Listings don't always say who is selling. But the way the numbers are written does.
| Price ends in | Dealer | Private seller |
|---|---|---|
| 995 | 24.8% | 2.0% |
| Round thousand (000) | 2.9% | 21.4% |
| 500 | 6.5% | 24.8% |
| Any multiple of 100 | 21.3% | 60.3% |
$14,995 is a dealer. $15,000 is a person.
A quarter of dealer listings end in 995, and another chunk in 999 or 900. Only 21.3% of dealer prices are a clean multiple of 100.
Private sellers do the opposite: 60.3% pick a round hundred, and nearly half land on either a flat thousand or a five hundred. They think of a number; dealers apply a formula.
The odometer gives the same tell, harder
Ask what mileage the car has and the answer comes in two flavours.
| Odometer written as | Dealer | Private seller |
|---|---|---|
| Exact figure | 70.0% | 21.5% |
| Rounded to 1,000 | 18.3% | 63.4% |
| Rounded to 10,000 | 3.1% | 16.1% |
63.4% of private sellers round the mileage, and one in six rounds to the nearest ten thousand — "120,000 miles", "150,000 miles". Dealers write the exact number 70% of the time, because they read it off the dash and put it in a system.
That matters more than the price tell. A car advertised at "140,000" might be 143,812, and the difference sits in the part of the mileage curve where every thousand miles is still moving the price.
Why you'd want to know
It tells you which negotiation you're in. A dealer price is a formula with margin built in and a manager who can approve a discount. A private price is what someone decided their car is worth, often anchored to what they paid or what they owe.
It predicts what else is in the listing. Private sellers publish a VIN 15.8% of the time against 69.3% for dealers, and their cars average five years older. Rounded numbers usually travel with a sparse ad.
It flags where to verify. A rounded odometer isn't dishonest — it's an estimate. But an estimate is what you're being asked to pay for, and the gap between estimate and reality is the seller's error, not yours.
What to do with it
Ask for the exact reading and a photo of the dashboard. Any seller can provide it in a minute, and the answer either matches the ad or starts a useful conversation.
Then check the recorded figures. Mileage gets logged at title transfers, inspections and service visits, and a VIN check shows them in sequence. That's the same check that surfaced 209 cars whose odometer went backwards between two listings.
We compared what the two seller types actually charge in what the markup really costs.
Frequently asked questions
How can I tell if a car listing is from a dealer?
Look at the last three digits of the price. Dealers end in 995 nearly a quarter of the time and only 21.3% of their prices are round hundreds. Private sellers pick round numbers 60.3% of the time, usually a flat thousand or a five hundred.
Do private sellers report mileage accurately?
Usually approximately. 63.4% round the odometer to the nearest thousand and 16.1% to the nearest ten thousand, against 18.3% and 3.1% for dealers, who write the exact figure 70% of the time.
Why does rounded mileage matter?
A car advertised at 140,000 miles might read 143,812. In the part of the curve where mileage still moves price, that gap is money — and it's an estimate you're being asked to pay for.
What should I ask a seller who rounded the numbers?
The exact odometer reading and a dashboard photo — any seller can supply both in a minute. Then compare against the recorded mileage history, which is logged at title transfers, inspections and service visits.
Denis Kataev is a serial solopreneur and the founder of ForCar. With 15+ years in software engineering and 10 years in SEO, he builds data-driven products end to end — backed by a sharp eye for design. At ForCar he mines proprietary vehicle datasets, turning raw numbers into buying advice you can actually trust.
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