Depreciation Tracker
Trend-adjusted valuations — current depreciation velocity tells you how much to adjust away from stale book values
Purpose
Book values are snapshots from the recent past. When a market segment is depreciating at 2% per month, a 90-day-old book value is already 6% too high — and an appraiser who uses it without adjustment is overvaluing the vehicle. The direction and velocity of depreciation matters as much as the current data point.
Depreciation Tracker builds multi-period depreciation curves using actual sold transaction averages at 60-day, 90-day, 6-month, and 12-month lookback intervals. It quantifies the monthly and annualized depreciation rate for specific makes/models, compares retention across segments (SUV vs sedan, EV vs ICE), ranks brands by value retention, maps geographic price variance, and tracks MSRP parity for new vehicles — giving appraisers the trend adjustment they need to make current, defensible valuations rather than anchoring to stale benchmarks.
How It Works
Execution flow. MCP tool calls are shown inline on each step.
get_sold_summaryCalls get_sold_summary with make, model, inventory_type=Used for the most recent complete month to get average_sale_price and sold_count. This is the right endpoint of the depreciation curve.
↔ Parallel Execution
get_sold_summaryCalls get_sold_summary for the period ending 60 days ago. Records average_sale_price as the T-60 data point for monthly rate calculation.
get_sold_summaryParallel call for the period ending 90 days ago. T-90 data point.
get_sold_summaryAdditional calls for 6-month and 12-month lookbacks to plot the full depreciation curve shape — whether depreciation is linear, accelerating in the early years, or stabilizing.
search_active_carsCalls search_active_cars with YMMT and stats=price, rows=0 to get current listing mean, median, min, max. Reveals the gap between what sellers are asking and what buyers are paying.
At each time interval: Retention % = (avg_sale_price / MSRP) × 100. Monthly depreciation rate = price change between intervals / months between intervals. Annualized rate = monthly × 12. Flags accelerating depreciation periods where rate exceeds baseline.
Calculates the dollar and percentage adjustment appraisers should apply to current book values based on the trend. If the model is depreciating at 1.8%/month and the book value is 60 days old, applies a -3.6% trend adjustment with quantified impact on the valuation.
MCP Tool Calls
| Tool | Calls | Purpose |
|---|---|---|
get_sold_summary | 5–8 | Current and historical average sale prices at multiple lookback intervals for depreciation curve construction |
search_active_cars | 1–2 | Current listing statistics and MSRP baseline retrieval |
decode_vin_neovin | 1 (optional) | MSRP retrieval from VIN decode when no profile data available |
Example Output
DEPRECIATION TRACKER — 2022 Ford F-150 XLT 4WD | National ════════════════════════════════════════════════════════ Analysis Date: March 2026 | Data Source: MarketCheck Sold Transactions DEPRECIATION CURVE Period Avg Sale Price Retention % Monthly Rate ────────────── ─────────────── ──────────── ──────────── MSRP Baseline $48,200 100.0% — 12 months ago $42,800 88.8% — 6 months ago $39,400 81.7% -1.1%/mo 90 days ago $36,900 76.6% -0.8%/mo 60 days ago $36,200 75.1% -0.4%/mo Current month $35,600 73.8% -0.3%/mo Curve shape: DECELERATING — depreciation was fastest in Year 1-2, now stabilizing Annualized current rate: 3.6%/yr APPRAISAL ADJUSTMENT RECOMMENDATION Book value (NADA, 60-day lag): $37,100 Trend adjustment (-0.8%): -$297 Trend-adjusted appraised value: $36,803 Impact: Book overstatement of $297 (0.8%) ACTIVE MARKET CONTEXT Current listing median: $36,800 | Mean: $37,200 | Range: $31,400–$44,100 Asking-to-sold gap: +1.7% (sellers asking more than buyers paying)
Cost Estimate
30 depreciation analyses/month ≈ $3–7
Limitations
- US-only — requires get_sold_summary which covers US sold transactions only.
- Depreciation curves require minimum 30 sold units per period for statistical reliability. Low-volume or rare models may show erratic curves.
- MSRP baseline uses the highest recent listing price as a proxy when VIN decode MSRP is unavailable — may slightly understate true MSRP for vehicles with significant market markups.
- EV depreciation curves can be volatile due to rapid technology changes and tax credit fluctuations — flag EV analyses as higher uncertainty.
- Geographic depreciation variance requires state-level sold data; some states have low sample sizes for specific models.
More in the Appraiser Plugin
Full comparable-backed appraisal report with cited transaction evidence
View details →Market-wide depreciation rankings and fastest/slowest value-losing models
View details →Dual retail and wholesale pricing with competitive set analysis
View details →Same Capability, Different Plugin
These skills share the same underlying methodology but are tuned for a different audience.
Lenders frame the same depreciation data as residual risk — the monthly rate drives advance rate decisions, LTV projections, and GAP coverage requirements rather than appraisal adjustments.
View in Lender →Insurers use depreciation curves to set claim reserves, calibrate total-loss thresholds over time, and assess whether portfolio reserves are keeping pace with market value declines.
View in Insurer →Dealers use the depreciation velocity to time vehicle reconditioning spend — fast-depreciating models need to be sold quickly before value erodes below acquisition cost.
View in Dealer →