demand: on average fewer than 2 dealers bid, or fewer than 50% of tenders get any offer.
• Medium dealer demand: everything in between.

The label only appears once a model has at least 10 finished tenders in that period. It describes trade demand, not how good the car is.

Verified CarTrader owner reviews

When someone buys a car through CarTrader, we invite them to rate it 90 days later, once they've lived with it. They score the same six categories as our scorecard, from 1 to 5, and can add a short comment.

Only buyers of a completed CarTrader sale can leave one, and only once per car. We read every review before it goes live and remove anything abusive, off-topic or identifying. A review page shows owner ratings once at least 3 have been approved for that model generation. Owner ratings are shown separately and don't change the CarTrader Rating.