What the Score Is, and What It Isn’t

Last updated: 25 September 2026

This page is written in plain language. It forms part of our Terms of Service, where the same points appear in legal wording.

The score is about the listing, not the car

Scrutineer reads the listing you send it — the photos, the description, the asking price — and scores that listing out of 100 as a purchase. A mechanically excellent car advertised far above market is a bad buy, and Scrutineer will say so. A rough car at a fair price may score better than you expect.

We have never seen the vehicle

We see images. We cannot see:

• Mechanical condition, engine or transmission health
• Accident or repair history, or structural damage
• Whether money is owing on the vehicle
• Whether the odometer reading is genuine
• Whether the vehicle has been written off, stolen, or flood or fire damaged
• Registration and roadworthy status
• Anything the seller chose not to photograph or mention

A high score is not a clean bill of health. A low score is not proof of a problem.

Points are earned by evidence, not lost by suspicion

Scrutineer only deducts for something it can actually see. If the listing does not show an engine bay, that is not treated as proof that something is wrong with the engine — it becomes a question worth asking, not an accusation.

Nothing in the app is a statement that a seller has been dishonest. A reason may quote what a listing says; it never characterises the person who wrote it.

Price comparisons are estimates

When we can find comparable listings, we compare the asking price to the middle of what similar vehicles are advertised for. Those are asking prices, not sale prices, and they may be out of date, in a different specification, or in a different market. Where we cannot find enough comparable listings, we say so, and the score is capped rather than guessed.

The analysis uses AI and will sometimes be wrong

Part of the pipeline is an AI model reading images. It can misread a photo, miss something that is there, or infer something that is not. The score itself is calculated by ordinary code from the facts the model extracted, but those facts can be imperfect.

Re-running the same listing may not produce an identical number, and scores produced under different versions of our scoring system are not comparable with each other.

The decision is yours

Scrutineer does not tell you to buy or not to buy, and we are not responsible for any decision you make. We are not a party to any transaction, we have no relationship with any seller or marketplace, and we take no commission.

Before you buy any used vehicle:

• Get an independent inspection by a qualified mechanic
• Check the official register in your country for finance owing, write-off history and theft
• Inspect the vehicle in person and drive it
• Verify the seller’s identity and the vehicle’s documentation

Scrutineer is there to help you ask better questions before you spend that money. It is not a substitute for any of the steps above.