Research methodology
This page explains where every number and claim on Australian Motors comes from, and what we refuse to publish.
Price ranges
Every price range shown on this site is returned by a licensed Australian valuation provider for the exact year, variant, kilometres, condition and state you select. We display the provider’s low, midpoint and high figures and its own confidence score, together with the date the range was last refreshed. We never calculate or “adjust” a price ourselves, and we never fill a gap with an estimate. If no licensed data exists for a combination, the page says the valuation is unavailable.
Ranges are refreshed on a weekly schedule by default and flagged as stale if they exceed our freshness target. If two providers disagree by more than our review threshold, or a figure moves sharply between refreshes, the new figure is held for editorial review and the last approved range stays on the page.
Recalls
Recall records are imported from the Australian Government vehicle recalls database and stored separately from everything else. Each record keeps its official reference, the defect, the hazard, the required action, the official source link and the date we last checked it. A model match on this site never means an individual car is affected or has been fixed — always check the VIN with the official service.
Common problems
There is no reliable single database of every fault on every car sold in Australia, so we do not pretend there is. Each problem record is classified by the strength of its evidence: (1) official Australian recall, (2) manufacturer service campaign or technical bulletin, (3) government or safety authority, (4) licensed repair database, (5) statistically credible reliability dataset, (6) repeated specialist reports, (7) owner reports. Classes 6 and 7 are labelled “reported” and are never presented as confirmed model-wide defects. No record is published until a named reviewer has checked its primary source.
Service schedules
Service intervals are published only when they come from official Australian manufacturer documentation or a licensed technical-data provider. We never infer an Australian schedule from an overseas model. Where licensed data is not available, the page tells you to check the schedule supplied for the exact Australian variant or confirm it with the manufacturer.
What we don’t do
- We do not scrape classified sites, dealer sites or manufacturer sites.
- We do not publish invented repair costs, reliability scores or owner anecdotes.
- We do not run dealer advertising or accept payment for placement.
- We do not claim any page is complete: a car can have a problem we have not documented.