Sam analyzes real auction results, platform performance and timing patterns to work out where vehicles like yours have been getting the strongest results. The data does the heavy lifting. Our own rules and methodology turn it into a recommendation.
Every recommendation starts with real sales. Sam tracks completed sales across the major enthusiast platforms, what sold, where, and for how much, recalculated as new sales close.
For your vehicle, Sam looks at how cars like yours have actually performed on each platform: how many have sold, how consistently, and at what level. Volume matters, a platform with a deep track record for your kind of car counts for more than one with a couple of lucky results.
Sam also weighs what you've told him: your timing, how involved you want to be, and what you're hoping to get. The recommendation balances the market evidence with your situation, and where a PowerSeller has a proven record with cars like yours, Sam says so.
No platform or PowerSeller can pay to be recommended. Nothing you see is sponsored, and when the data is thin, Sam says that too, better nothing than a fake number.
Whenever we widen the comparison beyond your exact vehicle, we'll tell you. Every statistic shows the period and scope it came from.
Sam monitors results from Bring a Trailer, Cars & Bids, Hagerty Marketplace, PCarMarket, Sotheby's Motorsport, Hemmings and MB Market, with more sources being added. We're interested in what actually happened: what sold, where it sold, when it sold and what it sold for.
More data isn't automatically better. Sam starts with the closest match to your vehicle and only broadens the comparison when there isn't enough useful evidence.
The engine is ours, built over the past year. We built the comparison system that weighs platform results, the rules that govern every claim Sam is allowed to make, and the matching behind our PowerSeller recommendations. It started with the technology we built to track this market every day for The Daily Vroom. The raw sales data comes from the market; everything that turns it into a recommendation was built in-house. No off-the-shelf valuation model, no black box we can't explain. The recommendation itself is never generated by AI. Every claim Sam makes comes from our own rules running on real sales data, and the answer only changes when the market does.
GoAskSam grew out of The Daily Vroom, our daily look at the enthusiast auction market. For three years we've covered the platforms, sellers, vehicles and trends in this market without running a single paid advertisement.
Along the way we've built free tools for the community, including our Import Calculator, Domestic Shipping Calculator and industry Jobs Board. Sam is the next step: taking the data and knowledge we've accumulated and making it useful when someone has a vehicle to sell.
This is an early version, and I'll be honest about what that means: there will be bugs. We've tested it till we're blue in the face, and every so often a new one still turns up. Nothing is ever perfect, and we'd rather put it in front of new eyes than keep polishing in private. If something looks off, use the Feedback link and tell us where the bug sits. This thing improves constantly.
There's a lot happening behind every Sam recommendation, so while we're opening things up we're keeping usage sensible rather than cutting corners on the data. Daily Vroom readers get 3 searches every day. Everyone else gets 1 a day. Your allowance resets each day, so there are no monthly credits to keep track of. Signing in applies your allowance and helps us trace bugs when you report them.
Not every owner wants to photograph the vehicle, write the listing, answer questions and manage an auction themselves. For some vehicles, Sam may recommend one of our selected PowerSellers instead.
That doesn't mean we think they'll magically get you more money. It means we think professional representation may be the better way to sell your particular vehicle.
How we choose PowerSellers →This is just the start. The roadmap is long, and a lot of what Sam will do next is already in motion. If there's a feature you want, tell us. Some of the best things we've shipped came from readers asking for them.