Have you ever seen a car pop up for sale at a dealership and wonder where it came from? Sometimes, cars are purchased from auction, while other times, vehicles are traded in.

Almost all dealers use an A, B, C… system for trade-ins. A used car traded in for a new car will have the new car’s stock number ending in A. Another used car traded in for that used car will end in B, and so on. In this example, the Gladiator was traded in for a new Wagoneer (fancy!) The Gladiator had the same stock number as the Wagoneer, but it ends in A. Searching the stock number for the new car and the dealer’s name will usually bring up the new car, especially if it’s a new arrival.

Chrysler and Kia have free websites that bring up all window stickers via VIN. In this case, I bring up the Wagoneer and see how it was built. Same goes for the Gladiator, whose window sticker was also attached on the CarFax. At the end of the video, I show a Crosstrek with a generic stock number. These cars are usually auction or KBB cars that weren’t traded in for something else. Each dealer does these differently.

I hope this helps uncover the mystery of where certain cars come from, especially when niche or exotic cars appear at certain dealerships. In some cases, it creates more mystery!