FAQ - Frequently Asked Questions
Even with all the efforts and will, our team could not maintain a database of all vehicles ever produced in the world. Due to this we have decided to narrow the scope down to vehicles in production in year 2000 and beyond, as well as vehicles present in significant numbers throughout Europe. In example, Buick and Pontiac are a very common sight on the streets of North America, but are virtually non-existent in Europe. On the other hand, brands such as Ferrari, Lamborghini, Aston Martin, Lotus etc. represent super-sports cars which is a category for itself and is not part of this website's interest. Similarly, Rolls-Royce, Maybach and Cadillac are often outside of common categorization and their buyers don't take their specifications into consideration, they rather make the purchase because of the car's prestige or due to some specific needs. If, on the other hand, a model is listed on the website, but some of its body styles or engine options are missing, there is a possibility we overlooked it, so please let us know via email.
How does Virtual adviser™ actually work?Algorithm used by our Virtual Adviser™ during the search for an ideal car for you is quite complex and is considered confidential. Still, it is not secret that it relies heavily on data available to any visitor of the website and, taking into count needs and desires of a specific driver, it selects vehicles rating them from 0 to 100% depending on the criteria and driver's preferences. Except for the raw data, such as dimensions, consumption etc., this algorithm considers ratings per category left by drivers, as well as ratings of some of the leading international institutions in the area of safety, reliability and maintenance expenses of different brands and models.
How is a starting price calculated for each model?Prices of different models are fetched automatically, using a web-robot, visiting some of the most popular yellow pages online. This method has some drawbacks:
- Model years overlap makes prices sometimes too low
- Different body styles of the same model (i.e. sedan, wagon, cabriolet) are associated with the same price
- Price shown for a specific model is always the same, regardless of trim levels and engine option.
However, due to the database with more than 10.000 different cars, manual price data entry is not an option and authors feel that small deviations in prices are not significant enough. Please note that a minimal price of a specific model is often the price of a vehicle which covered high mileage and which is, generally, not at its best. This is the lowest price out there in the market for that specific model and is more of an information a potential buyer should have in order to know whether it should even be taken into consideration or not. Prices of well maintained, low mileage cars are often 20 to 50% higher.
Drivers are able to rate different aspects of a specific vehicle by assigning 1 to 5 stars to each category. An average rating is then calculated per category, as well as total, after which an average is gained by collecting all ratings on a model level (all body styles, all engine options available etc.). These ratings are then displayed in each car's and model's header, and category related ratings are visible on the left side of the specific car screen, where you can also submit your ratings.
How is the engine issue percentage calculated?While rating a car, more specifically - its reliability, drivers have the opportunity to mark those engine components that they experienced some issues with. Taking all the marks submitted, an approximate percentage of issues per engine component group is calculated and, more importantly, those information are collected through ratings of all cars and brands using that specific engine and they are accessible from any of those cars' screens. In that way we increase failure percentage precision and we widen the specific engine's potential issues knowledge base of our visitors.
How does Virtual Adviser™ determines list of similar cars?Website authors have put some significant efforts to assign similar models to each model of any manufacturer, with a special emphasize to 'clones' - models usually emerged from a cooperation between two or more automotive brands, but marketed and sold under different names and with minimal design differences and engine options. Still, our Virtual Adviser™ is making use of special algorithms helping it to offer the closest car from each of the related models, regarding body style, doors number, fuel type and engine capacity, as well as wheel drive and engine aspiration.