Over on Bimmerforums.com, someone recently asked, “If my vehicle had problems, how would it benefit me to report it? It would only cause my resale to drop later if I had problems.”

No doubt this question has crossed many people’s minds. Seems logical.

But there is a major flaw in the logic: TrueDelta isn’t the only one reporting vehicle reliability information. And others only provide vague dots, so people often imagine that “worse than average” models are really bad.

Truth is, such cars often aren’t all that much worse than the average car. Only TrueDelta makes this obvious by posting actual repair rates. By viewing our results, people might learn that the car others recommend against doesn’t require nearly as many repairs as they imagined.

So participating in TrueDelta’s research might actually improve rather than harm resale values.

Of course, for this to happen the results must be credible, and generally in line with those from other sources. So, somewhat paradoxically, you’re likely to help both yourself and others the most if you participate in TrueDelta’s research and accurately report repairs.