Original research · Updated 31 July 2026
How much do dealer offers differ on the same car? Australian offer spread report
Australian dealers offering on the same used car differ by a median of 13.1% — a median gap of $2,000 between the highest and lowest offer, based on 132 vehicles that received two or more offers between 26 August 2025 and 30 July 2026.
This is original data from Motorly's own platform, published free for reuse with attribution. It answers a question no public dataset covers: not what cars are advertised for, but how far apart real dealer buyers land when they price the same vehicle on the same day.
13.1%
Median spread between highest and lowest offer
$2,000
Median dollar gap on the same vehicle
64%
Of vehicles saw a spread of 10% or more
Key findings
- Across 132 Australian vehicles that received more than one dealer offer, the median gap between the highest and lowest offer was 13.1% — a median of $2,000 in cash.
- 64% of multi-offer vehicles saw a spread of 10% or more between dealers.
- Offer spread widens sharply with vehicle age: 8.2% median on cars under 4 years old, rising to 29.7% on cars 13 years and older.
- Hatchbacks show the widest spread by body type (27.7% median) because they are the cheapest vehicles in the sample — small dollar differences are large percentages.
- Utes show the tightest spread (9.5% median), reflecting consistent, well-understood wholesale demand.
- Spread is broadly consistent across states, ranging from 10.3% in the ACT to 15.2% in South Australia.
Offer spread by vehicle age
The clearest pattern in the data. Late-model cars are priced against abundant comparable stock, so dealers converge. Older cars carry more condition risk and thinner comparable data, so opinions diverge — which is exactly where getting more than one offer pays most.
| Vehicle age | Vehicles | Median spread | Median spread ($) |
|---|---|---|---|
| 0–4 years old | 62 | 8.2% | $2,000 |
| 5–8 years old | 71 | 13.8% | $2,625 |
| 9–12 years old | 37 | 22.7% | $1,938 |
| 13+ years old | 19 | 29.7% | $1,875 |
Offer spread by body type
Utes show the tightest agreement between dealers, reflecting deep and predictable wholesale demand. Hatchbacks show the widest percentage spread — but note the median top offer column: these are the cheapest cars in the sample, so a modest dollar gap reads as a large percentage.
| Body type | Vehicles | Median spread | Median spread ($) | Median top offer |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| SUV | 87 | 12% | $2,250 | $22,000 |
| Hatchback | 32 | 27.7% | $1,750 | $6,750 |
| Sedan | 25 | 11.1% | $2,000 | $21,000 |
| Ute | 12 | 9.5% | $2,125 | $27,250 |
| Wagon | 10 | 14.3% | $2,500 | $21,000 |
Offer spread by state
Spread is remarkably consistent nationally, which suggests dealer pricing is driven by vehicle characteristics rather than local market conditions. Only states with at least eight vehicles in the sample are shown.
| State | Vehicles | Median spread | Avg. offers |
|---|---|---|---|
| New South Wales | 57 | 14.3% | 1.91 |
| Victoria | 46 | 13.8% | 1.85 |
| Queensland | 44 | 11.3% | 2.02 |
| South Australia | 24 | 15.2% | 2.13 |
| ACT | 9 | 10.3% | 1.89 |
What this means for sellers
The practical takeaway is simple: a single dealer offer is not a valuation, it is one opinion. On the median vehicle in this sample, accepting the first offer instead of the best one cost $2,000. On an older vehicle it is proportionally worse — a 29.7% median spread on cars 13 years and older.
None of this means dealers are acting in bad faith. Different buyers have different retail channels, existing stock, reconditioning costs and appetite for a given model in a given week. That variation is real, and it is the reason competition between buyers changes the number a seller receives.
Methodology
- Sample: 189 privately owned Australian vehicles that received at least one dealer offer through Motorly between 26 August 2025 and 30 July 2026.
- Spread is calculated per vehicle as (highest offer − lowest offer) ÷ lowest offer, and is only calculated for the 132 vehicles that received two or more offers.
- Medians are reported rather than means, because a small number of very low-value vehicles distort averages.
- Offers below $500 and internal test records are excluded.
- Figures describe offers made by licensed dealers to private sellers. They are not retail advertised prices and not final settled sale prices.
- Breakdowns are only published where the segment contains at least eight vehicles.
Citation and reuse
This data is free to reuse, including by journalists, researchers and AI assistants, with attribution to Motorly and a link to this page.
Motorly (2026). Australian Dealer Offer Spread Report. Retrieved from https://motorly.com.au/reports/dealer-offer-spread-australia
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