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Learn: window stickers, VINs and car pricing terms
Learn is VinAssessment’s plain-English guide to window stickers, VINs and the terms dealers use to price cars. Each definition starts with a one-sentence answer, then adds what matters in practice.
Guides
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How to read a window sticker
What each part of a Monroney window sticker means: price, equipment, fuel economy, safety and parts content.
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How to look up a window sticker by VIN
Where to find the VIN, where a copy of the original sticker can come from, and what to do when there is none.
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What a VIN tells you
How the 17 characters of a VIN break down, what they say about a car, and what they cannot tell you.
Glossary
These 20 terms come up most often when you price a car, read a window sticker or check a vehicle’s history.
Terms
Window stickers and new-car prices
Monroney sticker
A Monroney sticker is the window label that federal law requires on new cars and light trucks offered for sale in the US. It is named after Senator Mike Monroney, who sponsored the Automobile Information Disclosure Act of 1958. It lists the MSRP, the factory equipment and options with their prices, the destination charge and the fuel economy label.
Window sticker
A window sticker is the printed label on a car’s window that lists its price and equipment. On a new car it is the Monroney label. On a pre-owned car, a dealer may show a copy of the original sticker or a sticker of its own.
MSRP
MSRP, the manufacturer’s suggested retail price, is the price the manufacturer suggests for a new vehicle. On the Monroney sticker it is the base price plus each factory option and the destination charge. Dealers can sell above or below it.
See: Window Sticker
Invoice price
Invoice price is the amount the manufacturer bills the dealer for a new vehicle. It is usually lower than MSRP. It is not the dealer’s full cost, because factory incentives and other payments can change what the dealer ends up paying.
Build sheet
A build sheet is the factory’s record of how one vehicle was built, including codes for its options, paint and equipment. It is a production document, so it is written in factory codes rather than for buyers. A window sticker is the buyer-facing summary of the same build.
VINs and vehicle identity
VIN
A VIN, or vehicle identification number, is the 17-character code that identifies one vehicle. Vehicles from the 1981 model year on use the same 17-character format. A VIN never uses the letters I, O or Q.
See: What a VIN tells you
VIN check digit
The check digit is the 9th character of a North American VIN. It is calculated from the other 16 characters, so one mistyped character usually makes the VIN fail the check. Our free VIN check tests the check digit first, so a typo is caught right away.
Trim
Trim is the version of a model, from a base version to a top one, with its own engine, equipment and price. Two cars of the same year, make and model can differ a lot in price because of trim. That is why price comparisons match on trim, not just on the model.
Market and pricing terms
Asking price
Asking price is the price a seller lists a car for. It can differ from the final transaction price, which reflects negotiation, fees and any trade-in. VinAssessment market prices are based on dealer asking prices, not transaction prices.
Comps (comparables)
Comps are listings of vehicles close enough to the one you are pricing to compare with it. A good comp matches the year, make, model and trim, is near in mileage, and is for sale in the same market.
See: Market Comps API
Days on market
Days on market is how long a vehicle has been listed for sale, counted from the day its listing first appeared. Dealers also call it days on lot or vehicle age. A car that sits much longer than its comps is often priced too high for its market.
See: Competitor Analysis
Market days supply
Market days supply is an estimate of how many days the current supply of comparable vehicles in a market would last at the recent pace at which they leave it. A low number means comparable cars move quickly. A high number means they sit. Methods differ in what they count as a sale and in the time window they use.
Delisting
Delisting is when a vehicle’s listing is removed from the market. A delisted car may have been sold, moved to another lot or pulled for another reason. That is why we say a car was delisted or left the market: a listing alone does not prove a sale.
ACV (actual cash value)
ACV, or actual cash value, is what a vehicle was worth just before a loss or a trade, given its condition, mileage and local market. Insurers use it to settle total-loss claims. Dealers use the term for the value they give a trade-in.
Wholesale vs retail price
Wholesale price is what a vehicle sells for between businesses, for example at a dealer auction. Retail price is what a dealer asks a consumer to pay. The gap between them covers reconditioning, transport, holding costs and the dealer’s margin.
See: Car prices by model
Title brands
Title brand
A title brand is a permanent note on a vehicle’s title that records a serious event, such as salvage, flood damage or a manufacturer buyback. The state that issues the title adds the brand. A branded title usually lowers a car’s value.
Salvage title
A salvage title is a title brand. Our vehicle reports define it this way: Any vehicle which has been wrecked, destroyed, or damaged, to the extent that the total estimated or actual cost of parts and labor to rebuild or reconstruct the vehicle to its pre-accident condition and for legal operation on roads or highways exceeds a jurisdiction-defined percentage of the retail value of the vehicle. The retail value of the vehicle is determined by a current edition of a nationally recognized compilation (to include automated databases) of retail values. - Salvage - Damage or Not Specified also includes any vehicle to which an insurance company acquires ownership pursuant to a damage settlement, or any vehicle that the vehicle's owner may wish to designate as a salvage vehicle by obtaining a salvage title, without regard to extent of the vehicle's damage and repairs, or any vehicle for which the jurisdiction cannot distinguish the reason the vehicle was designated salvage.
Rebuilt title
A rebuilt title is a title brand. Our vehicle reports define it this way: The vehicle, previously branded 'salvage', has passed anti-theft and safety inspections, or other jurisdiction procedures, to ensure the vehicle was rebuilt to required standards. Also known as prior salvage (salvaged).
Flood damage title
A flood damage title is a title brand. Our vehicle reports define it this way: Vehicle damaged by freshwater flood (or it is unknown whether the damage was caused by fresh water or salt water).
Junk title
A junk title is a title brand. Our vehicle reports define it this way: The vehicle is incapable of safe operation for use on the roads or highways and has no resale value except as a source of parts or scrap, or the vehicle's owner has irreversibly designated the vehicle as a source of parts or scrap. This vehicle shall never be titled or registered. Also known as non-repairable, scrapped, or destroyed.