CAP clean average below: which book price to use

CAP clean average below is the set of three trade prices you will see on the same car in the book. Clean is the top of those three. Average sits under it. Below is the one for a car that needs more than a tidy. None of them is a promise of what the car will make, or what you should bid.

This piece is about which of the three to open first. It is not a repeat of trade against retail. That split, and what a part-exchange figure is for, is in trade, retail and part-exchange values.

Last reviewed 27 September 2026.

Which CAP clean average below price to start from

Start from the car, not from the number you hope to pay.

If the car would go on the pitch with a valet and nothing else, you are in clean territory, and even then you read the clean definition rather than assuming it. If it has the usual marks for its age, start at average. If it needs panels, tyres, a poor previous repair, or a gap in the paperwork that the book treats as more than tidy, start at below and then decide whether you want the job.

The mistake is the other way round. Someone puts a reserve, or a bid, on the clean price because that is the price they have memorised. CAP average / CAP below exists so you do not do that. Average and below are not a discount for the sake of it. They are the book saying the car is not the clean one.

Cap HPI publishes the values. The trade has argued for years about what clean actually means, which is why CAP put out a points scorecard for clean, average and below, covering bodywork, glass, wheels, tyres, trim and the paperwork. Motor Trade News reported that at the time as an attempt to stop cars being reserved at clean when they were average. You still appraise the car. The scorecard does not walk the lane for you.

How the grades move as the car gets older

Autocar's account of how Cap HPI sets used values makes one practical point. The names of the grades stay put, and the standard behind them changes with age, because cars wear. In the example they give, a one-year-old car is only clean if it has a single area that needs a minor repair. A three-year-old car in that same account is allowed three. A scuff you would ignore on an older car can be the thing that takes a nearly-new one out of clean.

Do not treat those panel counts as a rule you can photocopy onto every car this year. They are Autocar's description of how the book was being applied, and the book itself is the thing that updates. The habit is what matters. Look up the grade for this age and this mileage, then look at the car. If your appraisal is harsher than the book, believe your appraisal. The book has not seen the overspray.

Mileage sits beside condition, not inside it. A clean car with very high miles is not the same proposition as a clean car at average miles. The book will usually show that in the value. If it does not look right, that is a reason to pause, not a reason to invent a fourth grade of your own.

What you do with the number

The book price is the start of the sum, not the end.

Take the grade you have chosen. That is the trade guide for a car in that condition. It is not your retail price, and it is not the price a seller will accept. From there you still take off what this particular car needs: the advisories you will actually fix, the transport, and any fee if you are buying it in a hall. Those extras are the subject of the hidden costs of buying at auction. A clean book price with a large fee and a respray is not a clean buy.

Write the grade down in a way you can explain later. "Average, two panels and a tyre" is a note. "It was cheap" is not. When the car has been in stock for a fortnight and you are staring at it, the note is what tells you whether you overpaid the book or the car was worse than you thought.

If you are pricing a part exchange, use the same three grades and then be honest about who will retail it. A car you will not put on your own pitch is not worth your retail number, whatever clean says. Send it on at a trade figure you can defend.

If you would rather do that appraisal on your own drive, with the grade written down before you agree a figure, get your buying site.

When the book and the car disagree

Sometimes the book looks high because the market has moved and the editors have not caught up, or low because a particular spec is wanted in your town and not in the national average. Autocar describes Cap HPI editors watching unusual moves and checking them against what dealers and auctions are actually saying. You are closer to your own forecourt than they are. If every similar car on your pitch is selling under the book, the book is a warning, not a target.

The other disagreement is condition. A catalogue can say clean because the seller graded it that way. Your ten minutes with the car is allowed to say average. Pay the average number, or walk away. Do not pay clean and hope the prep is cheap.

There is no universal gap between the three prices that I can print here without pretending it is stable. The gap depends on the car, the month and the mileage. Look up this car. If you need a figure in a hurry, you need the book, not a rule of thumb from a blog.

If you would rather buy from the person who owns the car, and do this appraisal on your own driveway instead of in a lane, get your buying site.

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