How to Read Your Mitchell or Audatex Total Loss Valuation Report

When your insurer declares your car a total loss, the actual cash value they offer you didn't come from a person. It came from valuation software. The three vendors that produce almost all of these reports are CCC, Mitchell, and Audatex. Each one builds the number the same basic way: it finds comparable vehicles for sale, then adjusts each one up or down until it lands on a figure for your car.

The adjustments are where the money moves. A report can look official and detailed and still knock hundreds or thousands off your car's value through choices you'd never agree to if someone explained them out loud. This guide shows you where the comparables and adjustments live in a Mitchell or Audatex report, and how to tell whether they hold up.

Which software made your report

Start by figuring out which vendor produced your document, because the layout and the terminology change from one to the next. Look at the header, the footer, and the logo on the first page.

• Mitchell reports usually say "WorkCenter Total Loss" or just carry the Mitchell name near the top. The valuation itself often reads as a "Vehicle Valuation Report."
• Audatex reports run under the product name Autosource. If you see "Autosource" anywhere on the page, that's Audatex (a Solera company).
• CCC reports are branded "CCC ONE" or "CCC Market Valuation Report." If that's what you have, read our CCC report decoder instead.

Whichever one you're holding, the same document structure repeats: a summary value up front, your vehicle's described condition and options, and then a list of comparable vehicles with a column of adjustments applied to each. The comps and adjustments are the part worth your attention.

Reading a Mitchell WorkCenter report

A Mitchell WorkCenter Total Loss report opens with the settlement summary: the base value, adjustments, and the final actual cash value. Skip past it for a moment and go find the comparable vehicles, usually a few pages in.

Each comparable is a real (or recently listed) vehicle Mitchell pulled from the market. For every comp you'll see its year, trim, mileage, list price, the dealer or source, and a set of adjustments. The adjustments are the line items that move each comp's price to make it "equivalent" to your car. Read them one by one.

• Mileage adjustment. If a comp has more miles than your car, its value should be adjusted up (it's worth less, so your car is worth more by comparison). Fewer miles should adjust down. Confirm the direction is right on every line.
• Condition adjustment. Mitchell applies a condition figure to comps. Watch for the same condition deduction appearing on every comparable regardless of how each one was actually described. An identical condition adjustment across the board is a flag, because no two used cars are in identical shape.
• Options and equipment. Adjustments for a sunroof, a trim difference, a bigger engine, or a package your car had (or didn't). These should be explained, not just dropped in as a lump "market research" number.

Reading an Audatex Autosource report

Audatex Autosource is laid out the same way at a high level: a valuation summary, your vehicle's profile, then the comparable vehicles with adjustments. The columns carry different labels, so read the headers carefully.

Autosource comps show the advertised price, the vehicle's details, and a set of adjustment lines. The one to watch for here has a specific name.

• Advertised vs. adjusted price. Audatex frequently values a comp below its actual advertised price, on the theory that a buyer would have negotiated the dealer down. That downward move is often labeled a "typical negotiation" or "projected sold" adjustment. More on that below, because it's the single most contested line in these reports.
• Condition adjustments. Same caution as Mitchell. Look for a uniform condition figure hitting every comp identically.
• Mileage and equipment. Confirm the mileage math runs the right direction, and that any year, trim, or engine adjustments are explained rather than buried in a generic "market research" line.

For a deeper look at the negotiation deduction specifically, see our guide on the typical negotiation adjustment.

How Mitchell and Audatex differ from CCC

All three vendors run the same method, so the differences are mostly in vocabulary and presentation, not in the underlying approach. That matters because a flaw you'd spot in one report has an equivalent in the others under a different name.

What to look for	CCC	Mitchell	Audatex
Product name	CCC ONE / Market Valuation Report	WorkCenter Total Loss	Autosource
Negotiation deduction	Condition / "projected sold" style adjustments	Similar downward adjustments	Often labeled "typical negotiation"
Comparable listings	Listed with source and mileage	Listed with source and mileage	Listed with advertised price and mileage
Condition basis	Condition adjustment per comp	Condition adjustment per comp	Condition adjustment per comp

The takeaway: no matter which report you have, you're checking the same handful of things. Are the comps current and local? Is the mileage adjustment running the correct direction? Is the same condition deduction hitting every comp? And is any comp valued below what it's actually advertised for?

The "typical negotiation" adjustment

This is the line most worth understanding, and it shows up most plainly in Audatex Autosource reports under the "typical negotiation" label. The software takes a comparable that's advertised at, say, $22,000 and values it at some lower figure, assuming you'd have talked the seller down. Then it uses that lower, hypothetical number to value your car.

The problem is straightforward. You have to replace your car at real prices, not at a discount that may or may not have existed. Regulators and courts have repeatedly challenged this exact adjustment.

If your report shows comps valued below their advertised prices, that's a specific, checkable line you can raise in a written counter-offer.

Deductions applied to your own vehicle

Both Mitchell and Audatex list adjustments to your vehicle, separate from the comparables, on the way to the settlement figure. Mitchell spells them out as line items: a condition adjustment, and often Prior Damage, Aftermarket Parts, Refurbishment, and Title History lines. Audatex applies its own condition and prior-damage adjustments the same way.

Each has to be documented and genuinely pre-existing. A prior-damage or condition deduction with nothing behind it, or one that reflects damage from the same loss that totaled the car, is money that belongs back in your offer. Check every line between the market value and the settlement value.

How to check the adjustments

You don't need to be an appraiser to audit these lines. You need the report open and a few minutes per comparable. Work through this order:

1. List the comps. Write down each comparable's year, trim, mileage, advertised price, and source.
2. Check availability. Are these listings current, and are they in your local market? Stale or far-away comps overstate how easily you could replace your car.
3. Check mileage direction. On each line, confirm a higher-mileage comp adjusts your car's value up and a lower-mileage comp adjusts it down. A reversed sign quietly costs you.
4. Check condition uniformity. If the same condition deduction appears on every comp, ask why. Real used cars aren't in identical condition.
5. Check advertised vs. adjusted price. Flag any comp valued below what it's actually listed for, especially anything labeled "typical negotiation" or "projected sold."
6. Check the cross-spec lines. Any "market research" adjustment for year, trim, or engine should be explained. An unexplained lump-sum adjustment is worth questioning.

If you'd rather not do the line-by-line yourself, TrueTotal's free gap-check reads your Mitchell, Audatex, or CCC PDF and shows you the flaws plus an estimated dollar gap before you pay anything. The math it produces comes straight from the report you upload, with every comparable and source linked so you and the adjuster can verify each one.